Further Reading

If you would like to read more books on death and bereavement, the following may be something you'd be interested in reading.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin - How do you describe ELSEWHERE? A novel so astoundingly original and carefully crafted that its complexities become common place and the common place resounds with poetry? In this delightful novel death is a begining, a new start. Liz is killed in a hit a run accident and her 'life' takes a very unexpected turn. At nearly sixteen she knows she will never get married, never have children, and perhaps never fall in love. But in Elsewhere all things carry on almost as they did on earth except that the inhabitants get younger, dogs and humans can communicate (at last) new relationships are formed and old ones sadly interrupted on earth are renewed. Full of the most ingenious detail and woven around the most touching and charming relationships this is a novel of hope, of redemption and re-birth. It is a novel that tells of sadness with heart-breaking honesty and of love and happiness with uplifting brilliance. From Amazon UK

The Everafter by Amy Huntley - Madison Stanton doesn't know where she is or how she got there. But she does know this—she is dead. And alone, in a vast, dark space. The only company she has in this place are luminescent objects that turn out to be all the things Maddy lost while she was alive. And soon she discovers that with these artifacts, she can reexperience—and sometimes even change—moments from her life.

Her first kiss.
A trip to Disney World.
Her sister's wedding.
A disastrous sleepover.

In reliving these moments, Maddy learns illuminating and sometimes frightening truths about her life—and death.

This is a haunting and ultimately hopeful novel about the beauty of even the most insignificant moments—and the strength of true love even beyond death. From Amazon US

Love, Aubrey by Suzanne La Fleur - Something terrible has happened. Eleven-year-old Aubrey is on her own.

'It was fun at first, playing house. Nothing to think about but TV and cheese. A perfect world.'

She's determined to hide away and take care of herself, because facing the truth is too much to bear.

'I couldn't let anyone know that I was alone. I was staying right here.'

But with the love of her grandmother and the letters she writes, can Aubrey begin to see that even though she's lost everything - all is not lost? From Amazon UK

Sharing Sam by Katherine Applegate - Sam is gorgeous and Alison can't resist him. So when Sam asks her to the Valentine's Day dance she is elated, until she finds out her dying friend Isabella, has fallen for him too. She wants Isabella's last days to be happy, even if she and Sam have to hide their love. But can they keep it secret? From Amazon UK

Slog's Dad by David Almond and Dave McKean - Do you believe there’s life after death? Slog does. He reckons that the scruffy bloke sitting outside the pork shop is his dad come back to visit him for one last time – just like he’d said he would, just before he died. Slog’s mate Davie isn’t convinced. But how does this man know everything Slog’s dad would know? Because Slog says it really is his dad, that’s how. From Amazon UK

The Book Theif by Markuz Zusak - HERE IS A SMALL FACT - YOU ARE GOING TO DIE

1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier.

Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.

SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION - THIS NOVEL IS NARRATED BY DEATH

It’s a small story, about:
a girl
an accordionist
some fanatical Germans
a Jewish fist fighter
and quite a lot of thievery.

ANOTHER THING YOU SHOULD KNOW - DEATH WILL VISIT THE BOOK THIEF THREE TIMES From Amazon UK

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Franciso X. Stork - When Pancho arrives at St. Anthony's Home, he knows his time there will be short. If his plans succeed, he'll soon be arrested for the murder of his sister's killer. But then he's assigned to hep DQ, whose brain cancer has slowed neither his spirit nor his mouth. DQ tells Pancho all about his "Death Warrior's Manifesto", which will help him to live out his last days fully - ideally, he says with the love of the beautiful Marisol. As Pancho tracks down his sister's murderer, he finds himself falling under the influence of DQ and Marisol, and beginning to understand that there's more to life than revenge and more to death than sadness. From Amazon UK

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen - On the outside, Macy Queen is cool and calm. On the inside, she's breaking. Silently struggling with her Dad's death, and spending the summer apart from her oh-so-perfect boyfriend, Macy is smiling her way through - she's 'fine'. It's only when she meets a group of new friends - and artistic, sexy Wes catches her eye - she realizes she can wear her heart on her sleeve sometimes. Because life doesn't stop when someone disappears - and even though she's lost so much, can Macy see what she has to gain?

Hugely engaging and with great emotional depth, Sarah Dessen's rich, warm, atmospheric writing makes this the perfect summer read for teenage girls. From Amazon UK

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler - For sixteen-year-olds Anna Reiley and Frankie Perino, their twenty day-long, minimally supervised California vacation will be the 'Absolute Best Summer Ever' and according to Frankie, if they meet one boy every day, there's a pretty good chance that Anna will get her first real boyfriend.

Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there's something she hasn't told Frankie - she's already had that kind of romance, and it was with Frankie's older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago. From Amazon UK

Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls - My name is Sam. I am eleven years old. I collect stories and fantastic facts. By the time you read this, I will probably be dead. Sam loves facts. He wants to know about UFOs and horror movies and airships and ghosts and scientists, and how it feels to kiss a girl. And because he has leukaemia he wants to know the facts about dying. Sam needs answers to the questions nobody will answer. WAYS TO LIVE FOREVER is the award-winning novel from an extraordinarily talented young writer. Funny and honest, it is one of the most powerful and uplifting books you will ever read. From Amazon UK

And to be released in January next year:

Torn by Cat Clarke - Four girls. One dead body. A whole lot of guilt.

Alice King isn’t expecting the holiday of a lifetime when she sets off with her classmates on a trip to the Scottish wilderness, but she’s not exactly prepared for an experience beyond her darkest nightmares…

Alice and her best friend Cass are stuck in a cabin with Polly, the social outcast, and Rae, the moody emo-girl. Then there’s Tara – queen of mean. Powerful, beautiful and cruel, she likes nothing better than putting people down.

Cass decides it’s time to teach Tara a lesson she’ll never forget. And so begins a series of events that will change the lives of these girls forever...

A compelling story of guilty secrets, troubled friendship and burgeoning love. From CatClarke.com

And some others you can look up:

A Beautiful Lie by Ifran Master
A Time for Dancing by Davida Hurwin
After the Death of Alice Bennett by Rowland Molong
After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away by Joyce Carol Oates
Always and Forever by Lurlene McDaniel
The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate
Blind Faith by Ellen Wittlinger
Blowout by Suzan Vaught
Breathing Underwater by Julia Green
Breathing Underwater by Lara M. Zeises
Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton
Crossing the Line by Gillian Philip
Curses for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb
Dear Zoe by Philip Beard
Feels like home by E E Charlton-Trujillo
Flyaway by Lucy Christopher
Flying for Frankie by Pauline Fisk
Frannie in Pieces by Delia Ephron
Freefall by Mindi Scott
Hate List by Jennifer Brown
Heartbreak River by Tricia Mills
Hold On by Alan Gibbons
Invincible Summer by Jean Ferris
Jane in Bloom by Deborah Lytton
Keys to the Golden Firebird by Mauren Johnson
Last Seen Wearing Trainers by Rosie Rushton
Life, Interrupted by Damian Kelleher
Losing Faith by Denise Jayden
Love you, Hate you, Miss you by Elizabeth Scott
Martyn Pig by Kevin Brooks
Memory by Margaret Mahy
Noah Barelywater Runs Away by John Boyle
One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
Rockoholic by C.J. Skuse
Saving June by Hannah Harrington
Saving Zoe by Alyson Notel
Say Goodnight, Gracie by Julie Reece Deaver
Scar Hill by Alan Temperley
Sharing Sam by Katherine Applegate
Slog's Dad
Sparks by Ally Kennen
Starseeker by Tim Bowler
Stay With Me by Garret Freymann-Weyr
Taken By Storm by Angela Morrison
Tell Me What You See by Zoran Dvrenkar
The Beginner’s Guide to Living by Lisa Hills
The Dying Game by Catherine Johnson
The Great Wide Sea by M.H. Herlong
The Pursuit of Happiness by Tara Altebrando
The Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks
The Rope Ladder by Nigel Richardson
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
Usual Rules by Joyce Maynard
Waves by Sharon Dogar
Whirlgig by Paul Fleischman
Winter Longing by Tricia Mills
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
You Know Where to Find Me by Rachel Cohn
Young Chieftain by Ken Howard

Continue reading Further Reading

Further Reading

If you would like to read more books on body image and self-perception, the following may be something you'd be interested in reading. Not all is fiction, some are memoirs.

Nothing by Robin Friedman - The most popular guy at his high school, 17-year-old Parker Rabinowitz is wealthy, smart, and drop-dead handsome. He's a sure thing for HYP (Harvard, Yale, or Princeton) according to his college consultant, whom Parker has worked with since he was 14. Parker's got just one problem: he's bulimic. Nothing is presented in two distinct first-person voices - those of Parker and his 14-year-old sister, Danielle. Parker tells his side of the story in present-tense narrative, which becomes progressively more stripped down as he's consumed by the disorder.Danielle tells her side of the story in free verse. Danielle, who is barely even acknowledged by their achievement-obsessed parents, is known in school as 'Parker's sister'. Despite all this, Danielle loves her brother. And she's the only one who seems to notice what's happening behind Parker's perfect-seeming exterior, as he disappears into a world of deception and desperation. Complex and realistic, this novel's ultimate message is one of hope. From Amazon UK

Huge by Sasha Paley - Sixteen-year-olds Wilhelmina and April meet at Wellness Springs, a posh fat camp in California. Wil is not happy to be there - her parents own a chain of gyms and see their overweight daughter as a PR disaster - so she plans not to lose a pound all summer in order to get back at them. April, on the other hand, can't believe her luck. She's been saving for a whole year to come to Wellness Springs after she saw it featured in Teen Vogue. She can't wait to work off her excess weight, and then bring on the guys! Assigned to be room mates and work-out partners, the girls hate each other from the start. And things get worse when they both go after the same guy. Can Wil make it through the summer, and finally be accepted by her parents? Will April ever find someone willing to be a real boyfriend, even though she may never be skinny? A funny and poignant novel about friendship and self-acceptance. From Amazon UK

Secrets of Truth and Beauty by Megan Frazer - And the first runner up is...

When Dara Cohen was little, she was a bright, shiny star. She was the cutest seven-year-old who ever sang Ella Fitzgerald, and it was no wonder she was crowned Little Miss Maine.

That was then. Now Dara's seventeen and she's not so little anymore. So not little, that when her classmates find out about her illustrious resume, their jaws drop. That's just one of her many problems. Another is that her control-freak mom won’t get off her case about anything. Yet the one that hurts the most is the family secret: Dara has an older sister her parents tried to erase from their lives.

When a disastrously misinterpreted English project lands her in the counselor’s office--and her parents pull her out of school to save face--Dara realizes she has a decision to make. She can keep following the rules and being misunderstood, or she can finally reach out to the sister she’s never met--a sister who lives on a collective goat farm in Massachusetts. Dara chooses B. What follows is a summer of revelations, some heartbreaking, some joyous; of friendship, romance, a local beauty pageant; and choices. And as autumn approaches, Dara finds she may have to let go of everything she's taken for granted in order to figure out who she really is, and what family really means. From Amazon US

Fat Cat by Robin Brande - You are what you eat....

Cat smart, sassy, and funny—but thin, she’s not. Until her class science project. That’s when she winds up doing an experiment—on herself. Before she knows it, Cat is living—and eating—like the hominids, our earliest human ancestors. True, no chips or TV is a bummer and no car is a pain, but healthful eating and walking everywhere do have their benefits.

As the pounds drop off, the guys pile on. All this newfound male attention is enough to drive a girl crazy! If only she weren’t too busy hating Matt McKinney to notice....

This funny and thoughtful novel explores how girls feel about their bodies, and the ways they can best take care of their most precious resource: themselves. From Amazon US

Accidents of Nature by Harriet McBryde Johnson - Seventeen-year-old Jean has cerebral palsy and gets around in a wheelchair, but she's always believed she's just the same as everyone else. She goes to normal school and has normal friends. She's never really known another disabled person before she arrives at Camp Courage. But there Jean meets Sara, who welcomes her to 'Crip Camp' and nicknames her Spazzo. Sara has radical theories about how people fit into society. She's full of rage and revolution against pitying insults and the lack of respect for people with disabilities. As Jean joins a community unlike any she has ever imagined, she comes to question her old beliefs and look at the world in a new light. The camp session is only ten days long, but that may be all it takes to change a life forever. From Amazon UK

Does My Bum Look Big In This Ad? by Lisa Cox - Ever wondered why you don’t look like the people in magazine ads?

Heaps of books look at how popular culture (like the media) affect the way you feel about yourself. Unfortunately, they’re mostly written about young people, not for young people… until now!

Lisa Cox takes a behind the scenes look at the media industry: Showing you how to critically and independently evaluate what you see, hear or read in popular culture.

You’ll also learn how to develop and maintain a positive body image, now and in the future, as you navigate your way through the media maze.
From MuseInTheMirror.com

Thin by Grace Bowman - Bright, popular, pretty and successful, Grace Bowman had the world at her feet. So what drove her to starve herself nearly to death at the age of 18? And what, more importantly, made her stop? A grippingly honest account of life with anorexia nervosa, A Shape of My Own is Grace's hearbreaking, shocking and, finally, inspirational memoir. An extraordinary story, it is also a common one - is there a woman in the western world who has a normal relationship with food? A compulsive read, essential for anyone hoping to understand more about eating disorders and overcoming addiction. From Amazon UK

Wasted by Marya Hornbacher - A 'retired career anorexic' examines herself and her, and our, culture in a masterpiece of confessional literature. At the age of four Marya Hornbacher looked in a mirror and decided she was fat. At nine, she was bulimic. At twelve, she was anorexic. By the time she was eighteen, she'd been hospitalized five times, once in the loony bin. Her doctors and her parents had given up on her; they were watching her die. But Marya decided to live. Four years on, now 22, here is her harrowing tale, powerfully told in a virtuoso mix of memoir, cultural criticism and psychological examination. Here is the amazingly articulate fury of a clever woman made stupid by her culture, who threw away her teenage years in a continuous cycle of bingeing and vomiting or just plain starvation. The first book to explore, from the inside, the intimate relationship between eating disorders and 1990s culture's historically unprecedented obsession with body, diet and gender; not a testimony to a miracle cure, but the story of one woman's travels to the darker side of reality, and her decision to find her way back, on her own terms. From Amazon UK

Good Girls Do Swallow by Rachael Oakes-Ash - Between the ages of 20 and 30, Rachael Oakes-Ash lost 60kg and gained 76kg on a rollercoaster of body image problems and food obsession. She went through anorexia, bulimia, bulimarexia, gym obsession, strict dieting and binge eating before finally she figured out how to stop torturing herself and hating her body. This is the black and funny story of her downfall and recovery. Rachael might have taken things further than many of us, but this is a story every woman can relate to. In Australia, 75 per cent of women think they are too fat and 95 per cent of women have dieted (even though dieting is the best way to put on weight). You might not have rescued food from the bin in a moment of binge-madness but if you've ever felt lousy and reached for a chocolate biscuit for comfort this book is for you. "What the diet promised, I got," writes Rachael. "I got the body that can wear the clothes. I got the job I love, I got the man I want. But I only got it for keeps when I stopped dieting. "Good Girls Do Swallow" shows how she did it. And how you can, too. From Amazon U

Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self by Lori Gottlieb - Based on diaries written in 1978, when she was eleven years old, the author offers a chronicle of her battle with anorexia and the pressures from family, peers, and society that led her to starve herself. From Amazon UK

Purge: Rehab Diaries: Life in an Easting Disorders Treatment Centre by Nicole Johns - With a Girl Interrupted feel, this memoir is beautifully crafted and will appeal to many readers who enjoy the 'misery-memoir' genre. In this engaging, raw memoir, Nicole Johns documents her battle with an eating disorder. Focusing primarily on her three months in a treatment facility, Johns translates her experience directly to the page. Her prose is lucid, and she seamlessly switches tenses and moves through time as she unearths several important themes: body image and sexuality, sexual abuse and relationships, and the struggle to piece together one's path in life.While other books dealing with this theme may sugar coat the harsh realities of living with an eating disorder, "Purge" does not hold back. Johns' presents an honest, detailed account of her experience with treatment, avoiding the happily-ever-after while still offering hope to the millions struggling with these devastating disorders. "Purge" sends a message to those who are fighting an uphill battle with an eating disorder: though the road may be rough, ultimately there is hope. From Amazon UK

Hungry: Lessons Learned on the Journey from Fat to Thin by Allen Zadoff - This work provides weight loss advice and inspiration from the delicious, calorific yet uncomfortably large life experiences of a formerly fat man. With an appetite both for life and for binge eating, hungry man Allen Zadoff spent years reasoning that a big, healthy man should have a big, healthy appetite and that his rapidly increasing girth was no more than a regular guy thing. He even took pride in his eating prowess, polishing off boxes of chocolates with aplomb and devouring enough dim sum to feed a wedding party. After all, he rationalized, real men don't have eating disorders - they have healthy appetites. By the age of 28, Zadoff's waistline had swelled to size 54, his shirts to 4XL. What had started as a little weight problem had become a serious issue on the way to destroying his life. He began to suspect that thinness would forever elude him, even as he searched desperately for a way to lose the weight that stood stubbornly in the way of his happiness. Then food stopped working for him - instead of bringing momentary peace, it was increasingly carrying him to new depths of despair. It was then Zadoff realized that no amount of willpower and no known diet could break his addiction to food. He needed to find a new way of living, a set of tools for staying 'on the wagon' that would carry him into thin and beyond. He began to focus less on what he ate, and began instead to focus on the physical and emotional underpinnings of what he came to understand as a disease. The pounds melted away and so began the adventure of a lifetime. As laugh-out-loud funny as it is inspirational, Hungry follows Zadoff's incredible journey - what he thought he knew about life, weight and happiness on his way up the scale, and more importantly, everything he learned now that he's found his way back down. Blending his personal story with surprising but practical strategies for weight loss success, Zadoff has created a unique book that will delight and inform men and women alike. From Amazon US

If you know of any others, please recommend them and I'll add them to the list.

Continue reading Further Reading

Further Reading

Sex in Teen Lit Month is now drawing to a close, but the books I read for this month aren’t the only YA novels out there that focus on sex. Here is a list of other books that deal with the subject you may wish to give a read.

Cycler by Lauren McLaughlin

As far as anyone at her high school knows, Jill McTeague is an average smart girl trying to get her dream date to ask her to the prom.What no one knows, except for Jill’s mom and dad, is that for the four days Jill is out of school each month, she is not Jill at all. She is Jack, a genuine boy—complete with all the parts. Jack lives his four days per month in the solitude of Jill’s room. But his personality has been building since the cycling began. He is less and less content with his confinement and his cycles are becoming more frequent. Now Jill’s question about the prom isn’t who she'll go with, but who she'll be when the big night arrives.

Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky

Before this all happened, the closest I'd ever come to getting physical with a guy was playing the board game Operation. Okay, so maybe that sounds pathetic, but it's not like there were any guys at my high school who I cared to share more than three words with, let alone my body. Then I met Wes, a track star senior from across town. Maybe it was his soulful blue eyes, or maybe my hormones just started raging. Either way, I was hooked. And after a while, he was too. I couldn't believe how intense my feelings became, or the fact that I was seeing—and touching—parts of the body I'd only read about in my Gray's Anatomy textbook. You could say Wes and I experienced a lot of firsts together that spring. It was scary. It was fun. It was love. And then came the fall.

Let’s Get Lost by Sarra Manning

Some girls are born to be bad...Isabel is one of them. Her friends are terrified of her, her teachers can't get through to her...her family doesn't understand her. And that's just the way she likes it. See, when no one can get near you, no one will know what keeps you awake at night, what you're afraid of, what has broken your heart...But then Isabel meets the enigmatic Smith, who can see right through her act. Bit by bit he chips away at her armour, and though she fights hard to keep hold of her cool, and her secrets, Isabel's falling for him, and coming apart at the seams when she does...A poignant, sometimes dark, and utterly heart-breaking novel, told with all the author's trademark wit and sharp observation...

The Goddess Society by Kelly McKain

Jen, Shelley and Lia are best friends and determined to lose their virginity ...and soon. But these girls want their first time to be perfect. So they make a pact; strictly no losing it in your mother's car leaving footprints on the windscreen, and only in approved sexy underwear (no big grey knickers allowed!). The Goddess Society is born...Unfortunately not everything goes to plan for the goddesses. Who'd have thought losing your virginity would be this tricky? A sexy, funny and heartwarming story about love, lust and friendship.

The Lost Goddess by Kelly McKain – Sequel to The Goddess Society

A funny and heartwarming novel from an up and coming new author... Three best friends cope with first love, first sex and lots of confusion along the way. Shelley's modelling career is taking off and she's just moved in with her boyfriend - a huge step, but is she ready for it? Meanwhile, Lia can't understand why her boyfriend is reluctant to jump into bed with her and Jen wonders if she will ever find someone to fall in love with...

Diving In by Kate Cann

Coll thinks the boy she sees swimming every Thursday night is completely gorgeous - long and lean, powerful and strong. He becomes the fantasy that takes her out of her ordinary day-to-day existence. And then he asks her out, and the dream becomes reality. Art is strong and powerful, and he's also quite pushy. Just what is Coll getting into?

From the Author (from Amazon UK):
I was fed up with teenage books treating sex and relationships in only 2 ways:

1) Doomy, gloomy stuff about unwanted pregnancy, rape, abuse

2) Hopelessly fake romantic fluffy stuff with impossible characters

I wanted to write something realistic about the power of falling in love and sex - and I wanted the final message to be a positive one! Coll is a strong, funny, independent heroine who has to deal with being poleaxed by Art, the object of her passion. She's crazy about him but she's not about to forget everything she is just to win his approval and keep him. People either love Art or hate him. I've got a very soft spot for him and I think it's entirely believable that Coll falls for him as hard as she does! To find out whether they make it together or not, read In the Deep End!

Six Steps to a Girl

Luke spots Eve at his dad's funeral. She's hot - and she's the perfect distraction from his messed up family life. There's only one problem - she's got a boyfriend. Still, Luke's not going to give up that easily...When he meets Ryan at a party and hears about 'the Six Steps method' to guarantee success with any girl, Luke determines to put it to the test. Step by step, he begins to get closer to Eve - but one step forward seems to mean two steps back, and when he's hospitalised by the jealous boyfriend, he wonders if any girl - even one as gorgeous as Eve - is really worth it...

Pure by Terra Elan McVoy

Tabitha and her four best friends all wear purity rings, symbols of the virginity-until-marriage pledge they made years ago. Now Tab is fifteen, and her ring has come to mean so much more. It's a symbol of who she is and what she believes -- a reminder of her promises to herself, and her bond to her friends.

But when Tab meets a boy whose kisses make her knees go weak, everything suddenly seems a lot more complicated. Tab's best friend, Morgan, is far from supportive, and for the first time, Tabitha is forced to keep secrets from the one person with whom she's always shared everything. When one of those secrets breaks to the surface, Tab finds herself at the center of an unthinkable betrayal that splits her friends apart. As Tab's entire world comes crashing down around her, she's forced to re-examine her friendships, her faith, and what exactly it means to be pure.

Inexcusable by Chris Lynch

In a story that moves between the past and the scene of the rape, Keir attempts to defend his character from the monstrous crime of which he has been accused. But the anecdotes from Keir's senior year at high school fall short of giving the innocent and 'good-guy' picture, Keir is determined to paint of himself. Instead he is revealed somehow as a morally ambiguous and deluded young man. In this extraordinary book, Chris Lynch has pushed the boundaries and set a new standard in YA fiction. It is a gripping and masterfully written story about a subject very few people will dare to explore. Any person who reads it will have much to think about.

Easy by Kerry Cohen Hoffmann (may also be called Slut)

"Come on," he says. "Hop in." My heart pounds. I can feel sweat gathering at my armpits. "I don't think so." "Why not?" "I can't," I say. "Not now." "Okay," he says. "Another time then." He winks. He turns on his signal and pulls back onto the street. I watch his car get smaller then disappear around the bend. Instead of relief I feel disappointed, like I've just missed out on something big. My chance to matter.

Fourteen-year-old Jessica doesn't know who she is anymore. Her once strong mother is falling apart after a messy divorce, and Jessica doesn't even have the energy to help her. She has her own problems, not least the school photography contest which requires her to submit a self-portrait; an impossible task when her own identity is a mystery to her. The only thing Jessica seems sure of is the great feeling she gets when someone is checking her out...A cautionary tale about a teenage girl who uses her newfound sexuality as an escape, until she realises just what it's costing her.

Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity by Kerry Cohen*

'There is a new boy I like. I see him every other day when our classes let out at the same time. He has long, dark hair and unbelievably beautiful eyes. Almost immediately I can feel the energy between us, the promise of something to come.' Kerry first noticed the power she had over the opposite sex at the age of eleven. By the time she was in her teens she was obsessed by boys, and soon she needed sex just to feel alive. Sleeping with countless partners, Kerry's misguided search for love was getting out of hand. But would she ever find what she really needed?

*This is not a YA novel, it is a memoir, real life. I've not read it, so I can't say what the content is like, but I thought it may be interesting to list as it seems to deal with the topic in real life, and is written by a YA author who has written about the topic (see above Easy/Slut). Again, this is not a YA novel.

If you can think of any others, please recommend them in the comments, as I would love to read them!

Continue reading Further Reading