Inky's Favourite Books of 2006

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Clay

by David Almond
Pretty much everything David Almond touches becomes tinged with a dark, whimsical beauty, and Clay is no exception. When Stephen Rose arrives in town, Davie's simple, small-town world is transformed into something huge and terrifying, where clay can come to life, and God can't be taken for granted. 

  

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
When heartbroken bass-player Nick sees his ex-girlfriend making her way across the club towards him, he turns to the girl next to him and asks if she will be his girlfriend for the next five minutes. Norah has her own heartbreak to contend with, but what the hell, Nick seems cute. What follows is the most confusing, romantic and crazy night of their lives, featuring nuns making out with each other, a threeway with E.T., a shirt belonging to someone called Salvatore, and a truly awesome playlist.

 

Looking for Alaska

by John Green
Miles' life has been largely uneventful up until now - so he leaves home to go to boarding school, searching for the "Great Perhaps". What he finds is love, tragedy, alcohol, pranks, famous last words and poetry.

 

We Are the Weather Makers

by Tim Flannery
This is a concise and revised edition of The Weather Makers designed especially for young people. It is a passionate book about climate change and global warming. Tim Flannery reminds us that climate connects and affects us all, and that the way we use our fuels, water and land influences the climate.

Notes from the Teenage Underground

by Simmone Howell
It's summer, and Gem, Mira and Lo need a project. It's time to go Underground. Gem starts making an underground film. Mira sets out to find 'boys-without-barcodes'. Nobody's quite sure what Lo will do, but it will be Big. But can Gem's friendship with the others survive this whirlwind of boys, debauchery and the avant-garde?

 

The Dangerous Book for Boys

by Conn Iggulden
Conkers, dinosaurs, cricket, famous battles, pirates, spies, skipping stones, coin tricks, marbles... Long summer holidays will never be dull again.

 

Magic Lessons

by Justine Larbalestier
Magic isn't a gift, or a blessing. It's a burden. Reason Cansino is magic. She can choose to use her magic, and die before she reaches her early twenties, or ignore her magic and go insane like her mother did. It's a decision that isn't made easier with the arrival of love, sex, real friendship, and a back door that leads from Sydney to New York.

 

The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie

by Jaclyn Moriarty
Bindy is perfect. She's smart, super-organised, friendly and helpful to her fellow students. Little wonder then, that everyone hates her. But do they hate her enough to try to kill her?

 

Dairy Queen

by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
D.J. Schwenk milks cows. She plays sport. She doesn't Talk about How She's Feeling. No one in her family does. So a lot of stuff ends up not getting said. Why is her best friend Amber acting so wierd? And why doesn't D.J.'s little brother ever speak? What's her mother's big secret? And how on earth is D.J. going to tell her dad that she wants to join the boys' high school football team?

 

Temeraire

by Naomi Novik
Think Hornblower. Or Master and Commander. But with dragons. Director Peter Jackson has just bought the movie rights to this one, so get ready for a blockbuster.

 

Just in Case

by Meg Rosoff
David Case is on the run. From Fate. He changes his name to Justin and gets a whole new look, thanks to new friend Agnes. He develops new relationships with his telepathic baby brother, an invisible dog, and a male rabbit called Alice. He has a few close-calls, and things spiral out of control. Can Justin really escape his Fate?

 

Ptolemy's Gate

by Jonathan Stround
The third and final book in Stroud's Bartimaeus series. Set in an alternate modern-day London where they have magicians instead of politicians. This is the last chapter in the stories of Nathanial, a rising-star in the magicians' bureaucracy, Kitty, a non-magic member of the Resistance, and Bartimeaus, a wise-cracking djinni who may just be able to save the world. If he feels like it.

 

The Arrival

by Shaun Tan
The long-awaited graphic novel by one of the world's finest illustrators. The Arrival is a wordless story of migration. Stunning, hauntingly beautiful artwork blends with the unspoken universal story of moving and starting a new life.

 

Peeps

by Scott Westerfeld
Vampire stories are no longer the domain of mysterious pale men with long black cloaks and funny accents. These vampires are the product of science. They're parasites, spreading through the human race like a plague. But are these vampires really the bad guys?