Best Main Character
Kat Stephenson (Courting Magic by Stephanie Burgis)
Regular readers of my Twitter know my thoughts on bright,
loyal, clever, and altogether awesome Guardian/witch Kat. Aged 18 and preparing
for a society debut in this follow-up novella to one of the most wonderful MG
series for many years, she is as brilliant as ever here.
Apple (Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan)
This was a real tear-jerker; I felt incredibly sorry for
Apple as she tried to reintegrate her mother back into her life while also
coping with the two new boys she met, her grandmother who'd raised her, and a
big surprise. She's a lovely character.
Pea is another absolute favourite character of mine, and in
this fourth and final book in the series (although spin-off soon, yay!) she's
as lovely, sweet, and caring as ever. I adore the way she tries to hold her
family together through any bad times, and think it's great that she doesn't
get everything right but that she's always well-meaning, and her family love and support each other even when they make mistakes.
Charlie (The Bubble Wrap Boy by Phil Earle)
My favourite book yet from a stunning author, and Charlie is
a fabulous main character - warm, clumsy, well-meaning, and optimistic despite
his problems.
Pearl (Year of the Rat by Clare Furniss)
Pearl is an outstanding main character. There were times
when I felt annoyed with her but I always thought she was sympathetic, not just
because of the tragedy that had occurred but because she was trying to cope
with it in her own way. Even when she was unsuccessful at times, and did things
I didn’t like, I wanted her to learn to cope better and to start to find some
comfort.
Faith (Keep The Faith by Candy Harper)
Returning after the brilliant Have A Little Faith, the title
character here was even more fantastic in the second book. Faith is bratty,
self-centred, surprisingly violent, and argumentative. But she's also clever,
resourceful, good to her friends, knows what she wants, and goes all out to get
it. She is a staggeringly great creation.
Jake (Fifteen Bones by RJ Morgan)
This is an example of dark topics done absolutely right.
Jake, the narrator, is pitiable at first, withered like a prune and so broken
by the accident that he finds even walking difficult, but the developing friendship between him and tough
girl Robin is superb, and the change we see in his character is fascinating.
The Psammead (Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders)
I think it takes incredible skill to write another author's
character really well, and Saunders delivers in spades here. Her Psammead is a much
darker character than Nesbit's original, but he's recognisably the same
character, and is a fascinating lead.
Sophie (Far From You by Tess Sharpe)
Sophie is a superb narrator - sent to rehab for an addiction
she'd already beaten and finally out and ready to seek justice for her murdered
best friend. I was completely torn apart by her troubles, and rooted for her to
succeed in her quest to find the killer.
Austin (Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith)
Austin is a wonderful narrator who genuinely cares about
both girlfriend Shann and best friend Robby and struggles with his sexual and
romantic feelings towards both of them, while he has an outstanding - if
deliberately rather artificial - voice.
Best Pairing
Apple and her mum (Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan)
Apple is one of my favourite characters of the year, while
her mother, who reappears in her life after abandoning her, is someone I really
disliked. However I thought her mother was a believably poor parent, being
thoughtless rather than actively nasty, which made her very interesting to read
about.
Ash and Mark (Bone Jack by Sara Crowe)
Ash is a great main character, but it's his relationships
with his father and his former best friend which give the book a lot more depth
than I was perhaps expecting - both are superb. My favourite of the two is the
antagonistic way Ash and Mark interact, which feels incredibly realistic for
two people once so close.
Stella and Caitlin (Stella by Helen Eve)
I have a real liking for unusual pairs of dual narrators
(rather than the more standard love interests) and this couple - Stella, the
seventeen-year-old leader of exclusive clique The Stars, and Cailtin, the shy
and quiet new girl who starts her first chapter by talking about the night on
which she should have beaten Stella to become Head Girl, are one of the most
intriguing for a while.
Sophie and Russell (What The Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth?
by Gayle Forman, a short story in the anthology My True Love Gave To Me edited by Stephanie Perkins)
In a relatively short story, Gayle Forman does an incredible
job of creating brilliant chemistry between her two leads, Jewish Sophie and
African-American Russell, who both feel like outsiders at their WASPy college.
Dane and Billy D (Dead Ends by Erin Lange)
This friendship is a masterful portrayal of two boys who
initially become mates through necessity and eventually grow to really like and
respect each other. In particular, Dane’s frustration when Billy D is treated
differently because of his Down’s Syndrome is very well-written – and it’s all
the more interesting that despite it irritating him when other people do it, he
still falls into that trap himself at times.
Timmy and Total (Timmy Failure series by Stephan Pastis)
I completely adore polar bear Total, and the relationship
between him and lead character Timmy, his business partner, is nearly
unbearably poignant at times.
Fin and Marrill (The Map To Everywhere by Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis)
Fin, the master thief who nearly everyone forgets as soon as
he's out of sight and Marrill, the girl dragged from our world who's somehow
able to recall him, are my two favourite characters in the outstanding cast
here. I love the friendship that develops between them here.
Sophie and Mina (Far From You by Tess Sharpe)
The relationship between Mina and
Sophie has incredible chemistry and made me really care about both of them -
which was rather soul-destroying as we know from the start that Mina is dead!
Sarah and Linda (Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley)
The best thing of the many excellent parts of this book is
the central relationship between Sarah and Linda, whose growing attraction to
each other is forbidden on two levels, partly because of their different races
and partly because they’re the same sex. The pair of them coming to terms with
their feelings for each other is brilliantly handled and they both develop well
as characters over the course of the book - particularly Linda, who's hard to
warm to at first given her ingrained racist views but whose change over the
course of the book is both heartwarming and completely believable. There's
great chemistry between them, as well. Both of the leads are excellent
narrators with really strong voices.
EB and Lauren (Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando)
Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando really seem to get how
difficult it is to form a friendship online, having to judge what a person's
saying from their words alone without the benefit of tone or body language. EB
and Lauren open up to each other more and more as the book goes on, but is it
possible to be really good friends with someone you haven't even met?
Best Artwork
The Imaginary (written by AF Harrold, illustrated by Emily Gravett)
I adored this book, partly because it's so well-written and
partly because Gravett's art is breathtaking. Mainly black and white but with
splashes of colour - the villain's Hawaiian shirt, the bright pink dinosaur,
and others - it features lots of stunning spreads.
Violet and the Pearl of the Orient (written by Harriet
Whitehorn, illustrated by Becka Moor)
I fell in love with this one right from the brilliant
double-page spread in which we see the characters and their favourite foods.
Becka Moor's two-colour illustrations are wonderful.
The Sleeper and the Spindle (written by Neil Gaiman,
illustrated by Chris Riddell)
Similarly to The Imaginary, this is mainly black and white
but with splashes of colour - although in this case it's a single extra colour,
gold. Riddell is a phenomenally talented artist; I love his work on his own
Goth Girl, but this is the best I've seen from him.
This Book Is Gay (written by James Dawson, illustrated by
Spike Gerrell)
Spike Gerrell's funny cartoons are the perfect additions to
James Dawson's wise and humorous writing in this fantastic guide for teens.
Timmy Failure series by Stephan Pastis
Simpler than most of the other in the top five, but Pastis
has created some fantastic characters here and Timmy and Total, in particular,
are brought to life extremely vividly.
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