The Sweet Valley High books hook readers with a racy style and cliffhanger endings, then slip in challenging issues - date rape, anorexia, broken homes - alongside dispatches from beach parties and pep rallies

One of the most original and moving books of the year . . . an absolutely remarkable book

Inspired writing . . . it flows like melted butter and glistens as it goes . . . Blackman knows her verse forms and uses them to brilliant effect

It is funny and poignant and Blackman's use of language is wonderfully economic. This is a masterpiece of writing and a book for all ages

It soon develops into a cautionary tale about the way that both a friendship and a child's originality is destroyed by peer pressure. What makes it even more unusual is that it is told out of the mind of the boy who brought about the destruction. Blackman threads humour into the tragedy and (just) succeeds in giving us something to hope for

Hats off to Malorie Blackman . . . Sheer poetry

A poignant, gritty read, John Lucas's debut novel captures the brutal experience of gang culture among vulnerable city teenagers, exposing not only their heinous deeds, but a society that allows children to feel unloved and excluded.

The Blake Street Boyz gang means everything to 15-year-old Jay and his friends, spending dinner times and evenings defending their turf, but his life takes a not-altogether-unexpected turn when he has to prove himself to leader Shads.

A poignant gritty read, John Lucas' debut novel captures the brutal experience of gang culture among vulnerable city tenagers.

An exceptionally powerful debut novel; John Lucas is a writer to watch.