Showing results by author "Alex Wheatle" in Teen & Young Adult

Venetia King is the hottest girl at school. Too bad Lemar is the second shortest guy in his year. Everyone calls him Liccle Bit, and his two best friends, McKay and Jonah, never tire of telling him he has no chance with girls. Things aren't much better at home. His mum is permanently hassled, his sister a frustrated single mum and his dad moved out years ago. Liccle Bit wishes he could do something - anything! - to make life better. A new phone would be a start....

Moa is 14. The only life he has ever known is toiling on the Frontier sugar cane plantation for endless hot days, fearing the vicious whips of the overseers. Then one night he learns of an uprising, led by the charismatic Tacky. Moa is to be a cane warrior and fight for the freedom of all the enslaved people in the nearby plantations. But before they can escape, Moa and his friend Keverton must face their first great task: to kill their overseer, Misser Donaldson. Time is ticking, and the day of the uprising approaches....

New from the winner of the Guardian Children's Book Award: Home Girl is the story of Naomi, a teenage girl growing up fast in the care system. It is a wholly modern story which sheds a much-needed light on what can be an unsettling life - and the consequences that can follow when children are treated like pawns on a family chessboard. Home Girl is fast-paced and funny, tender, tragic and full of courage - just like Naomi. It is award-winning author Alex Wheatle's most moving and personal novel to date.

Things have been quiet in South Crongton. It's been an age since anyone last spotted Manjaro, South Crong's most notorious warlord. But there have been murmurs that something is coming. Jonah is the fastest sprinter in South Crong, and has his sights set on an Olympic Medal one day. But with his dad now jobless, and his parents constant fighting because they can't make ends meet, Jonah has more on his mind than the North/South Crong gang war games.

Life's a constant hustle for Mo. Her mum's boyfriend, Lloyd, is just another man who likes to beat down women; the South Crong streets are fraught with hazards and nasty G's; and when it comes to matters of the heart...she's still hung up on Sam. No wonder she's vexed so much of the time. Thank god her sistrens, Elaine and Naomi, are on her side: if one of them falls then they all fall. But when badness goes down and a life is left hanging in the balance, Mo has to face her hot urge for revenge...and she might end up losing more than she wins.

Welton Blake has done it! He's asked out Carmella McKenzie—the best-looking girl in school—and she's only gone and said yes! But just as he thinks his luck is starting to change, Welton's phone breaks, kick-starting a series of unfortunate and humiliating events. With bullies to avoid, girls ready to knock him out and all the drama with his mum and dad, life for Welton is about to go very, very wrong.

Living on the South Crongton council estate has its worries - and life for McKay has been even tougher since his mum died. His dad has been working all hours to keep the bailiffs from their door. His brother is always out riding the streets at night, tempting trouble. And now, having strayed off his turf on a 'heroic' (if misguided) mission to help out a girl, McKay finds himself facing a friend's crazy ex-boyfriend, some power-tripping hood-rats and a notoriously violent gangster with a vendetta which hits too close to home.

Kemosha and her brother have lived their whole lives in slavery. Sold away to work in lawless Port Royal, Kemosha takes her chance to escape brutal treatment. With fortune on her side, Kemosha befriends Ravenhide, a man with a mysterious past who teaches her the art of sword fighting and introduces her to the beautiful runaway Isabella. Yet Kemosha's greatest test yet is upon the deck of the Satisfaction: the notorious Captain Morgan’s ship.

'Round these ends, it's hard to hold on to your dreams Life's a constant hustle for Mo. Her mum's boyfriend Lloyd is just another man who likes to beat down women; the South Crong streets are fraught with hazards and nasty Gs; and when it comes to matters of the heart...she's still hung up on Sam. No wonder she's vexed so much of the time. Thank god her sistrens, Elaine and Naomi, are on her side: if one of them falls, then they all fall.

Fourteen-year-old aspiring footballer Kadeen Best is sent to stay with her Aunt Mel in London after her beloved older brother is tragically killed and she identifies the shooter - a dangerous crime lord. She must carry her grief while adjusting to her new home - away from everything she knows and loves in Jamaica - and living with her strict aunt. Kadeen must lie low, as if she's recognised, she'll put them both in serious danger. Desperate for a distraction, Kadeen practises football in the local park where she's asked to try out for a girls' team.