Firewallers by Simon Packham

Can her life get any worse? Jess returns from a nightmare day at school to find her dad’s suspended from work and gone into hiding.

To escape the slobbering newshounds all eager for the full story, Mum drags Jess and her sister off to a remote Scottish Island.

Modern technology’s forbidden, and there’s only a bunch of teenage uber geeks for company.

Without Facebook or even her mobile, Jess feels totally disconnected from everybody back home. And why are they there anyway? What are they really running away from?

Silenced by Simon Packham

At first I thought there were technical problems – something wrong with the sound system – because when I opened my mouth I couldn’t hear a thing. But it was more serious than that . . . I was completely dumb.

Chris loses the power of speech completely when his best friend dies in a car crash. Why? What terrible secret is he hiding? And can he find his voice before it’s too late?

Jim of YA Yeah Yeah’s UKYA Books of the Year

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Along with Jandy Nelson’s The Sky Is Everywhere, one of the two most heartbreaking books I’ve ever read, and the most heartbreaking of all UKYA. Simply perfectly written.

Skin Deep by Laura Jarratt

The best debut of the year by some way, Jarratt’s novel deals with disfigurement, prejudice, mental illness, and recovering from tragedy with great skill and compassion.

The Things We Did For Love by Natasha Farrant

While it seems to have been overshadowed somewhat by the success of Code Name Verity, Farrant’s own WWII novel is an exquisite book. It’s beautifully written, captures the feel for the period perfectly, and made me cry.

Department 19: The Rising by Will Hill

700 pages or so and not a wasted word. Absolute genius at work, with a huge mass of plotlines woven together perfectly.

Silenced by Simon Packham

This book about a boy struggling to cope with the death of his best friend stands out because of the huge warmth and surprising amount of humour found in it.