The Ultimate Teen Book Guide is a reference book that I first remember coming across as a teenager in my local public library and it is a chunky book full of book recommendations. It is organised by genre and has contributions from both readers and writers, who recommend a book and explain with a brief synopsis and a few sentences of their thoughts why they recommend this book. Other features are a what next if you have read the book and need a similar read, results of reader polls and age ratings too.

I am now 26 and I was researching books that I read when I was a teenager, purely for nostalgia and The Ultimate Teen Book Guide popped up somewhere on the internet and a lightbulb pinged in my head and I had to buy my own copy. Published in 2006, The Ultimate Teen Book Guide may have aged somewhat in terms of what authors teenagers are reading these days but some of the contributing writers include Melvin Burgess, Kevin Brooks, Meg Cabot, and the recommended books aren’t all early 2000s, they are from the author’s point of view from their youth. Certainly books like Feather Boy by Nicky Singer and the Sally Lockhart books by Philip Pullman I had completely forgotten about. 

A useful book to find new reading inspiration.

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