Here Come the Girls!

Challenge #10 is to read a book in which the main character is a different gender to you. So for all those boys out there - here come the girls! Tough, feisty and with attitude these girls would give any boy a run for their money in the 'Who's a Hero' stakes.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. But Katniss has been close to death before - and survival, for her, is second nature. "The Hunger Games" is a searing novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present. Welcome to the deadliest reality TV show ever...

And with book 2 in the series 'Cathing Fire' out already and 'Mockingjay' the third book in the series out in August, this will be a satifyingly long read over the summer.

Since her mother's death, fifteen-year-old Jem has kept a secret. When her eyes meet someone else's, a number pops into her head the date on which they will die. Knowing that nothing lasts forever, Jem avoids relationships, but when she meets a boy called Spider, and they plan a day out together, her life takes a new twist and turn. Waiting for the London Eye, she sees everyone in the queue has the same number - something terrible is going to happen.

Book 2 in the series 'The Chaos' is also available, this time the main character is a boy.

It's January 1st, 2015, and the UK is the first nation to introduce carbon dioxide rationing, in a drastic bid to combat climate change. As her family spirals out of control, Laura Brown chronicles the first year of rationing with scathing abandon. Will her mother become one with her inner wolf? Will her sister give up her weekends in Ibiza? Does her father love the pig more than her? Can her band the dirty angels make it big? In these dark days, Laura deals with the issues that really matter: love, floods and pigs. The Carbon Diaries 2015 is one girl's drastic bid to stay sane in a world unravelling at the seams.

lovereadingforkids said 'It's edgy, it's appealing and it's contemporary and it makes for utterly compelling and frightening reading' and with Carbon Diaries 2017 also available it could be a fun filled apocolyptic summer for the teens in your household.

Two boys, two girls each as capable as the other.

Fourteen years ago, scientist William Fox implanted four babies with the Medusa gene - a gene for psychic abilities. But Fox died and the babies were hidden away for years. Now the children are teenagers - and unaware that their psychic powers are about to kick in. Prepare for psychic action as the four teens discover their powers and each other in this fast paced opener.

Book 2 'The Hostage' is out already and book 3 'The Rescue' will be in shops from the 8th July. Suitable for 9+

When two young women meet under extraordinary circumstances in the eighteenth- century West Indies, they are unified in their desire to escape their oppressive lives. Fate ensures that one night the two young women have to save each other and run away to a life no less dangerous but certainly a lot more free. As pirates, they roam the seas, fight pitched battles against their foes and become embroiled in many a heart-quickening adventure.

'This is as swashbuckling a yarn as anyone could wish for.' Adele Geras, Guardian. If you like this try Celia Rees' other strong female characters 'Sovay', 'Sorceress' and Witch Child.

Meet Clary Fray, an ordinary 16 year old teenager, who likes hanging out in Brooklyn with her friends. But everything changes the night she witnesses a murder, committed by a group of teens armed with medieval weaponry. The murderous group are Shadowhunters, secret warriors dedicated to driving demons out of this dimension and back into their own. Drawn inexorably into a terrifying world, Clary slowly begins to learn the truth about her family - and the battle for the fate of the world. As tough as it gets! Ages 14+

Ok boys, the girls are putting it up to you - are you up for the challenge of these tough women?