There is a perception around that young adult literature is passe, that teenagers go straight from Goosebumps to adult authors. If so, they are missing a jot of good books. Although some of the following new novels are lighter than others, they are all worth reading.
Bernadette Leach's 4 Ever Friends (Attic Press, £4.95) Is in the form of a "diary" which records the events of a few memorable months in the life of 16-year-old Corkonian Anna. Her dog dies, her younger brother gets into trouble, she breaks up with her best Mend, her dad loses his job, her family is on the verge of disintegrating - and she falls in love. The number of characters demands concentration from those unfamiliar with Leach's previous books and the editing is not perfect, but she writes well. Her novel Is insightful and humorous. Let us hope Attic Press reissues the whole series soon.
In Fast Car, by Martina Murphy (Poolbeg £3.99), April (again from Cork) Is dumped by her high-flying parents on her uncle in Ballinteer when her Dad takes a short-term job in Germany. She conies with a reputation as a swot but blossoms in the laid-back Walsh family. Luke, a moody lad who was expelled from school for joy-riding and is now in a dead-end job, is the star player of the local amateur foot- ball team. April and Luke fall for each other and, eventually, help each other to overcome their private terrors, stand up to their bullying fathers and assert their right to make their own decisions in life.
Monkey, by Veronica Bennett (Walker, £3.99 In UK), is another book about bullying Harry fancies the beautiful Louise, is bullied by the dreaded "Brig" Fox. has to look after his little sister until his parents come home every evening - and then is expected to spend time entertaining a quadriplegic ex-actor called Simon. Simon teaches him to face up to the truth about both himself and others, and this, together with his unexpected success in the school play, leads to his growing self-confidence and his eventual besting of the bully and getting of the girl.
This novel is more reflective and less determinedly "with it" than Fast Car; it is also a very good read.
Allison, A Story of First Love, by Tatiana Strelkoff (O'Brien Press, £5.99), is an American book with an Irish dimensions: Karen's divorced father is Irish. This time, the issue at issue, as you might say, is lesbianism.
Karen has never been particularly interested in boys but it is only when she moves to a new school and falls for Alison that she realises she is gay. Not only is she aware that her family will be shocked and hurt and that she will be ridiculed at school if people learn the truth about her, but she shares some of the game reactions herself.
She attempts to deny her own feelings; worse, she pretends an interest in a male chauvinist bully (there we go again!) to prove she's heterosexual. This leads to a strong scene of attempted gang rape. Encouraged by her friends, both male and female, she faces up to her real nature and learns to cope with the reaction of both her family and her peers.
A new book by Robert Cormier is an event worth waiting for, and Heroes (Hamish Hamilton, £10.99 in UK) is as bleak as moat of his work but it stands out from the other novels reviewed here in both style and emotional content.
Francis has survived the second World War, a silver-star hero hut with most of his face blown off by a grenade. He has come home to Frenchtown to see his old girlfriend Nicole and to find - and kill - another silver-star hero, Tarry LaSalle, the man who ran the local recreation club in their youth. The story is told in flashback, in simple yet marvellously rich language, and builds up to a fitting climax. Not a comfortable read, huts masterly example of what Conrad calls "the power of the written word to make you feel, to make you hear, but above all, to make you see".