Last Year

Claire Mason got a diary for Christmas. It should be filled with entries about her life at college as she prepares to sit exams. Instead, Claire's diary tells of a family illness, and the difficult decisions it forces her to make. Last Year is the story of Claire's hardest year. YA Reads I and II have been written by experienced authors to fulfil the need for mature yet accessible fiction aimed at young adults. These 16 engrossing and thought-provoking titles have themes spanning sexuality, identity, family breakdown, bereavement, relationships, prejudice and dystopia. With a realistic word count of 5000-6000, YA Reads provide struggling readers with captivating, age-appropriate fiction to both inspire a love of reading and broaden horizons. This hi-lo series for struggling and reluctant readers has been written for teens aged between 14 and 16 years, whose current reading age is 8-9. These age-appropriate short reads range from 40 to 64 pages and are written by brilliant authors writing stories with relatable characters. They incorporate a large font size and text separated into bite-sized chunks, along with carefully considered letter and paragraph spacing that can reduce visual stress. The series has plenty of practice at one level, allowing consolidation of learning before moving on to more challenging reads.