By Nick Lake (author)
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Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal 2014 - January 2014 Book of the Month - Shortlisted for the Leeds Book Awards 2014, 14-16 age category A menacing chill is never far below the surface in this gripping young adult novel. Amy is dealing with a host of problems when her father suddenly springs a trip of a lifetime on her.
Having no choice, she unwillingly agrees to accompany her father and step mother sailing across the world on a luxury yacht. Slowly Amy relaxes into the life at sea. Maybe this will be an experience that will change them all? But then the boat is captured by pirates. Now nothing is certain and all the normal rules are broken.
Nick Lake tells Amy’s story brilliantly. He is sympathetic and insightful about a girl trying to find out what really matters to her in a situation that is fraught with very real danger.
****NOTE Suitable for 15+ only as some strong content
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The winners of the Leeds Book Awards are chosen by you! Read the books, talk about them with your friends & teachers and decide which one is your favourite. You can vote in your local library or at www.leedsbookawards.co.uk . Voting closes on Friday 25th April and the winners will be announced on Tuesday 20th May.
See below for the entire shortlist.
****NOTE Suitable for 15+ only as some strong content. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing: a girl on a yacht with her super-rich banker father; a chance for the family to heal after a turbulent time; the peaceful sea, the warm sun ...But a nightmare is about to explode as a group of Somali pirates seizes the boat and its human cargo - and the family becomes a commodity in a highly sophisticated transaction.
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****NOTE Suitable for 15+ only as some strong content . It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing: a girl on a yacht with her super-rich banker father; a chance for the family to heal after a turbulent time; the peaceful sea, the warm sun ...But a nightmare is about to explode as a group of Somali pirates seizes the boat and its human cargo - and the family becomes a commodity in a highly sophisticated transaction.
Hostage One is Dad - the most valuable. Amy is Hostage Three. As she builds a strange bond with one of her captors, it becomes brutally clear that the price of a life and its value are very different things...
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Leeds Book Awards 2014
The Battles of Ben Kingdom by Andrew Beasley
The Great Ice-cream Heist by Elen Caldecott
Ways to See a Ghost by Emily Diamand
Osbert the Avenger by Christopher William Hill
The Child's Elephant by Rachel Campbell-Johnston
Wild Boy by Rob Lloyd Jones
Anthem for Jackson Dawes by Celia Bryce
After Tomorrow by Gillian Cross
How to be Invisible by Tim Lott
The Poison Boy by Fletcher Moss
Blood Tracks by Paula Rawsthorne
Geek Girl by Holly Smale
The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher
Infinite Sky by C.J. Flood
Hostage Three by Nick Lake
Siege by Sarah Mussi
Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher
The Quietness by Alison Rattle
Praise for In Darkness:
In Darkness is a serious, nuanced, challenging novel. Trust me, there are plenty of young readers who hunger for exactly that - Guardian In Darkness is brutal and stark, poetic and soulful - and definitely worth keeping the light on for Scotland on Sunday
Nick Lake is the critically-acclaimed author of many YA novels. His books have won several prizes including the Michael L. Printz Award, and have been shortlisted three times for the Carnegie Medal - most recently for his novel Nowhere on Earth. Nick is also the Fiction Publisher at HarperCollins Children’s Books. He lives with his family in Oxfordshire, in a very old house protected by magical symbols..
Previous occupations: Student, and then book editor. Which I still am. Favourite job: Being a book editor. No one told me at school that there was a job where you got paid for being a fan of writers and writing.
High school and/or college: I went to High School in Luxembourg, and I went to Oxford University after that for a degree and then a fairly pointless masters. In phonetics, of all things.
Name of your favourite composer or music artist? The Pixies. Favourite movie: I usually lie and go for something clever like Vertigo . But really it's True Romance . How would you describe your life in only 8 words? I would use the word "busy" eight times.
What is your motto or maxim? To paraphrase the existentialists - life is what you make it. Which amounts to a practical kind of karma, I suppose.
How would you describe perfect happiness? A fire, a good chair and a new Stephen King book. Or the moment the soundchecks finish and the band take to the stage. Or sunset on the mountains, with weary feet, and the lights of a pub ahead. Or the sound of a breakbeat. Or a very sweet tea, anywhere in the Middle East, at any time of day.
What’s your greatest fear? Not being good.
Which living person do you most admire? Haruki Murakami. Stephen King. Anyone who works for Medecins sans Frontieres or Amnesty International.
What are your most overused words or phrases? "Apparently".
If you could acquire any talent, what would it be? The abillity to play a musical instrument well. Also, the ability to speak all languages fluently.
What is your greatest achievement? Meeting my wife.
If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be? I wouldn't mind being Simon Cowell. I could make The X-Factor go away. Not to mention R&B flavoured pop music.
What trait is most noticeable about you? I have no idea. My hair? It's usually quite big, because I keep forgetting to have it cut. I look like the freakish son of Tom Hanks and David Hasselhoff.
Who is your favourite fictional hero? Sally Lockhart.
Who is your favourite fictional villain? Steerpike. (Also hero.)
If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her? I'd like to meet Shakespeare and I'd ask him how to write better.
What is your favourite occupation, when you’re not writing? Reading? Actually probably sleeping, to be honest.
What’s your fantasy profession? Bestselling and universally admired author.
What 3 personal qualities are most important to you? Compassion. Empathy. Humour.
If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be? Chocolate, in any form.
What are your 5 favourite songs? Hmmm. "Beat It"; "Here, There and Everywhere" by the Beatles; "U-Mass" by the Pixies; "Heartbeat" by Annie and "Etched Headplate" by Burial On Books and Writing: Who are your favourite authors? Haruki Murakami. Stephen King. Neil Gaiman. Margaret Atwood. Joan Didion. Ismail Kadare. Philip Reeve. Philip Pullman. Meg Rosoff.
What are your 5 favourite books of all time? Tough one. I guess... Middlemarch ; Coraline ; For Whom the Bell Tolls ; the collected works of Shakespeare... and Little, Big , by John Crowley - the single most unfairly overlooked, beautiful, miraculous and magical book I know.
Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers? I wouldn't presume to think of myself as someone anyone might look to for advice! But I suppose I'd tell them to read as much as possible, in as many genres as possible.
What comment do you hear most often from your readers? "You're very... imaginative aren't you." I think they mean I'm strange.
Nick Lake introduces There Will Be Lies : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHahGI6t5Qk
Theodore Boone: The Fugitive
****NOTE Suitable for 15+ only as some strong content. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing: a girl on a yacht with her super-rich banker father; a chance for the family to heal after a turbulent time; the peaceful sea, the warm sun ...But a nightmare is about to explode as a group of Somali pirates seizes the boat and its human cargo - and the family becomes a commodity in a highly sophisticated transaction. Hostage One is Dad - the most valuable.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Hostage Three and determined it is suitable for children aged 13-14 years old
Hostage Three features in the following genres: Recommended Children's eBooks, Recommendations, Featured Books for 13+ readers, Books of the Month, Thrillers, Adventure Stories, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational
Paperback, Hardback. Not Available.
Hostage Three was written by Nick Lake and published by Bloomsbury Childrens an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Hostage Three has 368 pages
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