From aliens to the airwaves

This week’s selection for young adults offers stories on how to survive alien overlords as well as taking on a radio station job.

Kaleidoscope Song Author: Fox Benwell

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books, contemporary fiction

FIFTEEN-year-old Neo loves music, and as far back as she can remember, all she’s ever wanted to do is share this passion on the air. When she sneaks out one night to listen to live music, she meets Tale, the lead singer in a local South African band, and their shared love of music grows. So does their love for each other. But not everyone approves.

Then Neo lands her dream job of working at a popular radio station, and she discovers that using your voice is sometimes harder than expected – and that there are always consequences.

The 12 Dares Of Christa Author: Marissa Burt Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books, contemporary fiction

CHRISTMAS is ruined for holiday-loving Christa Vaile. How is the 13year-old American supposed to enjoy her favourite season when her parents are getting divorced? Not even the prospect of a mother-daughter trip to Europe can cheer Christa up.

But when they arrive at their hotel in Italy, Christa finds a package from her dad awaiting her, and inside is the first of 12 dares that takes Christa to the first landmark in one of the three countries she’s visiting. Over the course of fulfilling her dad’s dares, Christa visits beautiful places and meets intriguing people who teach her life lessons about finding hope in strange places.

Invictus Author: Ryan Graudin Publisher: Little Brown & Company, science fiction

ALL Farway Gaius McCarthy has ever wanted to be is a Recorder of History, just like the time-travelling mother he’s never known. But instead, the 17-year-old is kicked out of the time-travel academy when he fails the final exam and finds himself at loose ends – until he’s recruited to lead a pirate ship of teens that travels through time to steal valuables.

It’s all fun and games until he meets the mysterious Eliot (during a heist on the sinking Titanic no less!), a girl who seems to know way too much about the strange time-addled circumstances of Farway’s birth and his future importance to a grim mission to stop the “Fade” from devouring the multiverse.

Landscape With Invisible Hand Author: M.T. Anderson Publisher: Candlewick Press, science fiction

ALIENS finally arrive – but instead of invading Planet Earth, the seemingly benevolent Vuvv build cities high above the clouds and offer advanced technology and cures for every human illness imaginable. Then humans find themselves losing jobs as technology takes over, and those without jobs can’t get basic things like clean water, medicine, and food since all that alien tech costs money to access.

Adam is in dire need of medicine for his gastrointestinal disease so when he and girlfriend Chloe realise the aliens are suckers for anything and everything to do with Earth’s 1950s era, they take to selling vids of the 1950s-style dates, complete with doo wop music and sharing milkshakes. But then Chloe breaks up with him. Now Adam must decide just how far he’s willing to go to give the Vuvv what they want.