Luke Palmer – THREE-BOOK BUNDLE
Original price was: £28.97.£25.00Current price is: £25.00.
by Luke Palmer
14 YEARS+
GROW
Shortlisted for the 2022 Branford Boase Award
Longlisted for the 2022 Yoto Carnegie medal
Featured on the Sunday Times 2021 Books of the year list
A white supremacist group and its violent leader target fifteen- year-old Josh, who is struggling to cope with his father’s recent death at the hands of terrorists. Will he find the strength to resist, and will unlikely accomplice Dana help him plant something good in the space grief has left inside him?
Grow is a tense and compelling novel of our current social landscape woven through with redemptive strands of friendship, love and nature.
PLAY
Shortlisted for The Carnegie Medal for Writing 2025
Four boys grow up together at school, itching to get out of their small town. They play games, scoring points from each other, anything to pass the time until they’re free.
Matthew slips into his imagination, Luc pushes his body to the limit, and Johnny … well who knows what Johnny’s up to. But when Mark starts running errands for his older brother’s mysterious associate, he thinks he’s found the best game of all. There’s money in his pocket and his friends have started looking at him differently.
Then Mark breaks a rule, and quickly realises that the penalties in this game far outweigh the prizes. Can they all make it to the finish line before someone loses more than just face?
Second book by Carnegie-longlisted and Branford Boase shortlisted poet and novelist Luke Palmer.
An intensely gripping and masterly YA novel about the fates of four very different boys, as they navigate friendships and growing up in a small town.
Focuses on boyhood and male friendship, modern-day masculinity and innocence lost.
LIVE
Year Twelve pupil George is passionate about his band and his music, even if the three other band members are a little more laid back about it. They play for all their friends parties, and just might, he hopes, hit the big time. But they have surprise competition from new girl Beth and shy fellow-pupil Tadhg. Then disaster strikes. Dealing with loss and grief the whole year group must work out how to rebuild their futures and who their true friends are. Comes with complete song lyrics and accompanying playlist!
Third book by Carnegie-longlisted and Branford Boase shortlisted poet and novelist Luke Palmer.
Praise for the book
‘As Melvin Burgess’s Junk was to the dangers of drugs, this cautionary young adult novel is to the threat of radicalisation.’ Nicolette Jones, The Sunday Times, Children’s Book of the Week
‘This unsettling yet compelling debut deserves a place on many bookshelves.’ Claire Hennessy, The Irish Times
‘This book isn’t happy-go-lucky sweet. It’s dark and gripping until the final pages and it is so worth it.’ Anet Rumberg, Paper Lanterns Literary Magazine
‘This book broke my heart and challenged me in so many ways!’ Ashling Brown, AshsWorldOfBooks
‘This was a really compelling but difficult read; there were so many points at which I was desperate for Josh to realise what’s going on/do something about it but it’s all too clear he won’t/can’t because of how angry or scared or stuck or ashamed he feels… never has the phrase emotional roller-coaster felt so apt.’ Bellis Does Books
‘When an author is able to make you stop reading because it is uncomfortable, you know they have done something right… It is exactly what it says in the title. It allows its readers to grow.’ Robyn Spacey, The Book Club Blog
‘With subtle nuance this startling novel will challenge both educators and teenagers – Grow is a gift for KS4 teachers and pastoral coordinators looking for ways to embed PREVENT strategies that will resonate with pupils.’ School Reading List
WHY WE LOVE IT
‘Luke Palmer is a hugely talented new writer, who has given us an unflinching and sadly unavoidable story of insidious white teenage radicalisation in small town England. Grow is also a moving evocation of grief, shot through with redemption.’ Penny Thomas, Editor
