Play: Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal for writing 2025

This is very much a read for teens plus, especially, say, fans of Patrick Ness. It is a hard-hitting novel about four boys as they move through the years of secondary school. Despite very different social backgrounds, and indeed personalities, they have remained a group of close friends since primary school days and entertain themselves by inventing and playing a variety of ‘games’, many of which would not really be considered games at all by many. It is a realistic narrative about boys whose behaviour is often ‘anti-social’, what some might even consider ‘delinquent’. But every page of it rings true and these characters and their dialogue are brilliantly evoked with real depth and insight. The story covers issues of developing sexuality (straight and gay), of alcohol and drug-abuse, and of the easy road these bring into serious criminalisation for some youngsters . This is a book of which I think some parents will disapprove (and very probably some teachers too), but that is exactly why they should read it. This is the very thing that makes it great. Together with skilfully layered multi-perspective and compelling storytelling its unflinching honesty is the very reason its intended audience will appreciate it so enthusiastically. May young people will recognise this as real life. They will identify with one or other of its characters and those who don’t will know kids who are like them. The book had much to say about life, about teen boys and about the ‘games’ we play to get through, weather creative or destructive. However it is the remarkable ending that reveals it as the very fine work of that fiction it is,My full review is now on my book blog magicfictionsincepotter.blogspot.com.

Very readable and believable story of four boys, with very different family backgrounds and characters, moving through adolescence. Sex (gay and straight), violence and drug references make it unsuitable for younger children. Suitable for teens.

Read this as one of the shortlisted Carnegie titles this year. It packs quite a punch, as mother of a teenage boy myself. I could see a range represented by the foursome, each of whom narrates their own stories, and each of whom is represented by a different font.From the start of adolescence to the end of school, this is a very different group of boys, but still friends. One has supportive parents and is artistic and motivated, though his sexuality is causing him some issues. One is an athlete, with a coach father pushing him relentlessly to strive harder. One is the kid every teacher dreads, the one they can't control, the one who likes to destroy things with an eccentric way about him. And one has an older brother with friends pushing him into darker and darker illegalities, though lucrative.Matt, Luc, Johnny and Mark are easy to empathise with. Their silly games at 13, dens and classroom antics strike the reader as everyday, normal teens.Then we catch up with them at several points until exams and the nearing of adulthood. It moves on quickly through their young lives and you have to jolt yourself to realise another year or two must have passed. There's love and crushes, girls and preening, parties, sports, drugs, money... all the usual mix of teenage hormones and lives thrown together with four very different personalities.The story gets very dark, and scary. What is happening for one feels more peripheral or unnoticed in the narrative of another, though the reader is aware of small significances and links.It's very well drawn together, harking back to their younger days, with a lot in there contrasting different parents and family lives, opportunities squandered or taken, and most readers, like me, will be hoping against hope the book's rapidly approaching end brings optimist futures for them all.Worthy of its place in the Carnegie shortlist, powerful, current and doesn't pull its punches.For ages 14 and above.

An extraordinary book! That ending! I'm still thinking about it. At times funny, at times heart-wrenching, a beautiful exploration of masculinity, sexuality, friendship, county lines and the painfully irresistible downward spirals of life. I've never read anything like it. It's YA at its very best and we're lucky to live in a world where readers have books like this one. It's a book that will make you feel ALL the things, it'll make you think, and it will stay with you for a long, long time.