Junk
Age 12+
Personal & Social Issues: Drugs & Addiction Personal & Social Issues: Sexuality & Relationships Personal & Social Issues: Bullying, Violence & Abuse Romance & Relationships Stories
This 20th Anniversary edition of the classic novel comes with an introduction from former children’s laureate Malorie Blackman and bonus content following its controversial history, from its writing to when it won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize.
It was a love story. Me, Gemma and junk. I thought it was going to last forever.
Tar loves Gemma, but Gemma doesn't want to be tied down. She wants to fly. But no one can fly forever. One day, finally, you have to come down. Melvin Burgess’ most ambitious and complex novel is a vivid depiction of a group of teenagers in the grip of addiction. Told from multiple viewpoints, Junk is a powerful, unflinching novel about heroin. Once you take a hit, you will never be the same again.
Creators
Melvin Burgess was born in London and brought up in Surrey and Sussex. He has had a variety of jobs before becoming a full-time writer. Before his first novel, he had short stories published and a play broadcast on Radio 4. He is now regarded as one of the best writers in contemporary children's literature, having won the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for his acclaimed novel Junk.
Reviews
Everyone should read Junk.
The Times
Melvin Burgess’s ground-breaking Junk remains the best book about teenagers and drugs to this day
Julia Eccleshare, Guardian Online
Junk has a perfect sense of time and place, characters who feel real and it may just be the best YA book ever.
Big Issue, Top 5 Young Adult Books
Occasionally a ‘teenage novel’ comes along which makes one reconsider the whole genre and its potential. Such a book is Melvin Burgess’s Junk.
Children's Books in Ireland
Personally I prefer the love triangle in Melvin Burgess’s Junk, in which Tar’s devotion to heroin split he and Gemma apart.
Guardian
This book is beguiling, layered and filled with a boldness that comes with youth.
Gemma Cairney
Brilliantly and sensitively written, it encompasses the raw, savage and ecstatic world of the adolescent mind… a superbly crafted and important book
TES
Beautifully written
The Times
Believable and rivetingly readable. I couldn’t put it down.
Evening Standard
Moving and provocative
Observer
One novel that will leave an indelible impression on all who read it
Publishers Weekly
It is the real thing – a teenage novel for teenage readers
The Scotsman
An honest, authentic look at drug culture
Time Out
. . . a story that provoked some scandal when it won the coveted Carnegie Medal for children’s books.
Independent
One of the defining books of YA fiction
The Bookseller
An absolute must-read for any teenager and an essential eye-opener to any parent of a teenager… utterly compelling and terrifying by turns.
Lovereading
