Books for 16 year olds
Books for 16-year-olds – favourites chosen by teens including titles by Nicola Yoon, Julie Murphy, Sarah J. Maas, Jenny Han, S. F. Williamson, Laura Nowlin, Bill Wood, and Angie Thomas.
Recommended reading books for primary & secondary aged children in the UK
S.F. Williamson is a writer of young adult fantasy whose work draws on a background in languages and literary translation. She read French and Italian at the University of Bath and later completed the MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University, crediting the course with shaping her debut.
Her first novel, A Language of Dragons, was published by HarperCollins/Harper Fire in January 2025. Retail and bibliographic records note multiple formats and special editions, and the title reached No. 1 in the UK Children’s TCM chart on 7 January 2025. The story centres on a linguist recruited to help decode dragon speech within a clandestine academic project, blending codebreaking themes with high-stakes fantasy.
Williamson’s author and publisher biographies describe her as trilingual and fascinated by how languages evolve, an interest that informs both the world-building and the narrative focus of her fiction. Prior to publication she worked as a translator, experience she has cited as inspiration for exploring meaning, nuance and mistranslation on the page.
A sequel, A War of Wyverns, is scheduled for publication by HarperCollins in January 2026.
Selected works: A Language of Dragons (HarperCollins/Harper Fire, January 2025); A War of Wyverns (HarperCollins, January 2026).
Books for 16-year-olds – favourites chosen by teens including titles by Nicola Yoon, Julie Murphy, Sarah J. Maas, Jenny Han, S. F. Williamson, Laura Nowlin, Bill Wood, and Angie Thomas.
Here’s our selection of top new titles coming out in Spring 2025. These reading recommendations include picture books, early and middle-grade fiction; young adult novels and non-fiction.
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