The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a powerfully written book based around the shameless use of black women as live-in housekeepers in the homes of white families in the American South.

Set in the 1960s, just before the Civil Rights movement came into being, Skeeter is a young white woman who aspires to write a book about the lives and treatment handed out to those black women who are employed as maids.

She enlists the help of Aibileen and  Minnie who each tell their tales in a story interwoven with fear of discovery for being a part of writing such a book, while life goes on around them with household tasks to be carried out, children to feed and clothe, while the indomitable white ladies of the town go about their business with hardly a thought for the maids in their employ.

The Help is a powerful book that brings to life the characters, scenery and events in a way that will touch your heart, and leave you thinking long after the book is finished.

A full length feature movie has been made of The Help, and reading this book first will give you a head start and a real feel for the characters.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a powerful story set in a futuristic America. The US has collapsed and been replaced by Panem, a country with a capitol and 12 districts, and each year two youngsters from each district must fight to the death against each other in a live reality TV show that everyone must watch.

The Hunger Games, the first in a trilogy by Suzanne Collins, follows two young teenagers chosen from District 12 who are forced to take part.

Following the death of her father,16 year old Katniss has become the family's protector and frequently steals food in order for them to survive. When her younger sister Prim is chosen to take part in the Hunger Games, she readily steps in instead.

Alongside Peeta, the baker's son, they have to show cunning, skill, intelligence to compete against their bigger, stronger and better trained competitors to survive.

This book will draw you in and keep you there, and leave you with a sense of longing for the next book in the series.

Smokin' Seventeen: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich

Smokin' Seventeen: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich.

For those disappointed with recent Stephanie Plum novels, Smokin' Seventeen shows that Janet Evanovich is back on form.

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum finds herself in the middle of another exciting murder mystery with dead bodies appearing in shallow graves on a construction site.

Meanwhile her mother is encouraging her to dump both the men in her life, policeman Joe Morelli and security man Ranger, in favor of an old football star high school chum who is back in town.

Smokin' Seventeen has a smokin' good storyline and believable characters that'll keep you gripped to your seats until you have read it through.

Go The F**k to Sleep by Adam Mansbach and Ricardo Cortez

Go The F**k to Sleep by Adam Mansbach and Ricardo Cortez is delight for weary parents everywhere.

Every parent who has ever gone through the trauma of having a child or children who will not go to sleep after being put to bed or having a story read to them, will strongly identify with every word written here, and it may may raise a chortle or two.

A must read, this book is unputdownable, easy to read and beautiful illustrated throughout by artist Ricardo Cortez.

For parents of a gentle disposition and who don't like swear words, don't read as the book is peppered throughout.

However, as most of us have at some point in our lives have felt the difficulties and frustrations of having a child who uses every ingenious excuse in the book not to go to sleep, we can empathize with every event and every saying throughout Go the F**k to Sleep which will not only make us smile, it will make any future parenting that bit easier having read this books first.