The best books for teens this summer
If you thought The Little Mermaid was a lovely fairy tale with singing crabs and happy endings, think again. Louise O’Neill’s searing retelling of the original tale in The Surface Breaks (Scholastic, £12.99) could not be further from Disney’s sanitised version if it tried. The book crackles with darkness and discomfort and shines a harsh light on the troubling misogyny tied up in so many fairy stories.