Right now, my desk is piled high with one hundred young adult novels. As a judge for the 2005 Booktrust Teenage Award, I am expected to read each one closely, serve up a shortlist with my colleagues for debate, and select a worthy winner. Prior to my appointment on the panel, my reading this year consisted of one videogames magazine, which I believe I have leafed through twice in the bath. So, I’m feeling both honoured and intimidated.

I’m not the sort of novelist who can finish a day’s work by burying his nose in a book. In many ways, my preference to pick up the remote control instead of a good read is typical of a teenage mindset. The demands faced by young people, as well as the distractions, often leave literature last on the list of things to do. In many ways, this is responsible for making young adult fiction one of the most exciting and inventive areas in UK publishing. Why? Because it has to grab the reader’s attention, against all odds, which means the standard is sky-high.

As shining examples, I can thoroughly recommend Phillip Reeve’s Mortal Engines trilogy. This is high adventure in the most inventive sense; set in a post-apocalyptic landscape that has a strange Victorian air throughout. It’s a very British adventure, I think.

Back in the real world, I am a big fan of Bali Rai’s work. Last year’s Rani & Sukh succeeded in making a multigenerational, cross-cultural love story something tough enough for boys as well as girls to find compelling. I look forward to his new book – The Whisper.

Julie Burchill’s Sugar Rush received mixed reviews, but I suspect much of this was coloured by the author’s reputation as a journalistic Rotweiller. I was invited to read a proof copy with a view to providing a publicity quote, which I agreed to do because frankly I was scared I might otherwise end up on her hit list. As it turned out, the novel is a heady coming of age story that I genuinely enjoyed from start to finish.

Finally, a novel that deserves word-of-mouth success alone is Noodle Head by Jonathan Kebbe. It’s a deceptively simple story about a heavily sedated, oddball kid who struggles to get through his sentence in a young offender’s unit. There is something bittersweet and tender about this tale, which reminded me of Louis Sachar’s Holes.

Matt Whyman is the author of several books for adults and teenagers, including Boy Kills Man, the critically acclaimed young adult novel about a 12-year-old Colombian child assassin. His forthcoming novel, The Wild, is set in Kazakhstan and Russia. Matt is also agony uncle for AOL UK and Bliss – a teenage girls’ magazine.