RECOMMENDED READ 2020 - Whitley Bay High School
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2020 RECOMMENDED - - to - - READ
Where the World Ends
by Geraldine McCaughrean
Year 9 h e s e !
In the summer of 1727, a
group of men and boys
are put ashore on a
d t
uld rea
remote sea stack to
harvest birds for food.
You sho
No one returns to collect
them. How can they
survive, imprisoned on
every side by the ocean?
The Art of Being Normal After the Fire Paper Butterflies
by Lisa Williamson by Will Hill by Lisa Heathfield
Moonbeam lives inside June’s life at home with
David Piper has always the fence. She is not her stepmother and
been an outsider. His allowed to leave the stepsister is a dark one.
parents think he’s gay. property, or to talk to She is trapped like a
The school bully thinks outsiders, or speak her butterfly in a net. But then
he’s a freak. Only his two mind. Because Father June meets Blister. In him
best friends know the real John controlled every- she sees the tiniest
truth – David wants to be thing. Disobeying Father glimmer of hope that she
a girl. John came with terrible can be free.
consequences.
The Curious Incident of the The Poet X Wonder
Dog in the Night-Time by Elizabeth Agevedo by R. J. Palacio
by Mark Haddon Xiomara Batista feels August or “Auggie”
Christopher perceives the unheard and unable to Pullman, a ten-year-old
world entirely literally. He hide in her Harlem boy living in New York
relates well to animals but neighbourhood. She City, was born with a
has no understanding of discovers slam poetry as facial deformity that has
human emotions. Then one a way to understand her made it difficult for him
day, a neighbour’s dog is mother’s religion and her to make friends. He lives
killed and Christopher sets own relationship to the with his parents, his older
out to solve the murder. world. sister Via, and his dog
Daisy. A moving tale.
Maggot Moon A Monster Calls Northern Lights
by Sally Gardner by Patrick Ness by Philip Pullman
Maggot Moon tells the A boy seeks the help of a The first book of the
story of Standish tree monster to cope with trilogy, Northern Lights,
Treadwell, who lives in an his single mother’s terminal takes place in a universe
alternative1950s Britain illness. The monster does that is a little like ours
ruled by a ruthless regime. not come walking often. but also strikingly
As his family and friends This time it comes to different. A fantasy book
disappear around him, Conor, and it asks for the with lots of thrills and
Standish finds himself one thing Conor cannot adventures, following
involved in a plot to win bring himself to do. Lyra and her daemon
the race to the moon. Pantalaimon.
Every Day One Lies We Tell Ourselves
by David Levithan by Sarah Crossan by Robin Talley
Every day a different life. Writing in free verse, Sarah Dunbar is one of
Every day in love with the Sarah Crossan tells the the first black students
same girl. This book is a sensitive and moving to attend the previously
unique love story about a story of conjoined twin all-white Jefferson High
teen who wakes up every sisters Tippi and Grace. School. She is put into
morning in a different For them, it’s normal to remedial classes, spat
body, living a different life. step into the same skirt. on and tormented daily.
A brave and stunning
novel about race and
power.
The Boy in the Striped
Eragon The Secret Commonwealth
Pyjamas by Christopher Paolini by Philip Pullman
by John Boyne
This novel follows the The second volume of Sir
Bruno sees a camp where adventures of a farm boy Philip Pullman’s The Book
prisoners wear striped named Eragon who finds of Dust sees Lyra, now
pyjamas. One day, Bruno a mysterious stone in twenty years old, and
decides to explore the the mountains. A dragon her daemon Pantalaimon
strange wire fence. As he he later names Saphira drawn into the complex
walks along the fence, hatches from the stone, and dangerous factions
he meets a Jewish boy which was really an egg. of a world that they had
named Shmuel, who he no idea existed.
learns shares his birthday..
All available in your school library
The Fault In Our Stars The Enemy Salt to the Sea
by John Green by Charlie Higson by Ruta Sepetys
This book is about a The Enemy is a post- Salt to the Sea is a
teenage girl, Hazel, who apocalyptic horror novel. historical fiction. It tells
has been diagnosed with The book takes place in the story of four
lung cancer and London, United Kingdom, individuals in World War
reluctantly attends a after a worldwide sickness II who make their way to
cancer support group, has infected adults, the ill-fated MV Wilhelm
where she meets a young turning them into Gustloff.
boy named Augustus something akin to
Waters. cannibalistic zombies.
Liccle Bit The Wolf Wilder A Good Girl’s Guide to
by Alex Wheatle by Katherine Rundell Murder
When Venetia starts pay- When the Russian Army by Holly Jackson
ing Liccle Bit attention, he threatens her very exist- Five years ago Andie
secretly hopes he’s on a ence, Feo is left with no Bell was murdered by Sal
fast track to a first date. option but to go on the Singh. The police know
Unfortunately, as a new run. What follows is a he did it. Everyone in
gang war breaks out, story of revolution and town knows he did it. But
he finds himself on a fast adventure, about stand- having grown up in the
track to something much ing up for the things you same small town that was
more sinister. love and fighting back. consumed by the crime,
And, of course, wolves. Pippa isn’t so sure.
Animal Farm Bird Box The Weight of a
by George Orwell by Josh Malerman Thousand Feathers
Manor Farm is run by A terrifying, Hitchcock- by Brian Conaghan
Mr Jones, a cruel and esque psychological Seventeen-year-old Bob-
drunken farmer. One day, horror. Malorie raises the by Seed is a devoted
the animals gather at children the only way she son and big brother and
a meeting to listen to can: indoors. The house an all-round firework of
Old Major, a wise old is quiet. The doors are wit and charm, wise and
pig. Old Major makes locked, the curtains are strong beyond his years.
a speech, calling for closed, mattresses are He’s also a young carer
animals to rise up against nailed over the windows. to his mum who’s suffering
their farmers. from debilitating MS.
One Of Us Is Lying Long Way Down The Miseducation of
by Karen M. McManus by Jason Reynolds Cameron Post
One of Us Is Lying is the Tells the story of an by Emily M Danforth
story of what happens African American teen
when five strangers walk boy at a crossroads. Cameron Post is a 12
into detention and only Determined to avenge year old Montana girl
four walk out alive. his 19-year-old brother’s whose parents die in
Everyone is a suspect, death, Will, age 15, takes a car crash just as she
and everyone has his brother’s gun to kill the is discovering her own
something to hide. Pay person he’s certain is the homosexuality.
close attention and you murderer, but it’s a long
might solve this. way down in the elevator.
Orphan Monster Spy A Wizard of Earthsea Rebound
by Matt Killeen by Ursula Le Guin by Kwame Alexander
Set in Europe amidst The story centres around Charlie is packed off
World War II and follows a young magician to stay with his grand-
a Jewish 15 year old girl named Ged. During a parents for the summer.
named Sarah. After her magical duel, Ged’s spell There his cousin Roxie
mum is shot and killed at goes awry and releases introduces him to a whole
a checkpoint, Sarah is a shadow creature that new world: basketball.
forced onto the streets attacks him. The novel A legend on the courts
alone and has no clue follows his journey as he is born. But can Charlie
what the rest of her life seeks to be free of the resist when trouble comes
holds. creature. knocking once again?
Billy Elliot The Gender Game Queen of Air and
by Melvin Burgess by Bella Forrest Darkness
Set in 1984, Billy Elliot In a world torn by by Cassandra Clare
is a young boy living in gender, 19 year-old Caught in a race
a small County Durham Violet Bates is sent to the against time, Emma and
town, who discovers he male’s world of Patrus to Julian must save the
has a talent for ballet, retrieve an egg stolen world of Shadowhunt-
much to the dismay of his from her beloved female’s ers before the deadly
father Jackie, leaving him world of Matrus. power of the parabatai
torn between his dreams curse destroys them and
and the only life he’s ever everyone they love.
known.
All available in your school library
Everything Everything The Hate U Give The Perks of Being a
by Nicola Yoon by Angie Thomas Wallflower
Madeline suffers from a The story follows events in by Stephen Chbosky
rare disease called SCID. the life of a 16-year-old Charlie is coping with the
She calls it ‘bubble baby black girl, Starr Carter, suicide of his friend,
disease’ because she who is drawn to Michael. To lessen the
lives in a metaphorical activism after she fear and anxiety of start-
bubble; she’s not allowed witnesses the police ing high school, Charlie
to leave her house. The shooting of a childhood starts writing letters to
only people she friend. a stranger, someone he
socialises with are her heard was nice but has
mother and her nurse. never met in person.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Coraline The Lost Hero
the Galaxy by Neil Gaiman by Rick Riordan
by Douglas Adams In Coraline’s family’s new Jason and his friends, Leo
Seconds before the flat there are 21 windows and Piper, learn that they
Earth is demolished to and 14 doors. 13 of the are demigods (aka the
make way for a galactic doors open and close. god’s children) and go
freeway, Arthur Dent is The 14th door opens to to stay at the mysterious
plucked off the planet a passage to another Camp Half Blood. The
by his friend Ford Prefect. flat, in another house just story begins when Jason
This dynamic pair begin like her own. wakes up on a bus full of
a journey through space. kids on a field trip.
Only it’s different.
Year 9 Non Fiction
Autobiography, Plays, Poetry,
Journalism
The Diary of a Young Girl The Little Big Things Milk and Honey
by Anne Frank by Henry Fraser by Rupi Kaur
Anne Frank was a young Being challenged in life Milk and Honey is a
Jewish girl living in is inevitable, but being collection of poetry and
Amsterdam during the defeated is optional... prose about survival, and
Holocaust. She receives Henry was 17 when a experience of violence,
a diary for her birthday. tragic accident severed abuse, love, loss, and
Anne’s diary begins at a his spinal cord. femininity. The book is
crucial point in her life, Paralysed from the divided into four
and in the diary Anne shoulders down, he has chapters, and each
depicts her life in hiding conquered unimaginable chapter serves a different
from the Nazis. difficulty to embrace life. purpose.
Stories for Boys Who Dare An Inspector Calls I am Malala
to Be Different by J.B. Priestley by Malala Yousafzai
by Ben Brooks A mysterious interrogator When the Taliban took
There is an ongoing crisis claims that he has seen control of the Swat Valley
with regards to young the dead body of Eva in Pakistan, one girl spoke
men and mental health, Smith/Daisy Renton earlier out. Malala Yousafzai
with unhelpful gender that day, and that he has refused to be silenced
stereotypes contributing been given “a duty” to and fought for her right
to this malaise. Stories investigate the Birlings’ to an education.
for Boys Who Dare to Be responsibility for her
Different offers a welcome death.
alternative narrative.
Happy Women in Science How to be a Footballer
by Fearne Cotton by Rachel Ignotosky by Peter Crouch
Happy offers practical Highlighting fifty nota- Find out which players
ways of finding joy each ble women to the fields refuse to touch a football
and every day. Happiness of science, technology, before a game, discover
isn’t a mountain to climb, engineering, and math- why a load of millionaires
it’s just one foot in front ematics, from the ancient never have any shower-
of the other on the path to the modern world. Full gel, and hear what
of life, and here you’ll find of striking illustrations and Cristiano Ronaldo says
little steps that will help infographics when he looks at himself
make the differences that in the mirror.
count.
All available in your school library
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Year 10 s e !
In the novel, Dr. Jekyll
transforms into Mr. Hyde, a
man without a
a d t h e conscience, through the
should re
use of potions. Eventually
the transformations get
You out of control, and his
friends become aware of
his situation.
To Kill A Mockingbird The Book Thief I am Thunder
by Harper Lee by Markus Zusak by Muhannad Khan
A novel of a childhood in Narrated by Death who Muzna Saleem dreams
a sleepy Southern town tells us about Liesel, a girl of being a writer, but
and the crisis of growing up in Germany struggles with control-
conscience that rocked during World War II. These ling parents who only
it. The story takes readers are dangerous times. care about her studying
to the roots of human When Liesel’s foster family to be a doctor. Muzna
behaviour - to innocence hides a Jew in their base- finds herself influenced
and experience, kindness ment, Liesel’s world is both by extreme views but how
and cruelty, love and opened up, and closed far will she go to protect
hatred. down. what she believes in?
We Are Young 1984 Pride and Prejudice
by Cat Clarke by George Orwell by Jane Austen
On the same night Evan’s Winston Smith wrestles with A novel about five sisters
mother marries local radio oppression in Oceania, - Jane, Elizabeth, Mary,
DJ ‘Breakfast Tim’, Evan’s a place where the Party Kitty and Lydia Bennet
brand-new step-brother scrutinizes human actions - in Georgian England.
Lewis is found unconscious with ever-watchful Big Their lives are turned
and terribly injured, the Brother. Defying a ban on upside down when a
only survivor of a horrific individuality, Winston dares wealthy young man (Mr.
car crash. Evan decides to express his thoughts in Bingley) and his best
to find out what really a diary. friend (Mr. Darcy) arrive in
happened that night. their neighbourhood.
The Red Necklace How I Live Now Sally Heathcote
by Sally Gardner by Meg Rosoff Suffragette
In the late eighteenth- Fifteen-year-old Daisy is by Mary M Talbot
century, Sido, the sent from Manhattan to A graphic novel, Suffra-
daughter of a self-indul- England to visit her aunt gette is a gripping inside
gent marquis, and Yann, and cousins she’s never story of the campaign
a Gypsy orphan raised to met. Her aunt goes away for the vote. A tale of
perform in a magic show, on business soon after loyalty, love and courage,
face a common enemy Daisy arrives. The next day it follows the fortunes of a
at the start of the French bombs go off as London maid-of-all-work swept up
Revolution. is attacked and occupied in the feminist militancy of
by an unnamed enemy. the era.
Release Are We All Lemmings and The House of Silk
by Patrick Ness Snowflakes? by Anthony Horowitz
The novel takes place by Holly Bourne A fine art dealer visits
over the course of a Welcome to Camp Reset. Sherlock Holmes and Dr
single day. A dual A place offering a shot John Watson to beg for
narrative follows Adam, at “normality” for Olive, a their help. He is being
a gay teenager with girl on the edge, and for menaced by a strange
evangelical Christian the new friends she never man in a flat cap. In the
parents, and the ghost expected to make – who days that follow, his home
of a murdered girl as she each have their own is robbed, his family is
traces the steps that led reasons for being there. threatened. And then the
up to her death. first murder takes place.
Fahrenheit 451 Beck The Colour Purple
by Ray Bradbury by Mal Peet by Alice Walker
In an oppressive future, a Both harrowing and life- Celie, the protagonist
fireman whose duty is to affirming, the final novel and narrator, is a poor,
destroy all books begins from Carnegie Medal- uneducated, fourteen-
to question his task. Guy winning author Mal Peet is year-old black girl living
lives in a lonely, isolated the sweeping coming-of- in rural Georgia. Celie
society where books age adventure of a mixed starts writing letters to
have been outlawed by race boy transported to God because her father,
a government fearing North America. Alphonso, beats and
an independent-thinking rapes her.
public.
All available in your school library
A Skinfull of Shadows Brave New World Am I Normal Yet?
by Frances Hardinge by Aldos Huxley by Holly Bourne
Twelve-year-old A dystopian novel largely All Evie wants is to be
Makepeace has learned set in a futuristic World normal. She’s almost off
to defend herself from State of genetically her meds and at a new
the ghosts which try to modified citizens. The college where no one
possess her in the night, novel anticipates huge knows her as the girl-who-
desperate for refuge, scientific developments went-crazy. She’s even
but one day a dreadful that are challenged by going to parties and
event causes her to drop only by a single outsider. making friends. There’s
her guard. only one thing left to tick
off her list…
The Secret Diary of Butter Emma
Adrian Mole by Erin Lange by Jane Austen
by Sue Townsend “Butter” is a 423-pound Although convinced
Adrian is thirteen years lonely teen, nicknamed that she herself will never
old and an incredible after an incident in which marry, Emma Woodhouse,
worrier. ‘The problems of he was bullied into eating a precocious twenty-
existence’ hit him hard, like an entire block of butter. year-old resident of the
spots, being in love and Lonely and sick of his life, village of Highbury,
the relationship between Butter declares that he imagines herself to be
his parents. He strongly will eat himself to death naturally gifted in
believes he is an over a live webcast on conjuring love matches.
intellectual. New Year’s Eve.
War Horse Eleanor Oliphant is Life of Pi
by Michael Morpurgo Completely Fine by Yann Martel
Joey, a beautiful foal is by Gail Honeyman The story of a young man
sold to the army and A story of an out-of-the- who survives a shipwreck
thrust into the midst of ordinary heroine whose and months in a lifeboat
the war on the Western deadpan weirdness and with a large Bengal tiger
Front. Joey’s courage unconscious wit make for named Richard Parker.
touches the soldiers an irresistible journey as Early in Pi’s life, his father
around him, but his she realises the only way realises that his son’s
heart aches for Albert, to survive is to open your naiveté about the tiger
the farmer’s son he left heart. may put Pi in danger.
behind.
I’m the King of the Castle Pulp Scythe
by Susan Hill by Robin Talley by Neal Shusterman
‘I didn’t want you to Abby Cohen can’t stop In a world where disease,
come here.’ So says the thinking about her senior war and crime have been
note that the boy project – classic 1950s eliminated, the only way
Edmund Hooper passes pulp fiction. She feels to die is to be randomly
to Charles Kingshaw especially connected to killed (“gleaned”) by
upon his arrival at one author, ‘Marian Love’, professional scythes.
Warings. and becomes determined A dark, gripping and
A chilling novel that to track her down. Is witty thriller.
explores the extremes of Abby prepared for what
childhood cruelty. she will find?
Trouble Makers The Great Gatsby Sawbones
by Catherine Barter by F. Scott Fitzgerald by Catherine Johnson
Alena never really knew Set during the Jazz Age, Ezra’s knowledge of
her mother, who died this is an exquisitely human anatomy and skill
when she was a baby. crafted tale of America at the dissection table
She has grown up with in the 1920s. The story is will secure him a trade for
her older brother Danny of the fabulously wealthy life. However, his world is
and his boyfriend Nick. Jay Gatsby and his love turned on its head when
Now their home town is for the beautiful Daisy a failed break-in at his
threatened by a bomber Buchanan and of lavish master’s house sets off a
who has been leaving parties on Long Island. strange and disturbing
devices in supermarkets. series of events.
The Picture of Dorian The Lottery and other Robinson Crusoe
Gray Stories by Daniel Defoe
by Oscar Wilde by Shirley Jackson An English sailor is
Dorian Gray believes the A collection of short marooned on a desert
only thing important in stories. Shirley Jackson’s island for nearly three
life is beauty. However, chilling tales have the decades. An ordinary
Dorian realises that he power to unsettle and man struggling to survive
will become less beautiful terrify unlike any other. in extraordinary circum-
as he grows older. He stances, Robinson Crusoe
wishes the portrait an wrestles with fate and the
artist painted would nature of God.
become old in his place..
All available in your school library
Room Things A Bright Girl Can The Burning
by Emma Donoghue Do by Laura Bates
The story is told from the by Sally Nicholls There’s nothing to trace
perspective of a five- Through rallies and Anna back to her old life.
year-old boy, Jack, who is marches, in polite drawing Nothing to link her to the
being held captive in a rooms and freezing prison ‘incident’.
small room along with his cells and the poverty-
mother. stricken slums of the East At least that’s what she
A powerful story of a End, three courageous thinks … until the whispers
mother and son whose young women join the start up again.
love lets them survive the fight for the vote.
impossible.
Thirteen Reasons Why The Martian Trouble
by Jay Asher by Andy Weir by Non Pratt
Clay discovers several Mark Watney is an Hannah’s smart and funny,
cassette tapes recorded astronaut on the Ares 3 she’s also fifteen and
by Hannah Baker, his mission to Mars. The mis- pregnant. Aaron is new at
classmate and crush, who sion has to be aborted school and doesn’t want
committed suicide two in a massive dust storm, in to attract attention. So
weeks earlier. Hannah’s which Watney is stuck with why does he offer to be
voice tells him that there a piece of a satellite and the pretend dad to
are thirteen reasons why lost in the dust storm. His Hannah’s unborn baby?
she decided to end her crew leaves him on Mars,
life. Clay is one of them. believing him to be dead.
Year 10 Non Fiction
Autobiography, Plays, Poetry,
Journalism
Mythos Persepolis Brand New Ancients
by Stephen Fry by Marjane Satrapi by Kate Tempest
The Greek myths are the Marji, is ten years old. It’s This book combines poem,
greatest stories ever told. the year after the Iranian rap, and humanist sermon.
They are embedded Revolution, and although Tempest shows how the
deeply in the traditions, her family has always old myths still live on in
tales and cultural DNA been secular, Marji must our everyday acts of
of the West. Stephen Fry’s wear a veil and attend a violence, bravery,
Mythos perfectly captures religious, girls-only school. sacrifice and love like the
these stories for the She’s imaginative, but old gods.
modern age. doesn’t really understand
what’s happening.
How Not To Be A Boy A Child Called It This Book Is Gay
by Robert Webb by Dave Pelzer by Juno Dawson
Rules for being a man: An autobiography of An uncensored look at
Don’t Cry; Love Sport; a young boy who is what it’s like to grow
Play Rough; Drink Beer; starved, beaten, and up as LGBT. Including
Don’t Talk About Feelings. tortured by his mother. testimonials from people
But Robert Webb has Despite this terrible across the gender and
been wondering for some beginning he manages to sexual spectrums. This is a
time now: are those rules turn his life around. David frank, funny, fully inclusive
actually any use? To uses his faith, a positive book.
anyone? attitude, and determina-
tion to survive.
Freakonomics Staying Alive Women in Sport
by Steven D. Levitt & by Neil Astley by Rachel Ignotofsky
Stephen J. Dubner Staying Alive is an Women in Sport features
Freakonomics studies the international anthology of 50 profiles and
riddles of everyday life 500 life-affirming poems illustrated portraits of
from cheating and crime fired by belief in the women athletes from the
to parenting and sports. human and the spiritual 1800s to today including
Through storytelling the at a time when much in trailblazers, Olympians,
authors show that the world feels unreal, and record-breakers in
economics is at root of inhuman and hollow. more than 40 different
how people get what sports.
they want or need.
All available in your school library
The Handmaid’s Tale
by Margaret Atwood
Year 11 s e !
Offred is a Handmaid
who lives in a dystopian
world where women have
a d t h e lost all of their rights.
should re
Because of dangerously
low reproduction rates,
You Handmaids are assigned
to bear children for elite
couples that have trouble
conceiving.
White Teeth The Kite Runner Tess of the d’Urbervilles
by Zadie Smith by Khaled Hosseini by Thomas Hardy
This is the story of two Amir is the son of a John Durbeyfield is
North London families- wealthy merchant, Hassan stunned to learn that he
-one headed by Archie, is his servant and is the descendent of an
the other by Archie’s best companion. So strong is ancient noble family, the
friend, a Muslim the bond between the d’Urbervilles. Meanwhile,
Bengali named Samad boys that Amir tries to Tess, his eldest daughter,
Iqbal. Pals since they right past wrongs against joins the other village girls
served together in World the only true friend he in the May Day dance,
War II, Archie and Samad ever had. where Tess meets a young
are an unlikely pair. man.
A Whole Life A Christmas Carol The Silent Companions
by Robert Seethaler by Charles Dickens by Laura Purcell
Andreas Egger’s story is In A Christmas Carol, Some doors are locked
one of man’s relationship aging businessman for a reason...
with an ancient Ebenezer Scrooge thinks
landscape, of the value only of money. After the With her new servants
of solitude, the arrival of Ghost of Christmas Yet resentful and the local
the modern world, and to Come shows Scrooge villagers actively hostile,
above all, of the moments, his lonely and miserable Elsie only has her
great and small, that death, he changes his husband’s awkward
make us who we are. ways and becomes a cousin for company. Or so
charitable person. she thinks.
The Haunting of Hill House We Maus
by Shirley Jackson by Yevgeny Zamyatin by Art Spiegelman
The story of four seekers The dystopian novel that Using animals to portray
who arrive at the inspired George Orwell’s history, the graphic novel
notoriously unfriendly Hill 1984. In a glass-enclosed Maus is a rich and en-
House. At first, their stay city, ruled by the gaging story. It follows the
seems destined to be ‘Benefactor’, the citizens authors parents’ story in
merely a spooky en- of the totalitarian society Poland during the 1930’s,
counter with inexplicable of OneState live out lives and describes their
phenomena. But Hill House devoid of passion and experiences as the Nazis
soon will choose one of creativity - until D-503, invaded and persecuted
them to make its own. makes a discovery. the Jewish population.
The Testaments Oranges Are Not the Never Let Me Go
by Margaret Atwood Only Fruit by Kazuo Ishiguro
Margaret Atwood’s by Jeanette Winterson Never Let Me Go is set
sequel to The Handmaid’s Jeanette is adopted and in a dystopian world in
Tale picks up the story brought up by her mother which human clones are
more than fifteen years as one of God’s elect. created so that they can
after Offred stepped Zealous and donate their organs as
into the unknown, with passionate, she seems young adults. The novel
the explosive testaments destined for life as a follows the life story of
of three female narrators missionary, but then Kathy, a clone who is
from Gilead. she falls for one of her raised at a boarding
converts. school for future “donors.”
All The Light We Cannot About Love How to be Both
See by Anton Chekhov by Ali Smith
by Anthony Doerr Three short stories; “A How to be both is a
This story is about a blind Man in a Shell” is a novel all about art’s
French girl and a German grotesque Gogolian versatility. There’s a
boy whose paths collide comedy; “Gooseberries,” renaissance artist of the
in occupied France as a narrator’s impassioned 1460s. There’s the child of
both try to survive the response; and “About a child of the 1960s. Two
devastation of World Love,” a poignant story of tales of love and injustice
War II. failed relationships. twist into a singular yarn.
All available in your school library
Frankenstein Illegal Norwegian Wood
by Mary Shelley by Eoin Colfer by Murakami
A Gothic thriller, a This is a powerful graphic Toru Watanabe hears an
passionate romance, and novel about one boy’s orchestral cover of the
a cautionary tale about epic journey across Beatles’ song “Norwegian
the dangers of science, Africa to Europe. Ebo’s Wood”, and he is
Frankenstein tells the story journey takes him across suddenly overwhelmed by
of committed science the Sahara Desert to feelings of loss and
student Victor Franken- the dangerous streets of nostalgia. He thinks back
stein. Frankenstein assem- Tripoli, and finally out to to the 1960s, when so
bles a human being from the merciless sea. much happened that
stolen body parts. touched his life.
The Song of Achilles Beloved Neverworld Wake
by Madeline Miller by Toni Morrison by Marisha Pessl
Profoundly moving and Sethe, a former slave, has A mysterious man who
breathtakingly original, been living with her eight- calls himself the Keeper
this rendering of the epic een-year-old daughter tells Beatrice, Kipling,
Trojan War is a dazzling Denver. Sethe believes Whitley, Cannon, and
feat of the imagination, they fled home because Martha that they are
a devastating love story, of the malevolent pres- trapped in a Groundhog
and an almighty battle ence of an abusive ghost Day–like existence called
between gods and kings, that has haunted their Neverworld Wake. Only
immortal fame and the house at 124 Bluestone one of them may return to
human heart. Road for years. the world of the living.
The Help Othello Everything I Never Told
by Kathryn Stockett by William Shakespeare You
The book is narrated Othello begins on a by Celeste Ng
by three very different street in Venice, in the The book opens in 1977.
women; Minny, a black hot midst of an argument Lydia Lee is dead, but all
headed maid, Aibileen, between Roderigo and her family knows is that
another black maid who Iago. Roderigo has been she hasn’t come down to
is raising her ‘seventeenth paying Iago to help him breakfast. Lydia’s mother
white child’, and Miss in his suit to Desdemona. goes up to her room to
Skeeter, a white woman But Roderigo has just look for her, and finds
who wants to be a writer. learned that Desdemona everything in its place
has married Othello. but no sign of Lydia.
The Prime of Miss Jean Circe Giovanni’s Room
Brodie by Madeline Miller by James Baldwin
by Muriel Spark Circe must summon all When David meets
It is the early 1930s. her strength and choose, Giovanni in a bohe-
At a school located in once and for all, whether mian bar, he is swept
Edinburgh, a class of she belongs with the into a love affair. But
ten-year-old girls begins gods she is born from, or his girlfriend’s return to
two years of instruction the mortals she has come Paris destroys everything.
with Miss Jean Brodie, a to love. Essential for fans David pretends the liaison
charismatic teacher who of The Song of Achilles. never happened – while
claims again and again Giovanni’s life descends
to be in her “prime.” into tragedy.
The Bell Jar A Clockwork Orange Girls on Fire
by Sylvia Plath by Anthony Burgess by Robin Wasserman
This thinly veiled autobi- A nightmare vision of the A shocking story of love
ography details the life future, where criminals and violence and an
of Esther Greenwood, a take over after dark, the addictive portrait of the
college woman who strug- story is told by the intoxication of female
gles through a mental central character, Alex, friendship. An unforgetta-
breakdown in the 1950s. who talks in a brutal ble snapshot of girlhood:
With the pressure of mar- invented slang that girls lost and found, girls
riage and the passé New brilliantly renders his and strong and weak, girls
York night life, what will his friends’ social who burn bright and
become of Esther? pathology. some who flicker away.
Mrs Dalloway The Tattooist of Auschwitz One Day in the Life of
by Virginia Woolf by Heather Morris Ivan Denisovich
Mrs. Dalloway chronicles It was while tattooing by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
a June day in the life 18-year-old Gita that he The story of labour-camp
of Clarissa Dalloway, a looked into her eyes and inmate Ivan Denisovich
day that is taken up with fell hopelessly in love. The Shukhov, it graphically
running minor errands in Tattooist of Auschwitz describes his struggle to
preparation for a party is their story, a story of maintain his dignity in the
and that is punctuated, beauty, hope, courage face of communist
toward the end, by the and survival against the oppression.
suicide of a young man odds.
she has never met.
All available in your school library
Middlemarch Anne of Green Gables The Adventures of
by George Eliot by L. M. Montgomery Huckleberry Finn
Dorothea is an intelligent Matthew and Marilla by Mark Twain
woman who makes a error Cuthbert are unmarried Huck recounts his
in judgment when she siblings who live on their adventures as he travels
chooses to marry Edward ancestral farm, Green down the river with a
Casaubon, a pompous Gables. Matthew is sixty, runaway slave, encounter-
scholar many years her and since he is getting ing a family involved in
senior. Dorothea hopes to too old to handle farm a feud, two scoundrels
be actively involved in his work, the Cuthberts pretending to be royalty,
work, but he wants her to decide to adopt an and Tom Sawyer’s aunt
serve as a secretary. orphan boy to help him. who mistakes him for Tom.
Brideshead Revisited Brighton Rock Spring
by Evelyn Waugh by Graham Greene by Ali Smith
Sebastian, a troubled A gang war is rag- Ali Smith’s latest novel
young man, descends ing through the dark turns its gaze on the
into alcoholism, drifting underworld of Brighton. migrant crisis and the rise
away from the family over Seventeen-year-old Pinkie of nationalism. It burns
a two-year period. He has killed a man. Believing with moral urgency at the
eventually finds some he can escape retribution, same time as feeling time-
solace as an under-por- he is unprepared for the less and playful.
ter and object of charity courageous, life-embrac-
at a Catholic monastery ing Ida Arnold.
in Tunisia.
Year 11 Non Fiction
Autobiography, Plays, Poetry,
Journalism
I Know Why The Caged Popshot Magazine The Optician of
Bird Sings Lampedusa
by Maya Angelou Popshot is an illustrated by Emma Jane Kirby
Sent by their mother to literary magazine that From an award-winning
live with their devout, self- publishes short stories, BBC journalist, this moving
sufficient grandmother flash fiction, and book turns the testimony
in a small Southern town, poetry from the literary of an accidental hero
Maya and her brother, new blood. into a timeless story
Bailey, endure the ache about the awakening
of abandonment and the of human courage and
prejudice of the local conscience.
“powhitetrash.”
She is Fierce Death of a Salesman Sincerity
by Ana Sampson by Arthur Miller by Carol Ann Duffy
A powerful collection of Willy Loman is on his last This is Carol Ann Duffy’s
150 poems written by legs. Failing at his job, last full collection as Poet
women – from classic, dismayed at the failure Laureate, considered the
much loved poets to of his sons, tortured by greatest living poet of
bold modern voices. his jealousy at the our times. A frank,
Collected by Ana success and happiness disarming and deeply
Sampson, this collection of his neighbour, Willy moving exploration of
celebrates the centenary spirals into a well of loss and remembrance in
of women’s suffrage. regret. their many forms.
Shakespeare The World Girl Interrupted The Story of English in
as Stage by Susanna Kaysen 100 Words
by Bill Bryson A memoir from Susanna by David Crystal
Bill Bryson makes sense Kaysen, relating her Crystal takes us along
of the man behind the experiences as a young the winding byways of
masterpieces. As he leads woman in a psychiatric language via the rude,
us through the crowded hospital in the 1960s the obscure and the
streets of Elizabethan after being diagnosed downright surprising.
England, he brings to with borderline
life the places and personality disorder.
characters that inspired
Shakespeare’s work.
All available in your school libraryMagazines
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