Year 9Recommended

Reading List

This booklet is full of great books

that you might enjoy. Use it to support your studies, not

just for English but for all subjects; to improve your

reading skills or simply for pleasure. The books have been

divided up by genre (the type of book) to help you select.

It is by no means an exhaustive list; you will find other

books you love. Please recommend those to your friends

and teachers!

‘Read in order to live’ Gustave

Flaubert

‘There is no friend as loyal

as a book’ Ernest Hemingway

‘To learn to read is to light a

fire; every syllable that is

spelled out is a spark.’ Victor Hugo

Recommended by your peers:Boys Don’t Cry – Malorie Blackman

Cherub (series) – Robert Muchamore

Delirium (series) – Lauren Oliver

Divergent (series) – Veronica Roth

Forest of Hands and Teeth (series) – Carrie Ryan

Girl, Missing – Sophie McKenzie

Gone (series) – Michael Grant

Junk – Melvin Burgess

Looking for JJ – Anne Cassidy

Martyn Pig – Kevin Brooks

Mortal Instruments (series) – Cassandra Clare

Noughts and Crosses (series) – Malorie Blackman

Teacher’s Dead – Benjamin Zephaniah

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon

The Fault in Our Stars – John Green

The Hunger Games (series) – Suzanne Collins

The Kane Chronicles (series) – Rick Riordan

The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 4/4 – Sue Townsend

Thirteen Reasons Why – Jay Asher

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

Uglies (series) – Scott Westerfeld

Zom-B (series) – Darren Shan

HISTORICAL/OTHER CULTURESJohn Boyne – Boy In the Striped Pyjamas

Siobhan Dowd – Bog Child

Ann Frank – The Diary of a Young Girl

Sally Gardner - I, Coriander

Jamilia Gavin – Coram Boy

Morris Gleitzman – Once, Then, Now, After

Anne Holm – I Am David

Mary Hooper – Petals in the Ashes

Judith Kerr - When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit

Elizabeth Laird – The Garbage King, Kiss The Dust

Tanya Landman – I am Apache

Caroline Lawrence – Roman Mysteries

Michael Morpurgo – Private Peaceful

Beverly Naidoo – The Other Side of Truth

Anna Perera – Guantanamo Boy

Doris Pilkington - Rabbit Proof Fence

Phillip Pullman - The Ruby in the Smoke

Bali Rai – Rani and Sukh, (Un)arranged Marriage

Celia Rees - Witch Child (series)

BOYS LOVE…Artemis Fowl – Eoin Colfer

Blood Red, Snow White – Marcus Sedgwick

Boy Soldier (series) - Andy McNab

Boys Don’t Cry – Malorie Blackman

Cherub (series) – Robert Muchamore

Cirque du Freak Series - Darren Shan

Eragon, Eldest, Brisinar - Christopher Paolini

Face – Benjamin Zephaniah

Gone (series) – Michael Grant

Keeper - Mal Peet

Percy Jackson (series) - Rick Riordan

Revolver – Marcus Sedgwick

Silverfin (Young James Bond series)- Charlie Higson

Skullduggery Pleasant – Derek Landy

Socks Are Not Enough – Mark Lowery

Stormbreaker (Alex Rider series) - Anthony Horowitz

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon

The Hunger Games (series) – Suzanne Collins

The Kane Chronicles (series) – Rick Riordan

The Outsiders – SE Hinton

The Private Blog of Joe Cowley – Ben Davis

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 4/4 – Sue Townsend

Zom-B (series) – Darren Shan

GIRLS LOVE…Divergent (series) – Veronica Roth

Forever – Judy Blume*

Girl, Missing – Sophie McKenzie

Gone (series) – Michael Grant

How I Live Now – Meg Rosoff*

I Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith

Noughts and Crosses (series) – Malorie Blackman

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon

The Fault in our Stars – John Green*

The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky*

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 4/4 – Sue Townsend

Thirteen Reasons Why – Jay Asher

The Book Thief – Marcus Zusak

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

Twilight (series) – Stephanie Meyer

Uglies (series) – Scott Westerfeld

*more mature themes, 14+

CRIME & MYSTERYAgatha Christie – The Body in the Library

Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone

Arthur Conan Doyle - The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Sign of

the Four

Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Guy de Maupassant - Short Stories

Daphne Du Maurier – Rebecca, Jamaica Inn

Phillip Pullman - The Ruby in the Smoke

Robert Louis Stevenson - The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr

Hyde

FANTASYCassandra Clare – Mortal Instruments (series)

Sally Gardner – Maggot Moon

Patrick Ness - A Monster Calls (series)

Patrick Ness - The Knife of Never Letting Go

Christopher Paolini - Eragon (series)

Terry Pratchett – The Discworld Series

Phillip Pullman - Northern Lights (series)

Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson (series)

J.K Rowling – Harry Potter (series)

JRR Tolkien -The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings

(series)

GOTHIC HORROR &

SUSPENSESusan Hill - The Woman in Black

Stephanie Meyer – Twilight (series)

Edgar Allen Poe – Selected Short Stories

Carrie Ryan - Forest of Hands and Teeth

(series)

Mary Shelley – Frankenstein

Bram Stoker – Dracula

John Wyndham – Day of the

Triffids

PLAYSCRIPTSAlan Bennett – The History Boys

Mark Haddon - The Curious Incidents of the Dog in the Night-time

Dennis Kelly – DNA

Arthur Miller – The Crucible

J.B Priestly – An Inspector Calls

Willy Russell - Blood Brothers

William Shakespeare – Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest

R.C Sherriff – Journey’s End

DYSTOPIANBrave New World – Aldous Huxley

Divergent (series) – Veronica Roth

Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury

Gone (series) – Michael Grant

Lord of the Flies – William Golding

Maggot Moon - Sally Gardner

Matched (series) – Ally Condie

Noughts and Crosses – Malorie Blackman

The Age of Miracles – Karen W Thompson

The Declaration (series) – Gemma Malley

The Giver – Lois Lowry

The Hunger Games (series) – Suzanne

Collins

The Maze Runner (series) – James Dashner

Uglies (series) – Scott Westerfeld

Wool (series) – Hugh Howey

1984 – George Orwell

CLASSICS:Jane Austen – Emma, Pride and Prejudice

Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre

Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights

Lewis Carroll - Alice’s Adventures in

Wonderland

Wilkie Collins – The Moonstone

Arthur Conan Doyle – The Hound of the

Baskervilles, The Sign of the Four

Daniel Defoe – Robinson Crusoe

Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol, A Tale of

Two Cities, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist

Thomas Hardy – The Withered Arm and Other

Wessex Tales

Ernest Hemingway - The Old Man and the Sea

Robert Louis Stevenson - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,

Treasure Island

Jonathan Swift - Gulliver’s Travels

SCIENCE FICTIONIsaac Asimov- I, Robot

Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker’s

Guide to the Galaxy

HG Wells - The Time Machine,

The War of the Worlds

NON-FICTIONMaya Angelou - I Know Why the Caged

Bird Sings

Bill Bryson - Notes from a Small Island

Roddy Doyle - Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

Ann Frank – The Diary of a Young Girl

Dave Pelzer – A Child Called It

Joe Simpson - Touching the Void

Adeline Yen Mah - Chinese Cinderella

Challenging Modern Classics:Maya Angelou - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

J.G Ballard - Empire of the Sun

Kevin Brooks – Martyn Pig

Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist

F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby

Ian Fleming – Casino Royale

Barry Hines – Kes

Nick Hornby – About A Boy

Khaled Hosseini - A Thousand Splendid Suns,

The Kite Runner

Ernest Hemingway - The Old Man and the Sea

Susan Hill – The Woman in Black

Kazuo Ishiguro – Never Let Me Go

Lloyd Jones – Mister Pip

Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird

Yann Martel - Life of Pi

George Orwell - Animal Farm, 1984

Alan Patton - Cry the Beloved Country

Bali Rai – Rani and Sukh

Erich Maria Remarque - All Quiet on the Western

Front

John Steinbeck – Of Mice and Men

Kathyrn Stockett - The Help

Meera Syal - Anita and Me

Marcus Zusak - The Book Thief

POETRY

Try Googling the following poets and

read a selection of their poetry.

The notable works you might enjoy

appear in brackets.

Modern Poets:John Agard (Flag, Put the Kettle On)

Simon Armitage (Kid, Clown Punk)

Gillian Clarke (Catrin, Cold Knap Lake)

Imtiaz Dharker (Blessing)

Carol Ann Duffy (Valentine, Before You Were Mine, Stealing,

War Photographer)

Seamus Heaney (Follower)

Tony Harrison (Long Distance II)

Grace Nichols (Hurricane Hits England)

Literary Greats:William Blake (Tyger, Tyger, The Lamb)

Robert Browning (My Last Duchess, Porphyria’s Lover)

Walter De La Mare (The Listeners)

Emily Dickinson (Sonnet 43)

Thomas Hardy (The Ruined Maid)

Rudyard Kipling (If)

Christina Rossetti (Cousin Kate)

William Shakespeare (Sonnet 116, Sonnet 130)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

Dylan Thomas (The Hunchback in the Park)

Alfred Tennyson (The Charge of the Light Brigade)

William Wordsworth (Daffodils, Upon Westminster Bridge)

War Poets:Rupert Brooke (The Soldier)

Wilfred Owen (Futility, Anthem for

Doomed Youth, Dulce et Decorum Est)

Jessie Pope (The Call, Who’s for the

Game?)

Isaac Rosenburg (In the Trenches)

Siegfried Sassoon (Suicide in the

Trenches)

English Challenge 2016-17The challenge:

You have two English challenges to attempt (if you wish to) before the

beginning of May 2017. Both will help you to read more widely and both will

utilise a variety of your reading, writing and speaking and listening skills.

Details for each one are on the next page, but don’t forget to see your

English teacher if you get stuck!

The deadline: Early May 2017. Your work should be ready to present to your English teacher by this time

at the latest. However, you may complete your work in stages and submit it

before this date. Make sure you leave yourself enough time – this is a

lengthy challenge!

The Prize:If you complete a challenge you will be entered into a prize draw to win £25

iTunes vouchers.

English Challenge 2016-17Extended English Challenge 1: Genre.1. Choose a genre from the following: dystopian, gothic horror, fantasy, adventure, science

fiction or crime and mystery.

2. Prepare an oral presentation to include information about:

• The history and development of the genre through time (when and why did it become

popular?)

• The typical plot and character conventions. What are the recognisable features of the

genre?

• Three significant works from the genre. Give a plot summary of each one, information

about the author and information about why the novel is important.

This must be at least 5 minutes long, with or without a PPT.

3. Film yourself delivering this presentation and share it on Google Drive.

4. Read a novel from your chosen genre (it has to be on the reading list here) and write a

lively and interesting blog style review (Amazon has good examples). It will be published in

the school newsletter.

5. Write a short story of no more than 500 words in the genre you have chosen.

EXTENSION: Create a response to your chosen genre or any individual text from the reading

list. It could be a story, a poem, a movie, a newspaper article, an artistic response – whatever

you like.

English Challenge 2016-17Extended English Challenge 2: Persuasive Speeches1. Research famous persuasive speeches, including but not limited to the

following:

• Martin Luther King – I have a dream

• Abraham Lincoln – The Gettysburg address

• Nelson Mandela – An ideal for which I am prepared to die

• Winston Churchill – We shall fight on the beaches

2. Choose two and annotate the persuasive features used. Include

commentary about the intended effects on the audience.

3. Write your own persuasive speech to persuade your fellow students to

support a charity of your choice.

4. Film yourself delivering this speech and share it with your English

teacher on Google Drive.