Year 9 +
Recommended Reading List
ACTION AND ADVENTURE
Bertagna, Julie
Exodus
Fleming, Ian
Martel, Yann
The Spy Who Loved Me
Life of Pi
McCall Smith,
Alexander
Wooding, Chris
The No. 1 Ladies’
Detective Agency
Retribution Falls Series
On an island threatened by global warming, Mara must think of a way to
save not only herself but the world
Another classic James Bond tale
Booker Prize winning novel about a boy stranded at sea on a raft with
some animals
Series follows the adventures and foibles of detectives in Botswana as
they solve mysteries
Funny and original adventures of the crew of a pirate space-ship
GROWING UP, RELATIONSHIPS, LIFE & DEATH
Anderson, Laurie
Asher, Jay
Wintergirls
13 Reasons Why
Burgess, Melvin
Junk
Chbosky, Stephen
Cousins, Dave
The Perks of Being a
Wallflower
15 Days Without A Head
Downham, Jenny
Before I Die
Downham, Jenny
Green, John
Green, John
You Against Me
An Abundance of
Katherines
Paper Towns
Green, John
The Fault in Our Stars
Guena, Faiza
Just Like Tomorrow
Han, Jenny
Lewis, Ali
Oliver, Lauren
The Summer I Turned
Pretty Series
Everybody Jam
Before I Fall
Raisin, Ross
God’s Own Country
Smith, Jennifer
Statistical Probability of
Love At First Sight
Getting The Girl
Zusak, Marcus
A realistic look at teenage anorexia in girls
Clay receives a box containing 13 cassettes, each containing different
reasons why his ex-girlfriend committed suicide
Two teenagers discover drugs and their lives begin to spin out of control as
a result. An all-time great
A touching look at American youth life through the eyes of a quirky
teenager
Story of a 15 year old boy struggling to keep his family together through
tragedy and new love
Engrossing novel about teenage terminal illness. An uplifting book that
celebrates life
A brave novel about guilt, revenge and solving a serious sexual crime
Colin has had 19 girlfriends, all named ‘Katherine’. Whilst on a road trip he
decides to try to change his messed-up life for the better
Dark American comedy about a popular school girl who goes off the rails
and is helped by a friend from her days in nursery school
Beautifully written story narrated by Hazel, a 16 year old cancer patient,
who falls in love with amputee Augustus Waters
Stunning French novel in the style of a diary set in multi-cultural working
class Paris
15 year old Bell goes on holiday in the same place every year, but after
meeting Conrad and Jerry things will never be the same
Wonderful coming-of-age story set in the Australian outback
Sam is killed in a car crash on Friday. The next morning she wakes up only
to relive the same day over and over
A teenage recluse becomes obsessed with the new girl living on the
neighbouring farm. Dark and sinister look at teenage alientation
Two 17 year olds have a chance meeting at an airport. Sassy and funny.
Does love at first sight exist?
Great tale of Cameron who is deeply in love with Octavia. Good for boys
and girls
CLASSICS & MODERN CLASSICS
Austen, Jane
Emma
Austen, Jane
Pride and Prejudice
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
The life of Emma Woodhouse – a beautiful, clever young woman in
Georgian England – and the perils of misconstrued romance
Manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in early 19th
century England
Books are banned in this legendary novel, whilst ‘firemen’ scour the
suppressed cities for those who hide books
Bronte, Emily
Burgess, Anthony
Gaarder, Jostein
Wuthering Heights
A Clockwork Orange
Sophie’s World
Golding, William
Lord of the Flies
Heller, Joseph
Catch 22
Huxley, Aldous
Lee, Harper
Brave New World
To Kill a Mockingbird
Orwell, George
1984
Salinger, J.D.
Catcher in the Rye
Scott Fitzgerald, F
The Great Gatsby
Shakespeare,
William
Shakespeare,
William
Spark, Muriel
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Steinbeck, John
The Prime of Miss Jean
Brodie
Of Mice and Men
Tolstoy, Leo
Anna Karenina
Welsh, Irvine
Trainspotting
Jealousy, love and vengefulness in a community on the North York Moors
A nightmare vision of youth culture in revolt set in a dark future
A brilliant introduction to philosophy explored through the eyes of a
teenage girl living in Norway
Marooned on an island, a group of teenage boys are left to fend for
themselves and determine the rules of their society
The tale of the dangerously sane Captain Yossarian, who spends his time
in Italy plotting to survive among military madness and stupidity
Huxley’s nightmare vision of the future
Classic look at childhood and growing up in the deep South of America in
the 50s, with racism and segregation as the backdrop
In a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance and
public manipulation lives Winston Smith, who dreams of rebellion
Two days in the life of a cynical teenager just expelled from school – a
ground-breaking novel of rebellion
A story around the young, mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his
passion for the beautiful Daisy, creating a portrait of the roaring 20s
A famous tragedy based around the life of Othello, a general in the
Venetian army, with themes of racism, love, jealousy and betrayal
The tragic romance of two star-crossed young lovers from feuding families
Beautifully crafted short novel about the teacher of a clique of talented girls
in a Edinburgh school in the 1930s
Streetwise George and his big, childlike friend Lennie are drifters,
searching for work in the fields and valleys of California
Classic tale of love and adultery set against the backdrop of high society in
Moscow and Saint Petersburg
A series of short stories about the residents of Leith who engage in
destructive activities such as taking drugs
FANTASY
Canavan, Trudi
Martin, Robert RR
Matheson, Richard
Age of the Five Series
A Game of Thrones
Series
I am Legend
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveller’s Wife
Niven, Larry
Footfall
Rothfuss, Patrick
Sedgwick, Marcus
Kingkiller Chronicles
White Crow
Amazing series about a girl who becomes a powerful sorceress
Sorcery, mystical creatures, politics and brutality – possibly the greatest
fantasy series ever written
The last man on Earth finds he is not alone in this acclaimed novel about
vampires, survival and the end of the human race
Captivating story spanning the relationship of the two main characters, one
of whom is a time traveller
Earth is invaded by creatures that resemble baby elephants in this
tremendous end-of-the-world epic
Breath-taking, moving adult fantasy
A tale of two girls’ friendship in a long, hot summer, interwoven into a 17th
century tale of experiments into the afterlife
HORROR
Barraclough,
Lindsay
Bowler, Tim
Long Lankin
Hill, Susan
The Woman in Black
King, Stephen
Maberry, Jonathan
The Mist
Dead of Night
Paver, Michelle
Dark Matter
Buried Thunder
Terrifying tale of a house cursed by ancient evil and two children who visit
with their great aunt
Gripping supernatural thriller about a family who buy a remote guest house
in a sleepy village with dark secrets
Atmospheric tale of a young lawyer who stumbles across a curse when
dealing with the estate of a deceased lady
This short novella is a great introduction to the undisputed master of horror
Excellent end of the world horror in which an executed prisoner starts a
zombie plague
A group of explorers encounter a dark presence when they visit a remote
Westerfeld, Scott
The Midnighters Trilogy
part of Norway. A haunting study of isolation
Scary novel about a town that freezes in time for one hour every day
COMEDY
Asher, Jay
The Future of Us
Green, John
McGowan, Anthony
Weisberger, Lauren
Will Grayson, Will
Grayson
Henry Tumour
The Devil Wears Prada
Zusak, Marcus
The Messenger
In 1996 two teens are given a magic CD which allows them to see their
Facebook profiles 15 years in the future
An original read about two boys both called Will Grayson who
coincidentally meet, with their stories told in alternate chapters
Original look at how a boy copes with having a brain tumour
A funny story of a young intern climbing the ladder at an international
fashion magazine
Ed stops a robbery then starts to receive playing cards in the mail telling
him to carry out certain ‘jobs’
THRILLERS
Bailey, E M
Shift
Berry, Julie
Bradbury, Ray
Brooks, Kevin
All The Truth That’s In
Me
The Illustrated Man
Black Rabbit Summer
Brooks, Kevin
Brooks, Kevin
The Bunker Diary
Road of the Dead
Clarke, Cat
Entangled
Hinton, S E
King, Stephen
The Outsiders
The Long Walk
King, Stephen
Cell
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
McGowan, Anthony
Meyer, Stephanie
The Knife That Killed Me
The Host
Morgan, Nicola
Oliver, Lauren
Wasted
Delirium
Revis, Beth
Across the Universe
Strasser, Todd
Wells, Dan
If I Grow Up
Partials
Disturbing psychological thriller about a new girl in school. Rumour has it
she killed her parents
4 years after her kidnap, Judith returns but changed for good. A dark and
chilling tale of abuse and secrets, of love and loss, of silence and courage
Each short story in this book represents a tattoo on the illustrated man
Gritty psychological thriller about an accident in a fairground that has
terrifying consequences for all the teenagers involved
6 strangers are kidnapped and held prisoner together in a locked room
Grim and edgy thriller about two teenage boys out to avenge the death of
their murdered sister
17 year old Grace wakes up in a white room with a table, pens and paper –
and no idea how she got there
A timeless portrayal of teenage gangs in 1960s New York
In a grim future, the US government selects 100 boys to compete in an
annual walking contest. The penalty for stopping is death
An unexplained pulse on all mobile phone networks turns the majority of
the population into vicious killers
Pulitzer Prize winning novel set in the future after an environmental
disaster wipes out 99.99% of the population
In a school rife with bullying, a boy is sucked into a gang against his will
Dark, psychological thriller about alien parasites invading earth via mind
control and killing off human personality
Thrill-seeking teen lives his chaotic live on the toss of a coin
Scientists eradicate love and the government demands all citizens receive
‘the cure’ upon turning 18
SF thriller about a cryogenically frozen girl who is woken up 50 years too
early and suspects someone is trying to kill her
Tough look at urban gang life in modern America
The human race is almost extinct, wiped out by a killer virus that has been
released by genetically engineered soldiers called Partials
WARS AND HISTORY
Anderson, Laurie H
De Bernières, Louis
Donnelly, Jennifer
Chains
Captain Corelli’s
Mandolin
Revolution
Gardner, Sally
Maria-Remarque,
The Red Necklace
All Quiet on the Western
Compelling story of a slave girl during the American Civil War
Set on the Greek island of Cephallonia during the Italian and German
occupation of the Second World War with themes of love, war and music
A problem teenager goes on holiday to Paris and discovers the diary of a
street musician from the time of the French Revolution
Spectacular, romantic novel set during the French Revolution
WW1 and trench warfare as seen through the eyes of an anonymous
Erich
Front
German soldier
BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Abagnale, Frank
Catch Me If You Can
Ballard, JG
Empire of the Sun
Kaysen, Suzanne
Girl Interrupted
Pelzer, David
A Child Called It
The autobiography of a former con artist who, cashed $2.5 million worth of
bad cheques while impersonating various people
Ballard’s famous autobiographical novel about his teenage years in
Shanghai during WW2 after losing his parents
Kaysen recounts her experiences as a young woman in a psychiatric
hospital in the late 1960s
Gruesome account of child abuse in the 1970s and how David turned his
life around to become a successful motivational speaker
EXTENDED READING
Andrews, Virginia
Flowers in the Attic
Barker, Lynn
Brown, Dan
An Education
The Da Vinci Code
Charriere, Henri
Papillon
Cleave, Chris
The Other Hand
Donoghue, Emma
Room
Du Maurier,
Daphne
Forster, E M
Rebecca
Garland, Alex
The Beach
Hosseini, Khaled
Larsson, Stieg
Le Carre, John
The Kite Runner
Millennium Trilogy
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Lee, Laurie
Cider With Rosie
Ludlow, Robert
Mantel, Hilary
Bourne Series
Bring Up The Bodies
Nicholls, David
One Day
Picoult, Jodie
My Sister’s Keeper
Sebold, Alice
The Lovely Bones
Scarrow, Alex
The Eagle Series
Smith, Zadie
White Teeth
Stockett, Kathryn
The Help
Walker, Alice
The Colour Purple
A Room With A View
A gripping story of four children hidden in an attic for months in 1970s
America. This was a big hit when it was released in the 1980s
Riveting memoir of school, university and first love in 1960s England
Symbologist Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu investigate a
murder in Paris's Louvre Museum
A true story of how a convict who had spent 20 years in prison in French
Guyana managed to escape
A moving dual narrative story about a Nigerian asylum-seeker and British
magazine editor who meet during the oil conflict in the Niger Delta
Captivating tale told from the perspective of 5 year old Jack who is
imprisoned in a room with his mother
Working as a lady's companion, the heroine of Rebecca learns her place.
Life begins to look very bleak until she meets Maxim de Winter
A romance and a critique of English society at the beginning of the 20th
century
A young traveller finds a hidden beach near Thailand, but his dream soon
turns into a nightmare
A complex look at family life in Afghanistan in the 1970s
Fantastic crime-thriller series
A retired intelligence officer is recalled to hunt down a Soviet mole in the
"Circus", the highest level of the British Secret Intelligence Service
A depiction of traditional village life that disappears under the invention of
new technology
Classic, long-running spy thriller series
The year is 1535 and Thomas Cromwell, chief Minister to Henry VIII, must
work to please the King and keep the nation safe
Famous romantic comedy that tracks the lives of two friends over a 20
year period with chapters from the same day each year
Parents have a third child who is genetically selected to be a donor to her
sister who has cancer
Big-selling novel about a murdered girl’s spirit that watched over her family
and her killer from her place in heaven
An adventure series set in 600AD that follows a Roman Legion in the last
days of the Roman Empire as they battle across Europe
Focuses on the later lives of two wartime friends—the Bangladeshi Samad
Iqbal and the Englishman Archie Jones, and their families in London
A family tale of the coloured ‘help’ who work for rich white people and
begin to write a book about their experiences
Celie’s life as a woman of colour in southern USA in the 1930s and her low
position in social culture