Sneaky Learning: Fiction and Poetry across the Curriculum
SLA Weekend Course, Glasgow
June 2008
This booklist had its origins in a workshop held at the School Library Association’s Weekend Course in
Glasgow, June 2008. It has since been augmented by suggestions from delegates on the day, and
from emails received since. Thanks to all who have contributed!
- The list includes fiction, poetry and graphic novels
- Book details have been checked where possible, but some errors may remain
- Some titles are O/P, but they may be still in stock in school libraries, or at Library Services
- Titles range from Primary Picture Books to Adult titles; please check content before using
- Many are appropriate for more than one subject; occasional duplication is used to highlight this
- Suggestions, and subject placings, are from practising school librarians
- Some books may have a more slight connection with the subject (maybe only a title link), but are
included here since a small extract may still be valuable – and any pretext for reading extra fiction
and poetry is welcome!
______________________
Alec Williams, July 2008
1. Core subjects…
ENGLISH:
Arksey, Neil
Carrell, J L
Ende, Michael
Fowler, Karen Joy
Gaiman, Neil
Moses, Brian
MacB (A modern football take on Macbeth)
The Shakespeare Secret (Mystery about Shakespeare manuscript)
The Neverending Story (Bastian becomes a character in his book)
The Jane Austen Book Club (Lives of members echo Austen books)
Sandman (Graphic Novel series; references Shakespeare plots)
Are you sitting comfortably? (Story poems)
Plus…
- Marcia Williams picture books (e.g. ‘Bravo, Mr William Shakespeare!’, ‘Charles Dickens and Friends’)
- Lynne Truss’s ‘Eats, Shoots and Leaves’ (Picture Book version)
MATHS:
Agard, John
Andrew, Moira
Buchan, John
Ekeland, Ivar
Foster, John (ed)
Haddon, Mark
Hardy, G H
Juster, Norton
Magee, Wes (ed)
Mills, Steve and
Koll, Hilary
Neuschwander, Cindy
Pappas, Theoni
Peters, Andy Fusek
Scieszka, Jon and
Smith, Lane
A Beautiful Mind (DVD about Mathematician John Nash)
Einstein, the Girl who hated Maths (poetry)
One in a Million (Poetry about Maths)
The Thirty-Nine Steps
The Cat in Numberland (Picture Book; also for Younger Readers)
Word Whirls, and other shape poems
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time
A Mathematician’s Apology
The Phantom Tollbooth
Madtail, Miniwhale and other shape poems (Poetry)
Counting on Leroy (A Barrington Stoke title)
Sir Cumference and the First Round Table (Picture book)
The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat
The Upside Down Frown (Shape poems)
Maths Curse
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alec Williams 1 Victoria Street, Cullingworth, Bradford BD13 5AE (07977) 590189
1
[email protected]
Tahan, Malba
Tang, Greg
The Man who Counted (‘A Collection of Mathematical Adventures’)
The Grapes of Math (‘Mind-stretching math riddles’)
Plus…
- See extensive list at: http://www.cofc.edu/~kasmana/mathfict/
- ‘Murderous Maths’ series, by Kjartan Poskitt
SCIENCE:
Agard, John
Allan, Nicholas
Anderson, M T
Barlow, Steve and
Skidmore, Steve
Blackman, Malorie
Brooks, Kevin
Brown, Dan
Carle, Eric
Carle, Eric
Cole, Babette
Crichton, Michael
Davies, Nicola
Davies, Nicola
Farmer, Nancy
Foster, John
Hawking, Lucy & Stephen
Holub, Miroslav
Hutchins, Pat
Kemp, Gene
King-Smith, Dick
McGough, Roger
Morgan, Nicola
Orme, David
Pears, Iain
Pfeffer, Susan
Price, Susan
Pullman, Philip
Riddell, Chris and
Stewart, Paul
Rose, Malcolm
Rosen, Michael
Scieszka, Jon and
Smith, Lane
Stannard, Russell
Thompson, Kate
Thurber, James
Waring, Geoff
Waring, Geoff
Waring, Geoff
Winterson, Jeanette
Hello H2O (Poetry about Science)
Where Willy Went
Feed (Orwellian satire on consumerism)
Vernon Bright and the Magnetic Banana
A.N.T.I.D.O.T.E. (Animal testing, pharmaceutical ethics)
Being (Medicine)
Angels and Demons (Conflict between Religion and Science)
The Tiny Seed (Picture book about growth. Primary)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Picture book about change. Primary)
Hair in Funny Places
Jurassic Park (and others; use for technology too)
Bat loves the Night (‘Nature Storybook’ Picture book series)
Big Blue Whale (‘Nature Storybook’ Picture book series)
The House of the Scorpion (SF story, including cloning and drugs)
Spaceways (‘An anthology of space poems’)
George’s Secret Key to the Universe (Space and Physics)
Poems Before and After (especially ‘Vanishing Lung Syndrome’)
Titch (Picture book about growth/change. Primary)
Seriously Weird
All Pigs are Beautiful (‘Nature Storybook’ Picture book series)
Sensational! (Poems about the five senses)
Fleshmarket (History of medicine)
Boffin Boy and the Rock Men (and eleven others; for 8-14 year olds
with Reading Ages of 6-8)
An Instance of the Fingerpost (Science solving a death in the 1660s)
Life as we Knew it (An asteroid is to collide with the Moon)
The Sterkarm Handshake (Time Travel and Earth’s Resources)
Northern Lights (And others. Physics, e.g. String Theory)
Stormchaser (Fantastical anti-gravity physics from another world)
Blood Brother (and other Luke Harding novels; Forensic Science)
Centrally-heated knickers (Poems about science)
Science Verse (Poetry)
Black holes and Uncle Albert (Space and physics)
The Alchemist’s Apprentice (Alchemy)
The Thirteen Clocks
Oscar and the Bat (Picture Book about sound. Primary)
Oscar and the Cricket (Picture Book about movement. Primary)
Oscar and the Moth (Picture Book about light/dark. Primary)
Tanglewreck (Wave Theory, Black Holes, Particle Physics)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alec Williams 1 Victoria Street, Cullingworth, Bradford BD13 5AE (07977) 590189
2
[email protected]
Plus…
- Crime Fiction for the forensic science module, and a body hunt in the library!
- Science Fiction for the Science for ‘Public Understanding’ module – e.g. the science of Discworld.
- ‘Horrible Science’, and similar fictionalised series.
2. Foundation Subjects…
GEOGRAPHY:
Anderson, Rachel
Ashley, Bernard
Astley, Neil
Bertagna, Julie
Booth, Martin
Burnford, Sheila
Cross, Gillian
Durrell, Gerald
Ellis, Deborah
Ellis, Deborah
Funke, Cornelia
Gardner, Sally
Gavin, Jamila
Glass, Linzi
Hearn, Lian
Hoeg, Peter
Hosseini, Khaled
Ibbotson, Eva
Jenkins, Martin
Jones, Terry
Laird, Elizabeth
Mankell, Henning and
Thompson, Laurie
Martel, Yann
Morpurgo, Michael
Naidoo, Beverley
Paulsen, Gary
Pfeffer, Susan
Sedgwick, Marcus
Verne, Jules
Yen Mah, Adeline
Yen Mah, Adeline
Red Moon (France)
Little Soldier (Africa)
Earth Shattering: Ecopoems (Poetry; Bloodaxe Books)
Exodus, and Zenith (an imagined drowned Britain)
Music on the Bamboo Radio (Japan)
The Incredible Journey
Calling a Dead Man (Russia)
Golden Bats and Pink Pigeons (A story of Mauritius)
The Breadwinner (about Afghanistan under the Taliban. Also
Parvana’s Journey, and Mud City)
Prison Runner (Bolivia and drug trade)
The Thief Lord (Italy)
The Red Necklace (the French Revolution)
The Wheel of Surya (India)
Ruby Red (Romance in time of apartheid)
Across the Nightingale Floor (Feudal Japan)
Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow (a murder mystery in Copenhagen)
The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns (Afghanistan)
Journey to the River Sea (The Amazon basin, South America)
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver (Illustrated by Chris Riddell)
The Lady and the Squire (France)
The Garbage King (Subsistence living in Ethiopia)
Bridge to the Stars (Scandinavia)
The Life of Pi (Boy adrift with a tiger)
The Wreck of the Zanzibar (Isles of Scilly in 1907)
The Other Side of Truth (South Africa)
The Voyage of the Frog (Sailing boat adrift in the Pacific)
The Dead and the Gone (Grim future after climate change)
Floodland (A future Britain imagined underwater)
Around the World in Eighty Days
Chinese Cinderella (China)
Falling Leaves (China)
Plus…
- See entries in the SLA’s ‘A View of the World’ list in Section 6, below.
- Many adult titles, such as Jung Chang’s ‘The Wild Swans’.
- Some of these books are also of use in Citizenship/PSHE.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alec Williams 1 Victoria Street, Cullingworth, Bradford BD13 5AE (07977) 590189
3
[email protected]
HISTORY:
Pre-history:
Reeve, Philip
Classical history:
Geras, Adele
Lawrence, Caroline
Middle Ages:
Breslin, Theresa
Crossley-Holland, Kevin
Hearn, Lian
Laird, Elizabeth
Morris, Gerald
Rose, Malcolm
Tudors:
Bennett, Veronica
Gregory, Philippa
Weir, Alison
17th Century:
Gardner, Sally
Hooper, Mary
Rees, Celia
18th Century:
Gavin, Jamila
Hearn, Julie
19th Century:
Burnett, Frances Hodgson
Dickens, Charles
Laird, Elizabeth
Morgan, Nicola
Riordan, James
Wilson, Jacqueline
20th Century:
Fine, Anne
Hearn, Julie
Lingard, Joan
Lingard, Joan
Sedgwick, Marcus
World War I:
Barker, Pat
Bentley, James
Breslin, Theresa
Here Lies Arthur (Re-telling of Arthurian Legend)
Troy (The Trojan Wars)
The Secrets of Vesuvius (One of the ‘Roman Mysteries’ series)
The Medici Seal (Renaissance Italy)
Gatty’s Tale (Crusades)
Across the Nightingale Floor (Feudal Japan)
Crusade (Events from 11th-13th Century still affecting Today)
The Ballad of Sir Dinadan (and others in ‘Squire’s Tales’ series)
Kiss of Death (Black Death)
Shakespeare’s Apprentice Tudor London)
The Other Boleyn Girl (About Anne’s sister and rival, Mary)
The Lady Elizabeth
I, Coriander (London during Civil War)
The Fever and the Flame (Two stories; London during Plague and Fire)
Witch Child (Young Girl accused of Witchcraft flees to America)
Coram Boy (Abandoned children, and the Thomas Coram Hospital)
Follow Me Down
The Secret Garden (Victorian Classic Story)
A Christmas Carol (and others by Dickens)
Secrets of the Fearless (Napoleonic Wars)
Fleshmarket (Edinburgh at time of Burke and Hare)
Rebel Cargo (Slavery)
The Lottie Project (Charlie writes about a Victorian Serving Girl)
The Road of Bones (Parallels with the Russian totalitarian state)
Hazel (Women’s Suffragette movement)
Across the Barricades (and other ‘Kevin and Sadie’ stories)
Tell the Moon to Come Out (Spanish Civil War)
Blood Red, Snow White (Russian Revolution)
Regeneration (Trilogy)
Some Corner of a Foreign Field (Poetry)
Remembrance
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alec Williams 1 Victoria Street, Cullingworth, Bradford BD13 5AE (07977) 590189
4
[email protected]
Chambers, Aidan
Faulks, Sebastian
Foreman, Michael
Morpurgo, Michael
Morpurgo, Michael
Nimmo, Jenny
Remarque, Erich M
Sedgwick, Marcus
World War II:
Boyne, John
Elliott, Laura Malone
Foreman, Michael
Gleitzman, Morris
Holm, Ann
Kerr, Judith
Magorian, Michelle
McEwan, Ian
Morpurgo, Michael
Nemirovsky, Irene
Newbery, Linda
Peet, Mal
Pratchett, Terry
Richter, Hans Peter
Serraillier, Ian
Zusak, Markus
Exploration:
McCaughrean, Geraldine
Postcards from No-Man’s Land
Birdsong
War Game
Private Peaceful
War Horse (One horse’s experience in World War I)
The Rinaldi Ring (A Ghost from World War I)
All quiet on the Western Front (German view of the war)
The Foreshadowing
The Boy in Striped Pyjamas (Concentration Camps)
Under a War-torn Sky (pilot in World War II)
War Boy
Once (Holocaust)
I am David
When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit
Goodnight Mr Tom
Rose Blanche (Concentration Camps)
The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips (D-Day practice on South coast)
Suite Française
Sisterland (Themes include the Holocaust and Alzheimer’s Disease)
Tamar (Dutch Resistance during the war)
Johnny and the Dead
I was there
The Silver Sword
The Book Thief (Girl in Nazi Germany steals books. Use in English, too?)
The White Darkness (Antarctica, Titus Oates)
Plus…
- Diaries such as ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’; ‘Hannah Goslar Remembers’ (Alison Leslie Gold); ‘Zlata’s
Diary’ (Zlata Filipovic)
- ‘My Story’ series (various periods), published by Ted Smart.
- Marcia Williams picture books (e.g. ‘Bravo, Mr William Shakespeare!’, ‘Charles Dickens and Friends’)
- Autobiographies (e.g. Vera Brittain’s ‘Testament of Youth’ [1900-1925], Ranulph Fiennes’s ‘Mad, Bad
and Dangerous to Know’)
- Fictionalised biographies (e.g. ‘Dead Famous’ series, published by Scholastic)
- See a useful article on using historical fiction at:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/instructor/social1.htm
CITIZENSHIP/PSHE:
Ashley, Bernard
Asquith, Ros
Bell, Julia
Bertagna, Julie
Blacker, Terence
Blackman, Malorie
Bowler, Tim
Bradman, Tony (Ed)
Smokescreen (People-smuggling, from China)
I was a Teenage Worrier (‘an alphabet of teenage worry’)
Massive (Food obsession, dieting, weight)
The Opposite of Chocolate (Teenage Pregnancy)
The Angel Factory (The ‘Paradise Syndrome’, Good versus Evil, Aliens)
Noughts and Crosses, Double Cross, and Checkmate (Racism)
River Boy (Death of a Grandfather)
Skin Deep (‘A collection of stories about racism’)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alec Williams 1 Victoria Street, Cullingworth, Bradford BD13 5AE (07977) 590189
5
[email protected]
Breslin, Theresa
Burgess, Melvin
Burgess, Melvin
Choldenko, Gennifer
Doherty, Berlie
Downham, Jenny
Doyle, Malachy
Durant, Alan
Fine, Anne
Gibbons, Alan
Gibbons, Alan
Gliori, Debi
Golding, William
Gray, Keith
Haddon, Mark
Hathorn, Libby
Hoffman, Mary (Ed)
Hornby, Nick
Keeble, Jonathan
Kennen, Ally
Kerr, Judith
King, Clive
Laird, Elizabeth
Laird, Elizabeth
Laird, Elizabeth
Laird, Elizabeth
Levenkron, Steven
Lingard, Joan
Lott, Tim
Lucas, David
McCormick, Patricia
Mitchell, David
Mitchell, David
Morpurgo, Michael
Morpurgo, Michael
Newbery, Linda
Nicholls, Sally
O’Brien, Robert C
Orwell, George
Peters, Andy Fusek and
Peters, Polly
Peters, Andy Fusek and
Peters, Polly
Philbrick, Rodman
Rai, Bali
Rosen, Michael
Rushton, Rosie
Satrapi, Marjane
Sones, Sonya
Divided City (Prejudice, Sectarianism)
Billy Elliot (Peer pressure, Stereotyping)
Junk (Drugs)
Al Capone does my Shirts (Autism)
Dear Nobody (Pregnancy)
Before I die (A 16 year old has only months to live)
Who is Jesse Flood? (Boy, 14, finding identity in dysfunctional family)
Always and Forever (Picture Book. Animal story about bereavement)
The Angel of Nitshill Road (Bullying)
Caught in the Crossfire (Racism)
The Dark Beneath (Asylum Seekers), The Edge, Hold On, Blood
Pressure, and others, on a variety of contemporary issues
No Matter What (Picture Book; Parental love is unconditional)
Lord of the Flies (Philosophy, Politics)
Warehouse (Interwoven stories: drugs, violence, running away)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
Way Home (Homelessness)
Lines in the Sand (Anti-war stories inspired by Iraq, from 13 authors)
Slam (Pregnancy)
Noodlehead (Drugs and Behaviour)
Berserk (Teenage boy writes to a Death Row murderer)
Goodbye Mog (Picture Book about Death)
When the waters came (Bangladesh floods)
The Garbage King (Subsistence living in Ethiopia)
A Little Piece of Ground (Palestinian conflict)
Lost Riders (Indian children enslaved as camel jockeys in Saudi Arabia)
Oranges in No Man’s Land (Adventure amongst the conflict in Beirut)
The Best Little Girl in the World (Anorexia)
Across the Barricades (and other Kevin and Sadie stories, in Belfast)
Fearless (A chilling dystopian future)
Whale (Picture book about a beached whale)
Sold (An Indian girl, sold into the sex trade)
Black Swan Green (Boy with stammer, during Falklands Conflict time)
Cloud Atlas (many themes, but includes cloning)
Long Way Home (Foster Child)
Out of the Fire (Foot and Mouth Disease)
Catcall (Problems when families split)
Ways to live forever (11 year old Sam is dying of Leukaemia)
Z for Zachariah (and also use for Geography)
Animal Farm (Politics)
Poems with Attitude (About various contemporary issues)
Much Ado about Clubbing, Twisted, Dragon Chaser (‘Plays
with Attitude’ series; one-hour plays)
Freak the Mighty (Problems become less when shared)
The Angel Collector (and others; racism)
Michael Rosen’s Sad Book (Loss)
Last Seen Wearing Trainers (Running away from home)
Persepolis (A graphic novel about Islamic girl in Iran)
What my Mother doesn’t know (Romance; in verse)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alec Williams 1 Victoria Street, Cullingworth, Bradford BD13 5AE (07977) 590189
6
[email protected]
Stanisic, Sasa
Swindells, Robert
Tan, Shaun
Tan, Shaun
Tremain, Rose
Trueman, Terry
Varley, Susan
Waddell, Martin
Weatherley, Lee
Westerfeld, Scott
Willis, Jeanne
Willis, Jeanne
Wilson, Jacqueline
Winterson, Jeanette
Zevin, Gabrielle
How the Soldier repairs the Gramophone (Boyhood in Bosnian war)
Ruby Tanya (Racism. See others on contemporary issues by this author)
The Arrival (Picture Book about Immigration)
The Red Tree (Picture Book about ‘depression’)
The Road Home (An Eastern European immigrant to England)
Stuck in Neutral (Cerebral Palsy)
Badger’s Parting Gifts (Death. Picture book)
Owl Babies (Picture Book. Fear of abandonment)
Child X (The power of the Press)
Uglies, Pretties, Specials, Extras (‘A series which encourages
independent thinking about the media pursuit of fame and beauty’)
Susan Laughs (Picture Book about disability)
Tadpole’s Promise (Change. Picture book with surprise ending!)
The Suitcase Kid (About ‘joint custody life’. See others by this author)
Oranges are not the only Fruit (Pentecostal upbringing; Lesbianism)
Elsewhere (The Afterlife)
Plus…
- Some of these books are of use in geography.
- See titles in RE section.
ICT/MEDIA:
Anderson, M T
Blackman, Malorie
Dick, Philip K
Gibbons, Alan
Harvey, Trevor
Pratchett, Terry
Feed (A future where brains are wired directly into the internet)
Hacker
Minority Report (Adult SF novel; computing, prediction)
Shadow of the Minotaur
Techno Talk: Poems with Byte
Moving Pictures (A Discworld spoof of Hollywood)
Plus…
- Books made into films, for Media Studies
- DVDs based on fiction, leading to fiction being read – and perhaps compared.
DESIGN TECHNOLOGY:
Hughes, Ted
Oppel, Kenneth
Pullman, Philip
Reeve, Philip
Sachar, Louis
Selznick, Brian
Smith, Alexander Gordon
& Webb, Jamie
Wilder, Laura Ingalls
ART:
Anholt, Laurence
Balliett, Blue
Boyce, Frank Cottrell
The Iron Man
Airborn (Airships in ‘alternative Victorian period’)
Clockwork
Mortal Engines
Holes
The Invention of Hugo Cabret (automata, illusion, early cinema)
The Inventors (Action adventure with inventions and gadgets)
The Little House on the Prairie and The Little House in the Big
Woods (‘making things from simple materials, constructing a home’)
Camille and the Sunflowers (and others in ‘Anholt’s Artists’ series)
Chasing Vermeer (Adventure about art theft). Sequels are:
The Wright 3, and The Calder Game
Framed
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alec Williams 1 Victoria Street, Cullingworth, Bradford BD13 5AE (07977) 590189
7
[email protected]
Browne, Anthony
Browne, Anthony
Chambers, Aidan
Chevalier, Tracy
Cross, Gillian
Edge, Arabella
Fine, Anne
Hearn, Julie
Moggach, Deborah
Ridley, Philip
Runcie, James
Wilde, Oscar
Wilks, Mike
The Shape Game
Willy’s Pictures
Postcards from No-Man’s Land
Girl with a Pearl Earring (Servant girl becomes a sitter for Vermeer)
Pictures in the Dark (Photography connection)
The Raft (inspired by Gericault’s ‘Raft of the Medusa’ painting)
Anneli the Art Hater
Ivy (William Blake)
Tulip Fever (Amsterdam in the time of Rembrandt)
Scribbleboy (Search for the identity of a mysterious ‘building artist’)
The Colour of Heaven
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mirrorscape (Fantasy about a Painter’s Apprentice)
Plus…
- Folk tales, myths and legends, for projects dealing with their illustration
- Picture books in general (including exercises such as shadowing the Greenaway Award, or the Red
House Children’s Book Award)
- Use of fiction book jackets for studying design and illustration
- Biography and autobiography (e.g. Shirley Hughes’s ‘A Life Drawing’)
MUSIC:
Bowler, Tim
Cross, Gillian
Funke, Cornelia
Gavin, Jamila
Hornby, Nick
Nicholson, William
Patchett, Ann
Riordan, James
Riordan, James
Roberts, Katherine
Tremain, Rose
Starseeker
Chart Break
The Thief Lord (Monteverdi)
Coram Boy (Handel)
High Fidelity
The Wind Singer
Bel Canto (Soprano taken hostage in South America)
The Cello (For Older Readers)
Sweet Clarinet (Injured boy in world War II given clarinet)
Song Quest
Music and Silence (Music-making in 1630s Denmark)
Plus…
- Poetry, to set to music
- Song Lyrics, to consider as poetry
PE:
Ahlberg, Allan
Arksey, Neil
Bradman, Tony
Cattell, Bob
Childs, Rob
Coleman, Michael
Davies, Hunter
Dhami, Narinder
Durant, Alan
Forde, Catherine
Foster, John
Friendly Matches (Football poems)
Playing on the Edge (A Future where football dominates the world)
Good Sports (Ten short stories about sports - including trampolining!)
Down the Wicket (and other cricket stories in the ‘Glory Garden’ series)
The Big Time (Football story; many other sports stories by Childs)
Touchline Terror (Angels FC series. See also others by Coleman)
Striker (Adult novel about football)
Bend it like Beckham (Football-loving girl versus her Parents)
Goal! (Four football stories. See also others by Durant)
Fat Boy Swim (Swimming, obesity)
Football Fever (Football poems)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alec Williams 1 Victoria Street, Cullingworth, Bradford BD13 5AE (07977) 590189
8
[email protected]
Gibbons, Alan
Hardcastle, Michael
Hornby, Nick
May, Paul
Middleton, Haydn
Orme, David
Palmer, Tom
Peet, Mal
Peet, Mal
Riordan, James
Riordan, James
Julie and Me…and Michael Owen makes Three
Hit It! (Graffix series. Many more sports stories by Hardcastle)
Fever Pitch
Defenders (Soccer story)
To France! (‘We’re on our Way’ football series; and others by Middleton)
‘Ere we go! (Football poems)
Foul Play (Detective Story with Football background. A series to follow)
Keeper (Football; mysterious South American goalkeeper)
The Penalty (South American Football, mystery, slavery)
The Young Oxford Book of Football Stories
The Young Oxford Book of Sports Stories
MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES:
Goscinny, René and
Uderzo, Albert
Filipović, Zlata
Frank, Anne
Funke, Cornelia
Guène, Faïza
Harris, Joanne
Hergé
Lutzeier, Elizabeth
Pagnol, Marcel
Rowling, J K
Asterix (Whole series. In other language versions)
Zlata’s Diary (A girl’s life in Sarajevo)
Anne Frank’s Diary
Tintenherz (Inkheart in its German edition; see others by Funke)
Just Like Tomorrow (Captures the multicultural nature of Paris)
Chocolat (Adult novel, set in France)
Tintin (Whole series. In other language versions)
Lost for Words (A Bangladeshi girl learning English)
Manon des Sources, Jean de Florette and others
Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis (In Latin, Trans Peter Needham)
Plus…
- Picture books in dual text, or in other languages (via publishers like Mantra and Milet)
- See ‘Outside In: Children’s Books in Translation’, edited by Deborah Hallford and Edgardo Zaghini
- See Marsh Award titles (prize for fiction in translation)
3. Other subjects…
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION:
Abdel-Fattah, Randa
Does my Head look big in this?
Abdel-Fattah, Randa
Ten Things I Hate about Me
Albom, Mitch
Five people you meet in Heaven (About ‘understanding your life’)
Almond, David
Clay
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid’s Tale
Blackman, Malorie
Noughts and Crosses
Blume, Judy
Are you there, God? It’s Me, Margaret (Prayer, Judiasm, Christianity)
Chimamanda, Adichie
The Purple Hibiscus (Catholicism in Nigeria; critical and explicit)
McCaughrean, Geraldine
Not the End of the World (Story of Noah after the Ark)
Newbery, Linda
The Shell House (Faith, Homosexuality and War)
Pullman, Philip
His Dark Materials (trilogy; battle between Church and Heaven)
Rai, Bali
(Un)arranged Marriage
Swindells, Robert
Abomination (Chilling story of religious intolerance)
Taylor, G P
Shadowmancer (Battle between Good and Evil)
Zephaniah, Benjamin
Refugee Boy
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alec Williams 1 Victoria Street, Cullingworth, Bradford BD13 5AE (07977) 590189
9
[email protected]
Plus…
- ‘Issues’ titles such as those in Citizenship and Geography (e.g. Deborah Ellis’s ‘The Breadwinner’)
- Myths and Legends from World Religions
4. Optional subjects…
BUSINESS STUDIES:
Boyce, Frank Cottrell
Charters, Keith
O’Flynn, Catherine
Blood Diamond (DVD; How economics work)
Black Gold (DVD; How economics work)
Millions (Estate Agents)
Lee goes for Gold (Starting a business)
What was Lost (‘A Satirical look at the life of a Shopping Centre’)
Plus…
- Biographies and autobiographies of entrepreneurs, plus local entrepreneurs’ reading choices
TRAVEL AND TOURISM:
Bryson, Bill
Desai, Kiran
Smith, Alexander McCall
Vickers, Salley
Notes from a Small Island (Great Britain)
The Inheritance of Loss (North India)
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (Botswana)
Miss Garnett’s Angel (Venice)
Plus…
- Titles from the Geography section
HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE:
Barry, Catherine
Skin Deep (Cosmetic Surgery)
Bell, Julia
Massive (Food obsession, dieting, weight)
Burgess, Melvin
Junk (Drug-taking)
Doherty, Berlie
Dear Nobody (Teenage Pregnancy)
Fine, Anne
Flour Babies (School Project caring for flour bags as though babies)
Fine, Anne
The Granny Project
Forde, Catherine
Fat Boy Swim (Obesity, Bullying)
Hislop, Victoria
The Island (Leprosy)
Hooper, Mary
Megan (and sequels; teenage pregnancy)
McFarlane, Aidan and
Diary of a Teenage Health Freak
McPherson, Ann
Morgan, Nicola
Mornings are Red (Synaesthesia. And others by this author)
Wilson, Jacqueline
The Story of Tracy Beaker (Children in Care. And others by Wilson)
Wilson, Jacqueline
The Illustrated Mum (And others)
Plus:
- Novels about topics like alcohol, drugs, self-harm, abuse, and eating disorders.
- A range of picture books for a storytelling course.
PHILOSOPHY:
Gaarder, Jostein
Sophie’s World (‘a novel about the history of philosophy’)
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Alec Williams 1 Victoria Street, Cullingworth, Bradford BD13 5AE (07977) 590189
10
[email protected]
HOME ECONOMICS/FOOD TECHNOLOGY/CATERING:
Boon, Debbie
Gio’s Pizza (Picture book)
Cormier, Robert
The Chocolate War (Gang Culture; selling chocolates in school)
Dahl, Roald
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Dahl, Roald
Revolting Recipes
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate (Adult novel)
Freymann, Saxton and
One Lonely Sea Horse (Picture Book; Fruit and Vegetable Creatures)
Elffers, Joost
Horvath, Polly
Everything on a waffle (11 year old Primrose learns to cook)
Shearer, Alex
Bootleg (Secret chocolate-making in a future where it’s banned)
DANCE:
Bennett, Veronica
Burgess, Melvin
Streatfeild, Noel
Ure, Jean
Fish Feet
Billy Elliot
Ballet Shoes
A proper little Nooryeff
DRAMA:
Sheldon, Dyan
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
5. Notes about poetry:
In addition to poetry books suggested within the subjects above, try large anthologies with subject
categorisation – e.g. the series of ‘The Works’ books, edited by Paul Cookson and others.
6. Finding more titles:
a) Try the following booklists and guides, most of which have genre or subject indexes, or are short
enough (and with good enough annotations) to flick through and locate likely titles:
Armstrong, Eileen
Fully Booked! Reader Development & the Secondary School LRC
School Library Association, 2004 9781903446249 £7.50
See ‘Reading across the Curriculum’, on page 30.
Armstrong, Eileen
Riveting Reads: 12 to 16
School Library Association, 2006 9781903446324 £7.50
Brown, Chris
Riveting reads 15-19: Narrative Information
School Library Association, 2005 9781903446263 £6.00
A variation of the idea – non-fiction books that read like fiction.
Hahn, Daniel and
Flynn, Leonie
The Ultimate Book Guide (for 8 - 12s)
A & C Black, 2004 9780713667189 £12.99
Hahn, Daniel and
Flynn, Leonie
The Ultimate Teen Book Guide
A & C Black, 2006 9780713673302 £12.99
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Alec Williams 1 Victoria Street, Cullingworth, Bradford BD13 5AE (07977) 590189
11
[email protected]
Osborne, Susan
Bloomsbury Essential Guide for Reading Groups
A & C Black, 2nd Ed, 2008 9780713675986 £9.99
Sennitt, Jo
Riveting Reads: 8 to 12
School Library Association, 2006 9781903446300 £7.50
SLA Oxfordshire Branch
A View of the World
School Library Association, 2006 9781903446348 £7.50
Tucker, Nicholas and
Eccleshare, Julia
Rough Guide to books for Teenagers
Rough Guides, 2004 9781843531388 £5.99
Warren, Viv and
Yardley, Mary
Who Next? A guide to children’s authors
LISU, 3rd ed, 2007. 9781905499069 £14.99
b) Check books of ‘Assembly Stories’ – they often have appropriate pieces which are short enough to
be read at the start of a topic.
c) If your own library stock is well keyworded, you’ll have opportunity to pull out a range of fiction
titles. This booklist may suggest other areas of keywording in future.
d) Some printed publishers’ catalogues have indexes to subjects – Longman is an example.
e) The Booktrust site is keyword-searchable, and throws up fiction choices.
f) Amazon, although not strictly subject keyworded, can highlight appropriate fiction. Its ‘others
who bought this…’ facility can also lead to serendipitous finds.
g) Book Suppliers (Peters, Bertrams, Askews, Holt Jackson, and others) have website databases
which are searchable by keyword and topic. It may be possible to subscribe to a database, even
if you are not a customer – or your local library service may be able to arrange something.
h) School Library Services are often rich sources of advice on the subject use of fiction. This may be
from their own databases, or simply from collective experience of specialists who select topic
collections for schools.
i) Email forums may be a way of seeking title suggestions – the SLA’s own Forum, or SLN.
j) How about getting together as an SLA Branch and brainstorming a list? SLA might publish it!
____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alec Williams 1 Victoria Street, Cullingworth, Bradford BD13 5AE (07977) 590189
12
[email protected]