As those parents who have been with us for the last few years know, we place a great deal of importance on reading for pleasure at Ixworth. Through sharing our own reading experiences as staff, promoting the value of reading and using displays and events to expose our students to read a range of reading we continue to promote reading as a pastime.
National and global research has proven that there is a positive correlation between a student’s vocabulary range at age 16 and the likelihood that she will succeed at School and indeed even future level of income. Robert Kiyosaki, author of the popular book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, wrote, “If you want to be rich, you have to have a rich man’s vocabulary. Words can make you rich, or can make you poor.” Given this research, and moreover, because it is a very pleasurable activity, we want to encourage vocabulary growth in our students. This growth occurs slowly, is largely unconscious, but can be significantly improved by regular reading for pleasure.
Reading also develops a wider awareness of the world, an understanding of our own and others’ emotions and reading of fiction in particular, develops creativity and imagination. All I am sure you will agree all are valuable skills.
We hope that you will be able to lose yourself in a book not only during the summer but throughout the year and that our recommendations inspire you to turn the pages (or perhaps flick the kindle!)
Reading should be enjoyable. These recommended reads have all been enjoyed by teachers in the English department. This is by no means an exhaustive list (in fact it was incredibly difficult to keep it this short). If you need further recommendations, speak to your English teacher or visit www.armadillomagazine.co.uk. We love talking about books and, like you, we are constantly reading so we always have new things to recommend. Similarly, when you read a really great book, share your recommendations with us – they may even end up on the next Seckford Education Trust Reading list. Happy reading!
KS3 Recommended Reading List
Action and Adventure
CHERUB series – Robert Muchamore
Young Sherlock – Andrew Lane
The Daring Adventure of Beatrice and Peabody – Kimberly Newton Fusco
Classics
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
Dystopian
Hunger Games series – Suzanne Collins
Noughts and Crosses – Malorie Blackman
Divergent trilogy – Veronica Roth
Gone- Michael Grant
Cinder – Marissa Meyer
Extraordinary Stories about Ordinary People
Wonder – R.J.Palacio
The Boy in the Back of the Class – Onjali Q. Raúf
Bubble Wrap Boy – Phil Earle
Liar and Spy – Rebecca Stead and Jesse Bernstein
Family and Relationships
Broken Soup, The Ant Colony – Jenny Valentine
Artichoke Hearts, Jasmine Skies – Sita Bramachari
Picture Me Gone – Meg Rosoff
An Island of Our Own – Sally Nicholls
Apple and Rain – Sarah Crossnan
Fantasy and Science Fiction
His Dark Materials trilogy – Phillip Pullman
Percy Jackson (or anything else by the author) – Rick Riordan
Harry Potter series – J.K.Rowling
Inheritance Cycle – Christopher Paolini
Skulduggery Pleasant series – Derek Landy
Who Framed Klaris Cliff? – Nikki Sheehan
Destination Earth – Ali Sparks
Ghosts, Horror and the Supernatural
Twilight saga – Stephenie Meyer
The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
Witch Child – Celia Rees
Non-fiction
Book – John Agard
Horrible Histories – Terry Dean
The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank
War Stories
The Skylarks’ War – Hilary Mckay
War Horse – Michael Morpurgo
Five Children on the Western Front – Kate Saunders
Goodnight Mister Tom – Michelle Magorian
The Children of the King – Sonya Hartnett
KS4 Recommended Reading List
Classics
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
Jayne Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
Hard Times – Charles Dickens
Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle
Dracula – Bram Stoker
1984 – George Orwell
Family and Relationships
Me Mam. Me Dad. Me – Malcolm Duffy
Dead Ends – Erin Lange
The Art of Being Normal – Lisa Williamson
Eleanor and Park- Rainbow Rowell
Heart Shaped – Siobhan Parkinson
The Fault in our Stars (or anything else by the author) – John Green
Rani and Sukh – Bali Rai
One – Sarah Crossnan
Fantasy and Science Fiction
Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern
La Belle Sauvage – Philip Pullman
Black Magician Trilogy – Trudi Canavan
Wicked – Gregory Maguire
Neverwhere, Stardust – Neil Gaiman
Every Day – David Levithan
Ghosts and Horror
Dance of the Dark Heart – Julie Hearn
Dracula – Bram Stoker
Conversion – Katherine Howe
Mystery, Crime and Thrillers
The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
What Was Lost – Catherine O’Flynn
Killing Rachel – Anne Cassidy
Other Cultures
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Mildred Taylor
Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
Half of a Yellow Sun – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chandra – Frances Mary Hendry
The Island – Victoria Hislop
The Gift of Rain – Tan Twang Eng
The Help – Kathryn Stockett
Prize Nominees and Winners
Jamrach’s Menagerie – Carol Birch
The Tiger’s Wife – Téa Obreht
Pigeon English – Stephen Kelman
Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga
War Stories
Birdsong – Sebastian
Regeneration – Pat Barker
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
The Return of Captain John Emmett- Elizabeth Speller