Okuma Listesi Nasıl Kullanılır?
Bu sayfada, Year 5’ten Year 13’e kadar her sınıf düzeyi için en az 20 kitaplık bir okuma listesi bulacaksınız. Liste; öğrencilerin okuma alışkanlığı kazanması, kelime hazinesini geliştirmesi ve özellikle GCSE/okul sınavlarına daha güçlü hazırlanmasına destek olmak amacıyla hazırlanmıştır.
Excel ile takip etmenizi öneririz
Okuma sürecini düzenli yürütmenin en pratik yolu, listeyi Excel dosyası olarak indirip takip etmektir. Excel üzerinden:
- Okunan kitapları işaretleyebilir,
- Başlama–bitirme tarihlerini yazabilir,
- Öğrencinin hızını ve düzenini kolayca görebilirsiniz,
- Hangi türlerde daha çok okuduğunu takip edebilirsiniz.
İpucu: Öğrenciniz bir kitabı zor buluyorsa aynı sınıf düzeyinde daha “akıcı” bir kitaba geçip sonra tekrar deneyebilirsiniz.
Önerilen tempo: 3 haftada 1 kitap
Düzenli gelişim için hedefi basit tutmak en iyi sonuç verir:
-
Her 3 haftada 1 kitap bitirmek ideal bir ritimdir.
Bu, yılda yaklaşık 15–17 kitap demektir. Bu tempo: - Okuma sürekliliğini sağlar,
- Öğrenciyi bunaltmadan disiplin kazandırır,
- Sınav dönemlerinde bile sürdürülebilir olur.
Kelime hazinesi ve ifade gücü neden bu kadar önemli?
Düzenli okuma; öğrencinin yalnızca kelime sayısını değil, kelimeleri doğru bağlamda kullanma becerisini geliştirir. Bu da:
- Yazılı anlatımın daha güçlü ve akıcı olmasını,
- Daha “olgun” ve ikna edici cümleler kurmasını,
- Metin analizinde daha doğru yorum yapmasını sağlar.
Özellikle İngiltere sisteminde öğrenciler; metni anlama, çıkarım yapma, kanıt gösterme ve fikirlerini yapılandırma becerilerinden değerlendirilir. Okuma bu becerilerin temelidir.
Sınavlara (GCSE ve okul sınavlarına) etkisi
Düzenli okuyan öğrenciler genelde:
- Metinleri daha hızlı anlar,
- Sorulardaki ince ayrıntıları kaçırmaz,
- Yazılı cevaplarda daha net ve düzenli paragraf kurar,
- “Evidence / quotation” kullanmayı daha doğal yapar,
- Farklı metin türlerine (roman, şiir, makale, konuşma) daha hazırlıklı olur.
Kısacası okuma, GCSE English Language / Literature’da gereken analiz, yorum ve yazma performansını doğrudan güçlendirir.
Interview (mülakat) ve kişisel ifade becerilerine etkisi
Okuma alışkanlığı; öğrencinin yalnızca sınav başarısını değil, özgüvenli iletişim becerisini de yükseltir. Özellikle:
- Okul mülakatlarında düşüncelerini daha net ifade etme,
- Kendi fikrini gerekçelendirme,
- Daha zengin örnekler ve kelimeler kullanma,
-
Güncel olaylar ve toplumsal konular üzerine konuşabilme
konularında çok büyük avantaj sağlar.
Bu nedenle düzenli okuma; interview, burs görüşmeleri ve hatta ilerideki üniversite başvurularında bile fark yaratır.
Evde küçük ama etkili bir okuma rutini
Aileler için uygulanabilir öneriler:
- Haftada 5 gün, günde 20–25 dakika okuma
-
Haftada 1 gün “sohbet”:
“Kitabın en sevdiğin kısmı neydi?”
“Karakterin yerinde olsan ne yapardın?”
“Yazar burada bize ne hissettirmek istemiş?” - Bitirince 2–3 cümlelik mini özet (Excel’e de yazılabilir)
Extensive Reading Lists (UKER) • Year 5–Year 13
Year 5 (Ages 9–10) • 20+ books
Focus: stamina, vocabulary, inference, character + theme talk. Great foundations for KS3/GCSE analysis language.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / GCSE-help tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Holes | Louis Sachar | structurethemesanalysis-ready |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | The Explorer | Katherine Rundell | settingcharactervocab |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Rooftoppers | Katherine Rundell | imagerytone |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Wonder | R. J. Palacio | viewpointthemes |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | The Boy at the Back of the Class | Onjali Q. Raúf | empathyvoice |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Kensuke’s Kingdom | Michael Morpurgo | narrationsetting |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | The Nowhere Emporium | Ross Mackenzie | symbolismmystery |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Skulduggery Pleasant (Book 1) | Derek Landy | voicehumour |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Varjak Paw | S. F. Said | journeytension |
| Year 5 | Graphic novel | Bunny vs Monkey (series) | Jamie Smart | visual literacyreluctant readers |
| Year 5 | Classic | The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | C. S. Lewis | allegorythemes |
| Year 5 | Classic | The Secret Garden | Frances Hodgson Burnett | character changesetting |
| Year 5 | Non-fiction | The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Young Readers) | William Kamkwamba | real-world writinginspiration |
| Year 5 | Non-fiction | I Am Malala (Young Readers Edition) | Malala Yousafzai | voicepurpose |
| Year 5 | Non-fiction | Horrible Histories (pick a topic) | Terry Deary | non-fiction styleengagement |
| Year 5 | Poetry | A Poem for Every Day of the Year | Allie Esiri (ed.) | unseen practiceperformance |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | How to Train Your Dragon (Book 1) | Cressida Cowell | voicepacing |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | The Last Bear | Hannah Gold | themessetting |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Book 1) | Jeff Kinney | reluctant readersvoice |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief | Rick Riordan | mythplot |
Year 6 (Ages 10–11) • 20+ books
Focus: richer classics + modern novels, themes, symbolism, and building KS3 confidence.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / GCSE-help tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 6 | Classic | The Hobbit | J. R. R. Tolkien | staminavocabquest |
| Year 6 | Classic | Tom’s Midnight Garden | Philippa Pearce | timesetting |
| Year 6 | Classic | Treasure Island | R. L. Stevenson | adventurenarration |
| Year 6 | Classic | The Wind in the Willows | Kenneth Grahame | tonecharacter |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | Skellig | David Almond | symbolismthemes |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | The Graveyard Book | Neil Gaiman | gothic-liteatmosphere |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | Journey to the River Sea | Eva Ibbotson | settingcharacter arc |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | Cogheart | Peter Bunzl | mysterypacing |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | Artemis Fowl | Eoin Colfer | voiceplot |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | The London Eye Mystery | Siobhan Dowd | logicnarration |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | Private Peaceful | Michael Morpurgo | contextvoice |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | When the Sky Falls | Phil Earle | themesemotion |
| Year 6 | Graphic novel | Amulet (Book 1) | Kazu Kibuishi | visual literacystamina |
| Year 6 | Non-fiction | Kay’s Anatomy (Adapted) | Adam Kay | non-fiction voicehumour |
| Year 6 | Non-fiction | Hidden Figures (Young Readers) | Margot Lee Shetterly | role modelspurpose |
| Year 6 | Poetry | Poems Aloud | Joseph Coelho | performancevoice |
| Year 6 | Classic | Black Beauty | Anna Sewell | narrationthemes |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | Can You See Me? | Libby Scott & Rebecca Westcott | viewpointempathy |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters | Rick Riordan | mythplot |
| Year 6 | Classic | A Little Princess | Frances Hodgson Burnett | characterthemes |
Year 7 (Ages 11–12) • 20+ books
Focus: KS3 transition, writer’s methods (AO2-style talk), big themes, and confidence with classics.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / GCSE-help tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | Northern Lights | Philip Pullman | themessymbolismAO2 |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | Coraline | Neil Gaiman | atmospheretension |
| Year 7 | Classic | A Christmas Carol | Charles Dickens | GCSE bridgethemes |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | The Giver | Lois Lowry | dystopiathemes |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | The Outsiders | S. E. Hinton | voiceconflict |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | The Thief Lord | Cornelia Funke | settingplot |
| Year 7 | Classic | The Call of the Wild | Jack London | narrationthemes |
| Year 7 | Classic | Anne of Green Gables | L. M. Montgomery | charactervoice |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | Noughts & Crosses | Malorie Blackman | themescontext talk |
| Year 7 | Non-fiction | The Diary of a Young Girl | Anne Frank | voicepurposecontext |
| Year 7 | Non-fiction | Boy | Roald Dahl | memoirvoice |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | The Hunger Games | Suzanne Collins | dystopiatension |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | His Dark Materials: The Subtle Knife | Philip Pullman | themesstructure |
| Year 7 | Classic | The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (selected) | Arthur Conan Doyle | inferencelanguage |
| Year 7 | Poetry | Falling Up | Shel Silverstein | voiceimagery |
| Year 7 | Poetry | Michael Rosen’s Book of Very Silly Poems | Michael Rosen | performancetone |
| Year 7 | Graphic novel | Heartstopper (Vol. 1) | Alice Oseman | characterthemes |
| Year 7 | Classic | Robinson Crusoe (adapted or full) | Daniel Defoe | classic litcontext talk |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | Mark Haddon | narrationviewpoint |
| Year 7 | Plays/Drama | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | William Shakespeare | Shakespeare bridgecharacter |
Year 8 (Ages 12–13) • 20+ books
Focus: sophisticated themes, writer’s craft, viewpoint, rhetoric, and building “essay talk”.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / GCSE-help tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 8 | Contemporary fiction | A Monster Calls | Patrick Ness | motifsstructureAO2 |
| Year 8 | Contemporary fiction | The Hate U Give | Angie Thomas | voicerhetoriccontext |
| Year 8 | Contemporary fiction | Refugee Boy | Benjamin Zephaniah | identitythemes |
| Year 8 | Classic | Animal Farm | George Orwell | allegorysymbolism |
| Year 8 | Classic | The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde | R. L. Stevenson | gothicduality |
| Year 8 | Contemporary fiction | Stone Cold | Robert Swindells | structureviewpoint |
| Year 8 | Contemporary fiction | The Knife of Never Letting Go | Patrick Ness | voicethemes |
| Year 8 | Contemporary fiction | The London Eye Mystery | Siobhan Dowd | narrationlogic |
| Year 8 | Classic | Great Expectations (abridged or full) | Charles Dickens | contextthemes |
| Year 8 | Contemporary fiction | Feather Boy | Nicky Singer | themescharacter |
| Year 8 | Non-fiction | Educated (adapted excerpts) / memoir choices | Tara Westover (or similar) | voicepurpose |
| Year 8 | Non-fiction | Letters from a Stoic (selected, adapted) | Seneca | argumentideas |
| Year 8 | Poetry | Poems That Make Grown Men Cry (selected) | Anthony & Ben Holden (eds.) | toneemotion |
| Year 8 | Poetry | The Poetry Pharmacy | William Sieghart | unseen practiceinterpretation |
| Year 8 | Short stories | Stories of Your Life and Others (selected, older readers) | Ted Chiang | ideasstructure |
| Year 8 | Short stories | The Tell-Tale Heart (and other stories) | Edgar Allan Poe | gothiclanguage |
| Year 8 | Graphic novel | Persepolis | Marjane Satrapi | memoircontextvisual |
| Year 8 | Plays/Drama | Romeo and Juliet | William Shakespeare | Shakespearethemes |
| Year 8 | Plays/Drama | The Tempest | William Shakespeare | powerlanguage |
| Year 8 | Classic | Frankenstein (abridged or extracts) | Mary Shelley | ethicsgothic |
Year 9 (Ages 13–14) • 20+ books
Focus: pre-GCSE depth—methods/effects, context, comparison, and longer classics.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / GCSE-help tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 9 | Classic | Lord of the Flies | William Golding | symbolismthemesessay-ready |
| Year 9 | Classic | Of Mice and Men | John Steinbeck | contextcharacter |
| Year 9 | Classic | An Inspector Calls | J. B. Priestley | dramathemes |
| Year 9 | Plays/Drama | Macbeth | William Shakespeare | ambitionmethods |
| Year 9 | Plays/Drama | Julius Caesar | William Shakespeare | rhetoricpower |
| Year 9 | Classic | Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen | voicesatire |
| Year 9 | Classic | Jane Eyre | Charlotte Brontë | narrationcontext |
| Year 9 | Classic | A Christmas Carol | Charles Dickens | themescontext |
| Year 9 | Classic | The Sign of Four | Arthur Conan Doyle | Victorianstructure |
| Year 9 | Classic | Dracula (selected chapters) | Bram Stoker | gothicatmosphere |
| Year 9 | Contemporary fiction | The Book Thief | Markus Zusak | narrative voicestructure |
| Year 9 | Contemporary fiction | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | Mark Haddon | viewpointmethods |
| Year 9 | Contemporary fiction | Never Let Me Go | Kazuo Ishiguro | themesnarration |
| Year 9 | Contemporary fiction | Animal Farm | George Orwell | allegoryAO2 |
| Year 9 | Poetry | Poems of the Decade (selected) | Various | unseen practicecomparison |
| Year 9 | Poetry | Carol Ann Duffy: Selected Poems (selected) | Carol Ann Duffy | methodsthemes |
| Year 9 | Short stories | The Lottery | Shirley Jackson | twisttoneAO2 |
| Year 9 | Short stories | The Yellow Wallpaper | Charlotte Perkins Gilman | narrationimagery |
| Year 9 | Non-fiction | Great Speeches (selected) | Various | rhetoricpersuasion |
| Year 9 | Non-fiction | Letters from Birmingham Jail | Martin Luther King Jr. | argumenttone |
Year 10 (Ages 14–15) • 20+ books
Focus: GCSE foundation—set-text reading + unseen poetry + high-quality non-fiction + short stories for language analysis.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / GCSE-help tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Macbeth | William Shakespeare | ShakespeareAO2 |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Romeo and Juliet | William Shakespeare | Shakespearecharacter |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | The Tempest | William Shakespeare | Shakespearepower |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Julius Caesar | William Shakespeare | rhetoricAO2 |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | A Christmas Carol | Charles Dickens | 19thCAO3 |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde | R. L. Stevenson | gothicAO2 |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Frankenstein (1831) | Mary Shelley | 19thCethics |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen | voicecontext |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | An Inspector Calls | J. B. Priestley | dramathemes |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Blood Brothers | Willy Russell | dramaclass |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Animal Farm | George Orwell | allegorythemes |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Lord of the Flies | William Golding | symbolismessay |
| Year 10 | Poetry | Poetry anthology (school/exam board) | Various | comparisonAO2 |
| Year 10 | Short stories | The Tell-Tale Heart | Edgar Allan Poe | languagetension |
| Year 10 | Short stories | The Speckled Band | Arthur Conan Doyle | structureinference |
| Year 10 | Short stories | The Lottery | Shirley Jackson | toneending |
| Year 10 | Non-fiction | We Should All Be Feminists | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | rhetoricpersuasion |
| Year 10 | Non-fiction | Bomb (or similar investigative non-fiction) | Steve Sheinkin (or similar) | non-fiction methodsstructure |
| Year 10 | Study/Revision | GCSE English Language: practice papers | Exam board / CGP (or similar) | timingexam technique |
| Year 10 | Study/Revision | GCSE English Literature: set-text workbook | York Notes / CGP (or similar) | quotationsplanning |
Year 11 (Ages 15–16) • 20+ books
Focus: exam year—re-read set texts + targeted revision + unseen poetry + persuasive non-fiction models.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / GCSE-help tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 11 | Study/Revision | GCSE English Language Revision Guide | CGP (or similar) | timingquestion stems |
| Year 11 | Study/Revision | GCSE English Literature Revision Guide | CGP (or similar) | essay plansquotations |
| Year 11 | Study/Revision | York Notes: Macbeth | York Notes (series) | AO2quotes |
| Year 11 | Study/Revision | York Notes: A Christmas Carol | York Notes (series) | AO3themes |
| Year 11 | Study/Revision | York Notes: Jekyll and Hyde | York Notes (series) | gothicmethods |
| Year 11 | Study/Revision | York Notes: An Inspector Calls | York Notes (series) | dramathemes |
| Year 11 | Poetry | Unseen Poetry practice anthology | Various | unseencomparison |
| Year 11 | Poetry | Poetry for GCSE (selected collections) | Various | methodsAO2 |
| Year 11 | Non-fiction | The Elements of Style | Strunk & White | claritywriting accuracy |
| Year 11 | Non-fiction | On Writing Well | William Zinsser | non-fiction crafttone |
| Year 11 | Non-fiction | Great Speeches (selected) | Various | rhetoricpersuasion |
| Year 11 | Non-fiction | Orwell: Essays (selected) | George Orwell | argumenttone |
| Year 11 | Short stories | The Yellow Wallpaper | Charlotte Perkins Gilman | narrationAO2 |
| Year 11 | Short stories | The Flowers | Alice Walker | contrastending |
| Year 11 | Short stories | Lamb to the Slaughter | Roald Dahl | structuretone |
| Year 11 | Short stories | The Pedestrian | Ray Bradbury | sci-fithemes |
| Year 11 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Re-read your school’s Shakespeare play | School choice | quotesAO2 |
| Year 11 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Re-read your school’s 19th-century novel | School choice | AO3themes |
| Year 11 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Re-read your school’s modern text | School choice | essay plansmethods |
| Year 11 | Study/Revision | Sentence Models for GCSE Writing (any strong guide) | Various | accuracystyle |
Year 12 (Ages 16–17) • 20+ books
Focus: post-16 breadth—modern classics, drama, poetry, and non-fiction argument. Great for A-level prep.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / skill tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 12 | Classic | 1984 | George Orwell | themeslanguage |
| Year 12 | Classic | The Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald | symbolismvoice |
| Year 12 | Classic | Jane Eyre | Charlotte Brontë | narrationcontext |
| Year 12 | Classic | Frankenstein | Mary Shelley | gothicethics |
| Year 12 | Classic | Wuthering Heights | Emily Brontë | structurenarrators |
| Year 12 | Contemporary fiction | The Handmaid’s Tale | Margaret Atwood | powervoice |
| Year 12 | Contemporary fiction | Never Let Me Go | Kazuo Ishiguro | themesnarration |
| Year 12 | Contemporary fiction | Small Things Like These | Claire Keegan | economysubtext |
| Year 12 | Contemporary fiction | The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | themescontext |
| Year 12 | Contemporary fiction | The Road | Cormac McCarthy | styletone |
| Year 12 | Plays/Drama | A Streetcar Named Desire | Tennessee Williams | drama methodsthemes |
| Year 12 | Plays/Drama | The Crucible | Arthur Miller | contextpower |
| Year 12 | Plays/Drama | Othello | William Shakespeare | Shakespearetragedy |
| Year 12 | Poetry | Selected Poems | Seamus Heaney | imageryvoice |
| Year 12 | Poetry | Selected Poems | Carol Ann Duffy | methodsthemes |
| Year 12 | Poetry | The Waste Land (selected + support) | T. S. Eliot | modernismallusion |
| Year 12 | Non-fiction | Consider the Lobster (essays) | David Foster Wallace | voiceargument |
| Year 12 | Non-fiction | The Orwell Essays | George Orwell | clarityrhetoric |
| Year 12 | Non-fiction | Notes of a Native Son | James Baldwin | argumenttone |
| Year 12 | Non-fiction | The Art of Fiction | David Lodge | analysis toolsmethods |
| Year 12 | Non-fiction | How to Read Literature Like a Professor | Thomas C. Foster | symbolspatterns |
Year 13 (Ages 17–18) • 20+ books
Focus: university readiness—challenging novels, critical lenses, and more complex drama/poetry.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / skill tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 13 | Classic | Tess of the d’Urbervilles | Thomas Hardy | tragedycontext |
| Year 13 | Classic | Hamlet | William Shakespeare | Shakespearesoliloquy |
| Year 13 | Classic | King Lear | William Shakespeare | tragedythemes |
| Year 13 | Classic | The Picture of Dorian Gray | Oscar Wilde | gothicaestheticism |
| Year 13 | Classic | Mrs Dalloway | Virginia Woolf | modernismvoice |
| Year 13 | Contemporary fiction | Beloved | Toni Morrison | structurememory |
| Year 13 | Contemporary fiction | The Remains of the Day | Kazuo Ishiguro | narrator reliabilitytone |
| Year 13 | Contemporary fiction | White Teeth | Zadie Smith | voicesociety |
| Year 13 | Contemporary fiction | Atonement | Ian McEwan | metafictionstructure |
| Year 13 | Contemporary fiction | The Secret History | Donna Tartt | narrationthemes |
| Year 13 | Plays/Drama | Waiting for Godot | Samuel Beckett | absurdismform |
| Year 13 | Plays/Drama | Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead | Tom Stoppard | metatheatreform |
| Year 13 | Plays/Drama | Top Girls | Caryl Churchill | structureideas |
| Year 13 | Poetry | Ariel | Sylvia Plath | voiceimagery |
| Year 13 | Poetry | The World’s Wife | Carol Ann Duffy | re-voiceform |
| Year 13 | Poetry | Selected Poems | John Donne | metaphysicalform |
| Year 13 | Poetry | Selected Poems | William Blake | symbolismcontext |
| Year 13 | Non-fiction | Ways of Seeing | John Berger | critical lensargument |
| Year 13 | Non-fiction | On Photography | Susan Sontag | argumentideas |
| Year 13 | Non-fiction | The Second Sex (selected) | Simone de Beauvoir | theorycontext |
| Year 13 | Non-fiction | Literary Theory: An Introduction | Terry Eagleton | critical vocabularylenses |
| Year 13 | Non-fiction | How Fiction Works | James Wood | analysismethods |
Extensive Reading Lists (UKER) • Year 5–Year 13
Year 5 (Ages 9–10) • 20+ books
Focus: stamina, vocabulary, inference, character + theme talk. Great foundations for KS3/GCSE analysis language.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / GCSE-help tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Holes | Louis Sachar | structurethemesanalysis-ready |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | The Explorer | Katherine Rundell | settingcharactervocab |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Rooftoppers | Katherine Rundell | imagerytone |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Wonder | R. J. Palacio | viewpointthemes |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | The Boy at the Back of the Class | Onjali Q. Raúf | empathyvoice |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Kensuke’s Kingdom | Michael Morpurgo | narrationsetting |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | The Nowhere Emporium | Ross Mackenzie | symbolismmystery |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Skulduggery Pleasant (Book 1) | Derek Landy | voicehumour |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Varjak Paw | S. F. Said | journeytension |
| Year 5 | Graphic novel | Bunny vs Monkey (series) | Jamie Smart | visual literacyreluctant readers |
| Year 5 | Classic | The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | C. S. Lewis | allegorythemes |
| Year 5 | Classic | The Secret Garden | Frances Hodgson Burnett | character changesetting |
| Year 5 | Non-fiction | The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Young Readers) | William Kamkwamba | real-world writinginspiration |
| Year 5 | Non-fiction | I Am Malala (Young Readers Edition) | Malala Yousafzai | voicepurpose |
| Year 5 | Non-fiction | Horrible Histories (pick a topic) | Terry Deary | non-fiction styleengagement |
| Year 5 | Poetry | A Poem for Every Day of the Year | Allie Esiri (ed.) | unseen practiceperformance |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | How to Train Your Dragon (Book 1) | Cressida Cowell | voicepacing |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | The Last Bear | Hannah Gold | themessetting |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Book 1) | Jeff Kinney | reluctant readersvoice |
| Year 5 | Contemporary fiction | Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief | Rick Riordan | mythplot |
Year 6 (Ages 10–11) • 20+ books
Focus: richer classics + modern novels, themes, symbolism, and building KS3 confidence.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / GCSE-help tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 6 | Classic | The Hobbit | J. R. R. Tolkien | staminavocabquest |
| Year 6 | Classic | Tom’s Midnight Garden | Philippa Pearce | timesetting |
| Year 6 | Classic | Treasure Island | R. L. Stevenson | adventurenarration |
| Year 6 | Classic | The Wind in the Willows | Kenneth Grahame | tonecharacter |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | Skellig | David Almond | symbolismthemes |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | The Graveyard Book | Neil Gaiman | gothic-liteatmosphere |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | Journey to the River Sea | Eva Ibbotson | settingcharacter arc |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | Cogheart | Peter Bunzl | mysterypacing |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | Artemis Fowl | Eoin Colfer | voiceplot |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | The London Eye Mystery | Siobhan Dowd | logicnarration |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | Private Peaceful | Michael Morpurgo | contextvoice |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | When the Sky Falls | Phil Earle | themesemotion |
| Year 6 | Graphic novel | Amulet (Book 1) | Kazu Kibuishi | visual literacystamina |
| Year 6 | Non-fiction | Kay’s Anatomy (Adapted) | Adam Kay | non-fiction voicehumour |
| Year 6 | Non-fiction | Hidden Figures (Young Readers) | Margot Lee Shetterly | role modelspurpose |
| Year 6 | Poetry | Poems Aloud | Joseph Coelho | performancevoice |
| Year 6 | Classic | Black Beauty | Anna Sewell | narrationthemes |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | Can You See Me? | Libby Scott & Rebecca Westcott | viewpointempathy |
| Year 6 | Contemporary fiction | Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters | Rick Riordan | mythplot |
| Year 6 | Classic | A Little Princess | Frances Hodgson Burnett | characterthemes |
Year 7 (Ages 11–12) • 20+ books
Focus: KS3 transition, writer’s methods (AO2-style talk), big themes, and confidence with classics.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / GCSE-help tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | Northern Lights | Philip Pullman | themessymbolismAO2 |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | Coraline | Neil Gaiman | atmospheretension |
| Year 7 | Classic | A Christmas Carol | Charles Dickens | GCSE bridgethemes |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | The Giver | Lois Lowry | dystopiathemes |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | The Outsiders | S. E. Hinton | voiceconflict |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | The Thief Lord | Cornelia Funke | settingplot |
| Year 7 | Classic | The Call of the Wild | Jack London | narrationthemes |
| Year 7 | Classic | Anne of Green Gables | L. M. Montgomery | charactervoice |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | Noughts & Crosses | Malorie Blackman | themescontext talk |
| Year 7 | Non-fiction | The Diary of a Young Girl | Anne Frank | voicepurposecontext |
| Year 7 | Non-fiction | Boy | Roald Dahl | memoirvoice |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | The Hunger Games | Suzanne Collins | dystopiatension |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | His Dark Materials: The Subtle Knife | Philip Pullman | themesstructure |
| Year 7 | Classic | The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (selected) | Arthur Conan Doyle | inferencelanguage |
| Year 7 | Poetry | Falling Up | Shel Silverstein | voiceimagery |
| Year 7 | Poetry | Michael Rosen’s Book of Very Silly Poems | Michael Rosen | performancetone |
| Year 7 | Graphic novel | Heartstopper (Vol. 1) | Alice Oseman | characterthemes |
| Year 7 | Classic | Robinson Crusoe (adapted or full) | Daniel Defoe | classic litcontext talk |
| Year 7 | Contemporary fiction | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | Mark Haddon | narrationviewpoint |
| Year 7 | Plays/Drama | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | William Shakespeare | Shakespeare bridgecharacter |
Year 8 (Ages 12–13) • 20+ books
Focus: sophisticated themes, writer’s craft, viewpoint, rhetoric, and building “essay talk”.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / GCSE-help tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 8 | Contemporary fiction | A Monster Calls | Patrick Ness | motifsstructureAO2 |
| Year 8 | Contemporary fiction | The Hate U Give | Angie Thomas | voicerhetoriccontext |
| Year 8 | Contemporary fiction | Refugee Boy | Benjamin Zephaniah | identitythemes |
| Year 8 | Classic | Animal Farm | George Orwell | allegorysymbolism |
| Year 8 | Classic | The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde | R. L. Stevenson | gothicduality |
| Year 8 | Contemporary fiction | Stone Cold | Robert Swindells | structureviewpoint |
| Year 8 | Contemporary fiction | The Knife of Never Letting Go | Patrick Ness | voicethemes |
| Year 8 | Contemporary fiction | The London Eye Mystery | Siobhan Dowd | narrationlogic |
| Year 8 | Classic | Great Expectations (abridged or full) | Charles Dickens | contextthemes |
| Year 8 | Contemporary fiction | Feather Boy | Nicky Singer | themescharacter |
| Year 8 | Non-fiction | Educated (adapted excerpts) / memoir choices | Tara Westover (or similar) | voicepurpose |
| Year 8 | Non-fiction | Letters from a Stoic (selected, adapted) | Seneca | argumentideas |
| Year 8 | Poetry | Poems That Make Grown Men Cry (selected) | Anthony & Ben Holden (eds.) | toneemotion |
| Year 8 | Poetry | The Poetry Pharmacy | William Sieghart | unseen practiceinterpretation |
| Year 8 | Short stories | Stories of Your Life and Others (selected, older readers) | Ted Chiang | ideasstructure |
| Year 8 | Short stories | The Tell-Tale Heart (and other stories) | Edgar Allan Poe | gothiclanguage |
| Year 8 | Graphic novel | Persepolis | Marjane Satrapi | memoircontextvisual |
| Year 8 | Plays/Drama | Romeo and Juliet | William Shakespeare | Shakespearethemes |
| Year 8 | Plays/Drama | The Tempest | William Shakespeare | powerlanguage |
| Year 8 | Classic | Frankenstein (abridged or extracts) | Mary Shelley | ethicsgothic |
Year 9 (Ages 13–14) • 20+ books
Focus: pre-GCSE depth—methods/effects, context, comparison, and longer classics.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / GCSE-help tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 9 | Classic | Lord of the Flies | William Golding | symbolismthemesessay-ready |
| Year 9 | Classic | Of Mice and Men | John Steinbeck | contextcharacter |
| Year 9 | Classic | An Inspector Calls | J. B. Priestley | dramathemes |
| Year 9 | Plays/Drama | Macbeth | William Shakespeare | ambitionmethods |
| Year 9 | Plays/Drama | Julius Caesar | William Shakespeare | rhetoricpower |
| Year 9 | Classic | Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen | voicesatire |
| Year 9 | Classic | Jane Eyre | Charlotte Brontë | narrationcontext |
| Year 9 | Classic | A Christmas Carol | Charles Dickens | themescontext |
| Year 9 | Classic | The Sign of Four | Arthur Conan Doyle | Victorianstructure |
| Year 9 | Classic | Dracula (selected chapters) | Bram Stoker | gothicatmosphere |
| Year 9 | Contemporary fiction | The Book Thief | Markus Zusak | narrative voicestructure |
| Year 9 | Contemporary fiction | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | Mark Haddon | viewpointmethods |
| Year 9 | Contemporary fiction | Never Let Me Go | Kazuo Ishiguro | themesnarration |
| Year 9 | Contemporary fiction | Animal Farm | George Orwell | allegoryAO2 |
| Year 9 | Poetry | Poems of the Decade (selected) | Various | unseen practicecomparison |
| Year 9 | Poetry | Carol Ann Duffy: Selected Poems (selected) | Carol Ann Duffy | methodsthemes |
| Year 9 | Short stories | The Lottery | Shirley Jackson | twisttoneAO2 |
| Year 9 | Short stories | The Yellow Wallpaper | Charlotte Perkins Gilman | narrationimagery |
| Year 9 | Non-fiction | Great Speeches (selected) | Various | rhetoricpersuasion |
| Year 9 | Non-fiction | Letters from Birmingham Jail | Martin Luther King Jr. | argumenttone |
Year 10 (Ages 14–15) • 20+ books
Focus: GCSE foundation—set-text reading + unseen poetry + high-quality non-fiction + short stories for language analysis.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / GCSE-help tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Macbeth | William Shakespeare | ShakespeareAO2 |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Romeo and Juliet | William Shakespeare | Shakespearecharacter |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | The Tempest | William Shakespeare | Shakespearepower |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Julius Caesar | William Shakespeare | rhetoricAO2 |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | A Christmas Carol | Charles Dickens | 19thCAO3 |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde | R. L. Stevenson | gothicAO2 |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Frankenstein (1831) | Mary Shelley | 19thCethics |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen | voicecontext |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | An Inspector Calls | J. B. Priestley | dramathemes |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Blood Brothers | Willy Russell | dramaclass |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Animal Farm | George Orwell | allegorythemes |
| Year 10 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Lord of the Flies | William Golding | symbolismessay |
| Year 10 | Poetry | Poetry anthology (school/exam board) | Various | comparisonAO2 |
| Year 10 | Short stories | The Tell-Tale Heart | Edgar Allan Poe | languagetension |
| Year 10 | Short stories | The Speckled Band | Arthur Conan Doyle | structureinference |
| Year 10 | Short stories | The Lottery | Shirley Jackson | toneending |
| Year 10 | Non-fiction | We Should All Be Feminists | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | rhetoricpersuasion |
| Year 10 | Non-fiction | Bomb (or similar investigative non-fiction) | Steve Sheinkin (or similar) | non-fiction methodsstructure |
| Year 10 | Study/Revision | GCSE English Language: practice papers | Exam board / CGP (or similar) | timingexam technique |
| Year 10 | Study/Revision | GCSE English Literature: set-text workbook | York Notes / CGP (or similar) | quotationsplanning |
Year 11 (Ages 15–16) • 20+ books
Focus: exam year—re-read set texts + targeted revision + unseen poetry + persuasive non-fiction models.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / GCSE-help tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 11 | Study/Revision | GCSE English Language Revision Guide | CGP (or similar) | timingquestion stems |
| Year 11 | Study/Revision | GCSE English Literature Revision Guide | CGP (or similar) | essay plansquotations |
| Year 11 | Study/Revision | York Notes: Macbeth | York Notes (series) | AO2quotes |
| Year 11 | Study/Revision | York Notes: A Christmas Carol | York Notes (series) | AO3themes |
| Year 11 | Study/Revision | York Notes: Jekyll and Hyde | York Notes (series) | gothicmethods |
| Year 11 | Study/Revision | York Notes: An Inspector Calls | York Notes (series) | dramathemes |
| Year 11 | Poetry | Unseen Poetry practice anthology | Various | unseencomparison |
| Year 11 | Poetry | Poetry for GCSE (selected collections) | Various | methodsAO2 |
| Year 11 | Non-fiction | The Elements of Style | Strunk & White | claritywriting accuracy |
| Year 11 | Non-fiction | On Writing Well | William Zinsser | non-fiction crafttone |
| Year 11 | Non-fiction | Great Speeches (selected) | Various | rhetoricpersuasion |
| Year 11 | Non-fiction | Orwell: Essays (selected) | George Orwell | argumenttone |
| Year 11 | Short stories | The Yellow Wallpaper | Charlotte Perkins Gilman | narrationAO2 |
| Year 11 | Short stories | The Flowers | Alice Walker | contrastending |
| Year 11 | Short stories | Lamb to the Slaughter | Roald Dahl | structuretone |
| Year 11 | Short stories | The Pedestrian | Ray Bradbury | sci-fithemes |
| Year 11 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Re-read your school’s Shakespeare play | School choice | quotesAO2 |
| Year 11 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Re-read your school’s 19th-century novel | School choice | AO3themes |
| Year 11 | GCSE Set Text (common) | Re-read your school’s modern text | School choice | essay plansmethods |
| Year 11 | Study/Revision | Sentence Models for GCSE Writing (any strong guide) | Various | accuracystyle |
Year 12 (Ages 16–17) • 20+ books
Focus: post-16 breadth—modern classics, drama, poetry, and non-fiction argument. Great for A-level prep.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / skill tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 12 | Classic | 1984 | George Orwell | themeslanguage |
| Year 12 | Classic | The Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald | symbolismvoice |
| Year 12 | Classic | Jane Eyre | Charlotte Brontë | narrationcontext |
| Year 12 | Classic | Frankenstein | Mary Shelley | gothicethics |
| Year 12 | Classic | Wuthering Heights | Emily Brontë | structurenarrators |
| Year 12 | Contemporary fiction | The Handmaid’s Tale | Margaret Atwood | powervoice |
| Year 12 | Contemporary fiction | Never Let Me Go | Kazuo Ishiguro | themesnarration |
| Year 12 | Contemporary fiction | Small Things Like These | Claire Keegan | economysubtext |
| Year 12 | Contemporary fiction | The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | themescontext |
| Year 12 | Contemporary fiction | The Road | Cormac McCarthy | styletone |
| Year 12 | Plays/Drama | A Streetcar Named Desire | Tennessee Williams | drama methodsthemes |
| Year 12 | Plays/Drama | The Crucible | Arthur Miller | contextpower |
| Year 12 | Plays/Drama | Othello | William Shakespeare | Shakespearetragedy |
| Year 12 | Poetry | Selected Poems | Seamus Heaney | imageryvoice |
| Year 12 | Poetry | Selected Poems | Carol Ann Duffy | methodsthemes |
| Year 12 | Poetry | The Waste Land (selected + support) | T. S. Eliot | modernismallusion |
| Year 12 | Non-fiction | Consider the Lobster (essays) | David Foster Wallace | voiceargument |
| Year 12 | Non-fiction | The Orwell Essays | George Orwell | clarityrhetoric |
| Year 12 | Non-fiction | Notes of a Native Son | James Baldwin | argumenttone |
| Year 12 | Non-fiction | The Art of Fiction | David Lodge | analysis toolsmethods |
| Year 12 | Non-fiction | How to Read Literature Like a Professor | Thomas C. Foster | symbolspatterns |
Year 13 (Ages 17–18) • 20+ books
Focus: university readiness—challenging novels, critical lenses, and more complex drama/poetry.
| Year | Type | Title | Author | Notes / skill tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 13 | Classic | Tess of the d’Urbervilles | Thomas Hardy | tragedycontext |
| Year 13 | Classic | Hamlet | William Shakespeare | Shakespearesoliloquy |
| Year 13 | Classic | King Lear | William Shakespeare | tragedythemes |
| Year 13 | Classic | The Picture of Dorian Gray | Oscar Wilde | gothicaestheticism |
| Year 13 | Classic | Mrs Dalloway | Virginia Woolf | modernismvoice |
| Year 13 | Contemporary fiction | Beloved | Toni Morrison | structurememory |
| Year 13 | Contemporary fiction | The Remains of the Day | Kazuo Ishiguro | narrator reliabilitytone |
| Year 13 | Contemporary fiction | White Teeth | Zadie Smith | voicesociety |
| Year 13 | Contemporary fiction | Atonement | Ian McEwan | metafictionstructure |
| Year 13 | Contemporary fiction | The Secret History | Donna Tartt | narrationthemes |
| Year 13 | Plays/Drama | Waiting for Godot | Samuel Beckett | absurdismform |
| Year 13 | Plays/Drama | Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead | Tom Stoppard | metatheatreform |
| Year 13 | Plays/Drama | Top Girls | Caryl Churchill | structureideas |
| Year 13 | Poetry | Ariel | Sylvia Plath | voiceimagery |
| Year 13 | Poetry | The World’s Wife | Carol Ann Duffy | re-voiceform |
| Year 13 | Poetry | Selected Poems | John Donne | metaphysicalform |
| Year 13 | Poetry | Selected Poems | William Blake | symbolismcontext |
| Year 13 | Non-fiction | Ways of Seeing | John Berger | critical lensargument |
| Year 13 | Non-fiction | On Photography | Susan Sontag | argumentideas |
| Year 13 | Non-fiction | The Second Sex (selected) | Simone de Beauvoir | theorycontext |
| Year 13 | Non-fiction | Literary Theory: An Introduction | Terry Eagleton | critical vocabularylenses |
| Year 13 | Non-fiction | How Fiction Works | James Wood | analysismethods |
Ready to Embrace Your Fitness Journey?
Contact us today to embark on your path to a healthier, more vibrant you. Your fitness journey begins here.