Year 7 Recommended

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!

‘There is no friend

as loyal as a

book’ Ernest Hemingway

MYSTERY AND ADVENTURE:Lauren Child – Look Into My Eyes (Ruby Redfort series)

Frank Cottrell Boyce – Millions, Framed, Cosmic

Siobhan Dowd – The London Eye Mystery

Charlie Higson – Silverfin (Young James Bond series)

Anthony Horowitz – Stormbreaker (Alex Rider series)

Andrew Lane – Young Sherlock Holmes Series

Sophie McKenzie – Girl, Missing, The Medusa Project (series)

Michael Morpurgo – Kensuke’s Kingdom

Phillip Pullman - The Ruby in the Smoke

Louis Sachar – Holes, Small Steps

Marcus Sedgwick – She Is Not Invisible, Blood Red, Snow White

Robin Stevens - Murder Most Unladylike

Lauren St John – Dead Man’s Cove

Mark Walden - HIVE

Recommended by your peers:David Almond – Skellig, My Name is Mina

Lauren Child – Look Into My Eyes (Ruby Redfort series)

Sharon Creech – Ruby Holler

Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl Series

Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games (series)*

Morris Gleitzman – Once, Then, Now, After

Charlie Higson – Silverfin (Young James Bond series)

Anthony Horowitz – Stormbreaker (Alex Rider series)

Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid (series)

Michael Morpurgo – Private Peaceful

Robert Muchamore - Cherub (series)

R.J Palacio - Wonder

Christopher Paolini – Eragon, Eldest, Brisinar

Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson (series)

J.K Rowling – Harry Potter (series)

Louis Sachar – Holes, Small Steps

Darren Shan – Cirque du Freak Series

Lemony Snicket – A Series of Unfortunate Events

J.R.R Tolkien – The Hobbit

Lara Williamson – A Boy Called Hope

HAVE A GIGGLE…Roald Dahl – Any!

Morris Gleitzman – Extra Time

Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Mark Lowery – Socks Are Not Enough

Liz Pichon – Tom Gates Books

David Walliams – Demon Dentist, Billionaire Boy,

Mr Stink

POETRY101 Poems for Children – Chosen by

Carol Ann Duffy

Poems from the First World War – Gaby

Morgan

Malorie Blackman – Cloud Busting

FANTASYPseudonymous Bosh – The Name Of This Book Is Secret

Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl Series

Cornelia Funke – Inkheart

C.S Lewis – The Chronicles of Narnia

William Nicholson – The Wind Singer

Christopher Paolini - Eragon (series)

Phillip Pullman - Northern Lights (series)

Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson (series)

J.K Rowling – Harry Potter (series)

Tony Di Terlizzi – The Spiderwick Chronicles

JRR Tolkien -The Hobbit

Phillip Womack – The Broken King

CREEPY TALESCatherine Fisher – The Ghost Box

Neil Gaimon – Coraline, The Graveyard Book

Pete Johnson – The Vampire Fighters

Derek Landy – Skullduggery Pleasant (series)

Jon Mayhew – Mortlock

Tom Palmer – Ghost Stadium

Chris Priestly – Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror

Marcus Sedgwick – My Swordhand is Singing

Darren Shan – Cirque du Freak Series

Darren Shan – The Demonata Series

Ali Sparkes – Finding the Fox (Shapeshifter series)

RL Stein – Goosebumps (series)

Jonathan Stroud - Lockwood & Co. The Screaming Staircase

Robert Swindells – Room 13

NON-FICTIONTony Bradman (editor) – Stories of WW1

Roald Dahl – Boy

Ann Frank – The Diary of a Young Girl

Glen Murphy – Why is Snot Green? Or How

Loud Can You Burp? (Science)

Minecraft: The Official Construction

Handbook

CLASSICSRichard Adams – Watership Down

Joan Aitken – The Wolves of Willoughby

Chase

J.M Barry – Peter Pan

Nina Bawden – Carrie’s War

Lewis Carroll - Alice’s Adventures in

Wonderland

Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist

Frances Hodgson Burnett – The Secret

Garden

Rudyard Kipling – Just So Stories

C.S Lewis – The Chronicles of Narnia

Arthur Ransome – Swallows & Amazons

Anna Sewell – Black Beauty

HISTORICAL / OTHER CULTURES:Nina Bawden – Carrie’s War

Ann Frank – The Diary of a Young Girl

Sally Gardner - I, Coriander

Jamilia Gavin – Coram Boy

Morris Gleitzman – Once, Then, Now, After

Judith Kerr - When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit

Elizabeth Laird – The Garbage King, Kiss The Dust

Caroline Lawrence – Roman Mysteries

Michelle Margorian – Goodnight Mister Tom or Back Home

Michael Morpurgo – Only Remembered

Michael Morpurgo – Private Peaceful

Beverly Naidoo – The Other Side of Truth

Phillip Pullman - The Ruby in the Smoke

Sandi Toksvig – Hitler’s Canary

GIRLS LOVE…Judy Blume - Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

Sita Brahmachari – Artichoke Heart

Lauren Child – Look Into My Eyes (Ruby Redfort

series)

Sophie McKenzie – Girl, Missing

Louise Renninson - Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal

Snogging

Holly Smale – Geek Girl

Jean Ure - Lemonade Sky

Collette Victor – Head Over Heart

Rebecca Westcott – Violet Ink

Jacqueline Wilson - Little Darlings and any others!

BOYS LOVE…Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl Series

Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games (series)*

Charlie Higson – Silverfin (Young James Bond series)

Anthony Horowitz – Stormbreaker (Alex Rider series)

Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid (series)

Derek Landy – Skullduggery Pleasant (series)

Simon Mayo - Itch

Michael Morpurgo – Private Peaceful

Robert Muchamore - Cherub (series – books 1&2)

Christopher Paolini – Eragon, Eldest, Brisinar

Mal Peet – Keeper

Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson (series)

J.K Rowling – Harry Potter (series)

Louis Sachar – Holes, Small Steps

Darren Shan – Cirque du Freak Series

Mark Walden - HIVE

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 me 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: Story Openings.1. Read the opening paragraphs of five different novels – all must be books on this

reading list! Think about the following questions for each one:

• What do you find interesting about it?

• Has the writer made you want to continue reading? How? What ‘hook’ has been

used?

• Has the writer used any interesting techniques? Repetition? Contrast? Similes?

Why?

• Do you have any questions you would like answered?

• What is your favourite sentence? Why?

2. Choose your favourite opening, type up the first few paragraphs, or the first page,

then annotate your extract with answers to all of the questions you were asked to

consider for part 1. This will need to be printed and presented to your teacher as part of

this challenge.

3. Now you are an expert in story openings you are going to write your own! Can you

create your own first page using the features you’ve just explored? You must include: a

powerful first line, interesting word choices and descriptions and unanswered questions.

How will you ‘hook’ your reader?

4. Once done, type it up and annotate it in the same way as you did before. What

features have you used in your opening? How do they engage your reader?

English Challenge 2016-17Extended English Challenge 2: The News. 1. Find a newspaper article you have enjoyed reading from a broadsheet newspaper.

Cut it out and stick it into the middle of an A3 piece of paper. Your job is to annotate

the features the writer has used. Can you find and label the following:

• The 5 Ws of the story? (Who, What, When, Where, Why)

• The headline? Include a note about which techniques the writer has used in the

headline and how it grabs the reader’s attention.

• A byline?

• An image and caption?

2. Now choose one of the following five headlines:

• Boy drowns in toilet

• Dog caught stealing

• Is it all over?

• Man survives deadly attack

• Deathly blaze at school

Your task is to write a newspaper article about one of these stories.

3. You must then type it up and present it as a newspaper front page. It should include

the following presentational features:

• Name of the paper

• Columns

• Images and captions

• A striking headline

• A byline

• An emboldened first paragraph