Reading...

Back to Home > Middle School English

** Recommended Reading Lists ** //Recommended Reading Lists for Key Stage 3 & 4 (Middle School, Junior High)// ** I love reading. I love the escapism; the smell of the pages (no kindles for me!); the way the words flow together; cracking the spine of a freshly bought book; the dangers, the romance, the adventure... I think in many ways it's because I love to travel too, but due to life and work getting in the way, I cannot travel nearly as much as I want to. Until I open the covers of a good book that is, and then I am travelling all over the world. I love getting lost in a good book and I really hope that you do too. ** ** If so, you will love the selection of books that are listed below, in a huge range of categories, listed by genre, place, period and form. If you are not a very keen reader (and to be totally honest, I wasn't when I was your age) then this is a good place for you to start too. Have a browse through the categories until you find one that catches your eye, then skim through the titles until one jumps off the page and bingo... off you go on your own little adventure. ** ** A note of warning: whilst these recommendations are for students in KS3 & 4 (that is Years 7-11 UK system or Middle School and Junior High in the US), to cater for some more advanced readers, and some more mature tastes too, some books are young adult in content. So make sure you check out the blurb on Amazon or on the back of the book in the library before you start reading. ** ** Happy travels! **

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle The War of the Worlds by HG Wells The Call of the Wild by Jack London Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
 * PERIOD **
 * - Pre 1914**

Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Good-bye Mr Chips by James Hilton The Hardy Boys by Franklin W Dixon Nancy Drew Series by Carolyn Keene The LIttle Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara
 * - 1915-1945**

Lord of the Flies by William Golding The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien The Outsiders by SE Hinton True Grit by Charles Portis Z for Zachariah by Robert C O'Brien Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl
 * - 1946-1979**

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B Cooney Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff Watership Down by Richard Adams Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher When She Was Good by Norma Fox Mazer Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George The Giver by Lois Lowry The Secret History by Donna Tartt
 * - 1980-2000**

The Declaration by Gemma Malley Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare Girl Missing by Sophie Mackenzie Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell Looking for Alaska by John Green The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins The Fault in Our Stars by John Green Will Sparrow's Road by Karen Cushman The Dogs of Winter by Bobbie Pyron
 * - Post 2001**

A useful resource on finding books about other cultures: []
 * PLACE **

Al Capone Does my Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult Roots by Alex Haley I am a Taxi by Deborah Lynn Ellis The Red Umbrella by Christina Gonzalez The Color of my Words by Lynn Joseph
 * - Americas**

Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin The Firework Maker's Daughter by Philip Pullman Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan A Beautiful Lie by Irfan Master Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick ICO: Castle in the Mist by Miyuki Miyabe Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth Island's End by Padma Venkatraman
 * - Asia**

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame A Time of Miracles by Anne-Laure Bondoux The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly The Day of the Pelican by Katherine Paterson Secret Letters from 0 to 10 by Susie Morgenstern Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin
 * - Europe**

Cherub: Divine Madness by Robert Muchamore The Deltora Quest Series by Emily Rodda Two Weeks with the Queen by Morris Gleitzman My Place by Sally Morgan Seven Little Australians by Ethel Sybil Turner Hating Alison Ashley Pastures of the Blue Crane by Hesba Fay Brinsmead My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin The Tomorrow Series by John Marsden
 * - Oceania**

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen The Devil that Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Memoir by Aminatta Forna Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay City Boy by Jan Michael Out of Bounds: Seven Stories Conflict and Hope by Beverley Naidoo Now is the Time for Running by Michael Williams
 * - Africa**

Dear America, I Thought My Soul Could Rise and Fly by Joyce Hansen Tunnels Series by Roderick Gordon Auslander by Paul Dowswell The Bride's Farewell by Meg Rosoff The Grasshopper's Run by Siddhartha Sarma Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks David by mary Hoffman The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child An Elephant in the Garden by Michael Morpurgo Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper
 * GENRE **
 * - Historical Fiction**

Cell by Stephen King Magician (The Riftwar Saga) by Raymond E Feist I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore Trylle Trilogy by Amanda Hocking Moon Called by Patricia Briggs Magus of Stonewylde by Kit Berry Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton Wool by Hugh Howey We Can Remember it for You Wholesale by Philip K Dick The Steele Wolf by Chanda Hahn
 * - Science Fiction**

Divergent by Veronica Roth Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe The Red Pyramid by Rick Rorden War Horse by Michael Morpugo Flip by Martyn Bedford Eragon by Christopher Paolini Casino Royale by Ian Fleming Cherub Series by Robert Muchamore Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian The Three Musketeers by Alexandra Dumas Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
 * - Adventure**

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart Girl Missing by Sophie Mackenzie I'd Tell You I Love You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd Laura Marlin Mysteries (Series) by Lauren St John The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood One Deadly Sister by Rod Hoisington
 * - Mystery**

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks The Mediator by Meg Cabot Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte The Fallen Star by Jessica Sorensen Between the Land and the Sea by Derrolyn Anderson UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn
 * - Romance**

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Unman Wittering and Zigo by Giles Cooper An Inspector Calls by J B Priestley Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring The River by Jez Butterworth A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller Peter and Alice by John Logan Murder in the Cathedral by T S Eliot
 * FORM **
 * - Drama**

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson Before I Go to Sleep by S J Watson The Giver by Lois Lowry Stone Cold by Robert Swindells The Hobbit by J R R Tolkein The Saga of Darren Shan by Darren Shan Coraline by Neil Gaiman A Time to Kill by John Grisham When the Lion Feeds by Wilbur Smith
 * - Novel**

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann Horowitz Horror by Anthony Horowitz Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle Short Stories by Edgar Allen Poe Short Stories by Guy de Maupassant The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway I, Robot by Issac Asimov Different Seasons by Stephen King The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving []
 * - Short Stories**

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela An Autobiography by Agatha Christie Freedom in Exile by The Dalai Lama Autobiography of a Geisha by Sayo Masuda Police, Crime and 999 - The True Story of a Front Line Office by John Donoghue The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth by M K Gandhi Boy and Going Solo by Roald Dahl
 * - Biography**

Strictly Private: Anthology of Poem collated by Roger McGough The Nation's Favourite Poems collated by Griff Rhys Jones The Nation's Favourite Comic Poems: A Selection of Humorous Verse collated by Griff Rhys Jones Talking Turkeys by Benjamin Zephaniah Penguin's Poems for Life edited by Laura Barber The Rattle Bag: An Anthology of Poetry edited by Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney I Wouldn't Thank You for a Valentine: Poems for Young Feminists edited by Carol Ann Duffy
 * - Poetry**