Welcome to our third term of ‘Reading for Pleasure’. We’ve been providing our students with a recommended reading list each term since our return in September 2022 and the results have been amazing. We have seen so much engagement from the students and we’re excited to see this continue.

So here we have it, our Summer Term Reading List, packed with wonderful suggestions to inspire our students from every Year Group.

How can parents/carers help?

We would encourage you to help your child to find a book to read at home. To aid you with this, each half-term we recommend a book that is available from our school library for your child to borrow. These books have been carefully selected but there are lots of other great books to choose from in our library.

Why is reading so important?

Reading is not just something that children should do in school, it needs to be an everyday part of our lives and something we choose to do at all ages. There are plenty of benefits for those who enjoy curling up with a book. A report carried out for The Reading Agency revealed convincing evidence that reading for pleasure can increase empathy, improve relationships with others, reduce the symptoms of depression and improve wellbeing throughout life. Research has also shown that students who read more show greater language and literacy development. The study by academics at the Institute of Education, part of the University of London, found that reading had the strongest effect on vocabulary development but the impact on maths and spelling was also significant.

Our Summer Term Reading List

Year 7

Fight Back, by A.M. Dassu
When a terrorist attack fuels hatred in her area, Aaliyah begins wearing a hijab to challenge people’s perceptions in the inspiring and engaging middle grade debut from the author of the acclaimed Boy, Everywhere…

 

Year 8

Ghost Boys, by Jewell Parker Rhodes
It’s the last few days of her vacation in Pakistan, and Amina has loved every minute of it. The food, the shops, the time she’s spent with her family—all of it holds a special place in Amina’s heart. Now that the school year is starting again, she’s sad to leave, but also excited to share the wonders of Pakistan with her friends back in Greendale.

 

Year 9

When Life Gives You Mangoes, by Kereen Getten
Both a wonderful evocation of a Caribbean island childhood and a gripping mystery with a jaw-dropping twist, Getten’s debut leads us into the strange story of Clara who is desperate to regain the lost memory of what happened to her during a storm the previous summer.

 

Year 10

This Poison Heart, by Kalynn Bayron
Briseis’s control over flowers and plants wreaks dangerous consequences as she discovers long buried secrets in the garden of her rambling inherited home in this gripping, empowering fantasy from the author of Cinderella is Dead.

 

Year 11

Every Line of You, by Naomi Gibson

This twisty, dystopian AI thriller explores love, grief and relationship power games as one girl’s lonely project becomes so much more.