Year 10 and 11 Reading List

Starcrossed

 Josephine Angelini

When shy, awkward Helen Hamilton meets Lucas Delos for the first time, she thinks two things; the first, that he is the most ridiculously beautiful boy she has seen in her life; the second that she wants to kill him with her bare hands. An ancient curse means Lucas and Helen are destined to loathe one another. But sometimes love is stronger than hate, and not even the gods themselves can prevent what will happen next…

Throwaway Daughter

Ting-Xing Ye

Grace is adopted. Of the thousands of infant girls abandoned in China since the introduction of the one-child policy, she was one of the lucky ones, taken by a loving family to start a new life. As a teenager growing up in the west, she is reluctant to dwell upon the parts of herself that make her different from her friends. But watching the Tiananmen Square massacre on television prompts her to begin exploring her ancestry, and bit by bit she begins to unlock the truth about the events that led to her birth.

Killing Honour

Bali Rai

When Sat’s sister Jas, is married off into the Atwal family she changes; she becomes quiet and distant. But Sat’s too busy with his own life to notice. Until Jas disappears. According to her new husband, she’s run off with another man. Her family disown her; don’t seem to care if she’s ever found. But Sat doesn’t believe it. Something terrible has happened to his sister and he’s determined to discover what…

The Color Purple

Alice Walker

Set in the deep American South between the wars, it is the tale of Celie, a young black girl born into poverty and segregation. Raped repeatedly by the man she calls ‘father’, she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Nettie and is trapped into an ugly marriage. But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker – a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny. Gradually Celie discovers the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves.

Bloodlines

Richelle Mead

Sydney belongs to a secret group who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the world of humans and vampires. But when Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, she fears she’s still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. What unfolds is far worse. The sister of Moroi queen Lissa Dragomir is in mortal danger, and goes into hiding. Now Sydney must act as her protector.

Charlotte Gray

Sebastian Faulks

In 1942, Charlotte Gray, a young Scottish woman, heads for occupied France on a dual mission – officially to run an apparently simple errand for a British special operations group and unofficially, to search for her lover, and English airman missing in action. As the people in the small town of Lavaurette prepare to meet their terrible destiny, the harrowing truth of what took place in ‘the dark years’ is finally revealed.

Catch 22

Joseph Heller

Set in the closing months of World War II, this is the story of a bombardier named Youssarian who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. His real problem is not the enemy – it is his own army which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. If Youssarian makes any attempts to excuse himself from the perilous missions then he is caught in Catch-22; if he flies he is crazy, and doesn’t have to; but if he doesn’t want to he must be sane, and has to. That’s some catch…

Rebecca

Daphne Du Maurier

Working as a lady’s companion, the heroine of Rebecca learns her place. Her future looks bleak until, on a trip to the South of France, she meets Max De Winter, a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of marriage takes her by surprise. She accepts, but whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to the ominous and brooding Manderley, the new Mrs De Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is forever kept alive by the forbidding housekeeper Mrs Danvers….

Killing God

Kevin Brooks

Dawn Bundy is fifteen. She doesn’t fit in and she couldn’t care less. Dawn has other things on her mind. Her dad disappeared two years ago and it’s all God’s fault. When Dawn’s dad found God, it was the worst time ever. He thought he had found the answer to everything. But that wasn’t the end of it…

Alice in Time

Penelope Bush

Things are at crisis point for fourteen year old Alice. Her mum is ruining her life, her dad’s getting married and Sasha, the most popular girl at school, hates her guts… Then a bizarre accident happens, and Alice finds herself re-living life as a seven year old through teenage eyes – and discovering some awkward truths. But can she use her knowledge to change her own future?

Abandon

Meg Cabot

Last year she flat lined following an accident. During that time Pierce saw a dark world and met a mysterious, irresistible boy. Now that boy, John Hayden, has turned up at school. Every time she sees him Pierce finds herself in terrible danger. Yet she’s still drawn to him. John wants to take her back to the place she fears most ; the underworld. The question is, why?

Cold Hands, Warm Heart

Jill Wolfson

Dani was born with her heart on the wrong side of her body. In her fifteen years of life, she has had more doctors’ appointments, x-rays and tests – and eaten more green hospital jelly – than she cares to think about. Fourteen year old Amanda is a competitive gymnast, her body a small package of sleek muscles, in perfect health. The two girls don’t know each other, don’t go to the same school and don’t have any friends in common. But their lives are about to collide.

Numbers

Rachel Ward

Since the day her mother died, Jem has known about the numbers. When she looks in someone’s eyes, she can see the date they will die. Life is hard, until she meets a boy called Spider. Suddenly her world seems brighter. But on a trip to London, Jem foresees a chain of events that will shatter their lives forever…

Anila’s Journey

Mary Finn

How can Anila Tandy, left to fend for herself in a city of rogues, dare to apply for a position that is clearly not meant for her? But the talented ‘Bird girl of Calcutta’ has never shrunk from a challenge. And perhaps this voyage up the ganges might be just the thing to equip Anila in her search for her father, missing for two years and presumed dead.

Forbidden

Tabitha Suzuma

She is pretty and talented – sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen, gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But….They are brother and sister.

Lia’s guide to winning the lottery

Keren David

Lia’s mother is a bag, her sister’s a pain and she’s getting nowhere in pursuit of the mysterious raf. The she wins eight million pounds in the lottery, and suddenly everything is different. But will Lia’s fortune create more problems than it solves?

Room

Emma Donoghue

It’s Jack’s birthday, and he’s excited about turning five. He lives with his Ma in Room, which has a locked door and a skylight, and measures 11 feet by 11 feet. He loves watching TV, and the cartoon characters he calls friends, but he knows that nothing he sees on screen is truly real – only him, Ma and the things in Room. Until one day Ma admits that there’s a world outside…

Brick lane

Monica Ali

At the tender age of eighteen, nazneen’s life is turned upside down. After an arranged marriage to a man twenty years her elder she exchanges her Bangladeshi village for a block of flats in London’s East End. In this new world, where poor people can be fat and even dogs go on diets, she struggles to make sense of her existence – and to do her duty to her husband. A man of inflated ideas (and stomach), he sorely tests her compliance.