Books have been carefully selected to be age appropriate, challenging, and enjoyable. They cover a vast range of topics that will engage and inspire our students and further promote a love of reading.
The books have also been chosen with the school’s values and #EducationwithCharacter campaign in mind. For example:
- ‘I am Malala’ by Malala Yousafzai links with Respect, Determination, Ambition, Tolerance and Integrity as her autobiography exemplifies her resilience and courage to stand up for women’s rights to education and how she overcame her injuries to achieve outstanding exam results and to become the youngest Nobel Prize laureate.
- ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne links with Respect and Tolerance as it is a story based on the horrors of The Holocaust and how we should never allow such persecution to happen in this way again.
- ‘Chinese Cinderella’ by Adeline Yen Mah links with Tolerance as we learn about the harsh treatment of Chinese culture towards girls.
- ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee links with Respect, Tolerance and Integrity as the narrator’s story teaches us about racial prejudice in America and the narrator’s father, Atticus Finch, serves as a moral hero and a model of integrity for lawyers.
- ‘Noughts and Crosses’ by Malorie Blackman links with Respect and Tolerance as its dystopian setting explores an alternative future in which black people hold power over white people to examine racial prejudice.
- ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck links with Respect, Determination, Ambition, Tolerance and Integrity as we see George and Lennie trying to make the best of a bad situation in 1930s America. Due to Lennie’s mental disability, George has to make a tough decision.
- ‘Touching the Void’ by Joe Simpson links with Determination and Ambition as we learn about the true story of Simpson’s and Yates’ attempt to reach the summit of the previously unclimbed West Face of Siula Grande. However, it goes badly wrong and they both face a life and death decision.
- ‘The Hate U Give’ by Angie Thomas links with Tolerance and Integrity as it follows he events of a black 16-year-old girl who becomes an activist after she witnesses the police shooting of a childhood friend.
Many of the books chosen for the programme have won various awards and are regarded as literary classics – some of which our students wouldn’t normally read. The programme aims to expose students to this rich variety of literature to not only promote the enjoyment of reading, but also to gain ‘cultural capital’ and to help shape their character.
Full list of the books in the programme: