Summer Reading Ideas

Key Stage 2 Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales. These gutsy fairy tales from around the world offer the perfect antidote to the flimsy princesses often found in girls' books. Michelle Paver, Wolf Brother. This sensitively written book set in pre-historic times tells the story of Torak who must survive alone after the death of his father. Roald Dahl, The Twits. A short inventive Roald Dahl classic with all his characteristic wicked humour and fascination with all things disgusting.

Key Stage 3 Simon Armitage, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. A strong and fresh translation of this gripping Middle English tale which explores the transition from boyhood to adulthood. Yann Martel, Life of Pi. An adventure story in which a boy is stranded at sea on a life-boat with a tiger on board. A richly symbolic book dealing with religious conflict. Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. This is a moving, humorous and eye-opening tale told from the perspective of a boy with Asperger's Syndrome.

Key Stage 4 Emma Donoghue, Room. A gripping and harrowing story told from the perspective of a 5-year-old boy who has lived his whole life in captivity with his young mother who is routinely raped by their captor. J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye. Enduringly popular coming-of-age book about a wry and verbally-brilliant teenager who is tired of all the "phonies" in the world. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein. A hugely imaginative classic full of Arctic chases, Gothic storms, and the psychological turmoil of monster and maker.

Key Stage 5 Isabel Allende, Eva Luna. A lush and joyful picaresque which chronicles Eva's existence on the strange margins of a corrupt Latin American society. Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter. A beautifully written American classic about the tensions of Puritanical life and the psychology of sin. Pat Barker, Regeneration. In this vivid World War One novel, Barker brings to life the famous relationship between war poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. This is a timely novel to read as the centenary of the war approaches.