‘Not your typical happily ever after, Roy has written a wonderfully relatable and inclusive tale, where all are welcome, and the beauty of sport brings everyone together in the end. There are life lessons to be learned in this inspiring story with friendship at its heart.’ Shaunagh Brown, International Rugby […]
Continue readingCategory: Book Recommendations
‘After the War’ by Tom Palmer (KS3)
Longlisted for the The CILIP Carnegie Medal 2021 Synopsis: Summer 1945. The Second World War is finally over and Yossi, Leo and Morecai are among three hundred children who arrive in the English Lake District. Having survived the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps, they’ve finally reached a place of […]
Continue reading‘Amal Unbound’ by Aisha Saeed (KS3+)
Amal is a young girl who dreams of being a teacher. She stays behind to help her teacher regularly and is a keen reader. After her mother gives birth to another girl and develops post-partum depression, Amal stays at home to look after the home and family and has to […]
Continue reading‘The Hate U Give’ by Angie Thomas (Mature Upper KS3+)
Be aware that there is strong language, though it is completely within context and appropriate for the nature of the book. One of the most powerful YA books I have ever read. This is a story of one young girl’s witnessing of police brutality and institutional racism, the impact it […]
Continue reading‘Clap When You Land’ by Elizabeth Acevedo (KS4+)
Clap When You Land follows Yahaira and Camino, two half-siblings from contrasting worlds who are unware that the other exists until the death of their father and carefully kept secrets begin to surface. The story is a powerful exploration of the rawness and complexity of loss within a family in […]
Continue readingThe CILIP Carnegie Medal Shortlist 2021
The CILIP Carnegie Medal is the UK’s oldest children’s book award, recognising outstanding reading experiences created through writing for children and young people. The shortlist this year includes our most recent YA Fiction Staff Book Club’s Book of the Month Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo as well as […]
Continue reading‘Things a Bright Girl Can Do’ by Sally Nicholls (Upper KS3+)
Things A Bright Girl Can Do combines fact with fiction in the stories of three girls: Evelyn, May and Nell, each from diverse backgrounds and their experiences through the Suffragette movement and the beginning of WWI. Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres. Things A Bright Girl is an […]
Continue reading‘The Night Diary’ by Veera Hiranandani (KS3+)
This is a beautiful book which explores the power of relationships in its many guises. In particular, I loved the relationship Nisha and her twin brother Armil have – how she sees him and the way they complete each other. I loved the relationship Nisha has with cooking too; how […]
Continue readingMs Carter-Dunn’s Desert Island Reads
When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne (1924) There have been a number of childhood books that I hold dear still, but the one that has had the biggest impact on me is this collection of poems by the creator of Winnie the Pooh. My mum used to […]
Continue reading‘The 57 Bus’ by Dashka Slater (KS4+)
The 57 Bus is an amazing book. It really opened up my mind and helped me to understand things I had never fully understood before. It really showed society’s mentality as a whole, and I think it’s a book that needs to be read by everyone. Emeli, Year 11 ‘The […]
Continue readingJust in!
Hitting the shelves this week in the LRC, are a range of brand new fantastic graphic books and novels including the powerful Illegal by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin and Giovanni Rigano, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. You can now visit […]
Continue readingFrom Extract to Novel: KS4/5 Fiction
‘Books are a uniquely portable magic’. Stephen King The English Language GCSE Paper 1: Explorations in creative reading and writing introduces a range of prose fiction drawn from either the 20th or 21st century in extract form. So many are fantastic works of fiction (and personal favourites) that we think […]
Continue readingYear 9 Recommended Reads
‘Reading is a conversation. All books talk. But a good book listens as well’. Mark Haddon Reading for just 20-30 minutes everyday helps to improve your knowledge and understanding of the world around you, your confidence, and your reading and writing skills. It also helps to you to relax and […]
Continue readingYear 8 Recommended Reads
‘A book is a dream that you hold in your hand’. Neil Gaiman Reading for just 20-30 minutes everyday helps to improve your knowledge and understanding of the world around you, your confidence, and your reading and writing skills. It also helps to you to relax and exercise your imagination; […]
Continue reading