Year 10 reading suggestions by Jill Fenton

Wool

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:27:31 UTC

Inside, men and women live an enclosed life full of rules and regulations, of secrets and lies.

To live, you must follow the rules. But some don't. These are the dangerous ones; these are the people who dare to hope and dream, and who infect others with their optimism.

Their punishment is simple and deadly. They are allowed outside.

Jules is one of these people. She may well be the last.
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Never Let Me Go

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:27:41 UTC

Imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewered version of contemporary England. This novel dramatises the author's attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham School, and with the fate that has always awaited her and her closest friends in the wider world.
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Through The Woods (Graphic)

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:27:53 UTC

'It came from the woods. Most strange things do.' Five mysterious, spine-tingling stories follow journeys into (and out of?) the eerie abyss. These chilling tales spring from the macabre imagination of acclaimed and award-winning comic creator Emily Carroll. Come take a walk in the woods and see what awaits you there...
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The Silence of the Lambs

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:28:06 UTC

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We Should All Be Feminists

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:28:46 UTC

In this personal, eloquently argued essay – adapted from her much-admired Tedx talk of the same name – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century, one rooted in inclusion and awareness. Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman now – an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.
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Prisoners of Geography

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:29:05 UTC

Seeing geography as a decisive factor in the course of human history can be construed as a bleak view of the world, which is why it is disliked in some intellectual circles. It suggests that nature is more powerful than man, and that we can only go so far in determining our own fate.
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Room: A Novel

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:29:43 UTC

Jack is five. He lives with his Ma. They live in a single, locked room. They don't have the key.

Jack and Ma are prisoners.

Room by Emma Donoghue is an extraordinarily powerful story of a mother and child kept in isolation, and the desire for, and price of, freedom.
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The Rivers of London series

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:29:50 UTC

A divine mash-up of comedy, crime and fantasy, Rivers of London is the book that kick-started the formidably successful Peter Grant series. Overlaying a wonderful supernatural gloss on the streets and landmarks of the capital, Aaronovitch provides a thrillingly exciting opening mystery for his detective/apprentice wizard protagonist.
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The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:29:57 UTC

It's an ordinary Thursday lunchtime for Arthur Dent until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly afterwards to make way for a new hyperspace express route, and his best friend has just announced that he's an alien. At this moment, they're hurtling through space with nothing but their towels and an innocuous-looking book inscribed, in large friendly letters, with the words: DON'T PANIC.

The weekend has only just begun . . .
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The Martian

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:30:17 UTC

I'm stranded on Mars. I have no way to communicate with Earth. I'm in a Habitat designed to last 31 days.

If the Oxygenator breaks down, I'll suffocate. If the Water Reclaimer breaks down, I'll die of thirst. If the Hab breaches, I'll just kind of explode. If none of those things happen, I'll eventually run out of food and starve to death.

So yeah. I'm screwed.
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The War of the Worlds

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:30:25 UTC

The ultimate alien invasion story, Wells’s electrifying yarn has been oft imitated but never bettered. Expertly combining the minutiae of late- Victorian England with the spectacular arrival of dazzlingly imagined extra-terrestrial beings, The War of the Worlds is a triumph of set piece action and pulsating atmosphere.
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The Upper World

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:30:50 UTC

The story of two teenagers a generation apart, connected across time by one bullet about to devastate both of their lives.

2020: Close to getting expelled and caught up in a deadly feud, the tensions surrounding Esso seem to be leading to a single moment that could shatter his future.

2035: Stripped of everything, football prodigy Rhia has just one thing left on her mind - figuring out how to avert a bullet that was fired fifteen years in the past.

Everything changes when Esso gains access to a mysterious world where he can see glimpses of the past and future, and when Rhia starts understanding the physics of it. The two must work together to master the secrets of the Upper World and seize control of their own destinies before it's too late.
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Coram Boy

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:30:57 UTC

Epic story of a man who trades in illegitimate children and a child who survives and is reunited with his gentleman father.
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We Come Apart

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:31:02 UTC

Jess would never have looked twice at Nicu if her friends hadn't left her in the lurch. Nicu is all big eyes and ill-fitting clothes, eager as a puppy, even when they're picking up litter in the park for community service.
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Speak (Graphic Novel)

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:31:15 UTC

Melinda is an outcast at Merryweather High. Something happened over the summer - something bad - and now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen. So what's the point in speaking at all?

Through her work on an art project, Melinda is finally able to face what really happened that night. But before she can make peace with the ghosts of the past, she has to confront the reality of the present - and stop someone who still wishes to do her harm. Only words can save her. She can't stay silent. Not any more.
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The Loop (Trilogy)

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:31:32 UTC

Superbly dark and utterly gripping, The Loop is the first book in a new series by Ben Oliver. Inside a hi-tech prison, Luka awaits his death sentence. One day, a considerate warden who brings him books, also brings him a warning: the world is headed for a catastrophe, which might still be averted – but only if Luka manages to escape the Loop.
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Punching The Air

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:31:37 UTC

After a sixteen-year-old American boy is convicted of a crime he didn't commit and sent to prison, he struggles to find a way to keep true to himself.
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Crongton novels

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:31:45 UTC

When The World Was Ours

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:31:53 UTC

Vienna. 1936. Three young friends spend a perfect day together, unaware that around them Europe is descending into a growing darkness and that events will soon mean that they are ripped apart from each other as their lives take very different directions...
Inspired by a true story, When the World was Ours is an extraordinary novel that is as powerful as it is heartbreaking and shows the bonds of love, family and friendship allow glimmers of hope to flourish, even in the most hopeless of times.
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The Boxer

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:33:37 UTC

A teenage boy takes up boxing after being the victim of an unprovoked racist attack.

Run Rebel

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:34:24 UTC

A girl tries to escape the oppressively strict and abusive family life she experiences dominated by her alcoholic father.

Every Exquisite Thing

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:34:59 UTC

Modern take on the Picture of Dorian Gray in which a troubled drama student has her portrait painted which will guarantee to preserve her youthful, slim appearance forever.

And The Stars Were Burning Brightly

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:35:32 UTC

Set in Manchester, 15-year-old Nathan and his friend Megan start investigating the reasons for his older brother Al's suicide, only to uncover an intense campaign of bullying.

The Humans

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:39:12 UTC

After an 'incident' one wet Friday night where he was found walking naked through the streets of Cambridge, Professor Andrew Martin is not feeling quite himself. Food sickens him. Clothes confound him. Even his loving wife and teenage son are repulsive to him. He feels lost amongst an alien species and hates everyone on the planet. Everyone, that is, except Newton, (and he's a dog).

Who is he really? And what could make someone change their mind about the human race?

What If

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:40:01 UTC

From the eating habits of a marauding T-Rex to deceased Facebook users, the creator of the hugely popular webcomic answers the absurd, eccentric and inspired questions of the general public using level-headed science in this simply addictive book.

The Mercies

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:46:15 UTC

Taking a real-life witch trial as her inspiration, Hargrave’s adult debut weaves an atmospheric tale of self-sufficient womanhood and sexual suspicion in a tight-knit island community during the seventeenth century.
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The Puppet Show

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:47:35 UTC

A serial killer is burning people alive amongst ancient stone circles in this deeply disturbing and thoroughly engrossing thriller. Laced with just the right amount of mordant wit and featuring a troubled detective to rival the titans of the genre, The Puppet Show is ‘dark, sharp and compelling,’ according to bestselling crime writer Peter James.

Three Hours

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:48:08 UTC

Told from multiple perspectives in what feels allied to real time, Three Hours is an extraordinarily visceral exploration of an ordinary school under siege and the triggers that might lead to radicalisation, extremism and hate.

Close To Home

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:48:44 UTC

Last night, eight-year-old Daisy Mason disappeared from a family party.

No one in the quiet suburban street saw anything - or at least that's what they're saying. DI Adam Fawley is trying to keep an open mind. But he knows the nine times out of ten, it's someone the victim knew. That means someone is lying...

Promise Boys

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:50:35 UTC

Three teen boys of colour must investigate their principal's murder to clear their own names.

Win Lose Kill Die

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:51:05 UTC

When a series of murders target the highest achievers at an elite school, the race is on to find the killer.

The House On The Cerulean Sea

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:52:05 UTC

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place - and realizing that family could be yours.

Get Grayson

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:54:24 UTC

When Dick Grayson plans to make Blüdhaven a better place, Blockbuster tries to stop him by hiring multiple assassins to kill him.

What Moves The Dead

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:55:18 UTC

A masterpiece of modern gothic writing, Kingfisher's bravura reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher sees a formidable ancestral home overrun by possessed wildlife and psychological terrors.

Nothing But Blackened Teeth

jfe5 — 2024-12-12 07:55:59 UTC

A gorgeously creepy classic haunted house story based on Japanese folklore, combining The Haunting of Hill House with The Ring.