‘The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – which you had thought special and particular to you. Now it is here, set down by someone else…someone who is even long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours.’

Reading is a vital part of the literacy picture. C.S. Lewis urges us to read, ‘because words matter’. He says that we read ‘to know that we are not alone… to link our stories with others and to remember that our life, like all lives, has a story’. Reading enables us to ‘see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts, as well as with our own’.  

Many secondary school students think reading is ‘boring’. This is often a code for ‘uninviting’ or ‘too difficult’. They perceive reading as something done solely for learning rather than personal pleasure and insight. Many have a poor self-image as readers compounded by negative school experiences. Limited experience in reading is often mistaken for limited ability in reading. These students often require added instructional support in the ‘engagement’ phase of the reading process. Exposing young people to a variety of books as distinct from short pieces of text, is critical in the light of adolescents’ daily immersion in a world that tends to favour ‘noise’ and distraction. 

At the core of achievement in reading is the ability of the reader to create meaningful connections between the words on the page and his or her lived, imagined, or constructed world of experience. Building confidence is essential to improving the performance of secondary school readers. Studies have shown that when adolescents are permitted to assert their independence by making choices about reading material their inclination and capacity to read increases dramatically. Student choice is therefore a fundamental motivating factor in adolescents reading for enjoyment and pleasure. 

Parents and caregivers can assist in transforming their teenagers’ experience of reading within and beyond the parameters of schooling by having books in the home and modelling the value of reading. It would be wonderful if parents could read the books their children are reading as part of their English course. This could enable a rich and authentic sharing of ideas and experiences. Encouraging appropriate screen time boundaries would also be beneficial. 

Parents often ask teachers about literature which would be age appropriate as well as interesting for their children. The books listed below have been selected on the basis of their potential to engage the reader using a number of strategies such as powerful themes, interesting characters and unusual settings. Some of the texts have layered and multiple meanings, while some are provocative and challenging. All should help students gain pleasure and power from the exploration of real and imaginary worlds. 

Suggested reading

• John Boyne – The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
• Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre
• Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights
• Susan Cooper – The Dark is Rising
• Robert Cormier– Other Bells for Us to Ring
• Roald Dahl – Boy
• Charles Dickens – A Christmas Carol
• Anne Frank – The Diary of a Young Girl
• Jackie French – Hitler’s Daughter
• Morris Gleitzman – Once Series
• William Golding – Lord of the Flies
• Kenneth Grahame – The Wind in the Willows
• Sonya Hartnett – The Silver Donkey
• Ernest Hemingway – The Old Man and the Sea
• Anthony Hill – Soldier Boy
• Ursula Le Guin – A Wizard of Earthsea
• Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird
• Madeleine L’Engle – A Wrinkle in Time
• C.S. Lewis – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• Adeline Yen Mah – Chinese Cinderella
• John Marsden – Tomorrow When the War Began 
• Robert O’Brien – Z for Zachariah
• George Orwell – Animal Farm / Nineteen Eighty-Four
• Gary Paulsen – Hatchet
• J K Rowling – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
• Salman Rushdie – Haroun and the Sea Stories
• Ian Serraillier – The Silver Sword
• John Steinbeck – The Pearl
• Mildred, D.Taylor  – Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
• Theodore Taylor – The Cay
• J.R.R. Tolkien – The Hobbit
• Mark Twain – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Elie Wiesel – Night
• Tim Winton – Land’s Edge
• Malala Yousafzai– I Am Malala

Mrs Clare Murphy

English Coordinator and Literacy Instructional Coach