The books below have been read and enjoyed by many pupils. Have a read of the descriptions below and take your pick of books to read.

– Dr Seuss, ‘I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!’

A story about friendship and trust. Why the Whales Came is based on a little girl named Gracie and her friend Daniel. They both live on an Island called Bryher, and they have been warned to stay away from the Birdman because he might give them a terrible disease, or even worse, cast a terrible curse on them. All is not what it seems as Gracie and Daniel begin to befriend the so-called mad Birdman.

This book answers an extraordinary amount of questions. It is an essential introduction to 1800 years of Black British History, from the Roman Africans who guarded Hadrian’s wall right up to the present day.

I like this book because it is shedding light on history I have never been taught about before. It gives a voice to black history that isn’t always taught but needs to be learned. It is easy to read with pictures, maps and examples!

Every evening Lampie the lighthouse keeper’s daughter must light a lantern to warn ships away from the rocks. But one stormy night disaster strikes. The lantern goes out, a ship is wrecked and an adventure begins. In disgrace, Lampie is sent to work as a maid at the Admiral’s Black House, where rumour has it that a monster lurks in the tower. But what she finds there is stranger and more beautiful than any monster. Soon she must fight with all her might for friendship, freedom and the right to be different.

‘The Wizards of Once’ the start of a new adventure series set in an ancient, forest-covered Britain. Xar, a young wizard with a reckless compulsion to prove his magical worth runs headlong into an odd young warrior called Wish, whose approval will only come when she discards her own peculiar, concealed magic. Each from fiercely opposed tribes, their paths only cross on account of them both being somewhere they shouldn’t.

The Undefeated remembers unforgettable, unafraid and unbowed, famous and overlooked figures from black history: from Jesse Owens, whose Olympic victories helped shatter the myth of white supremacy in the 1930s and first billionaire in NBA history Michael Jordan, to Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Carole Denise McNair, killed in a racially motivated bombing in 1963 – and to the hundreds of thousands of black soldiers that fought in the American Civil War.

Coriander tells the story of her childhood in seventeenth-century London, and of her discovery that she has inherited magical powers from her mother, who was a fairy princess. But her mother’s sudden death brings on a dark time for Coriander, and after mourning her beloved mother and dealing with the disappearance of her father and the wrath of her evil stepmother, Coriander finds herself locked in a chest with no hope of escape and no will to survive. But when a bright light beckons to her, it is then that Coriander’s journey truly begins.

One night a little doll named Karolina comes to life in a toyshop in Krakow, Poland, in 1939 and changes the life of the gruff, broken-hearted Dollmaker. And when the darkness of the Nazi occupation sweeps over the city, Karolina and the Dollmaker must bravely use their magic to save their Jewish friends from a terrible danger, no matter what the risks. This powerful story is about finding friendship in the darkest of places and the importance of love in times of great pain.

The Lie Tree is a wonderfully atmospheric novel by Frances Hardinge, award-winning author of Cuckoo Song and Fly By Night. There’s so much to like about The Lie Tree: the beautiful Victorian setting, the imaginative mystery at the heart of the story, the darkly atmosphere of evil forces at work, and the impossibility of guessing where the solution lies. Above all else, what probably appeals to a reader most is the strength of the female characters

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey `there and back again’. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon…

When pickpocket Danny accidentally bids for Maharajah the elephant at an Edinburgh auction, he’s swept up on an unforgettable journey. His new employer, a zookeeper, transforms Danny into a bejewelled Indian prince. As he rides Maharajah from Scotland to his new home in England, even Queen Victoria follows their journey with delight. But a rival zookeeper wagers on their failure, and soon Danny’s shady connections threaten to overturn the mission…

It’s early 1945 and a group of people trek across Germany, bound together by their desperation to reach the ship that can take them away from the war-ravaged land. Four young people, each haunted by their own dark secret, narrate their unforgettable stories.

Forbidden to leave her island, Isabella dreams of the faraway lands her cartographer father once mapped. When her friend disappears, she volunteers to guide the search. The world beyond the walls is a monster-filled wasteland – and beneath the dry rivers and smoking mountains, a fire demon is stirring from its sleep. Soon, following her map, her heart and an ancient myth, Isabella discovers the true end of her journey: to save the island itself.

Running. That’s all Ghost (real name Castle Cranshaw) has ever known. But Ghost has been running for the wrong reasons -until he meets Coach, an ex-Olympic Medallist who sees something in Ghost: crazy natural talent. If Ghost can stay on track, literally and figuratively, he could be the best sprinter in the city. Can Ghost harness his raw talent for speed, or will his past finally catch up to him? Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds with personalities that are explosive when they clash.

11.32am. Ted and his sister Kat watch their cousin Salim get on board the London Eye.

12.02am. The pod lands and the doors open. Everyone exits – everyone but Salim.

Has he spontaneously combusted? (Ted’s theory.)

Has he been kidnapped? (Aunt Gloria’s theory.)

Is he even still alive? (The family’s unspoken fear.)

Even the police are baffled – so it’s up to Ted, whose brain runs on its own unique operating system, to solve this mystery and find Salim.

Armed with a suitcase and an old laundry bag filled with clothes, Kasienka and her mother head for England. Life is lonely for Kasienka. At home her mother’s heart is breaking and at school friends are scarce. But when someone special swims into her life, Kasienka learns that there might be more than one way for her to stay afloat.

Enjoy this unusual novel, written as a series of poems.

With amazing alternate universes, scholars, witches, daemons, armoured bears, Gyptians and anything else you could possibly imagine, Pullman takes you on an incredibly journey from Jordan College to the arctic to see the Northern Lights. And the adventure you have with Lyra on the way there is unforgettable.

A life-changing read for young teens!

They killed my mother. They took our magic. They tried to bury us. Now we rise.

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls. But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope. Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.

Imagine you’re the only boy in a town of men. And you can hear everything they think. And they can hear everything you think. Imagine you don’t fit in with their plans… Todd Hewitt is just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man. But his town has been keeping secrets from him. Secrets that are going to force him to run…