This is the first of 2 lists aimed at S3/4 pupils. Try Booklist 2 for some more challenging titles.

The list is arranged by different genres as follows:

Crime and Thriller
Growing Up / Relationships
Fantasy and Science Fiction
Ghost and Horror
The Comedy Zone
Other Times / Other Places
Future Worlds
Romance
Real Life
War
Short Stories

This selection includes old and new titles, but with an emphasis on recent fiction. Different books appeal to different people, so if you find you are not enjoying a particular title, try something else. We hope that the list can cater for quite a wide variety of tastes.

Each title appears only once, although quite a few of the stories could have fitted into more than one genre. Some authors are repeated where they have written different kinds of books.
Some sequels have been included, but you should be able to find other books by many of these authors on the library shelves.

Unless otherwise indicated in the lists, you should look for these books in the Fiction Section of the School Library under the Author?s surname.

If the book you want is not on the shelf, ask at the Issue Desk to reserve it.

CRIME AND THRILLER

ALLINGHAM, Marjorie
The Tiger in the Smoke
Word goes round that Jack Havoc, jail breaker and knife artist, is at large again, carving his way into more innocent or less innocentlives. Together Albert Campion and Chief Inspector Luke draw a tight net around the man-eater loose in London's November smog.

ARKSEY, Neil
MacB
A fortuneteller prophesises that both Banksie and MacB will be captain of the team. How can this be? Duncan is the captain, but then Duncan meets with a terrible accident. But is it an accident? A taut and dramatic reworking of MacBeth via the football field.

BROOKS, Kevin
Martyn Pig
With his father lying dead at his feet, Martyn has two choices ? he can either tell the police what happened - that it was an accident, or he can get rid of the body and pretend to get on with the rest of his life. He decides on the latter and with the help of Alex, a girl who has become more to him than just a friend, he travels down a frightening road where things go from bad to worse.

BUCHAN, John
The Thirty Nine Steps
Richard Hannay, falsely accused of murder, has only a few days to discover the secret of the thirty nine steps and thwart a German spy ring.

CHRISTIE, Agatha
Murder on the Orient Express
Trapped on the snowbound Orient Express, Hercule Poirot solves the mystery surrounding the murder of one of his fellow passengers.
There are lots of other crime stories featuring either Poirot or Miss Marple.

CORMIER, Robert
In the Middle of the Night
One Halloween, Denny Colbert?s father was involved in a terrible accident that killed 22 children. Twenty five years later, Denny is drawn into a highly charged relationship with a mystery phone caller who threatens deadly revenge.

PAULSEN, Gary
Hatchet
The story of a 13 year old boy whose plane crashes, leaving him stranded in the Canadian wilderness.
Sequels: Hatchet: Winter, The Return and Hatchet: The Call

ROSE, Malcolm
Flying Upside Down
Glynn?s mother gets held at knifepoint in her own kitchen, all because Glynn?s been given a lousy present. It?s Duncan Brown who tells Glynn the true value of his gift. But being friendly with a loser like Duncan is a bad idea and someone?s determined both boys will suffer for it.

SWINDELLS, Robert
Stone Cold
The chilling story of a homeless boy and a mass murderer.

WESTWOOD, Chris
Becoming Julia
Maggie has never met Julia Broderick, the girl on the police missing posters, but their likeness is uncanny. When Julia?s body is fished out of the river, Maggie is drawn into the tangled web surrounding the dead girl.



GROWING UP/RELATIONSHIPS

ASHWORTH, Sherry
Disconnected
Catherine is a typical A-grade student from a middle class, high-achieving family, who suddenly, on entering the sixth form, loses her way. She stumbles from one situation to another, unable to work and turning to alcohol to take her mind off her problems. As she searches for answers through the varied and offbeat characters she meets, she learns a great many truths about life. Written in the first person, each chapter is addressed to someone different in Catherine?s life ? her mother, a teacher, a school friend, etc, and reflects how Catherine is different to different people.

BERTAGNA, Julia
Soundtrack
Finn is fascinated by the sea. He is constantly tempting fate, taking terrible risks, the bane of his parents? life. When his uncle is drowned at sea, Finn is forced to come out of his shell and face up to the consequences of the tragedy, for himself and for those round him.

BRUGMAN, Alyssa
Walking Naked
Megan is one of the leaders of the in-group. She wouldn't dream of talking to Perdita, "the Freak". But when they are thrown together in detention, she finds herself drawn into a spiky friendship. Megan then faces an uncomfortable choice: Perdita or the group?

BURGESS, Melvin
Billy Elliot
Based on the film of the same name, Billy Elliot tells the story of a boy growing up in a strike-riven mining village, who discovers in himself an unlikely talent for ballet.

DOYLE, Malachy
Who is Jesse Flood?
Jesse Flood. A boy trying to figure out what he likes and where he fits in and how he feels about girls or one particular girl. Just like any other teenage boy really.

HENRY, Maeve
Listen to the Dark
Mark Robinson is a loner, he's bullied at school and feels suffocated at home. But one day he has an experience that gives him a new perspective on life, a change that has implications for everyone around him.

HOOPER, Mary
Megan
At 15 , Megan discovers she is five months pregnant. This book tells how she copes, and the reaction of her family and friends.
The story continues in Megan 2 and Megan 3.

MAHY, Margaret
Memory
A young man searching for the truth of his own past becomes involved with an old lady who needs protection.

MARSDEN, John
Letters from the Inside
A haunting story about how a friendship between two girls who never meet is developed through their letters.

RAI, Bali
(Un)arranged marriage
Manny lives in two worlds: the streetwise life of his Leicester school friends, and the expectations of his family. Manny is determined that he will never agree to the arranged marriage his parents have planned for him. But his family is determined as well, and Manny is taken to India to learn respect and a proper sense of where he belongs.

SWINDELLS, Robert
Abomination
Martha is 12, and very different from other children. Her parents are strict members of a religious group and their rules dominate her life. She must never invite anyone home, or their shameful secret, the Abomination, could be revealed. The tale focuses on the rights of a child and child abuse.
Other Swindells books dealing with serious issues are Smash (racism and religion) and Wrecked (alcohol abuse).

WOLFF, Virginia
Make Lemonade
Verna describes her experience as a child-minder for single mother Jolly.
There is a sequel to this book: True Believer



FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION

DUANE, Diane
So You want to be a Wizard Nita?s life changes dramatically when she discovers a library book on the art of wizardry!
First book in a trilogy

GIBBONS, Alan
Shadow of the Minotaur
Phoenix hates his new home and school where he is bullied. He escapes into the virtual reality game his father is developing. ?The Legendeer? is based on defeating Greek monsters; only it?s more than just a game.
The story continues in Vampyr Legion and Warriors of the Raven.

JONES, Diana Wynne
The Dark Lord of Derkholm
King Luther is fed up with Mr Chesney?s Pilgrim Parties who have been visiting his city of the last 40 years, and things have gone from bad to worse. What Mr Chesney wants, he gets. But he hasn?t anticipated the special talents of this year?s Dark Lord. You could also try The Merlin Conspiracy.

LAWRENCE, Louise
Ben Harran?s Castle
Ben Harran is the ?Controller? in charge of our galaxy. He takes inhabitants from three planets to his castle to help decide one central question. Should he allow planets free-will even if they destroy themselves?

MAHY, Margaret
The Tricksters
Who are the three sinister brothers who intrude on the Hamilton?s Christmas? Are they real or supernatural?

MCNISH, Cliff
The Doomspell
In a blaze of light, rush of wind, and scrabble of claws, Rachel and her younger brother are ripped through the wall and hurtled on to another world. Like thousands of children before them, they have been snatched away by the Witch. But this time the Witch has met her match. Rachel discovers that she has extraordinary gifts: she can transform herself into a speck of dust, or fly on an owl?s back, just as the Witch can. The Witch is excited ? she has found someone she can use for her own evil purposes. But for the Witch?s victims, Rachel is their only hope.
First book in a trilogy.

PIERCE, Tamora
Alanna: The First Adventure
Denying her magical roots and disguised as a boy, Alanna strives to achieve her ultimate ambition ? to become a knight. Her determination wins her powerful friends in the palace. But court life holds unexpected dangers.
First in a fantasy quartet: The Song of the Lioness.

RAYBAN, Chloe
Love in Cyberia
Justine doesn?t have a computer-literate bone in her body. But that soon changes when the gorgeous (if a little unusual) Lois gives her his e-mail address. A light-hearted exploration into the world of cyberspace.

WOODING, Chris
Poison
Poison has always been a wilful, contrary girl, prone to being argumentative and stubborn. So when she discovers that her younger sisters have been snatched by the phaeries, she decides to seek out the Phaerie Lord herself to get her back. But finding him is not easy, and he?s a little preoccupied when she does. Poison has stepped into a murderous world of intrique, where the Lords of the Realms, a sinister pantheon of demi-gods, conspire and plot to overthrow the Hierophant ? the most powerful lord of all.



GHOST & HORROR

DUNCAN, Lois
Gallows Hill
Sarah really doesn?t want to be the fortune ?teller at the school fair. Then, as she gazes into the crystal ball, disturbing images suddenly appear. When her visions start coming true, Sarah begins to get threatening letters calling her a witch.

GIFFORD, Nick
Piggies
A freak storm transports Ben to a parallel world inhabited by vampires. He manages to escape to the woods where others like him (called ferals by the vampires) hide. As he begins to give up hope of ever getting home, Ben makes friends with a vampire girl called Rachel. She takes Ben to her farm in an attempt to prove that she?s not like the other vampires, but that?s when he discovers a terrible secret. And why is the book called Piggies? That?s the worst horror of all.

HALAM, Ann
Crying in the Dark
Bullied and abused by her adoptive family, Elinor retreats into the restless, vengeful past that haunts their seventeenth-century home. At first it?s a way to escape, but soon she?s a prisoner and the price of her freedom is something too terrible to contemplate.
Try also Don?t Open your Eyes.

PEYTON, K M
Unquiet Spirits
A young woman is forced to move into London to a bleak wilderness. She is devastated until she gets a job restoring the local manor. There she falls in love with the son and heir. But the manor is haunted and her arrival has sent the restless spirits into a frenzy. A violent end is coming.



COMEDY ZONE

ADAMS, Douglas
The Hitchhiker?s Guide to the Galaxy
Arthur Dent, home owner and earthling is involved in a remarkable series of interplanetary escapades.
First book in a series which includes "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe", "Life, the Universe and Everything" and "So Long and Thanks for all the Fish".

HATTERSLEY, Roy
Buster?s Diaries
Claiming to be the true story of a dog and his man, this book is the dog?s account of their life together.

PRATCHETT, Terry
The Colour of Magic
The first novel in the comic fantasy Discworld series.

RENNISON, Louise
Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging
Welcome to the world of Georgia Nicolson, an angst-ridden adolescent who keeps a diary to record the rollercoaster of emotions and experiences she faces every day. Parents, boyfriends, bullies and hair-bleaching disasters are all part of Georgia?s eventful life, and which she writes about with great wit.
Georgia?s diaries continue in It?s OK, I?m wearing really big Knickers and Knocked out by my Nunga-Nungas

WODEHOUSE, P G
Thank You, Jeeves
Jeeves hands in his notice, and Bertie Wooster has to face life alone.



OTHER TIMES/OTHER PLACES

BANKS, Lynne Reid
One More River
A Canadian girl comes to terms with life on a Kibbutz in Israel. The sequel Broken Bridge is set twenty years later at the height of the Arab uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

JACQ, Christian
The Black Pharoah
Set in ancient Egypt at a time of turmoil, Piankhy, the black pharaoh governs his kingdom with wisdom and kindness. His aim is to return the gods to a united Egypt.

JORDAN, Sherryl
The Raging Quiet
Set in Medieval times, this is the story of Marnie, a fifteen-year-old girl forced to face human cruelty and discrimination at its worst.

LESTER, Julius Basketball Game
Allen, a young black teenager moves with his parents to a town in the deeply prejudiced southern states of America. Despite the father?s warnings, Allen plays basketball with Rebecca, the white girl next door.

NAIDOO, Beverly
The Other Side of Truth
Twelve-year-old Sade and her brother Femi have to flee Nigeria when their mother is killed and their father won't stop criticizing the military rulers. The woman paid to bring them to London as her children abandons them and they are alone in a new, often hostile, environment.

REES, Celia
Witch Child
Mary is the grand-daughter of a witch, who travels to America with a group of puritans to find a new life, but finds the same bigotry and cruelty in the leaders of the expedition.
The story is continued in Sorceress

TAYLOR, Mildred
Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry;
Let the Circle be Unbroken;
The Road to Memphis
A series of books looking at the lives of a black American family living in Mississippi in the 1930s and 1940s.



FUTURE WORLDS

BURGESS, Melvin
The Baby and the Fly Pie
A chilling story set in a plausible future in which gangs of homeless and dispossessed youngsters roam the outskirts of cities.

GROSS, Philip
Psylicon Beach
Set against the toxic terrain of the future, this tale narrated by the boy Scipio, visualises a world sharply divided between ?haves? and ?have-nots?..

URE, Jean
Plague
After the Plague
Watchers at the Shrine
How would you cope if you arrived home to find the streets deserted, your neighbourhood quarantined and your family dead after a plague? The story is continued after a gap of several generations in the follow-up books.



ROMANCE

CANN, Kate
Diving In
Collette daydreams all the time about meeting the gorgeous bloke she sees at her swimming pool. Then, one afternoon, he asks her out. Close-up, he?s even more good looking ? but he?s also very pushy.
Sequels: In the Deep End and Sink or Swim

Breaking up is another powerful Kate Cann novel, this time dealing with a teenager trying to make sense of her own emotions while her parents are splitting up.

JOHNSON, Pete
Ten Hours to Live
A story of first love told from the time it has gone wrong

JOHNSON, Pete
Faking it
Will is popular with the girls but they don?t see him as boyfriend material and, at nearly 15, he?s never had a girlfriend. When he sees a photo of Hannah, his step-mum?s beautiful niece who wants to be an actress, he shows it to his friend and pretends she?s his girlfriend. Will?s reputation soars as he and his friend Barney work out details of her life and personality. But soon, to preserve Will?s credibility, his girlfriend must put in an appearance. Barney needs her too to make his girlfriend jealous and the resulting complications lead to very unexpected results.

LINGARD, Joan
The Twelfth Day of July
The first in a series of 5 novels about the Protestant girl Sadie and Catholic Kevin in the highly charged atmosphere of divided Belfast.

SHELDON, Dyan
The Boy of my Dreams
Michelle, more commonly known as Mike, can?t stop thinking about it. When will she meet Him, the guy, the one, the boy of her dreams? It could happen anywhere, anytime. And then it happens. But her oldest friend Bone disapproves of the way she changes when she starts going out with Bill.
Lots of other books by this author. Try Tall, Thin and Blonde

WOODSON, Jacqueline
If You Come Softly
Fifteen year old Jeremiah feels good inside his own skin in his own Brooklyn neighbourhood, but is not so sure he fits in at the academy he attends until he meets Ellie. Their relationship begins to blossom, then, suddenly tragedy strikes.



REAL LIFE

BLACKER, Terence
Boy2Girl
The dangerously wild Sam Lopez arrives from the USA to live with his aunt, uncle and cousin Matthew, after his mother dies. Matthew?s friends find Sam trouble, and, as an initiation rite to their gang, tell him to become a girl for his first five days at their school. Sam adapts surprisingly well to his new female role, but things become more complicated when Sam?s long lost jailbird father turns up.

GARDNER, Graham
Inventing Elliot
Badly bullied at his previous school, Elliot is determined this will not happen at his next. But although he manages to avoid trouble he becomes aware that there is a secret reign of violence presided over by three self-appointed schoolboy ?guardians?. Rather than become their target, Elliot is forced to watch the way they make smaller, vulnerable children miserable. Matters come to a head when he is selected to become one of the guardians of the future.

GIBBONS, Alan
The Edge
At the start of the novel Danny and his mother, Cathy are running away from Cathy?s violent and abusive boyfriend Chris Kane. They go to Edgecliffe, to stay with Cathy?s family, but when they arrive, they are made to feel unwelcome by her father, while elsewhere in the town, racism is a major issue.

GRAY, Keith
Warehouse
A community of young people have gathered in an old warehouse to get away from a world they don?t fit in to. Through separate but interweaving narratives Warehouse tells the stories of three of the community?s members. There?s Robbie who is running away from his violet older brother, Frank, and needs some space to realise that the beatings are not his fault. Amy, who?s supposed to be travelling in Europe but has had her rucksack stolen and is too proud to ask her smothering family for help. And then there?s Lem, an ex drug addict and founder of the Warehouse community, whose perceived role as leader by the other young people is too much for him to cope with.

LAIRD, Elizabeth
Jake?s Tower
For Jake it seems that happiness and safety can only ever be dreamt of in a secret place far away from his mother?s abusive boyfriend. But as he begins to learn, it is only in reality that dreams can begin to come true. This novel touches on personal pride, discovery, dreams and aspirations.

MASTERS, Anthony
Wicked
Josh is worried by the change in behaviour of his two brothers and starts to realise they are hiding a dark secret. Evolving round an unused pit and some old cars, the secret turns out to be more horrific than he could ever have imagined.

MATTHEWS, Andrew
Stiks and Stoans
Liam is the new boy. He thinks the only way to survive is to be the clown in Billy Pickett?s gang. Billy?s latest victim is Ella, who is dyslexic. The book looks at the effects of bullying.

PEET, Mal
Keeper
In a newspaper office, Paul Faustino, South America?s top football writer, sits opposite the man they call El Gato, the cat, the world?s greatest goalkeeper. On the table between them stands the World Cup. In the hours that follow, El Gato tells his incredible life story.

URE, Jean
Bad Alice
13 year old Duffy is staying with his Nan for the Summer while his mum and seriously ill little sister are in America for a life-saving operation. He meets Alice, a girl his age who lives next door, who Nan disapproves of and everyone in the town thinks is mad. Alice makes Duffy accepted and liked, but gradually he becomes aware of something very wrong in her seemingly normal family.



WAR

BRESLIN, Theresa
Remembrance
This book is about 5 young people growing up during the First World War and the effects war and fighting have on them. An unforgettable and tear jerking novel.

MORPURGO, Michael
Private Peaceful
You will read about the childhood of young Thomas Peaceful in the early years of the 20th century, and his eventual underage enlistment in the British army to help fight the First World War. A highly recommended book. Make sure you have a box of tissues when you read this book!

PAUSEWANG, Gudrun
Traitor
When Anna finds an escaped Russian prisoner of war hiding in her grandmother?s barn, she knows it?s her duty to report him. Instead she provides him with food and clothing and finds him a safer place to hide in a disused bunker, hoping that he will try to escape over the Czech border. But each weekend when she returns from school, the prisoner is still there. Why doesn?t he try to escape? And how long will it be before her younger brother Felix, a fanatical member of the Hitler Youth, becomes suspicious of Anna?s visits to the bunker?

SPINELLI, Jerry
Milkweed
This story focuses on a young orphan boy with no name, growing up on the streets of Warsaw as the German army moves in. The boy has no real idea of war or prejudice, and watches the oppression of the Jews in the town through wholely innocent eyes, seeing the soldiers parades as exciting, their shiny boots and helmets as beautiful ? unsure why the gang he hangs about with are scared.



SHORT STORIES

LAWRENCE, Louise
Extinction is for Ever
A science fiction collection exploring future worlds and other planets

PEARCE, Philippa
The Rope and other Stories
Eight atmospheric stories which cover the need to face fear, the comedy of family life and the pressure of others? expectations.

WESTALL, Robert
The Stones of Muncaster
Cathedral
Two gripping stories of the supernatural.

WODEHOUSE, P G
A Few Quick Ones
A collection of short stories featuring Bertie Wooster and Jeeves and other Wodehouse characters.


SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS

You will find these collections in the Short Story Section at the end of the Fiction

CHAMBERS, Aidan(Ed)
On the Edge
A collection of stories of danger, murder, darkness and revenge by Mahy, Westall, Gordon and others.

HODGSON, Miriam(Ed)
Straight from the Heart
A collection of love stories by different authors.

HODGSON, Miriam(Ed)
In Between
Stories of leaving childhood