2020 - 2021 Introduction This list is intended to be a guide to some of the best, and the most popular, books available for boys in Years 5 to 8. The aim is to help students and parents choose reading material that is – whether new or old – challenging, rewarding or just plain fun. Those in the higher years may already have read many of the titles, but we hope everyone will find something to interest them. All the books in this list should be suitable for most Middle and Upper School boys. We have not tried to steer the different year groups towards particular books, but we have marked with an asterisk (*) those books that we think are less suitable for those below Year 8. As there are limits on the number of books that can be included in this list, we have often chosen just one title by a particular author. The librarian or your English teacher can always give you advice on other books by an author you have enjoyed. As any book recommendations are subjective, there will be some books in this list you try but don’t enjoy. We hope there will be many you love. If you think we have missed out any great books that should be in the list, please write them down during the year on the form at the back and hand it to Mrs Fletcher in the library. Perhaps you’ll see them on the list next year! All the books on this list are available in the school library, so there’s no excuse not to get reading! Mrs Fletcher Librarian Contents Action, Mystery and Adventure ………………….…...........….. 1 Animals ………………………………….…..…………...…… 3 Books in Translation ………….………………………..……... 5 Comic Books and Manga (a Few of the Best)………………… 7 Diaries & Journals (in Fact & Fiction)…………………………. 8 Crime and Detection…………..……………………………… 9 Dragons and Other Mythical Creatures……………………… 11 Dystopian Worlds ………………………...…….......................... 13 Eco Warriors - and Wastelands……………………………….. 15 Fairy Tales and Magic …………………………………….......... 17 Fantasy and Other Worlds ...………………………................... 19 Historical Fiction …………………………………….…........... 21 Humour ….…………………………………………....……..... 23 Modern Life ……..……………………………..…………........ 25 Myths and Legends……. …………………………...……......... 27 Other Lives……… ………………………………..…...…........ 29 Recent Award Winners …………………………....….….......... 31 Scary Stories…………………………………………………... 33 Science Fiction .………………………………………............... 35 Spies and Special Agents ………………………….…………... 37 Sports Stories …………………………………………...…...... 39 Steampunk ………………..………………………………....... 40 Time Travel…….…………………………...…….…….............. 41 Verse Novels…………………………...……………………… 42 Wartime Stories ……………………………………....…......... 43 Zombies, Demons, Vampires and other Monsters……………. 45 Index of Authors………………………………………………. 47 Action, Mystery and Adventure Peter Jay Black Urban Outlaws Followed by Blackout, Lockdown, Counterstrike and Shockwave Five super-skilled children living in a bunker deep beneath the city of London plan their missions to steal money from the rich to give to those in need. The combination of children living a life free from rules, with adventures full of the latest gadgets is a marriage made in heaven! Chris Bradford Bodyguard: Hostage Followed by Bodyguard: Ransom, Ambush, Target, Assassin and Fugitive With the intense media focus on celebrity families, children have now become targets for hostage-taking. That's why they need a young bodyguard like 14-year-old Connor Reeves to protect them. Fast-paced and gripping! Eoin Colfer Artemis Fowl 12-year-old villain, Artemis Fowl, is the most ingenious criminal mastermind in history. His adventures may be in the fairy world – but there’s enough high-speed action to satisfy any reader looking for adventure and seven further books, ending with Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian. Matt Dickinson The Everest Files Followed by North Face and Killer Storm Ryan is on a gap year adventure in Nepal when a local girl begs him to investigate why her friend Kami never returned from Everest. What emerges is a shocking story of fatal human errors as seen through the eyes of a young Sherpa. Also try this author’s pithy thriller, Lie, Kill, Walk Away. Siobhan Dowd The London Eye Mystery Followed by The Guggenheim Mystery (written by Robin Stevens) When their cousin vanishes whilst riding on the London Eye, Ted and his sister Kat become sleuthing partners to follow the clues across London in a desperate bid to find their cousin. Ultimately it comes down to Ted, whose brain works a unique way, to find the key to the mystery. Helena Duggan A Place Called Perfect Followed by The Trouble with Perfect and The Battle for Perfect Violet never wanted to move to Perfect - a town where everyone has to wear glasses to stop them going blind, and be perfectly behaved all the time. Now she keeps hearing voices, her mum is acting strangely and her dad has disappeared. There’s something very wrong in Perfect…! Judith Eagle The Secret Starling Clara has lived a life of solitude under her mean uncle's strict regime, until the day he abandons Clara with nothing but a bundle of cash to survive by herself. But nothing is as it seems and, with the help of a boy called Peter (and his cat!) she sets out to solve the mystery of her family. Also try this author’s second intriguing adventure, The Pear Affair. Nizrana Farook The Girl Who Stole an Elephant Revolution is stirring, and Chaya leads her friends and a gorgeous elephant on an adventure through the jungle. Will stealing the queen's jewels be the beginning or the end of everything for the intrepid gang? Chaya is a fierce and lovable Robin-Hood-style heroine, determined to right injustices and take care of the ones she loves 1 Natasha Farrant The Children of Castle Rock When Alice Mistlethwaite is shipped off to boarding school in Scotland it's nothing like she imagines. Run by the mysterious Major, there are no punishments and the students are more likely to be taught about body painting or extreme survival than maths or English! Then Alice's dad goes missing and she wants to run away to find him. Can she persuade her new friends to help? Lindsay Galvin The Secret Deep When Aster wakes alone on a tropical island, she has no idea what has happened, why she is there, or where to find her younger sister, Poppy. Meanwhile Sam, who once met the sisters on a plane, is making links between the mystery of their disappearance and suspicious happenings in his own life. This atmospheric thriller skilfully mixes fantasy and science. Fleur Hitchcock The Arrowhead Moor Adventure Followed by The Fire Bay Adventure, The Thorn Island Adventure and The Frost Castle Adventure A terrific modern version of Enid Blyton’s ‘Famous Five’ series, where cousins Aiden, Chloe, Ava and Josh, and Bella the dog, find themselves at the centre of dramatic adventures! Here, the cousins discover a jewel heist unfolding around them. To catch the thieves they need to be braver and smarter than the villains they're chasing. M.G.Leonard Beetle Boy Followed by Beetle Queen and Battle of the Beetles When his father mysteriously disappears while studying a rare beetle collection, it’s up to 12-year-old Darkus, to find him. After developing an unexpected friendship with a rhinoceros beetle, Darkus learns that beetles are anything but ordinary and could be the key to rescuing his Dad. Rob Lloyd Jones Jake Atlas and the Tomb of the Emerald Snake Followed by Jake Atlas and: The Hunt for the Feathered God, The Quest for the Crystal Mountain and The Keys of the Apocalypse Jake and his twin sister, Pan, can't stop fighting – with each other and with their parents, stuffy professors of Ancient History. When the family go to Cairo on holiday however, the twins finally learn the truth about their ‘boring’ mum and dad. Indiana Jones meets Alex Rider in a fast-paced adventure. Robert Muchamore Robin Hood: Hacking, Heists & Flaming Arrows Robin is a small, computer-geek, archery-loving 12-year-old boy who attends Locksley High School with his (very tall) brother Little John. When Robin gets on the wrong side of local gangster Guy Gisborne, he hides out in Sherwood Forest with a group of eco-warriors, and hatches a plan to strike back. .. Dan Smith Below Zero When Zak's plane crash-lands on Outpost Zero, a small Antarctic research base in one of the most isolated places on Earth, he discovers a cold, dark nightmare. The power's out and there’s no one there. As he searches for answers, bizarre visions suggest a link to something else - deep beneath the ice - which only he can understand. A creepy, hugely atmospheric adventure! Wilbur Smith Cloudburst Jack’s parents are travelling to the Congo for a gorilla conference and have taken Jack and his two best friends along for a safari. When his parents go missing in the rainforest, abducted by mercenaries, nobody seems to have any answers, so it is up to Jack and his friends to brave not just the jungle and its wild animals, but also bandits, mercenaries and poachers. First in a new series. 2 Animals Anna Fargher Umbrella Mouse Drawing on the true stories of animals caught up in the conflict of WWII, this is the story of a young mouse whose safe world is turned upside down when her home, an umbrella shop in London, is destroyed by a bomb. Pip’s perilous quest to find a new home becomes a journey across war-torn Europe and, when she meets the members of Noah’s Ark, a secret gang of animals fighting with the resistance in France, Pip becomes an intrepid figure fighting for good. Claire Fayers Storm Hound Storm of Odin is the youngest storm hound of the Wild Hunt that haunts lightning-filled skies. When he fall to earth on his very first hunt, he lands on the A40 just outside Abergavenny..