Reading Lists for the Most Able
As a school we actively encourage our students to read for information and pleasure. We are in the fortunate position of having two libraries and we firmly believe that reading can aid our knowledge and enjoyment of the world.
For a general reading list we would suggest the ‘schools reading list’ website. This is an excellent resource compiled by teachers, booksellers, and librarians with book of the month recommendations, competitions and updated reading lists for KS3 and KS4.
https://schoolreadinglist.co.uk/category/secondary-ks3-ks4-reading-lists/
For students who are into their STEM subjects the following link will take you to some excellent reading
https://stemettes.org/recommends/
A number of departments have reading lists for their subject areas and the links below will take you to their book recommendations and suggested reading.
English KS4
English KS5
Languages reading list
http://thebicesterschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Languages-reading-list-1.docx
Science reading list
http://thebicesterschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Science-reading-lists.docx
Business, Economics & Computing reading list
http://thebicesterschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Department-wider-reading-list.docx
Accelerated Reader
http://thebicesterschool.org.uk/curriculum/english-and-media/accelerated-reader/
English
1984 – George Orwell
A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle
Anita and Me – Meera Syal
Atonement – Ian McEwen
Beowulf – trans. Seamus Heany
Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
Brighton Rock – Graham Greene
Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
The Color Purple – Alice Walker
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
Dracula – Bram Stoker
Enigma – Robert Harris
Fever Pitch – Nick Hornby
Fight Club – Chuck Palahniuk
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
Girlfriend in a Coma – Douglas Coupland
The Great Gatsby – F.Scott Fitzgerlad
Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
The Illiad – Homer
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell – Susanna Clarke
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
Junk – Melvin Burgess
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Noughts and Crosses – Malorie Blackman
Notes on a Scandal – Zoe Heller
Notes from a Small Island – Bill Bryson
The Picture of Dorian Grey – Oscar Wilde 3
Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
Refugee Boy – Benjamin Zephania
The Road – Cormac McArthy
Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Robert Lewis Stevenson
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Touching the Void – Joe Simpson
The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
Ulysses – James Joyce
The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
The Wasp Factory – Ian Banks
White Teeth – Zadie Smith
Woman in Black – Susan Hill
The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
History KS3
The department particularly recommend the following for KS3:
Malorie Blackman , ‘ Noughts and Crosses’ series
H M Castor, ‘VIII’
Laurie Halse Anderson, ‘Chains’
Lois Lowry, ‘Number the Stars’
Libby Bray, ‘A Great and Terrible Beauty’
Harper Lee,’ To Kill a Mockingbird’
John Boyne, ’The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’
Sally Nicholls, ‘All Fall Down’
John F Hanley, ‘Against the Tide’
Catherine Johnson, ’Sawbones’
Celia Rees, ‘Witch Child’ and ‘The Fool’s Girl’
Elizabeth Wein, ‘Code Name Verity’
Berlie Doherty, ‘Children of Winter’
Terry Deary, ‘Horrible Histories’ series
Various authors, ‘My Story’ series
History Answers is a website with topics covering everything from ancient civilisations, inventions and industry, people and politics, wars and royalty. Presented in a clear and simple way, History Answers is a great way to extend your history knowledge. https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/
History KS4 and KS5 (the following offer a good starting point):
Harper Lee, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and ‘Go Set a Watchman’
Kathryn Stockett, ‘The Help’
Deborah Wiles, ‘Revolution’
C J Sansome, The ‘Shardlake’ Series
Hilary Mantel (A Level), ‘Wolf Hall’, ‘Bring Up the Bodies’, ‘The Mirror and the Light’
Alison Weir, ‘The Lady Elizabeth’
Jennifer A Nielsen, ‘A Night Divided’
S E Hinton, ‘The Outsiders’
Ellen Emerson White, The ’Echo Company’ series
Arthur Miller (A Level), ‘Death of a Salesman’
Sharon M Draper, ‘Stella by Starlight’
Richard Wright, ’Native Son’
F Scott Fitzgerald, ‘The Great Gatsby’
History Answers is a website with topics covering everything from ancient civilisations, inventions and industry, people and politics, wars and royalty. Presented in a clear and simple way, History Answers is a great way to extend your history knowledge. https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/
Psychology KS5
Bad Pharma – Ben Goldacre : How pharmaceutical companies employ sneaky techniques to make their drugs look better than they are.
Forever Today – Deborah Wearing : True story of a famous amnesiac patient, Clive Wearing.
Man (Dis)connected – Philip Zimbardo : Why men are failing in modern society.
Opening Skinner’s Box – Lauren Slater : A collection of short summaries of famous Psychological studies
Patient H.M – Like Dittrich : The most famous case study in Psychology, H.M.
Shrinks – Jeffrey A.Lierberman : The history of mental health treatment
Tell Me I’m Here – Anne Deveson : True story of a mother whose son has Schizophrenia
The Bigamist – Mary Turner Thomson : A true story of a woman’s life with a Psychopath
The Brian that Changes Itself – Norman Doidge, MD : How our brains are plastic and can physically change throughout our lives
The Brain: The Story of You – David Eagleman : How the brain influences our behaviour.
The Lucifer Effect – Philip Zimbardo : The Stanford Prison study
Maths
Alex’s Adventures in Number Land – Alex Bellos
Alex Through The Looking Glass – Alex Bellos
The Code Book – Simon Singh
Fermat’s Last Theorem – Simon Singh
1089 and all that – David Acheson
The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus: The Mathematics of Christmas – Dr Thomas Oléron Evans, Hannah Fry
The GCHQ Puzzle Books
Science
A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
The Blind Watchmaker – Richard Dawkins
The Magic of Reality – Richard Dawkins
Bad Science – Ben Goldacre
The Gene – Siddhartha Mukherjee
Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World – Rachel Ignotofsky
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind – Bryan Mealer and William Kamkwamba
The Universe in Your Hand: A Journey Through Space, Time, and Beyond – Christophe Galfard
Fun Science: A Guide to Life, The Universe & Why Science Is So Awesome – Charlie McDonnell
Geography
Horrible Geography book collection – Anita Ganeri
Endangered – Eliot Schrefer
Disaster Dossiers series e.g. Earthquakes – Anne Rooney
Graphic Expeditions series e.g. Getting to the Bottom of Global Warming – Terry Collins
Red Rock – Kate Kelly
Notes from a Small Island – Bill Bryson
No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference – Greta Thunberg
How to Give Up Plastic: A Guide to Changing the World, One Plastic Bottle at a Time – Will McCallum
Our Planet – Alastair Fothergill, Fred Pearce, and Keith Scholey
Where on earth? Geography without all the boring bits –Jim Doyle
The Man who Cycled the World –Mark Beaumont
The Accidental Adventurer –Ben Fogle
Factfulness – Hans Rosling
The Scramble for Africa–Thomas Pakenham
Geography – Danny Dorling and Carl Lee
Around the World in 80 Days
There is no Planet B – Mike Berners-Lee
World Development – Barry Baker
Adventures in the Anthropocene
This is Planet earth – New scientist instant expert
Beyond the Map – Alastair Bonnet
Canoeing in the Congo – Phil Harwood
Prisoners of Geography – Tim Marshall
The Bottom Billion – Paul Collier
Languages
| French | Spanish | ||
| Mary Glasgow Magazines | Books | Mary Glasgow Magazines | Books |
| The invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Any title in the Gafi Raconte series |
Toro, Toro by Michael Morpurgo (in English)
Spanish children’s stories https://www.thespanishexperiment.com/stories |
||
| Allons-y | Any comic or graphic novel
Eg. Asterix / Tintin |
¿Qué Tal? | Any title in the Coleccion Mini Larousse series |
| Bonjour | Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Any title in the Collection Intrigues Policières |
Ahora | Any title in the DK series Teen Reader -Spanish for example Amigos Virtuales |
| Ça va? | Le Petit Nicolas by René Goscinny
No et Moi by Delphine De Vigan |
Ahora / El sol | Crónicas de una muerte anunciada – Gabriel Garcia Marquez |
| Chez Nous | Kiffe Kiffe Demain – Faïza Guène
Bonjour Tristesse – Françoise Sagan Et si c’était vrai – Marc Levy |
El sol | Historia de una gaviota y del gato que le enseño a volar – Luis Sepulveda
La Sombra del Viento (The Shadow of the Wind) by Carlos Ruis Zafón Soldados de Salamina (Soldiers of Salamis) by Javier Cercas |
PE
Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance – Alex Hutchinson
The Sports Gene: Talent, Practice and the Truth About Success – David Epstein
Black Box Thinking: Marginal Gains and the Secrets of High Performance: The Surprising Truth About Success – Matthew Syed
Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice – Matthew Syed
Outliers: The Story of Success – Malcom Gladwell
Luck: A Fresh Look At Fortune – Ed Smith
The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs – Damiel Coyle
Racing Through the Dark: The Fall and Rise of David Millar – David millar
Born to Run: The hidden tribe, the ultra-runners, and the greatest race the world has never seen – Christopher McDougall
Business
- She Means Business by Carrie Green – Carrie started her first online business at the age of 20—she knows what it’s like to be an ambitious and creative woman with big dreams and huge determination . . . but she also knows the challenges of starting and running a business, including the fears, overwhelm, confusion, and blocks that entrepreneurs face.
- The Economist offers authoritative insight and opinion on international news, politics, business, finance, science, technology and the connections between them.
- BBC – www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/ The latest BBC Business News: breaking personal finance, company, financial and economic news, plus insight and analysis
- tutor2u – www.tutor2u.net Partners with teachers & schools to help students maximise their performance in important exams & fulfil their potential
- bized.co.uk Free download as Powerpoint Presentation (.ppt), PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or view presentation slides online.
- businesscasestudies.co.uk A student and teacher business studies resource center including case studies, theory, teaching materials and lesson plans
- businessstudiesonline.co.uk
- Business Review – Philip Allan
- What You See Is What You Get: My Autobiography by Lord Alan Sugar
- Anyone Can Do It: My Story by Duncan Bannatyne
Economics
- The Economist offers authoritative insight and opinion on international news, politics, business, finance, science, technology and the connections between them.
- bbc.co.uk/news/business/
- tutor2u.net
- Economic Review – Philip Allan
- Freakonomics by Levitt & Dubner A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything is the debut non-fiction book by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner.
- Undercover Economist by Tim Harford – Looking at familiar situations in unfamiliar ways, The Undercover Economist is a fresh explanation of the fundamental principles of the modern economy.
- Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness by Thaler & Sunstein – The book draws on research in psychology and behavioral economics to defend libertarian paternalism and active engineering of choice architecture.
Computing
- org Written by Prof Paul Curzon – lots of articles about computer science and written magazine published every 6 months
- Problem Solving with Flowcharts & a little flavour of Programming with Python Written by Achla Agarwal, Krishna Agarwal, Laura Gladrich, Mark Gladrich
- com/courses/learn-sql Online tutorials to read and practise SQL database programming
- My Revision Notes OCR Computing for GCSE Computer Systems and Programming By Sean O’Byrne & George Rouse