That there are no great books for year 9 pupils

[Multispool]

When you include the criteria:

around 200 pages (short)
no sexual abuse/assault elements
no racist language (even when used to reveal the dreadful racism of times past)
nothing suicide related

I mean there are books but I can’t find anything loveable

Am I just shit at looking?

It's a shame that the brief is so restrictive because there are some wonderful shorter novels, but they're not anodyne. Early Evelyn Waugh, Heart of Darkness, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Wide Sargasso Sea, Animal Farm.

Animal Farm might meet your criteria

What about The Giver?

Would Jane Austen be too long for year 9? I remember first reading Pride and Prejudice then.

Ooh Dracula is fun...though again possibly too long.

When I worked as a TA the lower level class in Year 9 (all boys) were reading Maze Runner and Young Bond together.

I'm sure Richard Ayoade has written some YA fiction.

I first read The Handmaid's Tale at this age but I appreciate you have those restrictions for a reason. Tricky to find something that fits the brief but isn't also dull as anything.

My DD would have wanted those criteria (in fact probably still would).

Animal Farm would be quite good as can be read on more than 1 level. (But is it used as a GCSE text as is J&H).

Would science fiction be too 'light' for school, eg Day of the Triffids or The Kraken Wakes?

I quite like dystopian/fantasy -
maze runner,
hunger games,
ready player 1,
divergent,
uglies,
enders game,
mortal engines,

Indeed, it was just kind of funny. "Welcome to big school! Imagine how much worse it could be if you'd lost both parents in an improbable accident!"

stardust by neil gaiman
Good movie too

stardust by neil gaiman
Good movie too

OMG I scared myself half to death at 13 reading those. Never looked at fungi the same again. Why not throw in M R James' ghost stories and have done

Oh I loved of mice and men! It’s such a shame!

I bet Tulip touch would be banned too but I have fond memories of reading that too.

Young Adult fiction didn't exist when I was in my teens in the 1970s.

mmmmm... yes it did. My Darling My Hamburger was published in 1969, for instance. SE Hinton was writing about the same time. Ursula Le Guinn or Diana Wynne Jones books are arguably YAF, too. Some of Judy Blume's books are for age 14+.

As a relatively modern school reader that works across a wide reading ability range, may I recommend One ?

Fairly short and very good.

Darwin's Dragons?

Mort - Terry Pratchett (265 pages)

I'll leave you to double check content:
The Owl Service - Alan Garner (155 pages)
The Silver Sword - Ian Serraillier (177 pages)
Dogsbody - Diana Wynne Jones
Eight Days of Luke - Diana Wynne Jones

The Outsiders by SE Hinton?

Anthony McGowan might fit, and you could check out his BarringtonStoke range, one of which won the Carnegie. Lark, I think.
Is Frank Cottrell-Boyce too young? He is witty and accessible.
The top end of Lucy Strange's age range? Katya Balen? Both writers I really think will stand the test of time.

@Multispool is this for English or for reading in form (etc)?

• Blue book of Nebo (great, short, dystopian works perfectly for y9)

• Animal Farm was vastly mixed- a marmite choice

• The Crossover (verse novel, Kwame Alexander) it might be longer than 200 pages, but it is so popular. and it's part of a series! Kids love verse novels.

I'm reading lead in a high school, and feel your pain!

I was reading Classic Literature all through secondary school. My school library had a selection of the everymans classics in hardback and I worked my way through most of them over the years. It bought me so much joy and happiness I can’t even tell you. Treasure Island, Moby Dick, Arabian Nights, Dracula, Tess of the d’Urbavilles, Ivanhoe, Robinson Crusoe, The Count of Monte Cristo, Catcher in the Rye. I was never into modern teenager or young adult fiction as most of those kind of books had themes that I didn’t find interesting enough.

I understand that a lot of Classic Literature will touch upon the things you said you wanted to avoid but there will still be several titles out there that are more tame but enjoyable. However, I do believe by setting a criteria of no violence, sex, death, scary things, racial or class conflicts etc. you will be missing out on most of the greatest novels ever written! That would be a terrible shame.

Small Things Like These- Claire Keegan?

DS couldn't put down Rogue Male- Geoffrey Household if you are including very old fashioned stuff.

That’s such a strict criteria. You may as well look at books suitable for age 9-11.

Enders game would be a good one! You could 'end' the reading early and those who wanted could continue on in their own time.

What a tricky brief!

The Island of the Blue Dolphins Scott O'Dell

I'm pretty sure the following fit the bill but can't remember 100%
Bone Music David Almond
A Kestrel for a Knave Barry Hines
Clay by Melissa Harrison

The Blue Book of Nebo if you are ok with sex and suicide happening off-stage and not described. The suicide is of minor characters by a method not available to your students (getting close to a damaged nuclear-power station).

Edited to suggest Blue Book of Nebo despite its problems.

Mort is hilarious! Sir Pterry is very underrated as a 'comedy' writer, when his books are very clever on multiple levels