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?

The books existed. The bookshops and libraries I frequented did not have sections labelled Young Adult fiction. Those books would have been in either Children's or Adult's. There might perhaps have been a few labelled as suitable for teenagers, but the huge genre of Young Adult fiction that has arisen since was just not there back in the 1970s. Maybe it was different in the US or other parts of the UK.

Try something by Frances Hardinge

Agree with this. One of the books I enjoyed most during my school years was The Moonstone, which I read in the summer half-term holiday in what you'd now call Year 7 (borrowed from school library). I imagine a good deal of it went over my head, but I found it absolutely engrossing.

From the OP's posts I'm getting a sense that it's not her setting these limits, it's either the school or the parents. A great shame.

Y8 DD is a big reader. She's enjoyed the "Loki" and "Good Girl's Guide to Murder" series. She's just read the first 2 or 3 Adrian Mole Diaries and is currently reading Lord of the Flies.
DD read The Lord of the Rings and HitchHikers' Guide to the Galaxy at that age.

In my teens I read SE Hinton, Robert Cormier and Aidan Chambers before moving into adult fiction via George Orwell

She's good, but way over 200 pages.

I use Trash by Andy Mulligan with year 7s (indie school). It's fantastic but probably too mature for the criteria you have!

I wouldn't be recommending anything by Neil Gaiman now.

When I was a young teenager I loved the books of William Mayne. I don't think I could read them now.

PG Woodehouse and Tom Sharpe.

They're probably a bit dated now though.

There's nothing dated about P. G. Wodehouse. A master stylist and plotter. His books were dated even when written, but that's not really the point of them.

Oh no what did I miss

What about Graham Greene? eg Our Man in Havanna?

I actually sympathise with you somewhat regarding the criteria. My Y8 son loves reading and finds a lot of the books marketed at teens too miserablist. For example he loves sci fi, but struggles to find anything non-dystopian. And I'm not particularly strict regarding content, so this very much comes from him not me. Also in my own case I had plenty of really horrible trauma in my childhood and the absolute last thing I wanted to read about was other people's trauma, so I loved stuff like Lord of the Rings that took me to totally different places. Young people can have all kinds of valid reasons for not wanting to go with the Ishoo-of-the-week tendencies in fiction.
Anyway, some things mine has enjoyed in the past few years. I think most are a bit too long though, and I realise its a very stereotypically 'boyish' list, though I loved similar books at his age!

Percy Jackson
Terry Pratchett (currently working through Discworld)
The Skander books
Lord of the Rings (bit long I know 😬)
The Martian & anything else by the same author. The Martian's quite sweary but you can get a Young Reader version with the F bombs taken out.
The Hunger Games (despite not actually liking dystopia usually)
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
The Spy School books
Robinson Crusoe & Treasure Island (despite the ye olde language!). RC has some racial issues obviously, but I'd rather talk about them than avoid them.
Katie Kennedy has some teen sci fi he's enjoyed. Also the Skyward books by Brandon Saunderson, which have a female protagonist.
He'll also happily reread stuff like the Loki books, David Solomons & the Artemis Fowl books when in the mood, all of which are shorter.

There are too many of you to thank individually but thank you so much. I will spend the evening working through these:) Am starting with Rat, Trash, One and Teh Martian.

I didn’t pick the criteria but in our setting it does make some sense. There are specific and fairly awful reasons why. Also, the average reading age of these teens is 9/10 and they lack the contextual understanding to make sense of some of these texts/settings. There wouldn’t be enough time to address that. I read (and loved) classics at their age but they won’t manage that right now. Same for Wodehouse or Greene

This is meant to be a fun text - they do all/parts of Animal Farm, Dracula, Artemis Fowl, Maze Runner and a few others mentioned.

We use The Giver too - great pick (although also has reference to a suicide but of a minor character).

You have reminded me of some wonderful books - loved The Silver Sword so much and Rogue Male! There is a great audio recording of this on BBC iPlayer from time to time too!

I wouldn’t use Neil Gaiman anymore - sorry! Pratchet isn’t quite right here but thanks for the tip.

Thanks again:)

Young adult novels of Phil Earle or David Almond?

Michelle Magorian is good but the books are long

Terry Pratchett might be a good shout. The Carpet People is around 200 pages and you then have the lovely Discworld novels to sink into...

You might check out Vanishing Edge by Zillah Bethall, it's funny and short and gorgeously written.
Suicide ref. though.

Jurassic Park.
The Wee Free Men.
PHSCE/SMC discussions.

My daughter is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Has read them multiple times. Recently she has read the powerless series and the hunger games. She is in year 9.

Why should YA fiction or even classics not include the issues you mention?

**I just saw you've said it's for teaching to a group who are vulnerable, but even so, mentions of these things can be discussed better when reading to or with teens, rather than leaving to their own devices.

Quote from one of the OP's posts. There are specific and fairly awful reasons why. Also, the average reading age of these teens is 9/10 and they lack the contextual understanding to make sense of some of these texts/settings.

Because of the background and/or level of understanding of the students.

A class of vulnerable children may have those who have been abused, have a relative who has committed suicide, or students who self harm for example.

My DD struggled in y8/9 Drama (which she had previously loved) because they used it to cover PSHE issues such as knife crime, drugs overdoses etc.

Gaiman is cancelled. I was disgusted because one of his books used to be on the reading list for y8-y9 and now my son won't read it.

The wizard of OZ? Books by Jack London?

Plays always work well as you generally have a few loud students who love playing a role- especially if you can find something funny. Funny texts for this age are so difficult to find! Play versions of Dracula and Frankenstein always go down quite well.

There was a series in the 80s called ‘New Windmill’. They are short hardbacks in very clear prints. My son has enjoyed Of
Mice and Men (I know this isn’t suitable for your purposes) and Joby by Stan Barstow. I have shared a list from the back of one copy. Could you also try ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’? Or Adrian Mole? I’d steer clear
of ‘The Owl Service’, as I re-read it recently and don’t think it has aged well. Also I think’Heart of darkness’ is possibly appealing only to a minority.