book to do in school with very good 12 and 13 year old readers

[sphil]

I am about to start teaching a short English intervention programme for a group of Yr 8 readers who have been classified by the school as Gifted and Talented. The teacher wants me to choose a challenging text, but not one that they will cover again at GCSE. Any ideas? Will also post in Education.
TIA

Amongst the O Level texts we did were Wilkie Collins' 'The Moonstone', Dorothy L Sayers 'The Nine Tailors' and an omnibus of Father Brown stories from the detective fiction category. I thought that they were all really good reads.

Of the the two plays we did, the only one I enjoyed reading was 'The Browning Version'. Would still love to see that at the theatre some day. (The other play was 'She Stoops to Conquer'.)

The rest was Shakespeare, Sherlock Homes and one other title I can't remember.

Chaucer? Short, and will get them looking at the English language in a different way. Maybe best if they can hear it before they see it.

TH White

The Once and Future King

Beautifully written, funny, touching, wealth of historical detail, connections forwards and backwards into literature so could lead to all sorts of branches into Arthurian legend.

Or, Kevin Crossley Holland- The Seeing Stone, for much the same reasons.

Frankenstein, then Jurassic Park. Compare the way they depict the creation of monsters.

Late to this but how about How I live Now Meg Rosoff? Or that Kazuo Ishiguro one that was made into a film recently. Lots to discuss in both...

I think at 12 and 13 they can handle adult content so The Handmaid's Tale is a great idea or The Edge of Reason by Marge Piercy. Poignant now in light of celebs looking like conveyor belt women etc

Another vote for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Not familiar with the English curriculum but how about some WW1 poetry or All Quiet on the Western Front? Will they all have done The Diary of Anne Frank?