Guided reading - Year 7/8 English advise please, from Teachers.

[whoknows2019]

We will be moving from abroad back to the UK next summer and my son will be entering a UK State school for the first time (he'll be entering year 8). I've spent quite a bit of time looking through the UK curriculums for Geography, History, Science and Maths and we've been working through some books with him in preparation.

In regards to English, I had a question about guided reading. I have looked online to try and find book titles that are studied in class, as opposed to just independently. We're currently reading R.J Palacio's Wonder and I've downloaded some resources from TES that we're working through. Can any teachers out there please recommend some other titles that would be worthwhile working through with him?

I have on my list as possibilities:
Private Peaceful
Skellig
Trash
Holes
Refugee Boy
The Giver - Louis Lowry

I'd also like to do a little Shakespeare with him. Can you recommend which play is the most often studied for this age group?

Many thanks in advance. I appreciate any advice that you can offer.

Not sure which ones we will select yet.

Apologies for the error in the title

My year 7 is reading the boy in the striped pyjamas. Good luck with the move!

I wouldn't 'study' Shakespeare, but I would maybe get a DVD of
Much Ado About Nothing (Emma Thompson) (very funny) or Romeo & Juliet (de Caprio) or As You Like It or A Midsummer Night's Dream just to get him familiar.

The most studied at GCSE seems (from what I read here) to be Macbeth or R&J so you may want to steer clear of them.

Our year 7 is reading a monster calls with her class.

Thanks for those that have responded so far, very grateful. Do you think it is worth doing Dickens? Or a bit young?

DD read "A Christmas Carol" in Year 7 but I'd say I'd generally steer clear of Dickens for being too long!

As well as some of the books on your list she also studied Salem by David Calcutt.

You also need to think about poetry (I'll check with DD what she studied).

RedskyToNight
That would be great if you could ask about Poetry. We've looked at some poetry but no idea if the sort of poems they would be covering.

Out of those you mention, I would say Holes, Skellig ( I will be studying this with my Year 7s later this year) , Private Peaceful will be good to bring him up to speed with what his peers may have read at primary or in Year 7. Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - yes as well. A lot of schools ( mine and my children's both do) do some introductory work on Victorian or the gothic in prep for GCSE now either in Year 7 or 8. We read some Sherlock Holmes short stories and Dickens' The Signalman'. All go down well! We look at extracts from Dracula and Frankenstein as well. Dd2 read the play of Dracula at her school in Year 7.

Shakespeare- wise, we use MSND in Year 7 as an intro to Shakespeare with a focus on context, plot and language familiarity.
If he's not up to speed with analysis, I would have a good look at this: we spend a lot of time in Year 7 developing PEEL paragraph skills, using quotation etc

my year 6 daughter is enjoying us reading A Christmas Carol to her at the moment, elder daughter in year 7 hasn't read it. So good time of year to possibly look at that one but read them to enjoy them, don't try to "do" anything with them in my opinion. I remember doing An Inspector Calls and A Midsummer Night's Dream as plays in year 7, possibly year 8 but I think year 7.

Interesting thread. Daughter in Y7 (French Lycee , but preparing English igcse). This year, so far: Boy (Roald Dahl), Pygmalion, started a bit of Great Expectations (but not the whole book), Stone Cold (Swindells, Robert). And a bit of Victorian poetry I think.
They had read Holes, Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, A Christmas Carol (cannot remember the rest at the moment...) last year.
good luck!

My Y7s are currently reading Trash, which is brilliant. Definitely one to read together, though, as it can be a little complicated and deals with poverty, corruption, etc. Very compelling, though. Y7s and Y8s also enjoy reading The Speckled Band, which is a Sherlock Holmes story, and The Red Room by H.G. Wells. If you want to do Shakespeare, I always like A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or you could look at the openings of a few plays to think about how they engage the audience.

Oh, poetry-wise, I’ve been doing nature poetry with Y8, so Harvest Moon and The Thought-Fox by Ted Hughes, The River’s Story by Brian Patten. Roger McGough poems always go down well.

Lots of brilliant ideas here. Thanks so much, I've added some of those titles to my list to choose from.

There is also a subtitled film version of trash and it's amazing.

Thanks for all the replies on here, so useful.
I also wanted to look at Myths and Legends, so if anyone can make recommendations for a book I could use, or certain resources it would be much appreciated.