KS3 English teachers - your favourite texts?

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

Which texts do you love teaching to Y7, Y8 and Y9?

Novels, plays, short stories, poems, non-fiction - all of them!

Looking for new ideas to refresh the curriculum offer. Not necessarily newly published but not just ex-GCSE texts either. Are there any old favourites you've returned to after a break? Any new passions?

I'm not a teacher but my Sister is and she is teaching her ks3s (sorry, can't remember if it was year 7 8 or 9!) the book kira-kira by Cynthia Kadohata.I got my oldest dd to read it (she was 12ish at the time) and she really enjoyed it x

That looks interesting and different - thank you. One for my reading pile!

We like The Graveyard Book, Animal Farm, Stone Cold (y8/9). Wonder also quite popular in the dept tho I've never taught it.

I really liked teaching Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko.

Holes by Louis Sachar is very good.

Of Mice and Men for Year 9, because every kid should read it.

Skellig by David Almond is breathtaking.

Roald Dahl short story Lamb to The Slaughter is a good one; To Kill A Mockingbird; Lord of The Flies. Contemporary: The Lie Tree (Frances Erdinger).

Macbeth - it''s got the lot - ghosts, witches, complex characters, lends itself to psychoanalysis, murder, great opportunities for recording sound effects to complement the text - and the only female lead worth playing in all of Shakespeare!

Ooh yes, Macbeth!

I always liked Holes but it’s done more and more at KS2 now. A pity because it’s good for teaching inference.

Seamus Heaney poetry was always good too.

Lots of lovely ideas here. I love:

Rooftoppers, The Hunger Games, Great Expectations (extracts plus film extracts), Oliver Twist (same approach), Private Peaceful and The Tempest.

Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen

Year 7 - Holes, The Giver, Framed
Year 8 - Boy in the striped pyjamas, Macbeth, Wonder
Year 9 - The Hunger Games, Stone Cold, Romeo and Juliet, Looking for JJ

It's interesting- so many favourites on these lists are already v frequently used in KS2 now. Holes, Private P, Skellig, The Graveyard Book, Wonder are all pretty ubiquitous in years 5-6. It's very annoying because once you hit the YA market the themes can make them a bit much for Y7, but primary hoover up so many of the good age-appropriate ones. It's giving me the rage! Can't bear spending scarce budget on texts only to find that one feeder primary decides to cover the book so you can't use it. Has happened several times round our way.

I did love The Lie Tree, though, and will check out Al Capone Does My Shirts.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness was a real success for me. He is such a good writer and the story is great.

Some of them even go on to read the other two books in the trilogy 😂

I haven't taught it for years and I always get looks when I mention it but Moonfleet is the best book to teach! Smuggling, adventure, tragedy, love...

Also love Millions.

Clockwise to Titan is a less well-known YA one so might not have been done by all the primary schools!

@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross oh those books are amazing! Never taught them though. I imagine there's uproar at poor Manchee isn't there?!

Clockwise to Titan goes on the list. I LOVE The Knife of Never Letting Go. Such a strong moral compass. Patrick Ness is a genius.

Todd! Todd? Todd?

Could never read that chapter out loud 😥

Oh, I know. It just breaks your heart.

There's a film version coming out with Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley and I can't decide whether I want to see it or whether it will destroy one of my favourite books. I've still never watched the film adaptation of The Dark is Rising (which I've also taught before but a looooooong time ago).

I've also used The Outsiders by S.E Hinton - also a long time ago. I don't know whether kids would still connect with it. They love the fact she wrote it when she was 16!

I think I've got The Outsiders on my shelf somewhere. Don't think I've got round to reading it though. Will check it out - nice and short, if I remember rightly!

We were taught A Midsummer Night's Dream and King of Shadows (Susan Cooper) at the same time which was a nice way to do it. I still like the book!

After Tomorrow.

Not a teacher but look at The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. Story of a teen on a native American reservation who decides to change school. Dysfunctional family, poverty, prejudice but alleviated with dry humour. Semi-autobiographical.

Not a teacher but take a look at The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. Story of a teen on a native American reservation who decides to change school. Dysfunctional family, poverty, prejudice, teen angst but alleviated with dry humour. Semi-autobiographical.

Sorry wasn't showing slow wifi.