Here’s a selection of Critically Acclaimed books for KS3 and KS4, published within the last year.
KS3 Top Reads!
Steady for this- by Stephen Lessore
Shaun (aka MC Growls) is ready to drop his best bars and smash the competition at Raptology. But when a livestream practice goes epically wrong, Growls’s dirty laundry is literally exposed. He’s finally achieved his dreams of going viral – not in the good way.
Now Tanisha won’t look at him, he’s the joke of the school and there’s no way he can show his face at the competition. Will he ever catch a break?
Tyger- by S F Said
Adam has found something incredible in a rubbish dump in London. A mysterious, mythical, magical animal. A Tyger. And the tyger is in danger.
Adam and his friend Zadie are determined to help, but it isn’t just the tyger’s life at stake. Their whole world is on the verge of destruction. Can they learn to use their powers before it’s too late?
Ravencave- by Marcus Sedgwick
On holiday in Yorkshire, James is bored out of his mind being dragged around various old ruins as his dad tries to trace his family’s roots. Then one day as his parents bicker and his moody teenage brother ignores him, James hears mischievous laughter and the ghost of a young girl appears to him at Crackpot Hall. When the girl first urges James to follow him, he’s afraid and runs away. But when she appears again after another argument between James and his brother, he goes after her, leading to a gruesome discovery that reveals a terrible truth about his family.
KS4 Top Reads!
The Door of No Return- by Kwame Alexander
Eleven-year-old Kofi Offin has dreams of water, of its urgent whisper that beckons with promises and secrets. He has heard the call on the banks of Upper Kwanta, West Africa, where he lives. He loves these things above all else: his family, the fireside tales of his father’s father, a girl named Ama, and, of course, swimming.
But when the unthinkable – a sudden death – occurs during a festival between rival villages, Kofi ends up in a fight for his life. What happens next will send him on a harrowing journey across land and sea, and away from everything he loves.
Crossing the Line- by Tia Fisher
Erik’s life has been falling apart ever since his dad died. Homework and being good at school stop feeling important when you’re the new man of the house. When Erik’s bad behaviour attracts the wrong crowd, he’s sucked into a terrifying new world of drug dealing, trap houses and violence.
Making money feels good but Erik soon learns that a small favour can become a huge debt.
And when his sisters’ lives are threatened, Erik will have to cross one more line to save them.
Electric Life- by Rachel Delahaye
Alara’s incredible gaming skills bring her to the attention of Estrella’s leaders. She is chosen to go on a dangerous mission to London Under, the original older, long-deserted and distrusted city on top of which Estrella (the Star city) was built, to gather ‘vital’ intelligence. Estrella is the perfect society, an immaculate, sanitised, connected environment where everything is channelled through the digital medium.
Alara is dropped down to London Under and into a “new” world which bewilders her and disorientates her. Will she accomplish her mission?
