’16 before 16′ is our reading competition for our current Year 9 and 10 and 11 students. It runs until the end of Year 11 or until students have read their 16 books.
The increased difficulty and level of challenge in the new English GCSE means that students need to be fully prepared for what is now expected of them. The ’16 before 16’ initiative is designed to support and aid this preparation. Below is a list of 20 books specially selected by our English Department as the ‘must read’ texts for young individuals. Your child is asked to choose 16 of these 20 and read them before they finish their studies at Haslingden High. If your child would like to participate in this competition they need to pick up a passbook from their English teacher or from the school library. The passbook is designed to allow them to complete a short review of each book and also to enable you to add your signature to verify that they have completed the text. House points will be awarded after each finished book and a prize and certificate will be issued when the competition has been completed and 16 pages of the passbook have been filled.
Students are encouraged to read at their own pace and to then show their English teacher their passbook after they have read each text in order to be awarded house points. Many of the texts are free on their iPads or available to be booked out from the school library. There is no requirement for students to read the texts in a particular set order.
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
Misery – Stephen King
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
Heroes – Robert Cormier
The Outsiders – S.E. Hinton
Animal Farm – George Orwell
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini