Year 8 Challenge Texts
These texts are longer and move further back in time beginning with Great Expectations in 1842 before Victoria was on the throne. Many of these books deal with the late Victorian era when London was the most powerful and influential city in the world. It was a completely different world to ours with very different values - a much more casually sexist and racist and classist time - and it can be tricky to get inside the mind of the narrators. The best advice is to read fast and not agonise about every confusing detail and you will soon get to know this period of history really well. If you want to get a great grade in a whole range of subjects, the best preparation is to read
Year 8 Book List
Year 8 books
Dune
Frank Herbert (1965)
Dune is an epic sci-fi narrative focussed on the fortunes of Paul the young duke who has find a way to save his family. When his father is killed, shortly after dragging his family to a commission on a harsh foreign planet, Paul is forced to come to terms with the strange world he has been placed in. The Freman are the native owners of the planet and it is only by embracing their culture that Paul has any chance of saving his family from the imperial forces ranged against him. A long book but an absolutely brilliant read. New film coming out in 2022 - click the review below.
words 181,000
book level 5.7
Great Expectations
Charles Dickens (1902)
This book follows Pip on his journey to adulthood through a series of dramatic encounters with a whole host of strange characters – description is Dickens’ forte and this book has some of his most interesting people. We begin with a chance-meeting with a runaway convict who terrifies the young boy, before meeting the eerie Miss Havisham and the cold beautiful Estella. When Pip moves to London with ‘great expectations’ and the reader is taken on a ride through the bustling world of mid-Victorian London. This quick-moving dramatic story is one of Dickens’ best.
words: 183,000
book level: 9.2
The Thirty Nine Steps
John Buchan (1915)
This gripping spy tale appeared during the height of WW1 when suspicion about foreign agents was at its peak. Richard Hannay has recently returned to London from Rhodesia and is suspicious when his next door neighbour claims to be in fear of his life. Our hero is convinced by the man's subsequent death and, convinced he is next, takes to his heels. This dramatic story will keep you hooked as Hannay tries to get to the bottom of the conspiracy.
words: 41,000
book level 7.4
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde (1890)
Oscar Wilde is funny, and his writing often seems to feature a joke literally every line. Wilde favours epigrams – little one-line summaries of general truths – and his style was shocking to late Victorian society. This short novella is a tale of magic, suffering and deals with the devil - Dorian Gray wants to remain young forever. Wilde’s tragic personal life seems to lend a poignant quality to the drama while the melodramatic tone and constant quips make it easy to read quickly.
words 78,000
book level 7.7
The Day of the Triffids
John Wyndham (1951)
Wyndham’s descriptions of the end of the civilised world are always brilliantly imagined. This short fast-moving book grips the reader as it describes how fast human society breaks down in the face of deadly plants. The focus is far more on the way humans react to disaster and how human nature is revealed. This brilliant writer manages to be fantastical and unnervingly plausible at the same time. His description of the ways and speed with which human society breaks down seems even more chilling in the light of recent events.
words 90,000
book level 6.9
The Invisible Man
HG Wells (1897)
The 5 books HG Wells wrote at the turn of the 19th century are gripping classics covering topics like time travel and alien invasion and they laid the groundwork for many of the main ideas of modern science fiction. This shorter tale is a celebration of Wells’ typical ability to imagine very precisely how an invention or development would actually impact on human society. A funny and vicious commentary on the society of 1895 England but given Wells’ ability to predict the future, it is easy to see how it is relevant to today.
words 48,000
book level 7.7
Right Ho Jeeves
P G Woodehouse (1897)
These short, funny stories are easy to read and funny. They follow the fortunes of an upper-class twit at a time when English values (and money) dominated the world. Bertie Wooster should be a representative of the master race but he spends his time trying to appease the elders in his family. However, with a butler of supreme intelligence, Bertie is often able to come out on top. An easy and funny way to get to know this difficult period of history.
words 73,000
book level 5.7
All Quiet on the Western Front
Erich Maria Remarque (1928)
All Quiet is the true story of the WW1 and its aftermath from the perspective of a German soldier. Told without nationalism, it describes the terrible events with a kind of quiet noble courage. Banned by the Nazi regime for its depiction of the horrors of blind nationalism, it conveys the agony of being a decent human caught uncaring machinery of war.
words 62,000
book level 6.0
Dracula
Bram Stoker (1897)
Set mainly in late-Victorian England, this masterpiece of horror brings to life so many Victorian fears - a supernatural menace coming from the east with the metropolis unable to protect itself. The story begins with a young English solicitor travelling to work for a strange nobleman living in Transylvania. The description of Harker’s terrifying ordeals are gripping and convince us of Dracula’s power. When the vampire arrives in London, there seems to be no chance until Professor Van Helsing arrives to help.
words 153,000
book level 6.6
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)
This strange tale of a possessed doctor is eerie and unsettling. The association between the respectable Dr Jekyll and the disreputable Mr Hyde is hard to account for. Why would this mild, respectable man be associating or sheltering a known criminal of the worst sort? Does Hyde have some sort of hold over Jekyll? Utterson, a lawyer, sets out through the slums of late-Victorian London to find out. Very short and easy to read with a menacing atmosphere.