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Year 9 Challenge Books

A number of these books have very adult topics, dealing with societies divided by racism, sexism and xenophobia. By year 9, you understand enough of the world to be able to navigate these topics. These books help you to appreciate how simple solutions often cause more harm than good and that good people and societies can do terrible things. These books also celebrate the ability of individuals to endure, scheme and survive.   

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The Catcher in the Rye 

J.D Salinger (1951)  

This book is credited with inventing the idea of the teenager as distinct from children or adults. Holden Caulfield’s confident, nervous narrating voice dominates this short novel as he describes his hectic life with uncaring parents. Set in the aftermath of WW2, the first-person narrative describes Holden’s journey back to the family after he is expelled from school.

words 73,000
book level 4.7

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Vanity Fair

W.M. Thackeray (1848) 

This enjoyable epic follows the fortunes of Becky Sharp as she takes on the Napoleonic world. An orphan of dubious parentage is made to suffers in a world supremely conscious of status and Becky is not disposed to be meek or humble, Brilliant, bright and self-centred, she is willing to use any means at her disposal to get ahead. 

words 296,000
book level 12.4

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Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe (1958) 

This book is set during the European “Scramble for Africa” in the late 1800s. Okwonkwo is a proud and valued member of the Igbo tribe at the beginning of the story. As we read, we are taken into his world and begin to understand something of the value system underpinning it, making us praise Okwonkwo when he resists the arrival of British colonial forces. This gripping book is utterly unputdownable and makes one challenge simple views of right and wrong.

words 50,000
book level 6.2

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Mrs Dalloway

Virginia Woolfe (1925)  

This stream-of-conscious narrative (written so we inhabit the thoughts) follows Clarissa Dalloway throughout one day in 1925. Clarissa’s hopes for the party she is throwing, and fears when an old admirer turns up unexpectedly, give the reader a real insight into the character’s mind. We are given an insider’s view of the British aristocracy at a time of huge power.   

words 63,000
book level 7.2

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To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee (1960) 

This description of a hopelessly-racist society in the southern states of America in the 1903s is all the more chilling because it is from a child’s perspective. Eight year-old Jean-Louise is the daughter of the town lawyer and when he agrees to represent a black man, she witnesses how a blinkered society will turn on anyone who stands up for fairness. Scout's description of the divided town is confused by her struggle to make sense of the adult world around her. Disorientating at times, this book is a brilliant read.

words 99,000 

book level 5.6

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The Handmaid's Tale 

Margaret Atwood (1985) 

The Handmaid’s Tale imagines a near-future America ravaged by ecological disaster and firmly in the grip of a fundamentalist Christian government. In an attempt to deal with plummeting fertility caused by modern capitalism and nuclear warfare, the religious party controlling America have attempted to recreate the world of the Bible. The few women who can still have children are heavily controlled and forced to procreate with a few high-status men. A brilliantly chilling read. 

words 90,000
book level 5.4

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Rebecca 

Daphne Du Maurier (1938) 

This haunting romantic narrative weaves a nostalgic floating atmosphere tinged with an undercurrent of menace. The main character (who is not Rebecca) walks the grounds of her grand house in England, struggling with her husband’s distance and his seeming-preference for his previous wife. Is she really dead? Rebecca’s taunting presence haunts this tale as the heroine struggles to free herself from the web of the past. 

words 153,000
book level 6.8

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Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Louis De Bernieres (1994) 

Set on the Greek island of Cephalonia during the Italian occupation of WW2, this amazing book examines  large-scale human concerns through the lives of a few individuals. We begin with the elderly doctor on the island who worries about his daughter. Pelagia is intelligent and beautiful and occupation brings many dangers. The novel is big, but gripping and easy to read.  

words 181,000
book level 8.1

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Jane Eyre

Charlotte Bronte  (1847) 

Jane Eyre is the story of a girl’s struggle against the repressive force of pre-Victorian life. Jane is a dependent, meaning she is reliant on the charity of others, and she is forced to fight against a series of overbearing figures who demand that she be humble, meek and grateful. Her refusal to lose her identity and her pride in the face of a series of challenges makes this book an inspiring celebration of the power of the human spirit. Jane refuses to submit and makes the world meet her on her own terms. 

words 184,000
book level 7.9

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Dubliners

James Joyce (1914)  

Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist are James Joyce’s most accessible pieces of writing. Dubliners is a set of 15 short stories set in a repressive society at a time of change. The old forces of religion and middle-class aspiration exert a strong restrictive influence on the youthful characters who struggle towards expressing themselves. 

words 67,000
book level 8.2

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Angela's Ashes

Frank McCourt (1996) 

Angela’s Ashes manages to carry a somehow-jaunty tone through this memoir laced with an atmosphere of dark poverty and neglect. This true story describes in vivid detail the deprivation that the author faced in Limerick in the early twentieth century bringing to life a world that seems very far away from modern life. A celebration of the will to survive. 

words 142,000
book level 5.9

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Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)  

Kathy H is proud that she is a Halisham girl; it means something. We catch disquieting glimpses of what exactly it means as we follow her self-satisfied first-person summary of her work as carer. This fascinating book is set in a parallel world (history has been altered slightly) and carries a haunting air. The wistful tone as Kathy reminisces bout her golden school days jars with the chilling hints of the outside world. disorientating, thought-provoking and unsettling, this is a brilliant book. 

words: 92,000
book level: 6.0

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