Books for secondary schools

We supply a wide range of fiction and non-fiction for secondary school libraries and can support you to create a reading for pleasure culture in your school. From guidance on diverse and inclusive texts, ideas for establishing a wellbeing collection or books to support KS3 transition and children who are not yet established readers, we can help.

You'll also find Key Stage 3, GCSE and A Level titles across the curriculum subjects, from set texts to textbooks, workbooks and revision guides. For a tailored book selection or advice from our team of librarians and curriculum advisors, email hello@peters.co.uk.

Tutor Time Reading Spine

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For many secondary schools seeking to establish a Reading For Pleasure culture, Tutor Time Reading Spines are already being successfully used as an approach to promote a love of reading. However you chose to embed Tutor Time reading, we hope you will find something of interest on this list of books recommended by our Curriculum Advisors.

A guide for teenagers for building mental resilience to help them through their teenage years and give them coping strategies for life.

A candid exploration of the state of outrage in our culture, and how we can channel it back into the fights that matter, from presenter and DJ Ashley 'Dotty' Charles.

A summary of the history of Woman's football, leading up to the Women's World Cup 2023.

A positive look at the news, from all sources, looking at real events that are having good effects on people and the planet, as well as a guide to what fake news is and how to spot it.

What is right and wrong? Who decides? Where do values come from? And other big questions

Looks at issues surrounding social values and ethics.

The stories of 21 women explorers and adventurers from all over the world.

A life skill guide to help be confident, resilient and to overcome your own challenges, from the England footballer and manager Gareth Southgate.

THE GLOBAL PHENOMENON THAT HAS TOUCHED THE HEARTS OF OVER 9 MILLION READERS

Offers a gentle introduction to the concept of empathy and thinking of others.

'I don't know where to stop praising Benny and this amazing book' - HEATHER MORRIS, The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Highly designed and vibrantly colourful, this collection of scripts from BBC Radio 2's Pause for Thoughtshowcases the incredible insights that the different faiths in the UK today offer to people of all religions - and to those of none. Together, these pieces provide a guide to finding happiness and achieving psychological wellness, despite all the challenges we face. In both the selection of pieces and in the contemporary design, the emphasis is on pausing - on stopping readers in their tracks and offering new ways of perceiving and connecting with each other. The book features an exciting range of commentators with great public profile, such as comedians Shazia Mirza and Paul Kerensa and ex-Communard Richard Coles, with a Foreword by the show's presenters, Chris Evans and Vanessa Feltz. Each of the book's seven chapters has a theme, reinforcing the overall inspirational and positive message of the book: Live Boldly, Challenge Perceptions, Understand, Connect, Love, Be Thankful, Let Go. A superb gift as well as an inspiring self-purchase.

A short introduction to Black British history, abridged from the adult edition of 2017.

Explores the history of the world through voyages made along the Silk Roads.

A history of post-war Black Britain told through the lens of these groundbreaking songs.

Barack Obama's autobiography about his early life, adapted for a young teen audience.

Based on his own experiences, Frederick Joseph gives a tool box of ways for anti-racists to confront their own and other people's perceptions and actions.

A 16-year-old girl is drawn to activism after she witnesses the police shooting of her unarmed friend

A young boy tries to help his new classmate, Celeste, who has become sick due to the effects of pollution.

Follows the lives of ordinary high school students as typical literary tropes of teenage novels such as zombie invasion and terminal illness are played out in everyday life around them.

Teenager Ant is involved in a secret sexual relationship with best friend Charlie but their dynamic is challenged when an old friend returns to their school

Our top 10 HiLo books for KS3

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These are books that teachers can provide to KS3 pupils with a lower reading level, without them appearing too young for their age. They also allow for paired or shared opportunities between readers of different abilities.

Nicky and Kenny find themselves in danger when they get lost on the Yorkshire Moors in a snowstorm.

A brief introduction to the life and work of Lupita Nyong'o.

In World War II, three teenage Navy recruits endure the rigours and dangers of the notorious Arctic convoys.

Twelve-year-old Hanh is offered a job as a shop assistant in Hanoi, soon learns that the job offer was a lie and finds herself working in virtual slavery in an illegal garment factory.

Sophie, a chess prodigy, must use all her strategic skills to help her grandmaster father escape from Winter Palace prison.

A radical, ghoulish and humorous re-telling of the Sleeping beauty fairy tale

Trapped and alone on the salt marshes, Jodie is troubled by a haunting presence.

Discover silly and strange space science.

Young Quom Erro and his human friend Zak Nine are in trouble. They're stuck in Planet Alcatraz's most infamous jail cell: a huge metal cylinder that's sunk into the ground but open to the sky. The boys are certain they can climb out, but they quickly discover the cunning secret of the pit. When they make too many movements, the floor sinks and the pit grows even deeper. Will the boys manage to climb out or will their hopes dwindle as the circle of sky overhead shrinks to a distant dot?

When Tulsi and Satchen discover a trapped whale in a fishing net while rowing out to an island near their seaside home, they try to free it.

Lewis wants to follow his dream of playing football and training with a proper team but his mother is unwilling to support him for her own reasons.

A thirteen-year-old girl, struggling with feelings of abandonment after her last placement ended, struggles to have faith in her new foster family's desire for her to be with them.

A boy with the ability to stop bullets is recruited into a secret organisation which trains children with special powers to keep the city safe from terrorist attacks.

An Indonesian boy wonders if he has special powers like his hero, Spider-Man, after he survives an undersea mining accident similar to that which killed his dad.