Felixstowe School
01394 288228 office@fxs.org.uk

Felixstowe 60 Reads

Felixstowe School believes reading for pleasure provides countless benefits to students, both academically and for their wellbeing.

To this end we have produced a list of 60 books, both classic and contemporary titles that we recommend students read before they leave school. The idea of having 60 books, is that students could achieve this by reading one book per month from Year 7 to Year 11. 

Below and under Attachments on this page, you will find the FXA 60 list as well as articles detailing the benefits of reading for pleasure.

Reading regularly leads to greater success and happiness

A study at The Institute of Education (UCL 2013) found that children who read for pleasure made more progress in maths, vocabulary and spelling, between the ages of 10 and 16, than those who rarely read.

Further research (OECD report 2010) found that parents reading books with their children had the greatest effect on performance in school generally AND that the highest achieving children receive encouragement with reading well into their teens.

More recently, a study by the National Literacy Trust (2018) found that “Children who are the most engaged with literacy are three times more likely to have higher levels of mental wellbeing than children who are the least engaged”.

What can you do?

  1. Read together. Make space to read as a family: read to each other; read extracts out loud; read the same book/ article at the same time; compete to see who can reach the next chapter first. Talk about what you have read.
  2. Harness the technology. E-readers can be great motivators and actively encourage children to broaden their vocabulary.
  3. Audio books and e-readers are excellent ways of engaging dyslexic students and those who find reading challenging with the joys of reading.
  4. Make going to the library or bookshop a treat which you still do together.
  5. Present books as something special. Make books and book vouchers rewards, especially for achievements linked to reading and progress. Never use reading as a punishment.
  6. Unplug the electronic devices in the car for part of the journey and listen to an audio book instead.
  7. Encourage your son/daughter to choose a book from the list of FXS 60. Students will receive a certificate for each 20 books read and then a Felixstowe School badge when all 60 books have been read. 

In addition to our excellent on-site library, the following links are worth investigating:

  • The Week Junior is a new current affairs magazine for children aged between 8 and 14. It is offering a trial subscription with the first 6 weeks free in January 2017. It claims to “expand young people’s horizons, introducing them to the world outside the classroom, bringing to life what they learn in school”.
  • Book bub offers a selection of free e-readers, which can be downloaded onto devices such as kindles.

You can find it at https://www.bookbub.com/home/

Project Gutenberg offers over 53,000 free e-books. Choose among free e-pub books, free kindle books, download them or read them online – https://www.gutenberg.org/.

Open Culture offers over 900 free audio books to download. You can find it at http://www.openculture.com/freeaudiobooks.

Felixstowe 60 books to read before you leave

  1. Harry Potter series – J K Rowling
  2. Pigeon English – Stephen Kelman
  3. The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien
  4. A History of Britain in 21 Women – Jenni Murray
  5. Felix Holt, the Radical – George Elliott
  6. The Declaration – Gemma Malley
  7. The Colour of Magic – Terry Pratchett
  8. Animal Farm – George Orwell
  9. His Dark Materials Trilogy – Philip Pullman
  10. Sophie’s World – Jostein Gaarder
  11. Pax – Sara Pennypacker
  12. Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom – Catherine Clinton
  13. Matilda – Roald Dahl
  14. Wolf Hollow – Lauren Wolk
  15. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
  16. You Are Awesome – Matthew Syed
  17. Star Wars: Jedi Academy
  18. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
  19. The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. Le Guin
  20. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
  1. Strange But True – Kathryn Hulick
  2. Hunger Games trilogy – Suzanne Collins
  3. Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
  4. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
  5. Black Beauty – Anna Sewell
  6. The Fault In Our Stars – John Green
  7. The Book Thief – Marcus Zusak
  8. Pet – Akwaeke Emezi
  9. Holes – Louis Sachar
  10. Wildspark – Vashti Hardy
  11. The Butterfly Lion – Michael Morpurgo
  12. To kill a mocking bird – Harper Lee
  13. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
  14. Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
  15. The Silver Sword – Ian Serraillier
  16. Kensuke’s Kingdom – Michael Morpurgo
  17. A Passage to India – E. M. Forster
  18. Chasing the Stars – Malorie Blackman
  19. Noughts and Crosses – Malorie Blackman
  20. In The Sea There Are Crocodiles – Fabio Geda

  1. Isaac the Alchemist: Secrets of Isaac Newton – Mary Losure
  2. The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night Time – Mark Haddon
  3. (Book series) A Series of Unfortunate Events: Lemony Snicket – Daniel Handler
  4. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
  5. 10,000 Doors of January – Alix Harrow
  6. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
  7. To The Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf
  8. The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
  9. The Power – Naomi Alderman
  10. No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference – Greta Thunberg
  11. The Last Days of Archie Maxwell – Annabel Pitcher
  12. Home Fire – Kamila Shamsie
  13. The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
  14. City of the Beasts – Isabel Allende
  15. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
  16. The Story of Tracy Beaker – Jacqueline Wilson
  17. Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
  18. The Time Machine – H G Wells
  19. Purple Hibiscus – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  20. Bridge to Terabithia – Katherine Paterson

Attachments

pdf

Benefits of reading for pleasure

Benefits-of-reading-for-pleasure.pdf

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Reading Guide For Parents

Reading-Guide-For-Parents.pdf

pdf

Felixstowe 60 Books To Read Before You Leave

Felixstowe-60-Books-To-Read-Before-You-Leave.pdf