Reading Matter

Hi all,

Thanks for your attention and performance in Monday's lesson - a very impressive start to the week. One of the things that we discussed was the value and importance of private reading in supporting your learning over the next two years and beyond. We talked about the idea of choosing reading which pushes and challenges us a little, whilst still being enjoyable... moving beyond Anthony Horowitz! So, here are some ideas for books you might choose to read over the next few months:

Out and Out Classics:

- Lord of The Flies by William Golding

- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

- Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

- Of Mice and Men - by John Steinbeck

These are all tried and tested novels which millions have loved, so may well be worth trying. It was interesting to talk to the boys in particular, and find that many of you were struggling to find books you wanted to read. This is a problem for us, particularly as boys last year did significantly worse than the girls at Cheney (boys: 54% A*-C, girls: 74%A*-C). Girls also got more As and A*s. We really believe that this is partly because the boys weren't reading enough, so here's a list of books that boys in particular have enjoyed over recent year groups (although of course girls have enjoyed them also!):

Fever Pitch and High Fidelity - both by Nick Hornby - the first about growing up as a football fanatic and the second about being obsessed by music

Sporting biographies - there are loads of these. Most high profile sportspeople have at least one; popular examples include Steven Gerrard, Tony Adams (interesting as it discusses his addiction to alcohol and prison sentence), Rooney, Lance Armstrong, Michael Jordan etc etc etc. Other sports are equally rich with possibilities - I recently read Marcus Trescothick's biog which was entertaining, but Flintoff, Strauss - they've all got them. Here's a link to an Amazon page with lots of ideas: http://www.amazon.co.uk/William-Hill-Sports-Books-of-the-Year/lm/R1QONP2R96Y5T7/ref=cm_srch_res_rpli_alt_3 . These books may not be great works of literature, but they can be interesting and enjoyable.

Other options? There are far too many to mention. What about music biography (loads of books about Nirvana, for example), daft books (Around Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawkes? Playing the Moldovans at Tennis? Anyone read The Timewaster Letters? see link here http://www.robincooper.co.uk/ ), history (books about war for example, such as the recent Anthony Beevor study of D-Day, which has some amazing stories, or the Lost Voices series), scripts from TV series, travel (Bill Bryson is great and very readable), Science (erm, Bill Bryson again is pretty good!) ... there are millions of things you can read and that you will enjoy. It's just about pushing yourself a little, and forcing yourself to get into a book, which might take a little effort at the beginning, but will quickly become a real pleasure.

So, I look forward to hearing about what you've read!

Mr Boulter