Books

Booklist 1st and 2nd grade

BOOKLIST 1st/2nd GRADE

VERSION 08-07-2023

! = this year’s Early Blackbirds

A New Year’s Surprise – Carolyne Larrington
Adventure in Rio – John Milne
Berlin Express – Michael Austen
Blown Away – Sue Murray
Body on the Rocks – Denise Kirby
Bristol Murder – Philip Prowse
Broken – Penny Kendal
Broken Wings – Roy James
But Was it Murder? – Jania Barrell
City Boy – Alan Combes
Claws – John Landon
Eddy and the Movie Star – Elizabeth Laird
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Janathan Safran Foer ! (the Early Blackbird version is a simplified version of the grade 4 and up version)
Eye of the Storm – Mandy Loader
Frankly in Love – David Yoon !
Gunpoint – Jim Eldridge
How High the Moon – Karyn Parsons
How I met Myself – David A. Hill
In the House – Margaret Johnson
Just Good Friends – Penny Hancock
Kidnap and Rescue – John Milne
Kidnapped in Cornwall – Paula Smith
L.A. Winners – Philip Prowse
Love by Design – Kieran McGovern
Me Before You – Jojo Moyes
Meet Me in Istanbul – Richard Chisholm
Mei’s Dream – Elaine O’Reilly
Murder Weekend – Denise Kirby
Not Above the Law – Richard MacAndrew
Nothing but the Truth – George Kershaw
One of Us is Lying – Karen McManus
Pig-Heart Boy – Malorie Blackman !
Racing the Tide – Denise Kirby
Red Card – Alan Combes
River of Dreams – Philip Voysey
Road to Nowhere – Pauline O’Carolan
Silverfin – Charlie Higson
Snow Dogs – Jane A.C. West
Sorrow – Philip Voysey
The Alati Collection – Pauline O’Carolan
The Amsterdam Connection – Sue Leather
The Art Show – Paula Smith
The Beast – Carolyn Walker
The Black Cat – John Milne
The Black Pearl – Mandy Loader
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne (the Early Blackbird version is a simplified version of the 3rd grade book)
The Case of the Lonely Lady – John Milne
The Cave of the Jaguar – Sue Murray
The Creature – Alan Milson
The House by the Sea – Patricia Aspinall
The Ironing Man – Colin Campbell
The Kissing Booth – Beth Reekles
The Lady in White – Colin Campbell
The Man with no Name – Evelyn Davies
The One Memory of Flora Banks – Emily Barr
The Phantom Airman – Alan Frewin Jones
The Queen of Death – John Milne
The Quest – Mandy Loader
The Secret in the Farmhouse – Paula Smith
The Singing Stones – Sue Murray
The Sky Readers – Sue Murray
The Smuggler – Piers Plowright
The Stranger – Norman Whitney
The Woman who Disappeared – Philip Prowse
Thin Ice – Chris Powling
Two Lives – Helen Naylor
Under Cover of Darkness – Pat Thomson
United Here I Come – Alan Combes
Unquiet Graves – Allen Frewin Jones
Web – Alison Prince
What Happened at Seacliffe – Denis Kirby
What Rose Saw – Pauline O’Carolan
When the Sea Came in – Mary Tomalin
Wild Water – Sue Murray
Wonder – R.J. Palacio

You may also read a book for a higher grade (klas) if you think you can handle that.

Booklist 3rd grade

BOOKLIST 3rd GRADE

VERSION 08-07-2023

! = this year’s Young Blackbirds

After Iris – Natasha Farrant
Agent Z – Mark Haddon (this is a series of books that you may all read)
All of the Above – Juno Dawson
All the Bright Places – Jennifer Niven
Animal Farm – George Orwell (fable)
Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Artemis Fowl – Eoin Colfer (thriller)
Bad Company – Catherine MacPhail
Beck – Mal Peet
Beverly, Right Here – Kate Dicamillo
Billy Elliot – Melvin Burgess
Blue Dog – Louis de Bernières
Blow – Judi Lundgren
Bodyguard: Hostage – Chris Bradford
Bog Child – Siobhan Dowd !
Boy – Roald Dahl (autobiography) (ask your teacher of this book fits the assignment you need to make, as it’s non-fiction)
Branded – Robert Swindells
Burning – Danielle Rollins (prison drama)
Carrie’s War – Nina Bawden
Cell 7 – Kerry Drewery
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
Crazy Games – Sandra Glover
Daz 4 Zoe – Robert Swindells
Don’t Tell – Sandra Glover
Echo Mountain – Lauren Wolk
Everything, Everything – Nicole Yoon
Fangirl – Rainbow Rowell
Fight Back – Brent R. Sherrard
Final Takedown – Brent R. Sherrard
Ghost Soldier – Theresa Breslin
Gone Bad – Lesley Choyce
Goodbye Stranger – Rebecca Stead
Hatchet – Gary Paulsen
Heap House – Edway Carey
Hello I Must be Going – Dylan Sheldon
Holding up the Universe – Jennifer Niven
Holes – Louis Sachar
House of Spies – Griselda Grifford
How I Live Now – Meg Rosoff
iBoy – Kevin Brook
If I Stay – Gayle Forman
Journey to the River Sea – Eva Ibbotson
Juggling Lessons – Jan Page
Kezzie at War – Theresa Breslin
Last Lesson – James Goodhand
Leaving Home – Jan Michael
Love Hurts – Beverly Scudamore
Martyn Pig – Kevin Brooks
Mary Wolf – Cynthia D. Grant
Mother Tongue – Julie Mayhew
My Brother’s Name is Jessica – John Boyne
Noughts & Crosses – Malorie Blackman
Nyxia – Scott Reintgen
Orphans of the Tide – Struan Murray
Out of It – Michelle Kadarusman
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief – Rick Riordan !
Picture me Gone – Meg Rosoff
Release – Patrick Ness
Run Zan Run – Cathy McPhail
Sail to the Sea – Ruta Sepetys
Sara’s Face – Melvin Burgess
Schizo – Kim Firmston
Scythe – Neil Shusterman
Simon vs. the Home Sapiens Agenda – Becky Alberalli
Skellig – David Almond
Slam – Nick Hornby
Sophie Someone – Hayley Long
Split – Lori Weber
Stone Cold – Robert Swindell
Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf – Sonya Hartnett
Stupid – Kim Firmston
Take me with you When you Go – David Levithan & Jennifer Niven !
Terror Kid – Benjamin Zephaniah
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian – Sherman Alexie (drama)
The Amateurs – Sara Shepard
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne (drama) (do note there is also a simplified Early Blackbird version of this book, which you should not choose)
The Bunker Diary – Kevin Brooks
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon (thriller)
The Dare – John Boyne
The Dogs – Allan Stratton
The Door that Led to Where – Sally Gardner
The Giver – Lois Lowry (drama)
The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien (fantasy)
The Knife of Never Letting Go – Patrick Ness
The Outsiders – Susan Eloise Hinton
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole – Sue Townsend (drama)
The Shade of Hetty Daynes – Robert Swindells
The Snakestone – Berlie Doherty
The Trap – John Smelcer
The Underdog – Markus Zusak
The Wave – Morton Rhue
The White Horse – Cynthia D. Grant
The Witches – Roald Dahl
The Yellowcake Conspiracy – Stephen Davies
This is what I did – Ann Dee Ellis
Truckers – Terry Pratchett (fantasy)  
Turtles all the Way Down – John Green
We Collided – Emery Lord
We Were Liars – E. Lockhart
When You Reach Me – Rebecca Stead
Who Killed Christopher Goodman? – Allan Wolfe
Word Nerd – Susin Nielsen
You Must be Layla – Yassmin Abdel-Magied

You may also read a book for a higher grade (klas) if you think you can handle that.

Booklist 4 HAVO, VWO 4 and VWO 5

BOOKLIST 4th GRADE AND UP (not 5H)

VERSION 10-29-2023

! = this year’s official Blackbirds (easily found at lijsters.nl or bought with your regular school books order);
* = difficult – if you’re good, or maybe if you’re in 5A;
# = you can basically read any novel by this author (as long as it’s fiction and not mentioned in the list of books you can’t read, elsewhere on this page);
@ = editor’s pick (awesome book!)

11/22/63 – Stephen King (thriller) # @
1984 – George Orwell (drama) @
A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess (science fiction)
A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole (dark humour)
A Court of Thorns and Roses – Sarah J. Maas (the whole series)
A Curse so Dark and Lonely – Brigid Kemmerer
A Fatal Inversion – Barbara Vine (detective)
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder – Holly Jackson (detective)
A Good man in Africa – William Boyd *
A Hologram for the King – Dave Eggers (drama) #
A Kiss Before Dying – Ira Levin (thriller) #
A Ladder in the Sky – John Boyne
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare (historical) *
A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving (drama) # @
A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares – Christal Sutherland
A Son of the Circus – John Irving (drama) @ #
A Throne of Swans – Katharine & Elizabeth Corr
A Town like Alice – Nevil Shute
About a Boy – Nick Hornby (drama)
Across the Barricades – Joan Lingard
Adventures of Huckleberry Fin – Mark Twain (historic adventure) #
After – Anne Todd
After the First Death – Robert Cormier *
Alice – Christina Henry (fantasy drama)
All My Secrets – Sophie McKenzie
All the Bright Places – Jennifer Niven
All the Light we cannot See – Anthony Doer *
All these Beautiful Places – Elezabeth Klehfoth *
American Gods – Neil Gaiman @
American Royals – Katharine McGee
An Abundance of Katherines – John Green *
Anatomy of a Scandal – Sarah Vaughan
Ancestral Vices – Tom Sharpe (chaotic humour) #
And I Darken – Kristen White (historical fiction)
And Then There were None – Agatha Christie
Angels and Demons – Dan Brown (thriller) #
Anna Dressed in Blood – Kendare Blake (paranormal thriller)
Anne of Green Gables – L.M. Montgomery
An Offer from a Gentleman – Julia Quinn
Are You Watching? – Vincent Ralph (thriller)
Assassin, The – Clive Cussler
Atonement – Ian McEwan * #
Bad Intentions – Karin Fossum
Before the Fall – Noah Hawley *
Being There – Jerzy Kosinski * #
Beloved – Toni Morrison * #
Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates *
Billy – Albert French *
Billy Elliot – Melvin Burgess
Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks (war) * @
Black Boy – Richard Wright
Blue Monday – Nicci French *
Bombs that Brought us Together – Brian Conaghan
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley (science fiction) #
Breathless – Jennifer Niven
Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh (drama)
Bright Lights, Big City – Jay McInerney (drama)
Buddy – Nigel Hinton
Cali Mora – Thomas Harris (crime thriller) @
Call me by Your Name – André Aciman (drama)
Cannery Row – John Steinbeck (drama) *
Catch 22 – Joseph Heller (war humour) * #
Catwoman – Sarah J. Maas
Cinder – Marissa Meyer (dystopian urban fantasy)
City of Bones – Cassandra Clare (paranormal urban fiction)
Close Your Eyes – Nicci Cloke
Concentr8 – William Sutcliffe
Credence – Penelope Douglas
Cupid’s Match – Lauren Palphreyman
Cursed – Thomas Wheeler & Frank Miller
Daughter of Smoke and Bone – Liani Taylor (fantasy)
Daughter of the Pirate King – Tricia Levenseller
David Copperfield – Charles Dickens (historical)
Dead Poets Society – N.H. Kleinbaum @
Dear Martin – Nic Stone
Dear Nobody – Berlie Doherty
Decline and Fall – Evelyn Waugh #
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Douglas Adams (absurd humour) #
Divine – M.J. Woodman
Down the Darkest Road – Tami Hoag
Dracula – Bram Stoker (historical)
Dragonriders of Pern (series) – Anne McCaffrey #
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
Dry – Neal & Jarrod Shusterman
Dune – Frank Herbert (science fiction)
Eating People is Wrong – Malcolm Bradbury
Educated – Tara Westover
Eleanor and Park – Rainbow Rowell
Emma – Jane Austen (historical)
Empire of the Sun – J.G. Ballard (war drama) @
Eragon – Christopher Paolini @
Everything I Never Told You – Celeste Ng
Exit West – Mohsin Hamid *
Extraordinary Means – Robyn Schneider
Extraordinary Times – Robyn Schneider
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathan Safran Foer (drama) (do note there is also a simplified Early Blackbird version of this book that you should not choose!)
Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury (dystopian science fiction) @
Fair Stood the Wind for France – H.E. Bates (war)
Find You First – Linwood Barclay (thriller)
Fire Colour One – Jenny Valentine
First Impressions – Charlie Lovett (historic fantasy)
Five Feet Apart – Rachael Lippincott & Mikki Daughtry
Follow Me – Sarah Shepard
Foundation – Isaac Asimov (science fiction)
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley (historical drama)
From Blood and Ash – Jennifer L. Armentrout
Funny Girl – Nick Hornby
Gangsta Rap – Benjamin Zephaniah
Generation A – Douglas Coupland !
Girl in Translation – Jean Kwok (drama)
Girl Missing – Sophie McKenzie
Girl with the Pearl Earring – Tracy Chevallier
Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo *
Good Omens – Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (apocalyptic humour) # @
Go Tell it on the Mountain – James Baldwin
Graceling – Kristin Ashore
Great Expectations – Charles Dickens * #
Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift (historical fantasy)
Hannibal – Thomas Harris (thriller) #
Happy Place – Emily Henry
Heap House – Edward Carey
Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad @
Heartless – Marissa Meyer
Here I am – Jonathan Safran Foer
Holding Up the Universe – Jennifer Niven
Holes – Louis Sachar
Hot Mess – Lucy Vine
How to be Good – Nick Hornby (drama)
Haunted – James Patterson
Hunted – James Patterson
I am Number Four – Pittacuse Lore
I Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
I’m a Gay Wizard – V.S. Santoni
Indecent Exposure – Tom Sharpe (chaotic humour) #
Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison *
It – Stephen King (thriller) @
It Ends with Us – Colleen Hoover
It’s Kind of a Funny Story – Ned Vizzini
Jane Eyre – Charlette Brontë (historical) #
Jekyll and Hyde – R.L. Stevenson (historical)
Leviathan Wakes – James S.A. Corey (a series of books, this is the first) @
Lies of Silence – Brian Moore
Life and Loves of a She-Devil – Fay Weldon (drama)
Life of Pi – Yann Martel (fantasy/drama)
Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng *
Little Women – Lousia May Alcott
Looking for Alaska – John Green
Lord of the Flies – William Golding (drama)
Lost Boy – Christina Henry
Love & Gelato – Jenna Evans Welch
Love, Hate & Other Filters – Samira Ahmed
Love is Blind – William Boyd (drama) *
Loveless – Alice Oseman
Lucky Jim – Kingsley Amis
Macbeth – William Shakespeare #
Machines Like – Ian McEwan *
Madness – Roald Dahl (around 10 short stories, so some Mediafile assigments types are difficult!)
Malarkey – Keith Gray
Milkman – Anna Burns
Mind Games – Kirsten White (science fiction)
Misfit – Charli Howard
Moby Dick – Herman Melville (historical) *
Money – Martin Amiss *
More than we can Tell – Brigid Kemmerer
Mrs Dalloway – Virginia Woolf *
My Name is Leon – Kit de Waal (drama)
My Policeman – Bethan Robert
Native Song – Richard Wright
Needless Things – Stephen King (thriller) # @
Neuromancer – William Gibson @
Never Go There – Rebecca Tinnelly *
Never Let me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro (drama)
No Turning Back – Beverley Naidoo
Northern Lights / The Golden Compass – Philip Pullman (fantasy fiction) #
Notes on a Scandal – Zoe Heller (drama)
No Virgin – Anne Cassidy
Of Blood and Bones (series) – John Gwynne (fantasy)
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck (drama)
Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens (historical) @
On Chesil Beach – Iam McEwan * #
On the Beach – Nevil Shute
On the Come Up – Angie Thomas
Once Upon a Broken Heart – Stephanie Garber
One Flew over the Cookoo’s Nest – Ken Casey (drama) @
One Perfect Summer – Paige Toon
Only Love can Break your Heart – Katherine Webber
Origin – Dan Brown
Oryx & Crake – Margaret Atwood *
Otherland (any of the 4 parts) – Tad Williams (fantasy/science fiction) # @
Our Chemical Hearts – Krystal Sutherland
Our Man in Havana – Graham Greene #
Out of the Silent Planet – C.S. Lewis
Outside – Sarah Ann Juckes
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha – Roddy Doyle (drama)
Paper Towns – John Green
Paperweight – Stephen Fry (humour) @
Postcards from No Man’s Land – Aidan Chambers
Pretty Girls – Karen Slaughter (horror thriller) @ #
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen (historical) #
Private Berlin – James Patterson (thriller) (you may also read other titles from this “Private” series)
Purple Hibiscus – Chimamanda Ngoza Adichie *
Rachel’s Legacy – Julie Thomas (drama)
Red Dragon – Thomas Harris (thriller) @
Refugee Boy – Benjamin Zephaniah
Riotous Assembly – Tom Sharpe (chaotic humour) @ #
Riverkeep – Martin Stewart
Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe (historical)
Romeo & Juliet – William Shakespeare (historical love tragedy) (not allowed in 4A & 5A)
Room – Emma Donoghue (thriller)
Roots – Alex Haley (historical drama)
Rumor has It – Tammy Hoag
Run Away – Harlan Coben
Salt to the Sea – Ruta Sepetys
Saving Everest – Sky Chase
Secret Smile – Nicci French
Serpent Dove – Shelby Mahurin
Seveneves – Neal Stephenson (end-of-the-world science fiction) @ #
Shame – Anne Cassidy
Shatter Me – Tahereh Mafi
She Who Became the Sun – Shelley Parker-Chan
Sherlock The Essential Adventures – Arthur Conan Doyle !
Shuggie Bain – Douglas Stuart *
Siege – Chris Ryan
Silence of the Lambs – Thomas Harris (thriller)
Sing, Unburied, Sing – Jasmyn Ward *
Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo
Skippy Dies – Paul Murray (humour drama)
Skullduggery Pleasant – Derek Landy
Slammed – Colleen H
Slaughterhouse 5 – Kurt Vonnegut (war drama) *
Small Spaces – Sarah Epstein *
Snow Falling – Jane Gloriana VIllanueva / Caridad Piñeiro
Snowflake – Louise Nealon
Spellslinger – Sebastien de Castell
S.T.A.G.S. – M.A. Bennett
Stoner – John Williams *
Strange Meeting – Susan Hill *
Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert Heinlein (science fiction)
Sweet Tooth – Ian McEwan (romantic mystery) *
Swing Time – Zadie Smith
Teacher’s Dead – Benjamin Zephaniah
Tess of D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy (historical) #
That Eye, the Sky – Tim Winton (drama) *
The Absolutist – John Boyne
The Accidental Billionnaire – Ben Mezrich
The African Queen – C.S. Forester (historical)
The Amateurs – Sara Shepard
The Atlas Six – Olivie Blake
The Bell Between Worlds – Ian Johnston
The Between – David Hofmeyer
The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler (detective)
The Blackthorn Key – Kevin Sands
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
The Bottle Factory Outing – Beryl Bainbridge (dark comedy) @
The Boy who Harnessed the Wind – William Kamkwambaa
The Boys from Brazil – Ira Levin (thriller) @
The Burning Girl – Claire Messud
The Call – Peadar ó Guilin (fantasy horror)
The Canterbury Tales – Geoffrey Chaucer (mediaeval frame story) (not allowed in 5A)
The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger (drama)
The Cement Garden – Ian McEwan (drama)
The Chalk Man – C.J. Tudor * @
The Children Act – Ian McEwan *
The Children’s Book – A.S. Byatt * #
The Chocolate War – Robert Cormier
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever – Stephen Donaldson (fantasy) (any of the two series)
The Cider House Rules – John Irving (drama) # @
The Circle – Dave Eggers (drama)
The Collector – John Fowles *
The Colour of Magic – Terry Pratchett @ (and you can read any Discworld novel)
The Colour Purple – Alice Walker
The Coral Island – R.M. Ballantyne
The Couple of No. 9 – Claire Douglas !
The Cousins – Karen McManus
The Creeping Man – Arthur Conan Doyle (historical) *
The Cruel Prince –
The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown (thriller) @
The Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham @

The Daydreamer – Ian McEwan #
The Dolls – James Patterson
The End of the World Running Club – Adrian J. Walker *
The Endless Steppe – Esther Hautzig
The Exorcist – William Peter Blatty (horror) #
The Explorer – Katherine Rundell
The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde (humour drama) #
The Familiars – Stacey Halls
The Folk of the Air – Holly Black (fantasy fiction) (any part)
The Fionavar Tapestry – Guy Favriel Kay (Arthur-esque fantasy) (any part)
The First Lady – James Patterson
The Foxhole Court – Nora Sakavic
The Gap of Time – Jeanette Winterson
The Girls – Emma Cline *
The Glass Castle – Jeannette Walls
The Good Luck Girls – Charlotte Nicole Davis
The Gospel According to Larry – Janet Tashijan (coming of age political romantic teen novel)
The Graduate – Charles Webb
The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck *
The Grass is Singing – Doris Lessing (drama) *
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald (historical)
The Great Pursuit – Tom Sharpe (chaotic humour) #
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (dystopian drama) * #
The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas
The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson @
The Hazel Wood – Melissa Albert
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams (humour science fiction) # @
The Hotel New Hampshire – John Irving (drama) #
The House of Mountfathom – Nigel McDowell
The House of Sleep – Jonathan Coe
The Humans – Matt Haig
The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde (historical)
The Impossible Dead – Ian Rankin
The Inheritance Games – Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The Inheritance of Loss – Kiran Desai *
The Innocent – Harlan Coben
The Invisible Life of Adie LaRue – V.E. Schwab
The Invisible Man – H.G. Wells
The Island – M.A. Bennett
The Kafir Project – Lee Burvine (thriller)
The Kite Runner – Khalid Hosseini (drama)
The Knife od Never Letting Go – Patrick Ness
The Lake of Darkness – Ruth Rendell (thriller)
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid – Bill Bryson (autobiography) (ask your teacher of this book fits the assignment you need to make, as it’s non-fiction)
The Loneliest Girl in the Universe – Lauren James (scifi romance)
The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul – Douglas Adams (humour) * @ #
The Lost World – Arthur Conan Doyle (historical)
The Love Hypothesis – Ali Hazelwood
The Magpie Society – Zoe Sugg and Amy McCullough
The Man in the High Castle – Philip K. Dick (science fiction drama)
The Man Who Wasn’t There – Pat Barker (drama) *
The Man Who Would be King – J.R. Kipling (historical)
The Mars Room – Rachel Kushner *
The Member of the Wedding – Carson McCullers (drama) *
The Midford Trial – Jessica Fellowes
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
The Milkman – Anna Burns *
The Mist in the Mirror – Susan Hill (thriller)
The Moon is Down – John Steinbeck
The Most Dangerous Place on Earth – Lyndsey Lee Johnson *
The Mosquito Coast – Paul Theroux @
The Nearest far Away Place – Hayley Long
The Nickel Boys – Colson Whitehead *
The Night Manager – John le Carré (spy novel) *
The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah
The Notebook – Nicolas Sparks (romantic drama)
The One Memory of Flora Banks – Emily Barr
The Other Family – Joanna Trollope
The Pearl – John Steinbeck
The Perks of being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky (drama)
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde * #
The Prime of Miss Jean Brody – Muriel Spark (drama, romance)
The Power and the Glory – Graham Greene *
The QB Bay Boy and Me – Tay Marley
The Red Pony – John Steinbeck
The Red Ribbon – Lucy Adlington (war drama)
The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Mohsin Hamid (political drama)
The Rosie Project – Graeme Simsion (romantic drama)
The Rosie Effect – Graeme Simsion
The Rosie Result – Graeme Simsion
The Safe House – Nicci French (crime thriller)
The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne (historical drama)
The Secret History – Donna Tartt (murder drama) * @ #
The Sellout – Paul Beatty
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn – Stuart Turton *
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Shadows between Us – Tricia Levenseller
The Shining – Stephen King (horror thriller)
The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx (drama) *
The Shock of the Fall – Nathan Filer (drama)
The Silent Planet – Alex Michaelides (thriller/crime)
The Smell of Other People’s Houses – Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock *
The Snapper – Roddy Doyle
The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller

The Spanish Love Deception – Elena Armas
The Stand – Stephen King (apocalyptic thriller) @
The Stepford Wives – Ira Levin (thriller)
The Sun is also a Star – Nicola Yoon
The Taking of Annie Thorne – C.J. Tudor (thriller)
The Talented Mr Ripley – Patricia Highsmith (thriller)
The Tattooist of Auschwitz – Heather Morris *
The Tempest – William Shakespeare (historical) *
The Testaments – Margaret Atwood *
The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman
The Time Machine – H.G. Wells
The Trial – James Patterson
The Trials of Apollo – Rick Riordan
The Trick to Time – Kit de Waal *
The Truth about Keeping Secrets – Savannah Brown
The Turn of the Screw – Henry James *
The Twelfth of July – Joan Lingard
The Underground Railroad – Colson Whitehead *
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry – Rachel Joyce (drama)
The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells #
The Water Cure – Sophie Mackintosh
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street – Natasha Pulley
The Wave – Morton Rhue
The Weight of a Thousand Feathers – Brian Conghan
The Whisper Man – Alex North @
The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga *
The Woman in Black – Susan Hill
The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins (historical)
The World According to Garp – John Irving (drama) * # @
The Yellow Bird – Kevin Powers
Their Eyes were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
Then She was Gone – Lisa Jewell *
These Shallow Graves – Jennifer Donnelly
They Both Die at the End – Adam Silvera @
Throne of Glass – Sarah J. Maas (a series of books, this is the first)
This is Where it Ends – Marieke Nijkamp
This Mortal Coil – Emily Suvada (you can also read the other parts of this series)
This Perfect Day – Ira Levin
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee *
To Sir with Love – E.R. Braithwaite
To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf *
Toby’s Room – Pat Harper *
Trapeze – Leigh Ansell
Two can Keep a Secret – Karen M. McManus
Underground Railroad – Colson Whitehead
Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett
Vernon God Little – D.B.C. Pierre (drama) *
Vinegar Girl – Anne Tyler
Waiting for the Barbarians – J.M. Coetzee (drama) *
Washington Black – Esi Edugyan *
Watership Down – Richard Adams
We See Everything – William Sutcliffe
We Were Liars – E. Lockhart
Window Shopping – Tessa Bailey
You Were Gone – Tim Weaver

The books below are NOT allowed in 4 HAVO, 4 VWO and 5 VWO

  • All Harry Potter books

  • All Divergent books

  • All The Hunger Games books

  • All Twilight books

  • All Maze Runner books

  • All Lords of the Rings books

  • All The 100 books

  • All Gossip Girl books

  • All Vampire Diaries books

  • All Game of Thrones books

  • The Hobbit

  • Thirteen Reasons Why

  • The Girl on the Train

  • Animal Farm

  • The Fault in our Stars

  • Everything, Everything

  • Anything non-fiction

  • Any Young Blackbird (3rd grade) or Early Blackbird (2nd grade) book – you can see that on its

    back
Booklist 5 HAVO

VERSION 02-09-2023
! = this year’s official Blackbirds (easily found at lijsters.nl or bought with your regular school books order). You can borrow many of these books for free at school. Ask your teacher to show you where they are.

1984 – George Orwell
A Son of the Circus – John Irving
Call me by Your Name – André Aciman
Educated – Tara Westover
Emma – Jane Austen
Fair Stood the Wind for France – H. E. Bates
Generation A – Douglas Coupland !
Girl in Translation – Jean Kwok
Leviathan Wakes – James S.A. Corney
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Madness – Roald Dahl (about 10 short stories – so some assignments are difficult to do)
My Name is Leon – Kit de Waal
My Policeman – Bethan Roberts
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey
Room – Emma Donoghue
Sherlock the Essential Adventures – Arthur Conan Doyle !
Swing Time – Zadie Smith
The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
The Circle – Dave Eggers
The Couple of No. 9 – Claire Douglas !
The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (very different from the TV show!)
The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson
|The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
The Rosie Project – Graeme Simsion
The Son of Achilles – Madeline Miller
The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry – Rachel Joyce
To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee

Book lists about social topics (4M, 4H, 4V and up)

Let’s Grow!

Learning English Formatively

Welcome.

Welcome to ‘Let’s Grow!’ This is an English-English formative language learning method. If you are a student at the GSG Leo Vroman, you can log in on this website with the login details provided by your teacher. Contact your teacher if you cannot log in,

Contact me at dennisdevink@gmail.com for more information about Let’s Grow!

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