The top 20 books every student should read before leaving secondary school

The best novels for pupils to read, according to teachers

Tuesday 04 August 2015 12:01

Books, including JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, are said to be banned in the string of schools

(Rex )

Which books should every teenager have read before they leave secondary school?

The Times Educational Supplement has compiled a list of novels for students to read before leaving school, voted for by teachers.

The majority of the top 20 will sound all too familiar for anyone who has done GCSE English Literature in the past 20 years, but how many of them have you read?

The Top 20 books you should have read by the time you finish school

1. 1984 by George Orwell

2. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

3. Animal Farm by George Orwell

4. Lord of the Flies by William Golding

5. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

6. The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling

7. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

8. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

9. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

11. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

12. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

13. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

14. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

15. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

16. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

17. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

18. A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines

19. The Lord of the Rings trilogy by JRR Tolkien

20. Danny, Champion of the World by Roald Dahl

The 15 best opening lines in literature

Show all 15

1/15The 15 best opening lines in literature

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

chipkidd.com

“All happy families are alike but an unhappy family is unhappy after its own fashion.”

npr.org

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”

“I have just returned from a visit to my landlord – the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with", which pitches you straight into the story.”

Penguin Books

“Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.”

Penguin Books

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."

AP

“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. Whenever you feel like criticising any one, he told me, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”

cracked.com

"All children, except one, grow up."

read.gov

“They’re out there. Black boys in white suits up before me to commit sex acts in the hall and get it mopped up before I can catch them.”

listed.com

"There was no possibility of taking a walk that day."

rarebookschool.org

“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”

Harper Collins

As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.”

minabach.com

“You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly.”

Penguin Books

“He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.”

npr.org

"It was love at first sight. The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain he fell madly in love with him."

gonereading.com

Click here to see the full list of the top 100 books to read before you leave school.

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