Here are my book recommendations for KS5 students (students aged 16+). These bestselling page-turners are sure to engage older students.
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
“We did that often, asking each other questions whose answers we already knew. Perhaps it was so that we would not ask the other questions, the ones whose answers we did not want to know.”
With a real talent for story writing and creating complex characters, Adiche is one of my favourite authors. Purple Hibiscus is her debut novel, set in post-colonial Nigeria, examining a wealthy family and the impact that colonisation has had on language, religion and real people even after the British have left.
This coming-of-age story focuses on Kambili as she struggles to navigate life with her abusive father who heavily controls every aspect of her life, harshly punishing Kambili, her mother and her brother whenever they deviate from his demands. Purple Hibiscus is a powerful novel that dissects how physical and mental abuse can disrupt every aspect of a child’s life. This becomes all the more complex when a child attempts to reconcile how they simultaneously both fear and love a parental figure.
Be aware that this book does contain scenes of domestic violence, both physical and mental abuse, and may be upsetting for some readers.
Recommended for people who want to read a book set during great historical and political change, or those who want to read a well-written coming-of-age drama that meditates on what it means for a person to be truly free.
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
“That’s the thing about human life– there is no control group, no way to ever know how any of us would have turned out if any variables had been changed.”
A modern-day classic and widely taught in schools across the world, Flowers for Algernon is my next recommended book for KS5 students. Though this book was banned from some schools in the past due to ‘vulgar language’ and sexual scenes, I think this book is still a must-read for students aged 16 and up. In truth, you will struggle to find many classics that haven’t been banned in some place at some time for being offensive in a plethora of manners. Older students should have the opportunity to read these texts and engage critically with them because art mirrors life; refusing to allow a student to read a book that contains swearing doesn’t stop the same student from hearing swearing the second they step outside their front door.
My two cents aside, Flowers for Algernon is a compelling novel, which tells the story of Charlie Gordon, a mentally disabled man who is selected to take part in a scientific experiment to raise his IQ by surgery. The novel takes the form of Charlie’s own progress reports, and so we are able to see how Charlie’s life and understanding of who he is as a person is transformed by his rapidly increasing intelligence. Adapted for the screen in 1968, students might also be interested to watch its film adaptation, Charly (after reading the novel first, naturally).
This novel explores themes of family, belonging, isolation and abuse, as well as how childhood traumas can shape our identities as adults, even when we are not fully cognizant of what truly happened to us in our early lives.
Recommended for those who are interested in science, psychology and narratives that explore what it means to be human.
Normal People by Sally Rooney
“It’s funny the decisions you make because you like someone, he says, and then your whole life is different. I think we’re at that weird age where life can change a lot from small decisions.”
Sally Rooney’s writing can be polarising, but her most accessible and enjoyable novel for me is Normal People. This is Irish author Rooney’s second novel, published in 2018 and since made into a hit TV series for BBC Three and Hulu. In fact this show was so popular that there’s even an Instagram page dedicated to the necklace of one of the main characters that has over 150k followers.
Telling the story of Marianne and Connell, Normal People depicts first love in a moving coming-of-age narrative. Both struggling to fit in and find their place in the world, we meet our protagonists in their final year of high school through to the end of University. Whereas Connell is handsome, popular and sporty in high school, Marianne is a cynical outcast who struggles to fit in. Normal People is a study of what it is like to be young and in love, and also of the difficulties of communicating during this confusing time. This novel would be great for KS5 to read with the bulk of the novel set at University.
Dealing with themes of mental health, social status, class and love, Normal People speaks to the modern experience of growing up and trying to understand how to navigate the modern world. I found Connell’s journey particularly moving and relatable (no spoilers!).
Recommended for those who enjoy romance, realistic settings, drama and coming-of-age narratives.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
“Relationships are built in the silences. You spend time with people, you observe them and interact with them, and you come to know them—and that is what apartheid stole from us: time.”
Trevor Noah is a South African comedian, presenter and actor, among many other things! He’s probably the most famous for presenting on the Daily Show or for his stand-up comedy: check out his stand-up here. In 2016, Noah released his autobiography, Born a Crime, which tells of his childhood growing up in the South African apartheid, when people of different races were segregated by law. As a mixed-race child of a white Swiss father and black Xhosa mother, Noah didn’t fit neatly into the box of black or white. In fact, his parents being together at all was illegal, so in every sense, Noah was born a crime.
This autobiography is laugh-out-loud funny, touching and insightful. A pure pleasure to read, Born a Crime skillfully interweaves humour throughout whilst shining light on just how unjust it was growing up under Apartheid. Most moving for me were the relationships Noah has with his mother and his grandmother, who both sound like incredible women.
Recommended for those who enjoy humorous non-fiction, books about history, and stories of resilience.
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
“Most people don’t believe something can happen until it already has. That’s not stupidity or weakness, that’s just human nature.”
I read World War Z in 2021, though I had seen the film in the cinemas when it was first released. Upon reading the book, I got goosebumps seeing parallels between Brooks’ predictions for how our world would respond in the face of a dangerous virus… you can imagine why.
But World War Z is so much more than another pandemic-what-if book. This apocalyptic zombie novel is ambitious in scope with each chapter told from a unique perspective being interviewed about their experiences from somewhere around the globe, spanning the USA, China, India, Russia, Israel, Greece and Brazil, to name only a few locations. The book looks at the impacts of the zombie plague on economics, society, politics, religion, the environment, and on a very human level too. How do we cope with change? How do we gather together and crumble apart when faced with life or death situations?
To me, the book was so much better than the film, going into much greater depth and with many fascinating storylines that the film adaptation cut out — like North Korea (I’ll say no more). Actually, I would very much recommend listening to the audiobook version of this novel, which won an Audie award and features a full cast to bring each narrator to life.
Recommended for lovers of multiple perspective narratives with ambition, those interested in politics, and, obviously, those who love a good zombie apocalypse.
You can check out my book recommendations for KS4 students and join my mailing list to be notified about future posts.