‘16 before 16′ is our reading competition for all our pupils. It runs until the end of Year 11 or until our pupils have read their 16 books.

The increased difficulty and level of challenge in the new English GCSE means that students need to be fully prepared for what is now expected of them. The ’16 before 16’ initiative is designed to support and aid this preparation. Below is a list of books specially selected by our English Department as the ‘must read’ texts for young individuals. Your child is asked to read them before they finish their studies at Bloxwich Academy. If your child would like to participate in this competition they need to pick up a passbook from their English teacher or from the school library. The passbook is designed to allow them to complete a short review of each book and also to enable you to add your signature to verify that they have completed the text. House points will be awarded after each finished book and a prize and certificate will be issued when the competition has been completed and 16 pages of the passbook have been filled.

Pupils are encouraged to read at their own pace and to then show their English teacher their passbook after they have read each text in order to be awarded house points. Many of the texts are available to be booked out from the school library. There is no requirement for pupils to read the texts in a particular set order.

–Animal Farm by George Orwell

– The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 

–The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

–Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan

–Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

–A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

–The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

–Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

– I am Malala by Malala Yousafazi

– The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

–Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

–Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

– The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

–To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

–Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

–The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini