The Woods by Harlen Coben


The woods is about four teenagers who go missing from a summer camp. Two bodies have been found in the camp woods, the bodies turn out to be two of the missing teenagers.
Two people, or bodies, are yet to be found, are they alive? Or are the dead? That’s what Paul Copeland wants to know.
Paul is the brother of Camille Copeland, one of the missing teenagers that are still to be found. Camille won’t be a teenager anymore, because it’s 20 years later since the disappearances and murders.
Clues are beginning to spill, when a body is found, that turns out to be one of the missing teenagers. Paul begins to think about what really happened that night, did his sister survive, or was she part of it all?
Paul is desperate to find out the truth, and what really happened that night. He partly blames himself for what happened, as he was on night guard duty, but instead went in the woods with his girlfriend Lucy.
Lucy is a teacher at a high school, but when they have to send in reports about something that’s happened to them, a journal has been sent in about the woods and what happened that night, but when Lucy reads it, it sounds pretty much like what she and Paul did that night.
So who sent the journal? And what happened that night? That’s what Paul, Lucy and their families really want to know.
The woods is a great book, it keeps you on edge and makes you want to read more. When I read the first couple of chapters I couldn’t put the book down. It took me two days to read the book because I just kept reading chapter after chapter. It was very easy to get into and very enjoyable.

By Grandpa Jim

The Witches by Roald Dahl

The witches is about a young boy named Luke whose mum and dad unfortunately die. His Gran now looks after him. Lukes gran used to study witches and tells him a lot about them. One day Luke was building a tree house when he came across a witch with a snake in her hand she was trying to taunt him down. Luke remembered what his gran had told him and stayed up in the tree. Luke and his gran go to a hotel on a brake away from home but they come across a the grand high witch ceremony which is when all the witches from the country come over and try to make up a plan to kill all the children.

One day Luke is playing with his mice when suddenly all the witches come in and lock the door up with chains. They all take off their wigs, their shoes and their gloves. Luke hid there behind the curtain and listened to all their plans. After a while they all started to leave when suddenly a witch smelt dogs’ droppings (which are clean children). Then they all started looking for Luke.

by Anon

Hot Days, Cool Reads

Looking for some good books for the summer break? Whay not try:

Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging – Louise Rennison
(The first Georgina Nicholson book has made it to the big screen, full of laughter and fun - it's written as a diary)

Prince Caspian - C.S.Lewis
(The forth book in the Narnia Series is a major movie this summer. Darker and more action packed than earlier books it also features the bravest mouse in all literature!)

Stoneheart - Charlie Fletcher
(Missing Harry Potter? Then this is for you the first in a trilogy it's set in London but a London where statues come to life).

Exodus - Julia Bretanga
(Want something more meaningful? This futuristic tale is the moving story of a girl who's home land is flooded and they must flee - the city flooded is Glasgow so keep an eye for familiar streets!)

English Recommends... Crime and Thrillers

Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep
John le Carre - The Night Manager
James Dickey - Deliverance
John Grisham - The Client
Robert Harris - Fatherland; Enigma
William McIlvanney - Laidlaw
Brian Moore - Lies of Silence

English Recommends... Relationships

Louis de Bernieres - Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Nicholas Evans - The Horse Whisperer
Susan Hill - I’m the King of the Castle
Daphne du Maurier - Rebecca
Amy Tan - The Joy Luck Club

English Recommended Fiction Classics

19th Century Classics:
Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice; Emma; Sense and Sensibility
Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre
Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights
Charles Dickens - Great Expectations; Oliver Twist
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
Bram Stoker - Dracula

20th Century Classics
Anthony Burgess - Clockwork Orange
William Golding - Lord of the Flies
Graham Greene - Brighton Rock
George Orwell - Animal Farm
Alexander Solzhenitsyn - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
John Steinbeck - Of Mice and Men; The Grapes of Wrath
Robert Louis Stevenson - The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde

English Recommendations for Drama

Sue Glover - Bondagers
Willis Hall - The Long and the Short and the Tall
Arthur Miller - All My Sons
Tony Roper - The Steamie
Willy Russell - Educating Rita; Shirley Valentine
William Shakespeare - Much Ado About Nothing; Othello
Alan Spence - Sailmaker
Oscar Wilde - The Importance of Being Earnest
Tennessee Williams - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

English Reading Lists S3/4

Recommended titles

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The War Orphan - R Anderson
Any science fiction by Isaac Azimov
The L Shaped Room - L R Banks
Darling Buds of May - H E Bates
Noughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman
Anapurna - Chris Bonnington
The Dambusters - Paul Brickhill
The Road of the Dead - Kevin Brooks
Junk - Melvin Burgess
Sharpe’s Fury - Bernard Cornwell
Walk Two Moons - Sharon Creech
Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton
Tales of the Unexpected - Roald Dahl
The Divine Wind - Garry Disher
A pure swift cry - Siobhan Dowd
The Eyes of Karen Connors - Lois Duncan
The Drowning Pond - Catherine Forde
Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
Green Jasper - K.M.Grant
Warehouse - Keith Gray
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time - Mark Haddon
Any of the vet books - James Herriot
Born Confused - Tanuja Desai Hidier
No Limits - Pete Johnson
Kiss the Dust - Elizabeth Laird
Children of the Dust - Louise Lawrence
Tug of War - Joan Lingard
Roxy’s Baby - Catherine MacPhail
Falling Leaves - Adeline Yen Mah
Walkabout - James Vance Marshall
Thud! - Terry Pratchett
Just in case - Meg Roscoff
The Panic Wall - Alick Rowe
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Brother in the Land - Robert Swindells
The Homecoming - Cynthia Voigt
The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
Elsewhere - Gabrielle Zevin

Like a more challenging read?

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Empire of the Sun - JG Ballard
The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
Restless - William Boyd
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Girl with a Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
A Passage to India - EM Forster
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Fever Pitch - Nick Hornby
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Grace Notes - Bernard MacLaverty
1984 - George Orwell
Cry the Beloved Country - Alan Paton
Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
Unless - Carol Shields
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - RL Stevenson

Recommended websites:

Have trouble choosing a book? http://www.readingmatters.co.uk/bookchooser.php
Want to read something Scottish? http://www.braw.org.uk/Home/tabid/53/Default.aspx
Want to know what people your age think of books? http://www.cool-reads.co.uk/
Want to read reviews and extracts of good teenage books? http://www.teenreads.com/

English Reading List S1-2

Recommended titles

The Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Matilda by Roald Dahl

The Road of Bones by Anne Fine

My Family and Other Natural Disasters by Josephine Feeney

Skarrs by Catherine Forde

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

Silverfin by Charlie Higson

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

Beast by Ally Kennan

Boy meets Boy by David Levithan

The Sign of the Black Dagger by Joan Lingard

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman

Witch Child by Celia Rees

Just in Case by Meg Roscoff

My swordhand is singing by Marcus Sedgwick

Cirque de Freak by Darren Shan

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

Underground to Canada by Barbara Smucker

Treasure Island by Robert L Stevenson

Bad Alice by Jean Ure

The Dare Game by Jacqueline Wilson

Other recommended authors:

Malorie Blackman; Meg Cabot; Zizou Corder; Chris D’Lacey; Morris Gleitzman; Keith Gray; Robin Jarvis; Louise Lawrence; Anthony Masters; Catherine Macphail; Karen McCombie: Michael Morpurgo; Gary Paulson; Garth Nix; Christopher Paolini; Phillip Reeve; Louise Rennison; Malcolm Rose; JK Rowling; Chris Ryan; Louis Sachar; Simon Scarrow; Robert Swindells; Robert Westall.

Recommended websites:

Have trouble choosing a book? http://www.readingmatters.co.uk/bookchooser.php
Want to read something Scottish? http://www.braw.org.uk/Home/tabid/53/Default.aspx
Want to know what people your age think of books? http://www.cool-reads.co.uk/
Want to read reviews and extracts of good teenage books? http://www.teenreads.com/

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