Reading and Literacy
The West Bridgford School Subject Specific Reading List
The West Bridgford School are pleased to announce our new Read-Aloud Canon! Click on the button below for more details.
At the West Bridgford School, we know how important reading is: having a book is part of students’ basic equipment and all students in main school participate in weekly independent reading followed by discussions to recommend and promote books.
To find out more, please have a look at the Curriculum Literacy page.
Staff across school have suggested reading material that you might enjoy based on your subject interests. There is a wide range to be found; something to suit everyone from KS3 – KS5, from fiction – blogs – non-fiction texts.
Browse by department below and if you enjoy what you read don’t forget to recommend to a friend.
Art and Design
KS3
Threads of Life: A History of the World Through the Eye needle – Clare Hunter
KS4 and KS5
Slay in your lane - Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinene
Saving Bletchley Park - Dr Sue Baker
Wally Funks Race for Space - Sue nelson
Handprints on Hubble; an Astronauts story of invention - Kathryn D Sullivan
Business
Tycoon - Peter Jones
Computer Science and IT
KS3
Foundation Trilogy - Isac Asimov
KS4
Do androids dream of electric sheep? - Philip K Dick
KS5
Neuromancer - William Gibson
Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions - Brian Christian
Once Upon an Algorithm: How Stories Explain Computing - Martin Erwig
Economics
KS4
The Undercover Economist - Tim Harford
Freakanomics - Levitt and Dubner
Moneyball - Michael Lewis
Economix - How our Economy Works (in words and pictures) - Michael Goodwin
KS5
Factfulness - Hans Rosling
Nudge - Thaler and Sunstein
The Great Divide - Joseph Steiglitz
Postcapitalism- Paul Mason
English
KS3
Gulliver’s Travels - Jonathan Swift
Bridge to Terrabithia - Katherine Paterson
The Extraordinary Life of Stephen Hawking - Kate Scott
Little Leaders: Visionary Women Around the World - Vashti Harrison
KS4
1984 - George Orwell
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
We Should All Be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Long Walk to Freedom - Nelson Mandela
KS5
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
The Diary of Samuel Pepys
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
Food Technology
KS3
Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street
A Year in Fleurville Recipes from Balconies, Rooftops, and Gardens
The Kew Gardens Children's Cookbook: Plant, Cook, Eat
The World in My Kitchen: Global Recipes for Kids to Discover and Cook
KS4
A History of Food in 100 Recipes - William Sitwell.
Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat - Bee Wilson
Dinner with Mr Darcy: Recipes Inspired by the Novels and Letters of Jane Austen - Pen Vogler.
An Edible history of Humanity - Tom Standage
Eat to save the Planet - Annie Bell
French
KS3
Mary Glasgow Magazines – Allons-Y! & Bonjour (Available from the MFL library )
https://www.thefablecottage.com/ - different levels bilingual tales
Astérix in Britain - Renée Gosciny
Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Adventures of Tintin – Hergé
KS4
Mary Glasgow Magazines – Ça va? (from the MFL library)
https://www.thefablecottage.com/ - different levels bilingual tales
Le Petit Nicolas by René Goscinny
No et Moi by Delphine De Vigan
https://www.thefrenchexperiment.com/stories
KS5
Mary Glasgow Magazines – Chez Nous (from the MFL library)
https://www.thefablecottage.com/ - different levels bilingual tales
www.newsinslowfrench.com
Le Hobbit – J.R.R Tolkien (from the MFL library)
L'étranger– Albert Camus (from the MFL library)
Geography
KS3
Half a creature from the sea – David Almond
The Rain – Vingina Bergin
Millions – Frank Cotteral Boyce
Not as We Know It – Tom Avery
KS4
A short history of nearly everything - Bill Bryson
How bad are Bananas? - Mike Berners-Lee
Prisoners of Geography - Tim Marshall
Lord of the Rings - J RR Tolkien
KS5
This is the Way the World Ends- Jeff Nesbit
Off the Map - Alastair Bonnett
Factfulness - Hans Rosling
Worth Dying For - Tim Marshall
German
KS3
Mary Glasgow Magazines – Das Rad (from the MFL library)
https://www.thefablecottage.com/ - different levels bilingual tales
https://www.thegermanproject.com/stories
https://luxdigi.at/
Die Kleine Raupe Nimmerstatt by Eric CarleThe German version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar
KS4
Mary Glasgow Magazines – Schuss (from the MFL library)
https://www.thefablecottage.com/ - different levels bilingual tales
Jungösterreich magazines - https://joedigi.at/
German Short Stories for Beginners – Lingo Mastery
KS5
https://www.faz.net/aktuell/
https://www.thefablecottage.com/ - different levels bilingual tales
www.newsinslowgerman.com
https://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/de/spr/unt/kum/dfj.html
German Short Stories: Deutsche Kurzgeshichten Ernst Zillekens - (New Penguin Parallel Texts Series)
History
KS3
The Time Traveller’s guide to Medieval England - Ian Mortimor
Treason - Berlie Doherty
Black Tudors - Miranda Kaufmann
Why do we remember? The Great Fire of London by Izzi Howell
American Indian Stories - Zitkala-Sa
-Black and British: A short essential history - David Olusoga
Lumber Jills: The Unsung Heroines of World War II - Alexandra Davis
KS4
The Great Gatsby- F Scott Fitzgerald
Of Mice and Men- John Steinbeck
Regeneration- Pat Barker
KS5
12 Years A Slave - Solomon Northup
Podcasts:
In Our Time
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl/episodes/downloads
The Rest Is History
Law
KS5
Nutshells, Criminal Law - Paul Dobson
Nutcases, Criminal Law -Penny Childs
Law Review -Hodder education.
Tort Law -Chris Turner
The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken
Law, Liberty and Morality -H.L.A.Hart
Maths
KS3
Mickey and the Animal Spies - Anne Miller
The Parrot’s Theorem - Denis Guedj
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time- Mark Haddon
Murderous Maths Series - Kjartan Poskitt
Mathemagic - Raymond Blum
The Indisputable Existence of Santa Clause - Hannah Fry
Alex’s Adventures in Numberland - Alex Bellos
KS4
Humble Pi, A Comedy of Maths Errors - Matt Parker
Hello World - Hannah Fry
What if? - Randall Munroe
The Indisputable Existence of Santa Clause - Hannah Fry
The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets - Simon Singh
KS5
Flatland, A Romance of Many Dimensions - Edwin A Abbott
17 Equations That Changed the World - Ian Stewart
Maths on the back on an Envelope - Rob Eastaway
The GCHQ Puzzle Book - GCHQ
Fermat’s Last Theorem (Not for the faint-hearted) - Simon Singh
The Music of Primes (Not for the faint-hearted) - Marcus de Sautoy
Music
KS3
If I Stay – Gayle Foreman
Swing Time – Zadie Smith
XOXO – Axie Oh
When You Get The Chance – Emma Lord
Let Me Hear a Rhyme – Tiffany D Jackson
Every Good Boy Does Fine – Jeremy Denk
Music: A Very Short Introduction – Nicholas Cook
Music – Nicholas Cook
Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Every Day – Clemency Burton-Hill
You Are The Music: How Music Reveals What It Means to Be Human – Victoria Williamson
KS4
The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945 - Władysław Szpilman
An Equal Music – Vikram Seth
Kiss and Tell – Adib Khorram
Forward March – Skye Quinlan
The Piano – Jane Campion
In The Key of Genius – Adam Ockleford
Protect Ya Neck! A Music Industry Survival Guide – Christian Farrad
The Confident Performer – Dr David Roland
The Rest is Noise – Alex Ross
How Music Works – David Byrne
KS5
Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux
The Importance of Music to Girls – Lavinia Greenlaw
The Unsinkable Greta James – Jennifer E Smith
I Was Born for This – Alice Oseman
Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall – Kazuro Ishiguro
Musicophilia – Oliver Sacks
Psychology of Music: From Sound to Significance – Siu-Li Tan, Peter Pfordresher, Harre Rom
The Study of Orchestration – Samuel Adler
The Power of Music – Susan Hallam
How Musicals Work and How To Write Your Own – Julian Woolford
Philosophy and Ethics
KS5
Plato: A Beginner's Guide, chapter 3 - Roy Jackson
The Great Philosophers: Aristotle chapter - Brian Magee
Extracts from Phaedo in Antony Flew: Body MInd and Death - Plato
Psychology
KS5
The principles of Psychology – William James
The Little Book of Psychology - Ralls, E., & Riggs, C.
TED Talks - https://www.ted.com/talks?topics%5B%5D=psychology
Delusions of Gender: The Real Science Behind Sex Differences - Fine, C.
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat - Sacks, O.
RE
KS3
The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and our Health—and a Vision for Change
Philosophy for Kids: 40 Fun Questions That Help You Wonder...about Everything!
Ethics: Behave Yourself! (ThinkAboutIt!: Philosophy For Kids)
Introducing- a graphic guide books: Descartes, Islam, Aristotle, Hinduism, Buddha
No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners: Clear Answers to Burning Questions about Core Buddhist Teachings
KS4
It’s not about the Burqa- Mariam Khan
Why we think the things we think- Alain Stephen
What would Nietzsche do? - Marcus Weeks
How Christianity transformed the world- Sharon James
Science
KS3Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor - Jon Scieszka |
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High Voltage Danger Lab - Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith |
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The Astronauts Handbook - Louie Stowell |
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The Radioactive Boy Scout - Ken Silverstein |
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What's Physics all About - Kate Davies |
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Why is Snot Green - Kate Davies |
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Will We Ever Speak Dolphin - New Scientist |
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Greta's story: the schoolgirl who went on strike to save the planet - Valentina Camerini |
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Hiding Edith - Kathy Kacer |
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Stuff that scares your pants off - the Science Museum book of scary things - Glenn Murphy |
KS4
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in Our Genes - Adam Rutherford
Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA - Brenda Maddox
The Vaccine Race: How Scientists Used Human Cells to Combat Killer Viruses - Meredith Wadman
The Body: A Guide for Occupants - Bill Bryson
The Radium girls - Kate Moore
The Poisoner's Handbook - Deborah Blum
Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World - Mark Miodownik
Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World - Nick Lane
Mauve: How one man invented a colour - Simon Garfield
Elephants on Acid - Alex Boese
KS5
Biology
The Brain - David Eagleman
Creation: The Origin of Life - Adam Rutherford
Gene Machine: The Race to Uncover the Secrets of the Ribosome - Venki Ramakrishnan
I Contain Multitudes:The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life - Ed Yong
The Gene: An Intimate History - Siddhartha Mukherjee
Cuckoo: Cheating by Nature - Nick Davies
The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being: Evolution and the Making of Us - Alice Roberts
The Code of Life: How gene editing will rewrite our futures - Nessa Carey Hacking
Alice Roberts Tamed: Ten Species that Changed our World
Chemistry
Creations of Fire: Chemistry's Lively History from Alchemy to the Atomic Age - Cathy Cobb
Why Chemical Reactions Happen - James Keeler
Reactions: The private life of atoms - Peter Atkins
The Disappearing Spoon...and other true tales from the Periodic Table - Sam Kean
Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History - Penny Le Couteur
Molecules of Murder: Criminal Molecules and Classic Cases - John Emsley
Why Does Asparagus Make Your Wee Smell?: And 57 other curious food and drink questions - Andy Brunning
Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements - Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Physics
The Physics of Superheroes - James Kakalios
The Goldilocks Enigma - Paul Davies
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth - Chris Hadfield
How to teach Quantam Physics to Your Dog - Chad Orzel
In Search of Schrodinger's Cat: Updated Edition - John Gribbin
How to Build a Universe - Brian Cox and Robin Ince
Big Bang - Simon Singh
We need to talk about Kelvin - Marcus Chown
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race - Margot Lee Shetterly
Storm in a Teacup:The Physics of Everyday Life - Helen Czerski
Sociology
KS4
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Animal Farm – George Orwell
The Colour Purple – Alice Walker
Herland – Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class – Owen Jones
KS5
Poverty Safari – Darren McGarvey
Who the hell is Karl Marx? – Manus McGrogan
Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump – Asad Haider
The Communist Manifesto – Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels
Invisible Women – Caroline Criado Perez
Why Ethnography Matters – Oli Williams
It’s Not About the Burqa – Mariam Khan
Is Britain unfair and unequal? – Joan Garrod
Global Culture and Popular Culture – John Storey
Hood Feminism – Mikki Kendall
Anti-Social: The Diary of an Anti-Social Behaviour Disorder – Nick Pettigrew
Spanish
KS3
Mary Glasgow Magazines – Que tal? (from the MFL library)
https://www.thefablecottage.com/ - different levels bilingual tales
https://www.thespanishexperiment.com/stories
https://www.spanishbookshop.co.uk/spanish-readers
Short Stories in Spanish King - John.R
KS4
Mary Glasgow Magazines – Ahora (from the MFL library)
https://www.thefablecottage.com/ - different levels bilingual tales
Teen Readers Spanish
https://www.spanishbookshop.co.uk/spanishbooks/series/TEES
Spanish Short Stories for Beginners – Lingo Mastery
Short Stories to Learn Spanish- https://www.lingomastery.com/
https://www.thespanishexperiment.com/stories
KS5
Mary Glasgow Magazines – El sol (from the MFL library)
https://www.thefablecottage.com/ - different levels bilingual tales
www.newsinslowspanish.com
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Homage to Catalonia - George Orwell