The following examples of young adult literature can be read from year 4 or 5 on, depending on the reading skills of the students. All the books deal with topics that are interesting and relevant for teenage learners. Don’t forget to always give the learners a choice — I haven’t found the perfect class-reader yet that would appeal to boys and girls, to read-a-holics and non-readers and to lovers of fantasy or love-stories alike.
I have taught some of these books in themed projects, such as “Teens in Trouble”, “Nazi Germany/ The Second World War”, “Cultural Values: Intercultural Awareness”, “Civil Rights”, etc. In other reading projects I have offered a variety of books that appeal to the different tastes and needs in a class. Look around to find ideas that suit your learners’ needs.
The Refugee Experience
A project for upper school (years 5-8) dealing with the harsh life of refugees.
The Civil Rights Project
A project that lets the readers walk in other people’s shoes and experience the world through their eyes.
Crossing Borders
In this project the readers follow the characters as they are crossing national, cultural or social borders. The project is suitable for year 4 -8. At GIBS (bilingual school) we even did it in year 3.
Cultural Values Project
Find the project handout here.
Intercultural Awareness: Preparing for a class-trip
The project booklet: print with booklet setting to produce A5 booklets.
Go to my Eric’s Intercultural Experiences page to find out more.
Teens in Trouble
Being Different
A project that raises awareness for life with a disability.
Dystopian Novels
This genre has become very popular with my students. The books suggested here are real page-turners — kids start with one volume and then devour the entire series. The stories lead to interesting discussions about developments in our society and help to raise awareness of dangerous developments that teenagers can easily fall prey to.
Find out more about these dystopian series.
Other popular books for this age
The literature for this age group is growing constantly. To see some of the most popular books that my students loved, follow this link to HOT new books for young adults.