70 of the best books of 2025 hand-picked for your secondary school library.

Get The National Year of Reading off to a flying start by bringing your classrooms and libraries up-to-date with inspiring brand new fiction. Featuring new and favourite authors, we’ve chosen the very best stories to inspire a love for reading in KS3.

These stories will whisk your students away to magical worlds, take them on adventures across unknown lands and do battle with monstrous villains. We’ve chosen books that offer challenging narratives and vocabulary to stretch your students whilst immersing them in unforgettable stories. We ensure all our collections represent a range of diverse characters that reflect children’s modern lives and are inclusive of everyone.

Scroll through the galleries to see all the titles included in this collection.

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We would recommend this text for students in Year 9.

Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer.

Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful and gripping YA novel about one girl's struggle for justice.

Content warning - this novel deals with issues that some readers may find upsetting, including racially aggravated shootings and the deaths of young people.

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When fifteen-year-old Tyrell Forrester gets caught up in a high-profile armed robbery, he's sentenced to eighteen months in a young offenders’ prison.

Now he’s getting out, and he’s determined to turn his life around. Despite his release, systemic discrimination makes it difficult for Ty to truly be free. Inspired by a visiting poet while inside, Ty discovers a whole new world through spoken word and is finally finding his voice.

But will society ever see him as anything other than a criminal?

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Multi-award winning The King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore

ANTON AND HIS FRIENDS ARE THE KINGS OF YEAR 9. They're used to ruling the school and Anton wears the crown. The other kids run away when he's about but that's the way he wants it - he's got a reputation to live up to after all.

So when he gets into serious trouble at school, he doesn't really care, but his mum most definitely does. She decides it's time for Anton to make some new friends and join the Happy Campers, a local activity group. Anton would quite literally rather do anything else, especially when he finds out Matthew, the biggest loser in school, is also a member.

But after Matthew unexpectedly saves Anton's life, Anton figures maybe this kid is worth a shot. Teaching him some game is the least Anton can do to repay the debt. As the boys strike up an unlikely friendship, Anton finds himself questioning everything he thought was important.

Does he want ruling the school to be his crowning glory or should he set his sights on better things?

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THEY'RE TOTALLY DIFFERENT. EXCEPT IN ALL THE WAYS THAT MATTER.

Owais lives a chill life. He's well-liked, funny and everything's a breeze - until his estranged cousin shows up. Loud, unpredictable and one bad decision away from serious trouble, Abass crashes into Owais' laidback world like a hurricane: picking fights, ruining parties, disappearing without explanation and clogging toilets in places he absolutely shouldn't. But as the boys get to know each other and their bond deepens, Owais starts to see there's more to Abass than the chaos - and more to himself than just being the popular guy who coasts through life.

Because sometimes, the person who turns your world upside down is also the person who helps you figure out where you're really meant to be . . .

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Beneath the New Year's Eve fireworks, shy science-nerd Mel and slacker songwriter Sid get pregnant on their first date. Any sixteen-year-olds would expect trouble – but this is Northern Ireland 2018, where abortion is still illegal.

Mel's religious parents insist she must keep the baby, whilst Sid's feminist mum pushes for a termination. Mel and Sid are determined to do this together, but they soon discover that pregnancy is totally different for boys and girls. When their relationship starts to fall apart under all the pressure, Mel finds herself feeling alone with the impossible dilemma of the Little Bang growing inside her.

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We are in an epidemic. An epidemic of unhappiness. Friends, here is the good news: HappyHead has the answer.

When Seb is offered a place on a radical retreat designed to solve the national crisis of teenage unhappiness, he is determined to change how people see him and make his parents proud. But as he finds himself drawn to the enigmatic Finn, Seb starts to question the true nature of the challenges they must undergo. The deeper into the programme the boys get, the more disturbing the assessments become, until it’s clear there may be no escape...

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Girl in Pieces meets One of Us is Lying, told in Sarah Crossan’s inimitable and award-winning verse.

Connie Ryder is taken from her home in the dead of night and sent to Silver Lake Academy – a remote, high-security facility for ‘troubled’ teens. At Silver Lake, the vulnerable and the violent are locked in together under a brutal regime that aims to improve their behaviour.

But when Connie learns she’s been given the bed of a missing girl named Belle, she is drawn deep into a chilling web of secrets and lies… A sensational, immersive and hugely propulsive ‘missing girl’ thriller, set against the backdrop of America’s controversial Troubled Teen industry.

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In a world where bees are at risk of extinction, one girl fights for her own survival. Imagine a world where honeybees have died out. It’s a patriarchal world where famines are rife.

It’s a world without art, without books, without plays. Girls are sent away from home, forced to pollinate crops by hand with brushes and to marry as soon as they can. Inhabiting this world is Jess and her friends Cass, Deva, and Ruth.

But even if one fourteen-year-old knows that the system is dangerous, can she really stoke a revolution?

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Willow and Alma are best friends, sharing a love of the spotlight. All they want is fame and fortune, and Willow is determined that the best way to get it is to go viral.

So they start filming dares. Okay, so getting stuck in a basketball hoop doesn't get them the sort of attention they were hoping for, but as their challenges get more extreme, their fan base grows. Duct-taping themselves to a wall? No-brainer.

Eating super-hot chillis? Of course! Waxing an eyebrow off? Super funny! And if they get in a bit of trouble, it's worth it. But if they really want to prove themselves, they have to go all-out. So they come up with the perfect idea.

An idea that causes more than just a bit of trouble. An idea that might destroy not just their ambitions but their entire friendship for good.

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From award-winning, bestselling author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five, comes a powerful YA novel in verse about a boy who is wrongfully incarcerated.

One fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighbourhood escalates into tragedy. ‘Boys just being boys’ turns out to be true only when those boys are white. Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal Shahid’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art.

This never should have been his story. But can he change it? With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both.

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Join the Thieves’ Gambit, a cut-throat competition to crown the world’s greatest thiefRule 1: Never fall in love with your opponentRule 2: The only thief you can trust is yourselfEndgame: Win the heist to save your family - and yourself . .

. Seventeen-year-old Rosalyn Quest was raised by a legendary family of thieves with one rule: trust no one. When her mother is kidnapped, her only chance to save her is to win the Thieves’ Gambit – a deadly competition for the world’s best thieves, where the victor is granted one wish. To win, she must outwit all of her backstabbing competitors, including her childhood archnemesis.

But can she take victory from the handsome, charming boy who makes a play for her heart and might be hiding the most dangerous secret of all?

We would recommend this text for students in Year 9 and above.

BEAUTY COMES AT A PRICE. AND GIRLS MUST PAY.

In Belle and Joni's world there are two options for girls:One, follow the rules of the Doctrine like Belle: apply your Mask, work hard to be crowned at the Ceremony, be a Pretty. Or two, fight the rules like Joni: leave your face bare, work hard to escape to the Education, be an Objectionable. But maybe there is a third option...

Change the rules. Reclaim your power. If you can...

What would you choose?Uglies meets The Handmaid's Tale for the new YA generation in this mind-blowing novel from bestselling queen of YA Holly Bourne.

Content warning - this novel deals with issues that some readers may find upsetting, including references to pornography and sexual assault.

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Existor is the most popular guy in school. Fred is the loser with no friends. And nobody knows they're the same person.

Online, Fred goes by Existor@stmarks. His alter ego is the best gamer around - constantly on a winning streak, with tonnes of followers, and the confidence to go with it. But offline, Fred's life is miserable.

His dad's always working, his mum's struggling, and at school, everyone looks straight through him. Until Existor's notoriety spreads to his school, and Fred sees an opportunity: everyone listens to what Existor has to say, so why not use that?Soon, Fred is coming up with outlandish rumours about his classmates, and everyone's lapping it up. His bullies are shunned, and people are finally taking notice of him.

But it's a slippery slope and Fred struggles to keep track of all the stuff he's posted as his lies start to wreak unexpected havoc. Fred will have to answer for his crimes against reality, but will he ever find someone to like him for who he really is?

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A powerful coming-of-age story about chance encounters, injustice and how the choices that we make can completely change our future.

When fourteen-year-old Shaq is stabbed outside of a busy shopping centre in Manchester, three teenagers from very different walks of life are unexpectedly brought together. What follows flips their worlds upside down and makes Chantelle, Jackson, and Marc question the deep-rooted prejudice and racism that exists within the police, the media, and the rest of society.

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Meet Stewart. He’s geeky, gifted and sees things a bit differently to most people. His mum has died and he misses her all the more now he and Dad have moved in with Ashley and her mum.

Meet Ashley. She’s popular, cool and sees things very differently to her new family. Her dad has come out and moved out – but not far enough.

And now she has to live with a freakazoid step-brother. Stewart can’t quite fit in at his new school, and Ashley can’t quite get used to her totally awkward home, which is now filled with some rather questionable decor. And things are about to get a whole lot more mixed up when these two very different people attract the attention of school hunk Jared.

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Nate’s eleven and has just finished Primary School. After a challenging final year, life is looking up. His brother has recovered from a life-threatening heart condition, he’s got the love of his mum, brothers and Auntie San, and he’s off to Secondary School with his two best mates.

But while he's making new friends and avoiding the fists of Turner, his old nemesis, and struggling to come to terms with a strict new teacher and a sense of isolation from his brothers, a sudden surprise appearance in Nate's life threatens to throw him completely off course. And The Beast - the anger he tries so hard to control - reappears. Will Nate find a way to keep himself and his family together?

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A powerful novel about second chances, friendship and finding the courage to rewrite your story. Angel finds school hard. She talks back to teachers, she storms out of lessons, and she's had more detentions than any other Year 8 student...ever.

But really, Angel wants to be good. She wants to fit in, she wants to make friends, and she even wants to win the school baking contest. But it's hard to be good when everyone expects the worst.

And with her mum not well enough to look after her, and Angel making more and more bad choices, she's starting to run out of chances...

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The Last of Us meets Wall-E in this post-apocalyptic tale of family, hope and survival from a multi-award-winning authorJen and her father are making their way across a deserted world after a technological collapse brought civilization as people knew it to an end. The Flood took out all all technology, but also many people who were connected to a central information hive.

Those who are left behind must find each other and build a new life. But Jen's father isn't related to her by blood – he is a human-appearing AI, a glitch in the system, and a secret that must be kept, even from those she wishes she could trust... Exploring themes of what it means to be human, the value of every individual and where true danger lies – in our technological creations, or the ones who create them – this is a powerful and hopeful dystopian adventure.

We’d recommend this book for Year 7 & 8.

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Fred can't make a decision about anything - his parents always tell him what to do, from what to eat every day to which secondary school to choose. that's how Fred has found himself a pupil at the high-pressure, strict Gains School, when he'd much rather be going to Browtree, with its brilliant art department and kind teachers. As Fred waits for the bus to his new school, he sees the bus for Browtree pull up - and a wild, thrilling, thought strikes him.

Should he jump on this bus and pretend he's a new student at Browtree? Will he be brave enough to follow a different path for once? You, the reader, will stand in Fred's shoes and make decisions alongside him throughout this story. You'll help him stand-up for what he believes in, learn what he truly loves to do, make good friends and face choices about whether to swerve or walk into drama. YOU are in charge of The Boy With Big Decisions! An interactive book with multiple pathways for kids to follow.

A brilliant book to support Year 6- 7 transition.

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