Recommended Reading: Novels

First check the school library; they are likely to have a selection of books in English.

If you have a library card, it will be possible to borrow books in English using the eBokBib app.

Project Gutenberg has a large digital archive of books that are out of copyright. Here is a link to the webpage: link to Project Gutenberg's webpage (gutenberg.org)

Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has become a classic of humorous science fiction. We follow the adventures of Arthur Dent, who is saved from Earth just before it is destroyed. Ford Prefect, who saves him, is a journalist working for The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The two set out on a journey in space together. The novel is the first in a series.

Sherman Alexie: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007)

What is it like to be a Native American today? Arnold Spirit Jr. is a fourteen-year-old boy growing up on a reservation. He is an outcast, who is routinely bullied and beaten up. Arnold decides to go to school outside the reservation. Considered a traitor, Arnold is caught between two worlds: his home on the reservation and the high school he attends. The book is inspired by the author's life.

Ishmael Beah: A Long Way Gone (2007)

In this autobiography, we follow 12-year-old Ishmael Beah, who lives a fairly happy life in Sierra Leone until the civil war breaks out and he is forced to run for his life. By the age of thirteen he is forced to join the government army, and he is trained as a child soldier to kill his enemies in the most brutal ways.

John Boyne: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2006)

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is set in and near a concentration camp during World War II. It explores what it was like to be a child at that time and in that place.

T.C.Boyle: The Tortilla Curtain (1995)

The Tortilla Curtain is set in Topanga Canyon, California, during the 1990s. The book contrasts the life of a Mexican couple, who has entered the United States illegally with the life of a white couple who lives in a gated community.


Chris Cleave: The Other Hand (2008)
The Other Hand, tells the story of Little Bee, a Nigerian asylum-seeker, and Sarah, a British magazine editor. The two women's paths first cross on a beach in Nigeria. The random meeting will change both women's lives forever. The novel focuses on personal responsibility, the treatment of immigrants, suicide, love, and friendship.

Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games (2008)

This is the first book in a bestselling series. In the ruins of North America, we find the nation of Panem. The government demands that the districts send one boy and one girl to participate in the Hunger Games. If they win, they will get wealth and fame. Losing means death. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen is the protagonist in the novel.

Waris Dirie: Desert Flower (1998)

In this autobiography, Waris Dirie shares the story of her life. Born in rural Somalia, Dierie flees her home at the age of 13 to escape an arranged marriage to an old man. She eventually ends up in London, where she is discovered by a fashion photographer. The book deals with themes such as culture clashes, female genital mutilation, immigration, and friendship. The film adaptation of the book is available here at NDLA.

Jonathan Safran Foer: Everything is Illuminated (2005)

An American travels to Ukraine to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II. All he has to go by is a yellowing photograph. To help him navigate the country, he is assisted by Alex, a young man with a passion for all things American.

John Green: The Fault in Our Stars (2012)

The narrator of the novel is Hazel Grace Lancaster, and she has thyroid cancer that has affected her lungs. Hazel's parents make her attend a support group where she meets and falls in love with 17-year-old Augustus Waters, an ex-basketball player and amputee. Gus is afraid of death because he is afraid of oblivion: death means that one day no one will even remember that he existed.

Matt Haig: The Midnight Library (2020)

When the book starts, the protagonist, Nora Seed, has reached a point in her life where she feels she has nothing left to live for. Could her life have been different if she had only made different choices? A visit to the Midnight Library allows Seed to explore her past to see her present more clearly. The book was an instant bestseller when it was published.

Jenny Han: To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2014)

Lara Jean Song Covey is a sixteen-year-old girl living in Virginia. When she was younger, she used to write letters to boys she was in love with, keeping them in a hat box. One day, the hat box has disappeared, and Lara is approached by boys who have received her letters.

Lawrence Hill: Someone Knows My Name (2010)

The novel is inspired by a historical record of slaves known as The Book of Negroes, and this was the title of the novel when it was first published in Canada. In the mid-1700s, Aminata is kidnapped from her local village and brought to South Carolina as a slave. We follow Aminata as she struggles to regain freedom. The story is inspired by the life of Olaudah Equianao, a freed slave who became one of the first black spokespersons for the abolition of slavery.

Khaled Hosseini: The Kite Runner (2003)

This is the Afghan American author's debut novel about the troubled friendship between two Afghan boys, Amir and Hassan. Starting out in a peaceful Afghanistan, the Soviet Union's invasion of the country brings about dramatic changes, leading to the rise of the Taliban.

Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)
This novel is one of the most-read novels in the US. The novel explores racism in the Deep South during segregation, seen through the eyes of a white child.

Yann Martel: Life of Pi (2001)
How does the protagonist Pi end up with a Bengal tiger by the name of Richard Parker as his ship mate? The fantasy adventure novel Life of Pi highlights religious thinking and different beliefs, and it invites its readers to ponder existential issues related to life and identity.

George Orwell: 1984

1984 is a dystopian classic. Winston Smith lives in a world where the government wants total control over its citizens. When even Smith's thoughts are policed, can he fall in love and have a relationship?

Terry Pratchett: The Wee Free Men (2003)

The Wee Free Men is the first book in a series about the young witch Tiffany Aching. Aided by a group of fighting pixies, the Nac Mac Feegle, she has to take on the Queen of the Fairies to rescue her younger brother, and Roland, the son of the local baron. Pratchett is well known for his humorous writing style.

Ransom Riggs: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2011)

This book is the story of a boy who desperately wants to be extraordinary but feels like he never can be. Jacob Portman accidentally finds himself on a mysterious island where he has to aid and protect a group of peculiar orphans.

Marjane Satrapi: Persepolis.

Originally published in French, this unique comic book autobiography tells the story of growing up in Iran during and after the Islamic Revolution.

Rukshana Smith: Sumitra's Story (1982)
This novel converns the cultural clashes experienced by an East Indian family – and especially by the eldest daughter, Sumitra. The family is ordered out of Uganda by the regime of the dictator Idi Amin. They resettle in London. Sumitra finds herself caught between the Western values she experiences at school and at work, and her family's traditional values.

Amy Tan: The Joy Luck Club (1989)

This novel tells stories about four Chinese immigrant families in San Francisco. It pays special attention to mother-daughter relationships and cross-cultural conflicts.

Angie Thomas: The Hate U Give (2017)

Angie Thomas crafts a story that explores today’s racial divide and how the system is at the root of injustices for Black Americans. The protagonist Starr is a witness when her friend Thomas is shot by the police. She decides to stand up for her friend and her community, asking for justice and speaking the truth.