When I was trying to choose our English Literature units for my son’s Year 8 I ended up thinking a lot about the English Literature units that we have already worked through and the ones that were the biggest successes with my kids (I like to try and choose books that will really engage the kids). Just to clarify I am not talking about the books that the kids read in their own time, I mean the books that we read together and then use for English activities.

Two books that I really stick in my memory as being brilliant are these two – Sky Hawk and Bug Muldoon.

Both books were gems and both books are books that we still sometimes mention and refer back to (that for me is always a great indicator of when a book has truly ignited something in the kids minds).

Okay so why do these books stand out for us. Sky Hawk was an incredibly moving story which deals with friendship and kids overcoming obstacles. It was beautifully written and we loved the fact that the story revolves around an Osprey. This book was the first book that we ever read by Gill Lewis and after we had finished it both of my kids went on a bit of a Gill Lewis reading craze and just devoured book after book after book. She ended up becoming a favourite author in our house.

As a home educator I felt like this book fitted in with Year 7 ages. The writing style and also the topics that it covered, for us, it did just slot really nicely into that age range and it meant that the kids were old enough to have some proper discussions about being a true friend, what a bully is and other things like judging a person based on their income verses judging a person based on who they are. For me if there is only one book that you read with your kids in year 7 then this is the one. (And bonus it is part of the Rollercoaster series so there are free lesson plans and worksheets that you may find useful). Oh and I want to say all three of us really enjoyed this book (my daughter, my son and myself).

The Second one that really stand out for me as a fun Year 7 book is Bug Muldoon and the Garden of Fear. And the reason that this one stands out was because the writer did such an amazing job making this funny, engaging and so entertaining. I mean come on, a bug who is a private investigator and goes around solving crimes in someone’s back garden, you just know it is going to have the kids giggling along. When we were reading it as one of our books my son would often read ahead just because he could not wait until the next day. He enjoyed it so much that he went on to read the next book in the series and he got his sister to read it as well (she also really enjoyed the book). Oh an this is also part of the Rollercoaster series so there are also free to download resources.

The two books that I mentioned are two very different books, but I like that. I like finding books that deal with different topics and are written in different writing styles.

All three of us highly recommend these two books. We think they are both engaging, well written stories, stories that will make you want to continue reading page after page.