What books did you read while in school? Were there any that you particular liked, or even hated? Did any become lifelong favourites?

Here are a few of the books we read at school. I’m sure there must have been lots of others, but these are the only ones I can remember at the moment!

Beowulf – I remember reading this at school when we were 11 or 12 – it would have been an abridged version, though, and definitely not in the original Old English!

The Pearl by John Steinbeck – I’ve had a copy of this on my shelf for years but have never read it since I was at school. Maybe I should try reading it again sometime.

Frankenstein’s Aunt by Allan Rune Pettersson – I didn’t enjoy reading this at all. I suppose the teacher chose it thinking it would appeal to 12/13 year olds – but it didn’t appeal to me.

Across the Barricades by Joan Lingard – We read this in Year 10 (age 14/15). Considering this would have been in the 1990s when Northern Ireland was often in the news, it was quite an appropriate book to read – the story took place in Belfast and the two main characters were Kevin, a Catholic boy, and Sadie, his Protestant girlfriend. I can’t remember much about the story, though.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor – This was one of the best books we read at school. It reminded me of To Kill A Mockingbird (another teacher had recommended TKAM to me the previous year and I loved it).

Shakespeare – Like most English classes, we also read some Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth.

I also read Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Animal Farm and Silas Marner, but these were books that my English teacher told me I should read, rather than books I had to read.

I won’t list everything I read outside of school, as there would be far too many books to mention here!