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Reading at HGS

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Our aim is for all students to develop a life-long passion for reading and we have a culture where reading is enjoyed and celebrated. 

Reading is a core skill which not only helps to improve spelling, increase vocabulary and written skills but also stimulates the imagination and challenges beliefs and perspectives. Reading for pleasure boosts brain and memory function, reduces stress, promotes relaxation and improves sleep; this is why reading regularly is so important.

All students have access to a vibrant and inspiring library, where fiction and non-fiction texts can be borrowed. Whether these texts are complementary to their wider curricular studies or are simply being read for pleasure, our library has something for every reader.

The library can be accessed by all students before and after school and during every morning break and lunch times. Students in Year 7 and 8 also experience one library lesson per fortnight, in which they are able to browse the library, listen to motivating author talks and book recommendations and participate in engaging reading activities. 

To achieve excellence in reading, we actively promote reading through form time and via home learning. We celebrate our annual Harrogate Grammar School Reading Week and participate in many national activities and competitions.

Suggested Texts

Looking for books to read to support your reading in school.  Click on the links below to access suggest texts:

Key Stage 4 (Years 10 and 11 - also suitable for students in Year 9)



Recommended Reading

To support students and parents, we regularly share reading recommendations.  Our most recent recommended reads are listed below.  To access our recommended reading lists from previous months click on the grey box below.


Autumn Reads

front page

Autumn Term 2025

Key Stage 3

Fright Bite

Fright Bite by Jennifer Killick

It’s Colette’s birthday and the friends are spending an evening at Neon Perch – an epic entertainment spot where they can eat pizza, play mini golf and – best of all – take part in Project Z – an epic new escape room experience.

It’s going to be the best night ever! Or is it . . . ?

Somehow, the escape room somehow seems to know each player’s greatest fears. And worst of all, there are creatures locked up with them.

Creatures from their darkest nightmares . . . giant, poisonous RATS!

The Enemy

The Enemy - Charlie Higson

Every time he thought they’d gone, he heard them again.

Searching for him. The sickness struck everyone over fourteen. First it twisted their minds. Next it ravaged their bodies. Now these zombies roam the streets, crazed and hungry. In a destroyed London, the young hide in gangs, scavenging to survive, but with little hope for the future.

Until rumours of a safe house travel across the city.

But to get there they must face the Enemy – the mindless zombies who lie in wait. Can these kids trust each other long enough to make it out alive?

Raven's Gate

Ravens' Gate

Matt has always known he has unusual powers. Raised in foster care, he is sent to Yorkshire on a rehabilitation programme, only to find himself in the midst of sinister goings-on.

Matt investigates and uncovers a terrible secret – eight guardians are protecting the world from the Old Ones, beings banished long ago by five children.

But devil worshippers want to let the Old Ones back in...

Key Stage 3 and 4

13 days of midnight

13 Days of Midnight - Leo Hunt

When Luke Manchett's estranged father dies suddenly, he leaves his son a dark inheritance. Luke has been left in charge of his father's ghost collection: eight restless spirits. They want revenge for their long enslavement, and in the absence of the father, they're more than happy to take his son.

It isn't fair, but you try and reason with the vengeful dead. Halloween, the night when the ghosts reach the height of their power, is fast approaching.

With the help of school witchlet Elza Moss, and his cowardly dog Ham, Luke has just thirteen days to uncover the closely guarded secrets of black magic, and send the unquiet spirits to their eternal rest.

The alternative doesn't bear thinking about.

Truly Devious

Truly Devious - Maureen Johnson

Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. “A place,” he said, “where learning is a game.” Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped.

The only real clue was a mocking, riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym “Truly, Devious.” It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.

True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case.

That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy.

Welcome to camp killer

Welcome to Camp Killer - Cynthia Murphy

When an American-style residential camp is set up in the grounds of an English stately home, the teenage camp counsellors are looking forward to a fun summer of activities. But right from the outset, things don’t feel quite right at Camp Miller.

Rumours circulate of a tragedy that took place in the grounds and there are unexplained sightings of a ghostly presence. Then the incidents begin – a near-drowning out on the lake, a fatal fall from a cliff-face … Are these tragic accidents or is there something more sinister going on at Camp Killer?

Key Stage 4 and 5

Young gothic

Young Gothic - M A Bennett

You've heard of Frankenstein's monster, you've heard of Dracula, but have you heard of the Villa Diodati?

Eve, Griffin, Hal and Ren embark on a summer they'll never forget at the birthplace of all things Gothic. The summer is beset by mysterious happenings, as the monsters they create begin to clamber out of their minds.

Events rise to a horrible climax when, on a dark and stormy night, one of the villa's guests is found dead and each of our foursome becomes a suspect in a gruesome murder. It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. But when the stuff of nightmares becomes their reality, will they make it out alive? Perfect for fans of Wednesday and Stranger Things.

Say her name

Say Her Name - James Dawson

Drip...drip...drip... In five days, she will come... Roberta 'Bobbie' Rowe is not the kind of person who believes in ghosts.

A Halloween dare at her ridiculously spooky boarding school is no big deal, especially when her best friend Naya and cute local boy Caine agree to join in too. They are ordered to summon the legendary ghost of Bloody Mary: say her name five times in front of a candlelit mirror, and she shall appear...

But, surprise surprise, nothing happens. Or does it? Next morning, Bobbie finds a message on her bathroom mirror - five days - but what does it mean? And who left it there? Things get increasingly weird and more terrifying for Bobbie and Naya, until it becomes all too clear that Bloody Mary was indeed called from the afterlife that night, and she is definitely not a friendly ghost.

Bobbie, Naya and Caine are now in a race against time before their five days are up and Mary comes for them, as she has come for countless others before...

New Arrivals in the LRC

Dagger Wrong tracks Lies we sing Legend Pet sem the summer i the foundation

Harrogate Grammar School is part of Red Kite Learning Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales with company number 7523507, registered office address: Red Kite Office, Pannal Ash Road, Harrogate, HG2 9PH

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