English reading guide

Click here to check if any of these books are available at your local library

Local publications:

Foundation Phase (Grades R, 1 – 3):

Picture books

• Niki Daly: A song for Jamela
• Niki Daly: Happy Birthday, Jamela!
• Niki Daly: Jamela's dress
• Niki Daly: Where’s Jamela?
• Niki Daly: Yebo, Jamela!
• Joan Rankin: First day
• Lesley Beake / Karin Littlewood: Home now
• Maryanne Bester: Mealies and beans
• Maryanne Bester: The long trousers
• Mari Grobler: Lulama's magic blanket
• Mari Grobler: Musa's journey
• Mari Grobler: Siyolo's jersey
• Mari Grobler: Thandiwe's choice
• Hartmann, Wendy: We're having a party
• Hartmann, Wendy: In a house, in a house
• Hartmann, Wendy: Just Sisi
• Wendy Maartens: A star with stripes
• Wendy Maartens: Lena’s bottle tree
• Chris van Wyk: Ouma Ruby’s secret
• Sindiwe Magona: The best meal ever
• Gcina Mhlophe: The singing chameleon
• Elinor Batezat Sisulu: The day Gogo went to vote
• Pat Thomson / Niki Daly (ill.): The squeaky, creaky bed

Foundation/Intermediate Phase: Fiction

Grades 2/3-4

• Wendy Hartmann: Theo and the cat burglar
• Wendy Hartmann: Theo and the circus act
• Wendy Hartmann: Theo and the library cat
• Robin Malan: Sonny Jim and his sister

Grades 4-5

• Helen Brain: Dear Miss Winfrey
• Madiba magic
• Adie Wagener: Sandile and the silver city
• Jenny Robson: Balaclava Boy
• Lesley Beake: Steven Pienaar

Grades 5-6

• M I Davids: Sedick's Kalk Bay stories
• Marguerite Poland: Shadow of the wild hare
• Georgiana King: Zolani goes to Yeoville
• Gail Smith: Bongani's secret
• Gail Smith: Three blind dates

Senior Phase (Grades 7 – 9)

• Fiona MacGregor: Jesse's story
• Dianne Case: 92 Queen’s Road
• Russell H. Kaschula: The Tsitsa River and beyond
• Lutz van Dijk: Themba: a boy called Hope
• Lutz van Dijk: Crossing the line
• Jenny Robson: Because pula means rain
• Sir Percy Fitzpatrick: Jock of the Bushveld
• Dianne Case & Yvonne Hart: Katie of Sky Road
• Belinda Hollyer: Long walk to Lavender Street
• Gillian d'Achada: Sharkey's son
• Rekgetsi Chimeloane: Whose laetie are you?
• Kasigo Lesego Molope: The mending season

FET Phase (Grades 10 – 12)

• Pamela Jooste: Dance with a poor man's daughter
• J.M. Coetzee: Disgrace
• Michael Williams: Hijack City
• Troy Blacklaws: Karoo boy
• Gcina Mhlophe: Love child
• Sol Plaatje: Mhudi
• Sindiwe Magona: Mother to mother
• Sindiwe Magona: Beauty's gift
• Marguerite Poland: Shades
• Patricia Pinnock: Skyline
• Thembelani Ngenelwa: The day I died
• Alexander McCall Smith: The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
• Kasigo Lesego Molope: Dancing in the dust
• Elana Bregin: Shiva's dance
• Pamela Jooste: Dance with a poor man's daughter

International publications:

Foundation Phase (Grades R, 1 – 3)

Picture books

• Jeannie Baker: Belonging
• Jeannie Baker: Window
• Bernard Ashley: Double the love
• Trish Cooke: Full, full, full of love
• Sam McBratney: Guess how much I love you
• Eileen Browne: Handa's hen
• Jane Yolen: How do dinosaurs eat their food?
• Jane Yolen: How do dinosaurs go to school?
• Jane Yolen: How do dinosaurs learn colours and numbers?
• Jane Yolen: How do dinosaurs say good night?
• Lauren Child: I am absolutely too small for school
• Lauren Child: But excuse me, that is my book
• Lauren Child: I am not sleepy and will not go to bed
• Lauren Child: I will not ever never eat a tomato
• Lauren Child: We can honestly look after your dog
• Mo Willems: Knuffle Bunny
• Mo Willems: Knuffle Bunny too
• Ian Falconer: Olivia
• Ian Falconer: Olivia saves the circus
• Ian Falconer: Olivia helps with Christmas
• Bob Graham: Let's get a pup!
• Bob Graham: How to heal a broken wing
• Emily Gravett: Little Mouse's big book of fears
• Emily Gravett: Meerkat mail
• Emily Gravett: Wolves
• Mary Hoffman: Princess Grace
• Rob Scotton: Russell the sheep
• Rob Scotton: Russell and the lost treasure
• Patricia Polacco: Thank you, Mr Falker
• Alice McLerran: The mountain that loved a bird
• Eric Carle: The very hungry caterpillar
• Graham Base: The waterhole
• Julia Jarman: Class Two at the zoo
• Nancy Coffelt: Fred stays with me
• Michelle Knudsen: Library lion
• Anthony Browne: Little Beauty
• Carl Norac: My grandpa is a champion
• Joyce Carol Thomas: The blacker the berry
• Norton Juster: The hello, goodbye window
• Jessica Swain: The hound from the pound
• Jerry Pinkney: The lion and the mouse

Intermediate Phase (Grades 4 – 6): Fiction

Grades 3 - 4

• Anna Hibiscus: Atinuke
• Sara Pennypacker: Clementine
• Sara Pennypacker: Clementine's letter
• Sara Pennypacker: The talented Clementine
• Kes Gray: Daisy and the trouble with zoos
• Kes Gray: Daisy and the trouble with kittens
• Christobel Mattingley: First friend
• Brian Selznick: Hugo Cabret
• Karen McCombie: My big (strange) happy family!
• Gwyneth Rees: Something secret
• Julia Green: Sephy's story
• Julia Lawrinson: The girl who fell into a book
• Kate DiCamillo: The magician's elephant
• Dick King-Smith: The twin giants
• Allan Ahlberg: The man who wore all his clothes
• Allan Ahlberg: The woman who won things
• Allan Ahlberg: The cat who got carried away
• Allan Ahlberg: The children who smelled a rat

Grades 4-5

• Alan Fraser: 13 pairs of blue suède shoes
• Kate DiCamillo: Because of Winn-Dixie
• Lauren Child: Clarice Bean spells trouble
• Martha Freeman: Fourth Grade Weirdo
• Jacqueline Wilson: Lizzie Zipmouth
• Jacqueline Wilson: Candyfloss
• Jacqueline Wilson: Cookie
• Andrew Clements: No talking
• Chris Riddell: Ottoline and the yellow cat
• Lauren Child: Utterly me, Clarice Bean
• Sharon Creech: Hate that cat

Grades 5-6

• Adeline Yen Mah: Chinese Cinderella
• Judy Blume: Double Fudge
• Rodman Philbrick: Freak the mighty
• Sharon Creech: Granny Torrelli makes soup
• David Almond: My dad's a birdman
• Elizabeth Laird: Oranges in no man's land
• Esmé Raji Codell: Sahara Special
• Bali Rai: Soccer Squad series
• Eion Colfer: The legend of Spud Murphy
• Michael Morpurgo: The Mozart question
• Jacqueline Wilson: The worry website
• Julie Anne Peters: How do you spell g-e-e-k?
• Cathy Cassidy: Love, peace and chocolate
• Hilary McKay: Practically perfect
• John Boyne: The dare
• Sally Nicholls: Ways to live forever

Senior Phase (Grades 7 – 9): Fiction

Grades 6 - 7

• Michelle Paver: Wolf Brother
• Tom Palmer: Foul play
• Siobhan Dowd: The London Eye mystery
• Jacqueline Wilson: The suitcase kid
• Jacqueline Wilson: Clean break
• Jacqueline Wilson: My secret diary:dating, dancing, dreams and dilemmas
• Gary Paulsen: How Angel Peterson got his name
• Cathy Cassidy: Lucky Star
• Cathy Cassidy: Ginger snaps
• Elizabeth Laird: The garbage king
• Robert Muchamore: The recruit
• Cornelia Funke: The Thief Lord
• Catherine MacPhail: Worse than boys
• Gennifer Choldenko: Al Capone does my shirts
• Nora Raleigh Baskin: Anything but typical
• Deborah Ellis: Beyond the barricade
• Deborah Ellis: The prison runner
• Na'ima B. Robert: From Somalia with love
• Sandra Glover: Message from Mia
• Bil Wright: When the black girl sings
• Gillian Cross: Where I belong

Grades 8 - 9

• Shelley Pearsal: All of the above
• Robert Swindells: Branded
• Allan Stratton: Chanda’s secrets
• Jacqueline Wilson: Dustbin baby
• Carl Hiaasen: Hoot
• Kevin Brooks: Martyn Pig
• Jonathan Kebbe: Noodle Head
• Joshua Mowll: Operation Red Jericho
• Jerry Spinelli: Stargirl
• Carolyn Mackler: The earth, my butt and other big round things
• Narinder Dhami: Bang, bang, you're dead!
• Na'ima B. Robert: Boy vs girl
• Peter Abrahams: Behind the curtain
• Peter Abrahams: Down the rabbit hole
• Sonya Sones: One of those hideous books where the mother dies
• Cathy Cassidy: Sundae girl
• Cathy Cassidy: Cherry Crush
• Neil Gaiman: The graveyard book
• Catherine Ryan Hyde: The year of my miraculous reappearance
• Anne Fine: Flour Babies
• David Almond: Jackdaw summer

FET Phase (Grades 10 – 12): Fiction

• Cunxin Li: Mao’s last dancer
• Kevin Brooks: Martyn Pig
• Kevin Brooks: Black Rabbit summer
• Julia Bell: Massive
• Julia Bell: Dirty work
• Sonya Sones: One of those hideous books where the mother dies
• Catherine Hyde: Pay it forward
• Vikas Swarup: Q & A
• Louis Sachar: Small steps
• Markus Zusak: The book thief
• Mark Haddon: The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
• Freedom Writers & Erin Gruwell: The Freedom Writers' Diary
• Ann Brashares: The sisterhood of the travelling pants
• Jenny Downham: Before I die
• Suzanne Phillips: Burn
• Suzanne Phillips: Chloe Doe
• Hanna Jansen: Over a thousand hills I walked with you
• Donna Tartt: The secret history
• B.R. Collins: The traitor game
• Joe Simpson: Touching the void
• Elizabeth Scott: Love you, hate you, miss you
• Allison van Diepen: Snitch
• Stephenie Meyer: The short second life of Bree Tanner: an Eclipse novella

Non-Fiction:

Foundation Phase:

• Peter Riley: Bang!:sound and how we hear things
• Julie Haydon: Grow your own lettuce
• Helen Lanz: Jamela's dress
• Claire Llewellyn: Making with paper
• Jim Pipe: Racing cars
• Frances Ridley: Supercars

Grade 3 - 7

• Joe Rhatigan: 40 cool publishing projects for kids
• Trevor Day: Body bugs!: the uninvited guests on your body
• P Price: Cool scrapbooks
• Elizabeth Harris: Snook Crime scene: science fair projects
• Alan Buckingham: Digital photography
• Rachel Lynette: Electrical experiments: electricity and circuits
• Trevor Cook: Experiments with forces
• Guinness world records
• David West: Helicopter
• M Hughes: How to make pop-up cards
• A Grant: Kids kitchen
• Amy Pinchuk: Make cool gadgets for your room
• Claire Oliver: Mind-boggling science
• Geoff Tiballs: Ripley's believe it or not!:prepare to be shocked!
• Cheryl Jakab and David Keystone: Signals and codes
• Wow!: the visual encyclopedia of everything

Grade 8 - 12

• Meg Swaine: Career building through interactive online games
• Alex Goetchius: Career building through social networking
• Susan Ireland: Complete idiot's guide to cool jobs for teens
• Kate Havelin: Dating: "What is a healthy relationship?"
• Rosie Wilson: Fashion industry
• Lisa Thompson: Focusing on fitness: have you got what it takes to be a personal trainer?
• Chris Woodford and Jon Woodcock: Gadget book and how really cool stuff works
• Bafikile Gwiji: Infinite career options
• V Van der Merwe: Learn to cook
• Izabella Little: Life talk for a daughter: advice on 60 issues from passion to success
• Izabella Little and Patrick Wilson: Life talk for a son: 60 issues and how to deal with them
• L Eichner: Scrapbooking - cream of the crop
• Margaret McAlpine: So you want to work in film and TV?
• Margaret McAlpine: So you want to work in music and dance?
• Sean Covey: The 6 most important decisions you'll ever make: a guide for teens
• Sean Covey: The 7 habits of highly effective teens
• P Korn: Woodworking basics