Literacy

Corpus Christi Literary Canon

The ‘Corpus Christi Literary Canon’ consists of a list of texts that you should aim to read before you leave school.

Some of these texts will be available in the school library and all of them will be available from any Cardiff Library. Some of these texts will be read in class, but you are expected to read most of them on your own.

Once you have completed a text, email a brief review to Kate.Saleh@corpuschristihigh.school

Class Charts points will be given for each review received.

The list of texts will be reviewed throughout the year and some changes will be made. The most up-to-date list will always be available on the school website.

1. The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
2. The Famous Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton
3. Danny, Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
5. Boy by Roald Dahl
6. BFG by Roald Dahl
7. Matilda by Roald Dahl
8. The Twits by Roald Dahl
9. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
10. Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl
11. Charlie and the Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl
12. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
13. The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams
14. Gangster Granny by David Walliams
15. Sleuth on Skates by Clementine Beavais
16. Charlotte’s Web by E.B White
17. Swan Song by Gill Lewis
18. The Elephant in the Garden by Michael Morpurgo
19. The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q Rauf
20. Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
21. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
22. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
23. The Story of Tracey Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson
24. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
25. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
26. Running Wild by Michael Morpurgo
27. Holes by Louis Sachar
28. Skellig by David Almond
29. Windrush Child- Benjamin Zephaniah
30. The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis
31. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
32. Stormbreaker by Anthony Horrowitz
33. War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
34. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
35. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
36. Red Sky in the Morning by Elizabeth Laird
37. Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman
38. Thief by Malorie Blackman
39. Soon by Morris Gleitzman
40. King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore
41. Artemis Fowl by Eion Colfer
42. Wonder by R.J. Palacip
43. Face by Benjamin Zephaniah
44. Stone Cold  by Robert Swindells
45. Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
46. The Owl Service by Alan Garner
47. Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
48. Percy Jackson and The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
49. Percy Jackson and The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan
50. Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
51. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
52. Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
53. Watership Down by Richard Adams
54. Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
55. Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden
56. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rolwing
57. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
58. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend
59. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
60. The Diary of Anne Frank
61. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
62. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
63. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
64. Animal Farm by George Orwell
65. About a Boy by Nick Hornby
66. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
67. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway
68. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
69. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
70. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
71. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
72. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
73. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
74. Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
75. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
76. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
77. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
78. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
79. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
80. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
81. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
82.  Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell
83. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
84. An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestly
85. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
86. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
87. Heroes by Robert Cormier
88. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
89. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
90. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
91. Beloved by Toni Morrison
92. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
93. The Hobbit by JR Tolkien
94. The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit
95. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
96. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
97. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
98. Emma by Jane Austen
99. Dracula by Bram Stoker
100. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson