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The Allen & Unwin Top Titles for Schools

Looking for new texts to study in class?

  • These books have been tried and tested by teachers around Australia and are proven successes.
  • They range in age and ability from middle primary to upper secondary readers.
  • The books cover a range of themes, meaning there’s something to interest every reader.
  • Many of the books have downloadable Teachers Notes (TNs) available from this website.
  • Click on a title to see full reading age and thematic details.  
  • All books are available from your school supplier.

If you have difficulty finding any of these titles, contact Carolyn Walsh or phone 02 8425 0150.




Spotlight:

The 10PM Question

by Kate de Goldi

Frankie Parsons is twelve and has a rodent voice of worry nibbling in his head. His new friend - colourful, creative, talkative Sydney - has relentless, unavoidable questions of her own that force Frankie and his family to face up to things that have lain dormant for years. (TNs)

Spotlight:

Adoration of Jenna Fox

by Mary E. Pearson

Jenna wakes from a coma after a horrific accident to find her life a blank page and her own identity a mystery. Her parents think her recovery is a miracle, but what really happened to Jenna Fox? A gripping thriller set in a future that may be closer than we think.

Spotlight:

Bridie's Fire

by Kirsty Murray

Bridie's Fire is the tale of a fiery Irish girl who leaves the potato famine in Ireland to find a home for herself in goldrush Australia.


Spotlight:

Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society

by Adeline Yen Mah

Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society is an exciting fantasy adventure based on a true incident that took place in China during the Second World War. It is inspired by the many stories Adeline Yen Mah wrote as a schoolgirl in Shanghai to escape the loneliness of her own childhood. (TNs)

Spotlight:

Cicada Summer

by Kate Constable

Eloise doesn't speak, but can she see into the past? An exciting and atmospheric mystery, poignant and gripping at the same time, exploring themes of family, friendship and grief. (TNs)

Spotlight:

Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool

by Odo Hirsch

The Bell family is in danger of losing their honourable name. Can Darius step up to the challenge and uphold it? (TNs)


Spotlight:

Diary of Laura's Twin

by Kathy Kacer

A mysterious diary links modern-day Laura to Sara, a Jewish girl fighting to stay alive in the Warsaw Ghetto. A compelling and moving coming-of-age novel that draws upon history to resonate with the present day.
'... a moving story that exemplifies the power of fiction to reveal the truths of history.' - Libby Gleeson (TNs)

Spotlight:

Diego, run!

by Deborah Ellis

A true-to-life adventure story about Diego, a gutsy young Bolivian boy, who needs all his ingenuity and courage to stay alive and help his family. Another brave, revealing novel from the author of the best-selling Parvana books. (TNs)

Spotlight:

Finding Grace

by Alyssa Brugman

Told by sassy 18-year-old Rachel, this is a suspenseful, compassionate, yet laugh-out-loud funny story about looking after a woman with brain damage - and about tasting love, finding grace and getting a life. (TNs)

Spotlight:

Guitar Highway Rose

by Brigid Lowry

Rosie Moon is restless. She wants to do something, be someone be someone else. Asher is the new boy in her class. He has dreadlocks, a guitar and a case of the lonesome gypsy blues. Some ideas are not born of logic and good sense. They sprout from nowhere and feed on excitement, sprinkled with adventure juice and the sweet flavour of the forbidden. (TNs)

Spotlight:

Hana's Suitcase

by Karen Levine

When Hana's suitcase arrives from Germany at the small Holocaust education centre in Japan, all the children who visit want to know about Hana. Where did she come from? Where was she going? When Fumiko Ishioka, the centre's curator, decides to find the answers, she embarks on a journey of discovery across Europe and North America, and seventy years of history. (TNs)

Spotlight:

Helicopter Man

by Elizabeth Fensham

A mystery, an adventure story, and an ultimately hopeful book about a child dealing with his father's schizophrenia.



Spotlight:

Holes

by Louis Sachar

Stanley Yelnats' family has a history of bad luck, so he isn't too surprised when a miscarriage of justice sends him to a boys' juvenile detention centre. At Camp Green Lake the boys must dig a hole a day, five feet deep, five feet across, in the dried up lake bed. The Warden claims the labour is character building, but it is a lie. Stanley must dig up the truth. (TNs)

Spotlight:

The Iron Man

by Ted Hughes

An iron giant topples over a cliff, but his scattered parts get up and put themselves back together. Men try to trap the Iron Man, but when a terrible monster from outer space threatens to lay waste to the planet, it is this giant who finds a way to save the world.

Spotlight:

Ironbark

by Barry Jonsberg

A compelling novel about a powerful relationship between an angry teenager and his grandfather, set in the Tasmanian Wilderness. (TNs)



Spotlight:

Kalpana's Dream

by Judith Clarke

When Neema's great-grandmother Kalpana leaves her village in India to visit her family in Australia, Neema is not sure how to be friends with her, but a boy on a skateboard brings them together, and they both find something they've long forgotten. (TNs)

Spotlight:

Killer's Tears

by Anne-Laure Bondoux

An international award-winner, this haunting novel set in Chile reaches into the souls of a murderer and an innocent young boy, turning readers' expectations of hero and villain on their heads. (TNs)

Spotlight:

Lord of the Flies

by William Golding

First published in 1954, Lord of the Flies is now recognised as a classic, one of the most celebrated and widely read of modern novels.



Spotlight:

Mahtab's Story

by Libby Gleeson

The vivid and compelling story of a young girl fleeing Afghanistan with her family and their journey to Australia. Inspired by a true story. (TNs)


Spotlight:

Market Blues

by Kirsty Murray

A timeslip adventure novel about a boy who goes busking at the market and finds himself transported back to a century ago. (TNs)


Spotlight:

Parvana

by Deborah Ellis

Based closely on real life, this is the exciting and inspiring story of Parvana, a young girl growing up in Afghanistan, as she struggles to make a life for herself and her family under the harsh rule of the Taliban. (TNs)



Spotlight:

Peeling the Onion

by Wendy Orr

An inspirational novel about a teenage girl re-making her life after a car accident. A deeply moving, unsentimental story of pain and love and self-discovery.


Spotlight:

The Red Shoe

by Ursula Dubosarsky

Funny, tough-minded and tender, this is the story of Matilda and her two sisters growing up in Sydney in the 1950s at the time of the Petrov Affair. Punctuated by the headlines of the time, it shows with unsettling clarity how the large events of the world can impinge on ordinary lives.

Spotlight:

Riding the Black Cockatoo

by John Danalis

This is the compelling story of how the skull of an Aboriginal man, found on the banks of the Murray River over 40 years ago, came to be returned to his Wamba Wamba descendants. An engrossing and highly readable account of reconciliation and cultural understanding and appreciation. (TNs)

Spotlight:

Secret Life of Maeve Lee Kwong

by Kirsty Murray

Maeve's safe world is torn apart when her mother dies in a car crash. Sent to live with her strict Chinese grandparents, she fights to hold onto the things she loves most - her two best friends, her dancing, her baby brother Ned. Secretly she pins her hopes on her Irish father, who doesn't even know she exists. From Sydney to Hong Kong to Ireland, Maeve searches for a place to belong. (TNs)

Spotlight:

Secrets in the Fire

by Henning Mankell

The extraordinarily moving story of a young girl who steps on a land mine in Mozambique, and her indomitable will to survive.



Spotlight:

Shifty

by Lynn E Hazen

'People say I'm shifty and not to be trusted ... I'm getting into trouble without even trying.'
When fifteen-year-old Shifty moves into a new foster home, with a mother, sister and baby brother, he struggles to find a balance between the independent spirit that has helped him survive and his longing for a place to call home. (TNs)

Spotlight:

Small Free Kiss in the Dark

by Glenda Millard

Two young boys, an old tramp, a beautiful lost dancer and her baby - rag-tag survivors of a sudden war - form a fragile family holding together in the remnants of a fun fair. (TNs)

Spotlight:

Solo

by Alyssa Brugman

Alone at night in the bush, alone with her demons - what will this city girl discover about herself and her place in the world? An intense story of psychological struggle, from an acclaimed writer of young adult fiction.

Spotlight:

Stride's Summer

by Jenni Overend

Evocative and beautifully observed, the story of Stride and his pet cockatoo captures the world of a boy on the cusp of adolescence learning about grief, change, acceptance and letting go. A coming-of-age novel about a boy, a bird and a bond that even a bushfire can't break.

Spotlight:

Sunny side up

by Marion Roberts

The unforgettable story of 11-year-old Sunny Hathaway - introvert, entrepreneur, inventor, poet, dog lover and co-owner of Pizza-a-go-girl deluxe wood fired pizza delivery service - the summer her whole life turned inside-out.

Spotlight:

Tuck Everlasting

by Natalie Babbitt

Doomed to - or blessed with - eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family wanders about trying to live as inconspicuously and comfortably as they can. When ten year old Winnie Foster stumbles on their secret, the Tucks kidnap her and explain why living forever at one age is less than a blessing that it might seem.

Spotlight:

Vulture's Gate

by Kirsty Murray

It is 40 years into the future and the world is in turmoil. A plague has destroyed humans' ability to conceive females, or so Callum thinks until he meets Bo. A page-turning adventure unfolds as the pair rely on each other to survive a dangerous journey to a safe haven in the city of Vulture's Gate. (TNs)

Spotlight:

The Whole Business with Kiffo and the Pitbull

by Barry Jonsberg

Part quirky journal, part detective fiction, this wild and witty novel is a laugh-out-loud comedy about two unlikely friends who are drawn into a dramatic series of events through their mutual mistrust of their new English teacher. (TNs)

Spotlight:

Worldshaker

by Richard Harland

A brilliant fantasy that will hook readers from the very first page, set aboard a huge ship-city in which the elites live on the top decks while the Filthies toil below. Strong writing, a vivid alternative world and characters you'll never forget. (TNs)