KS3 Geography Reading List

Imagine London in the future, when rising sea levels have submerged half of the city. Privileged citizens live in the central zone, protected by a huge wall. Meanwhile the less fortunate scrape a living in The Shanties, a squalid area of flooded tower blocks and rickety boardwalks. In this fractured world, the only thing that unites the inhabitants from inside and outside the wall is their fear of a different race: The Mariners.

FloodWorld is pacily written with lots of easy-to-read dialogue which is interleaved with more challenging and descriptive language, making it a good book for moving readers on to more demanding reads. Kara provides a strong female role model: clever, courageous and tough, but warm and honest too.

The narrative of FloodWorld also has a very cinematic feel, which is not surprising for a writer who used to be a film critic. Behind the gripping action sequences lie thought-provoking themes of environmental responsibility, truth, prejudice and power. If you are teaching pupils about the environment, you could use this book to introduce the implications of rising sea levels or the importance of marine conservation. It also raises questions about how we view people from unfamiliar societies and whether violence is ever justified.

Focusing on events caused by global warming, this gripping book is relevant to current topics including climate change and environmental studies.

Told through the eyes of a 10-year-old girl, Zoe, the earth’s sea levels have risen and flooded coastal areas the world over, including Zoe‘s town in the Fens in England.

As her family is being evacuated, she is separated from them. Forced to set out on her own to find them, Zoe is faced with many challenges that threatened her survival.

This book is perfect for older primary and younger secondary children, who will see it as a massive adventure. It’s a brilliant premise.

We often get asked about books to support the ‘Awesome Earth’ or ‘Natural Disasters’ topics for schools and we think we may have just found the perfect one.

Earth Shattering Events explores geological and meteorological disasters, with each page dedicated to a different natural event from volcanoes and tsunamis to cyclones and wildfires. Each event is explained in a way that is easy to understand for junior children without compromising on presenting the underlying scientific facts.

A real strength of the book is how highly visual the design is, with appealing diagrams, large illustrations, maps and charts contributing greatly to the reader’s understanding of each topic. Also of high interest are the explanation boxes showing what to do if you get caught in the various disasters and the charts that show how each one is measured.

This is a wonderful book with a high level of appeal and certainly one to recommend for classrooms as a topic book or a really interesting read for pleasure.

An island community, a new windfarm development and some unforeseen consequences, with a diverse cast of characters.

Not only does the book introduce a cast of likeable characters with additional support needs, but it also provides a useful platform for discussion around renewable energy and the way we entrust ourselves to technology.

William Kamkwamba’s story of perseverance and achievement in the face of incredible adversity shows the power of curiosity, dedication, and education. His desire to use his skills and knowledge to empower and improve his community should be an example to us all.

This well-written and gripping book should be a must-read for anyone who feels driven to improve themselves and the world around them. This really inspiring story for young people in a world full of consumerism will help pupils to learn about how wind  can be used to generate power or electricity.

“The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” is a moving true story of a boy growing up in famine and poverty who uses the resources of his local library to build something incredible. This adapted version of the book is good for upper mature upper key stage two readers and young adults especially young adults who are interested in science.

This story documents life in Malawi and the discovery of wind power by a boy who could not afford to go to school, but acted on his own initiative to help his family. He did all the research in the library! Some emotional chapters, which are hard hitting and may be challenging to read for some students. The book highlights the unfairness of the world at times and how perseverance can pay off. William is a fantastic role model for all children to read about.

Wow! This book is hugely powerful and packs a punch. It will stay with you for a very long time. The author shares a moving account of the experience of being displaced from one’s home country and the refugee experience.

The fact that Sami’s family are wealthy and educated in Damascus in some ways makes the story even more impactful as their experience could be considered ‘better’ than many also attempting to make the journey. The characters are very well drawn throughout, each battling their own struggles, whilst trying to do what is best for their family in the most challenging of situations. It is a book with huge depth that will generate a lot of important conversations and one that is filled with empathy and small kindness amongst the turmoil and fear.

Best suited for mature readers in the lower years of KS3, this story is a harrowing read. The narrative references bombing, casualties, the journey of a refugee and the conditions and danger they might be forced to endure, the perilous journey over the sea with boats capsising, internment in an immigration centre and an assault, as well as family rejection and the feeling of not belonging and being undervalued in a new country. The emotional turmoil of all members of the family also makes this a necessary and powerful, yet challenging read that will be remembered for a long time after reading.

This story is one that stayed in my thoughts for a long time after reading it. It tells the story of Omar and his family who live in Syria. Civil War breaks out and impacts on the family in different ways, eventually leading to them to flee Syria and become refugees. This realistic, moving story is an important read in opening children’s eyes and helping them to understand the plight of refugees.

When the boat Bill is on capsizes during a ferocious storm, he becomes separated from his crewmates and ends up adrift in a tiny boat on the endless sea. A few days later, he comes across a girl, Aya, also a survivor of a shipwreck, and they decide that their chances of survival are better together.

As their hopes of being rescued quickly fade, Aya keeps Bill going with tales inspired by Shahrazad. Together they do what they have to do to survive – they learn how to create drinkable water from the interminable ocean, they realise they are going to have to kill to eat, and they try to protect themselves from the devastating heat of the sun. Then, one day, they spot land … but is it going to be the safe haven they have so desperately hoped for?

This is an incredible story of survival against the odds, of finding the inner strength to survive and of the power of friendship.

A short but harrowing account of how one boy makes the journey to freedom and ultimately safety. Eye opening to anyone who is new to the subject and a must share in classrooms, this is the kind of book that you will find quick to read but slow to forget.

Boy 87 delivers a stark portrayal of a young refugee’s perilous journey through unembellished, first-person narrative. The narrative demands mature engagement, making it a good choice for exploring complex themes like migration and empathy with Key Stage 3 students.

The story is thought-provoking and offers a raw glimpse into displacement. Mature readers able to engage with the book’s themes will also pick up on the sense of empowerment offered through the book. Boy 87 encourages critical thinking about human rights and global citizenship.

Ideal for Year 8, this book’s concise format, relevant themes and relatable protagonist make a quick and powerful impact.

This offers a comprehensive overview of inequality on both a global and local scale. It’s excellent for the school library and will really appeal to those children with an interest in the wider world around them. It will also be a great resource for schools running equality clubs or working for the UNICEF Rights Respecting School awards. There’s a good balance of discussion between general issues and the case studies which illustrate the points well. It’s a thoughtful book, considering many different aspects of the issues it addresses and adds historical context to the discussion of current inequalities. The book is ideal for KS2 and above. The book is short enough to read in one sitting, but each double page spread also stands alone as an informative summary of a particular subtopic. There are bright illustrations and infographics throughout, complemented by historical art and photographs.

This stunning children’s non-fiction hardback is the accompaniment to the Netflix series Our Planet. This is the kind of book that readers young and old will love to pore over, from the powerful photographs of melting ice caps to the facts and figures about palm oil plantations and endangered sea life. There is so much to learn and think about.

The book has a foreword by Sir David Attenborough. What follows is a visual ode to Planet Earth told through extraordinary photography combined with appealing illustrations that draw in younger readers and help them to understand nature’s amazing interplay of habitats and ecosystems. Small sections of text further explain the images, giving snapshots of animals’ lifestyles as well as presenting hard-hitting facts about the dangers they face. We learn how orangutans have incredible mapping skills to navigate their jungle homes, but also how we lose 100 orangutans a week due to human actions like hunting and deforestation. We find out how beautiful lantern-fish light their way along with 17-metre long oarfish in the high seas, but also how plastic peril and high-seas fishing put the incredible marine life there in danger.

The tone of the book is one to inspire rather than to frighten readers into action. The book is not at all without hope for the future, and the nudge to make personal changes comes through simple tips like choosing products carefully and supporting sustainable fishing. Moreover, with photographs as stunning as these, it is hard for readers of all ages not to feel inspired to take steps to protect the natural world.

The Biggest Footprint is a one-of-a-kind, creative book. It tells the story of humans (all eight billion of us) and how our choices, both in the past and present, are affecting our planet. It also explores how we can all help to put it right and continue to do more to look after our world.

The Biggest Footprint begins when a mega human is created from all eight billion people being put into the ‘smooshing machine’. As a mega human, we take a journey and learn about our footprint choices on the world. We also put other items through the smooshing machine to compare their sizes, examples of which include all the tigers in the world, all the food and food waste in the world, as well as all fossil fuels.

The book does celebrate the good efforts that we are making – trying to eat less meat, recycling and conservation efforts as examples, but it poses the question throughout each page: could we be doing more?

The book has been written in an informal and fun way that is bound to engage readers of different age groups. The facts and statistics included are incredibly interesting and where there is more complex vocabulary used, the book provides teaching opportunities and discussions that would work well in geography lessons.

The Carnegie medal winning novel is set in 1727 on St Kilda – and on a rock stack in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean where a group of boys and their leader find themselves abandoned to the elements.

It is a gripping survival story which reeled me in from the first sentence: ‘His mother gave him a new pair of socks, a puffin to eat on the voyage and a kiss on the cheek.’

Wild weather, island habitats and survival are at the heart of this celebrated story.

Winner of the prestigious Carnegie Medal, this profound novel is incredibly rich in descriptive language. It tells the story of swimming-obsessed Jess as she struggles to come to terms with the impending death of her grandfather, who insists on finishing one last painting before he dies. Jess meets a mysterious river boy and is faced with an ultimate challenge of her own to complete. This is a novel that deals with themes of life and death and is suitable for more mature or confident readers in Upper KS2 or Lower KS3.

This ambitious graphic novel highlights the devastating effects of climate change through the lives of two children on either side of the globe.

In the Bay of Bengal, Sami has lost his home, both his parents and the family’s lucky knife to a cyclone some years before. Now he and his grandfather are struggling to catch anything on their fishing trips and the cyclones are becoming fiercer and more frequent. Sami is set on recovering the knife, hoping that it will restore their good fortune, but doing so means disobeying his grandfather and taking risks that may threaten them all.

Meanwhil, Yuki lives north of the Arctic Circle where she too undertakes a dangerous mission. Setting off into the icy wilderness with her dog, Locky, she is determined to track a grolar bear – a cross-breed between a grizzly and a polar bear whose territories have collided as the climate has warmed. Soon it’s the grolar bear that is tracking Yuki and Locky. Can their close bond and indomitable spirit save them?

Subtly different colour palettes differentiate the two worlds and the switch from one to the other enables thrilling cliffhangers as each child in turn is flung into jeopardy. The pictures carry much of the emotional weight of the story too, conveying the impact of terrifying natural disasters on humans in marginalised communities. The greater the sense of panic, the more the reader has to look closely to make sense of the deliberately disordered illustrations.

Despite everything, the story never loses its faith in humanity. Sami’s grandfather is a model of how to behave with generosity and empathy no matter how bad things get and the story ends with a hope of connection, as a chance find puts the two children in touch with each other. It’s a gripping and emotional read that doesn’t shy away from its message and yet remains positive and uplifting – definitely a story not to miss!

Mexikid is a wonderfully illustrated graphic memoir.

Through the book, the author, Pedro Martin, provides readers with a unique, entertaining insight into his world – the world of children born in America to Mexican parents. The book is set in 1977 when superhero-loving Pedro is 10 years old. Pedro is part of a large family – he has 8 siblings some of whom were born in Mexico before their parents moved to the family to America – and he thinks his home is too crowded. Pedro does not feel connected to his Mexican heritage, so when he finds out that his Abualito, who lives in Mexico, is coming to live with them, he is concerned about how it will impact his life.

The whole family set out on what turns out to be a rather adventure-filled road trip to go and collect Pedro’s Abualito. What follows is a journey of discovery, unity and personal growth all wrapped up in plenty of humour. This is a great book to encourage conversation about heritage and culture.

This story tells the tale of Robert Falcon Scott’s Expedition to Antarctica in an attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole. This expedition – The Terra Nova – is told in detail in the story, including the stories of the men who followed him. The very first sentence, ‘If you’re into happy endings, you’d better look elsewhere,’ is an instant hook and sets a precedent for what may come.

The story explores important themes of perseverance, responding to failure and keeping hope in difficult times.

This book would make for a great reference tool when learning about the different polar regions and Scott as one of the great British explorers, as well as an exciting and perilous adventure story for ages 10-14. Scott’s previous expeditions are also mentioned, including the expedition with Earnest Shackleton, and photographs from the expedition are also included.