Great Oundle Read
To celebrate 450 years of reading at Oundle, the Library has organised the Oundle Great Read. All pupils and Staff were involved in drawing up a list of 70 books, which was followed by a shortlist of three books for each section. which was followed by a shortlist of three books for each age range. With so many great titles to consider, the task of choosing only three that would suit the occasion and appeal to Oundle pupils was not easy!
The selection for the 1st and 2nd Form is a book that is as full of compelling characters as anything Dickens could have written had he chosen to write specifically for this age group. Coram Boy is a near perfect mix of mystery, adventure, horror and romance, and won the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year when it was published. It was recently adapted for the stage at the National Theatre.
The book chosen for the 3rd to 5th forms needs little introduction. It is universally regarded as one of the books every young adult must read. While we were initially reluctant to choose a book by a non-British author, its overwhelming virtues overcame that hesitation. To Kill a Mockingbird is not only a warm and humorous story about growing up, it is a story about the pursuit for social justice that is both timeless and borderless.
While we looked for something uplifting for the sixth form, we settled on a book that has been described as subtly unsettling, with a “wrenchingly desolate ending that echoes around the brain for days afterwards.” In Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro spins a stinging cautionary tale of science outpacing ethics. The story of the relationships of the three main characters and the inevitable unfolding of their fate will be compelling to a wide range of interests.
Back at school in September, pupils and Staff will be encouraged to talk about their responses and opinions at the dinner table, in classes, on the sidelines of the sports fields – anywhere and everywhere! With informal and formal discussions, reviews, quizzes, competitions and exhibits, it should be fun and invigorating.
By reading the same book, the diverse Oundle School community will have the unique opportunity to share the same reading experience, and discover and appreciate what Sanderson called “humanity’s story”.
Leigh Giurlando