THE PGS 100 2021

 by PGS Library Staff 

In 2018, 259 pupils, parents, and staff participated in a survey of favourite books, contributing 1,441 titles. The 100 most nominated books were then published as the PGS 100, a list which reflected the brightness and vision of the then current school body. 

But what about the reading habits of 2021? Society has changed significantly in a very short period of time. World leaders have come and gone, social and political movements have pushed the global conversation in new directions, and a pandemic has forced us all to adjust to new ways of living. The PGS 100 is the school’s opportunity to record a snapshot of the times.

At the end of the last academic year, we returned to the school body with a new survey, but opened the submission criteria to include non-fiction, poetry, and plays. This time around, 562 individuals took part--from students, staff, parents, and OPs--and contributed 2,641titles: an increase of 117% in participation and 83% more title nominations. Every book which made it to the new PGS 100 was nominated by at least 5 individuals with the top 5 garnering 30 or more votes. Did your favourites make the list?

1.      Wonder

2.      The Maze Runner

3.      Percy Jackson & The Olympians

4.      One of Us is Lying

5.      His Dark Materials

6.      HeartStopper

7.      Cherub

8.      Noughts & Crosses

9.      The Poet X

10.   The Hate U Give

11.   Children of Blood and Bone

12.   The Explorer

13.   A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

14.   The Hobbit

15.   The Fault in Our Stars

16.   Skulduggery Pleasant

17.   Murder Most Unladylike

18.   Gone

19.   1984

20.   Mortal Engines

21.   Holes

22.   The School for Good and Evil

23.   The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

24.   They Both Die at the End

25.   Eragon

26.   Hunger Games

27.   To Kill a Mockingbird

28.   This Is Going to Hurt

29.   The Tattooist of Auschwitz

30.   Lord of the Flies

31.   The Colour of Magic

32.   All the Light We Cannot See

33.   Anne of Green Gables

34.   Young Bond

35.   Six of Crows

36.   What If?

37.   The Knife of Never Letting Go

38.   Run Rebel

39.   Throne of Glass

40.   War Horse

41.   The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

42.   Where the Crawdads Sing

43.   The Book Thief

44.   The Handmaid's Tale

45.   Pride and Prejudice

46.   The Boy at the Back of the Class

47.   A Series of Unfortunate Events

48.   The Secret Garden

49.   The Song of Achilles

50.   Twilight

51.   The Perks of Being a Wallflower

52.   The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

53.   The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy

54.   Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

55.   Girl, Woman, Other

56.   Long Way Down

57.   Little Women

58.   Animal Farm

59.   Harry Potter

60.   Everything, Everything

61.   Wuthering Heights

62.   We Were Liars

63.   The Last Wild

64.   The Art of Being Normal

65.   The Chronicles of Narnia

66.   Swallows and Amazons

67.   Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

68.   Half of A Yellow Sun

69.   Mythos

70.   Mortal Instruments

71.   Of Mice and Men

72.   The Bell Jar

73.   Becoming

74.   Alex Rider

75.   Dominicana

76.   The Ranger's Apprentice

77.   A Kind of Spark

78.   The Letter for the King

79.   Purple Hibiscus

80.   Julian is A Mermaid

81.   The Cruel Prince

82.   Milk and Honey

83.   Dear Evan Hanson

84.   Sherlock Holmes

85.   The Girl of Ink & Stars

86.   The Great Gatsby

87.   Cinderella is Dead

88.   The Bluest Eye

89.   Good Omens

90.   Murder on the Orient Express

91.   I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

92.   I am Malala

93.   Emma

94.   Punching the Air

95.   A Life on Our Planet

96.   Hood Feminism

97.   Do No Harm

98.   How to Be an Antiracist

99.   Five Feet Apart

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