The History Boys
Alan Bennett
In a Sheffield grammar school in the 1980s, eight clever sixth-formers stay on to try for places at Oxford and Cambridge. Their eccentric teacher Hector loves poetry for its own sake, but the headmaster wants results, so he hires a sharp young teacher called Irwin with very different ideas.
- Length
- About 25,000 words
- To read it
- About 17 days
- Stage
- GCSE
Reading time at 1,500 words a day, the pace we start from until we know your child’s own.
Where it is taught
Why The History Boys is on the list
- Year 10, Stretch. A step up in length or difficulty, for a confident reader. AQA GCSE modern text until 2024.
- Year 11, Stretch. A step up in length or difficulty, for a confident reader. AQA GCSE modern text until 2024.
Reading it here
What your child does with it
- 1
Choose it and set a finish date
You get a suggested target from the length of the book and your child's reading pace.
- 2
Check in along the way
A longer book has short check-ins every week or two, so it keeps moving and nothing is forgotten.
- 3
Answer two questions
When they finish: a review of the book, and a deeper question about how it works.
- 4
Get it marked, and redraft
Every answer is marked against the rubric for their year, with a reason for every score.