Class Set Books For Year 8
Our Year 8 Class Set Collection features the 50 most popular and highly recommended titles for secondary school students. These books have been selected to engage, challenge, and inspire young readers while supporting their literacy development and critical thinking skills.
Why Choose Our Year 8 Class Sets?
✅ Top 50 Bestselling Titles – Carefully chosen to reflect what schools love the most.
✅ Exceptional Discounts – Competitive pricing to help schools stretch their budgets further.
✅ Fitted Plastic Jackets – Every book is protected for long-term use.
✅ Custom Orders Available – Can’t find what you need? We’ll source any title in print! Just email books@mbebooks.com for a same-day quote.
Showing 1–45 of 71 results
A Kestrel for a Knave
Life is tough and cheerless for Billy Casper, a troubled teenager growing up in the small Yorkshire mining town of Barnsley. Treated as a failure at school, and unhappy at home, Billy discovers a new passion in life when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk....
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 208
- MBE Code : 338
A Monster Calls
A Monster Calls is defined to be the bestselling novel about love, loss and hope from the twice Carnegie Medal-winning Patrick Ness, and even soon to be major motion picture. The character of Connor appears to have the same dream every single night, ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 236
- MBE Code : 119
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland
The Story of Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland includes the main character of Alice, a girl who mysteriously falls down a rabbit hole which uncovers an amazing dreamland world known as Wonderland. Here she experiences the most interesting, yet ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 144
- MBE Code : 157
All That It Ever Meant (Carnegie Shortlisted 2025)
'I'm going to tell you exactly how everything happened. Baba always says, Mati mwana'ngu, I love a good story but I don't have time for a long one, so make it short.'
When Mati and her two siblings travel from London to Zimbabwe with their ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 208
- MBE Code : 731
All The Pieces Of Me
Year 9 can be tough for everyone, but for Tally it feels even tougher. Everything seems to be changing as she and her friends get older. Make-up, boys, social media, GCSE prep - why is it all starting to feel so different?
Tally has always known ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 294
- MBE Code : 548
Animal Farm (Dyslexia Friendly)
Orwell's powerfully unnerving and enduring allegory of oppression and rebellion, brought to life for a new age of readers in a stunning dyslexia-friendly edition.
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others ...
When the ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 246
- MBE Code : 485
Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl
'In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart ...'
A deeply moving and unforgettable portrait of an ordinary and yet an extraordinary teenage girl.
First published over sixty years ago, Anne Frank's Diary of a Young...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 384
- MBE Code : 676
Away With Words
Gala and her dad, Jordi, have just moved from home in Cataluña to a town in Scotland, to live with Jordi’s boyfriend Ryan. Gala doesn’t speak much English, and feels lost, lonely and unable to be her usual funny self. Until she befriends ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 208
- MBE Code : 585
Black And British: A Short Essential History
When did Africans first come to Britain?Who are the well-dressed black children in Georgian paintings?Why did the American Civil War disrupt the Industrial Revolution?These and many other questions are answered in this essential introduction to 1800 ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 176
- MBE Code : 442
Black Brother, Black Brother
Donte wishes he were invisible. As one of the few black boys at his school, he feels as if he is constantly swimming in whiteness. Most of the students don't look like him. They don't like him either. Dubbed the 'Black Brother', Donte's teachers and ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 240
- MBE Code : 446
Blue Book Of Nebo (Carnegie Medal Winner)
Dylan was six when The End came, back in 2018: when the electricity went off for good, and the normal 21st-century world he knew disappeared. Now 14, he and his mam have survived in their isolated hilltop house above the village of Nebo in ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 160
- MBE Code : 574
Boy: Tales Of A Childhood
Boy is a funny, insightful and at times grotesque glimpse into the early life of Roald Dahl, one of the world's favourite authors. We discover his experiences of the English public school system, the idyllic paradise of summer holidays in Norway, ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 256
- MBE Code : 130
Boys Don’t Cry
You're waiting for the postman - he's bringing your A level results. University, a career as a journalist - a glittering future lies ahead. But when the doorbell rings it's your old girlfriend; and she's carrying a baby. Your baby.You're happy to ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 320
- MBE Code : 518
Brock
A bleakly poetic tale about one boy's determination to save a badger cub from the destructive hands of a local gang. When Nicky finds Jezbo and his gang digging up a badger set, there's not a lot he can do to save them. But one badger cub has escaped...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 72
- MBE Code : 694
Chinese Cinderella
Chinese Cinderella is an autobiography for children based on the bestselling Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah.
Jung-ling's family considers her bad luck because her mother died giving birth to her. They discriminate against her and make her feel ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 304
- MBE Code : 358
Coram Boy
Defined The Whitebread 2010 Book of the Year. Coram Boy is a haunting, yet captivating work of historical fiction for children. And will especially be loved towards fans of The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas and Goodnight Mr Tom. Plus, a great read for ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 368
- MBE Code : 244
Darkside
Imagine a place just beyond nightmare - a secret city where horrors haunt the streets. Take the wrong alley, turn the wrong corner, and you'll find that place: Darkside. It's wickedly dangerous and excitingly strange - and it could be the last place ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 308
- MBE Code : 432
Dracula: Oxford Playscripts
He is known as Nosferatu, the Undead.
He will always be able to find you.
He can walk through a door that is locked and he can change his shape.
One day he may look like a man but then the next he could change. Sometimes he may be a ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 128
- MBE Code : 199
Everything All At Once
A beautiful collection of poems about the highs and lows of one week in a secondary school, where everything happens all at once.
Winner of the CLiPPA poetry award.
Zooming in across our cast of characters, we share moments that span everything...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 120
- MBE Code : 755
Face
Face, is the startling debut novel created by the author Benjamin Zephaniah. Who tackles the moving and compelling story of the character, Martin. A young man whose life is completely ruined through the changing of his face, due to himself being ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 208
- MBE Code : 184
Foxlight
Fen and Rey were found curled up small and tight in the fiery fur of the foxes at the very edge of the wildlands. Fen is loud and fierce and free. She feels a connection to foxes and a calling from the wild that she's desperate to return to. Rey is ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 288
- MBE Code : 666
Frankenstein: Oxford Playscripts
This engaging and orientated classroom play script of Frankenstein includes the famous storyline of a young man who thinks he can change the world, by creating better and improved human beings. But instead creates a living monster, who has a mind of ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 80
- MBE Code : 181
Ghost Boys
A heartbreaking and powerful story about a black boy killed by a white police officer, drawing connections with real-life history, from award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes.
ALIVETwelve-year-old Jerome doesn't get into trouble. He goes to ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 214
- MBE Code : 315
Home Girl
This isn't my home. Haven't had a proper home since...This is just somewhere I'll be resting my bones for a week and maybe a bit. This time next year you'll forget who I am. I haven't got a diddly where I'll be by then. But I'm used to it'
New ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 288
- MBE Code : 383
I Am Malala
Winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize
When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley, one girl fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday, 9 October 2012, she almost paid the ultimate price when she was shot in the head at point-blank ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 304
- MBE Code : 346
I Am The Minotaur (Super-Readable Rollercoasters)
Matthew is 14 and is struggling to fit in - something that's extra hard when you're taking care of your mum, being bullied at school, and have earned the nickname Stinky Mog because of your poor personal hygiene. On top of all that, he wants to catch...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 136
- MBE Code : 686
I Must Betray You
Trapped by an evil dictatorship, will Cristian be forced to betray his family or will he risk everything he loves to resist? A bestselling YA thriller based on real events, from a prizewinning author.
Cristian has lived his entire life in the ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 320
- MBE Code : 523
I’m The King Of The Castle
‘I didn’t want you to come here.’ So says the note that the boy Edmund Hooper passes to Charles Kingshaw upon his arrival at Warings. But young Kingshaw and his mother have come to live with Hooper and his father in the ugly, isolated Victorian...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 226
- MBE Code : 131
In the Sea there are Crocodiles
One night before putting him to bed, Enaiatollah's mother tells him three things: don't use drugs or weapons, don't cheat, don't steal. The next day he wakes up to find she isn't there. Ten-year-old Enaiatollah is left alone at the border of Pakistan...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 224
- MBE Code : 395
Keedie
As Keedie and her twin Nina approach their fourteenth birthday, they seem to only be growing further apart. Keedie instead feels drawn to, and fiercely protective of, their quiet younger sister Addie – who on the surface is the opposite of loud and...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 192
- MBE Code : 615
King Of Nothing (Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice 2025)
ANTON AND HIS FRIENDS ARE THE KINGS OF YEAR 9.
They're used to ruling the school and Anton wears the crown. The other kids run away when he's about but that's the way he wants it - he's got a reputation to live up to after all.
So when he gets ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 310
- MBE Code : 719
King Of Shadows
I lay very still, with all my senses telling me that I had gone mad. The plague? Nobody's had the plague for centuries . . .Nathan Field, a talented young actor, arrives at the newly rebuilt Globe Theatre in London to play Puck in A Midsummer Night's...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 256
- MBE Code : 224
Lark (Carnegie Medal Winner)
Carnegie winner 2020
The shattering climax to the sequence that started with Brock. Nicky and Kenny have saved all sorts of animals. But will they be able to save themselves? Things are tense at home for the brothers. Their mum’s coming to ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 110
- MBE Code : 424
Look Both Ways (Carnegie Medal Winner)
When the bell rings and school is finished for the day, the walkers are finally set free. For ten blocks they have no-one telling them what to do; they can talk about bogies, skateboard, plan dramatic escapes, make jokes, face bullies, and hear about...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 200
- MBE Code : 641
Looking For JJ
An emotionally searing novel that will grip every reader from start to finish. The storyline of Looking For JJ explores the circumstances and motives behind the murder of a child, which was done by her own friend.
Now six years on, JJ has been ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 300
- MBE Code : 176
Maggot Moon
Winner of the Carnegie Medal and a 2012 Costa Award winner.
Narrated against the backdrop of a ruthless regime determined to beat its enemies in the race to the moon, Maggot Moon is the astonishing new novel from award-winning author Sally ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 304
- MBE Code : 356
Mortal Engines
MORTAL ENGINES launched Philip Reeve's brilliantly-imagined creation, the world of the Traction Era, where mobile cities fight for survival in a post-apocalyptic future.The first instalment introduces young apprentice Tom Natsworthy and the murderous...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 320
- MBE Code : 309
My Sister Lives On The Mantelpiece
My Sister Lives On The Mantelpiece, is based around the time of five years ago, when Jamie’s sister, Rose, was blown up by a terrorist bomb. And as an act of grief, the family were torn apart.
His mum ran away,
His dad turns to drink and ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 234
- MBE Code : 201
Northern Lights: His Dark Materials
The first volume in Philip Pullman's groundbreaking His Dark Materials trilogy, now a thrilling, critically acclaimed BBC/HBO television series. First published in 1995, and acclaimed as a modern masterpiece, this first book in the series won the ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 448
- MBE Code : 344
Noughts And Crosses
Sephy and Callum have been friends since early childhood, and that's as far as it can go. They live in a society full of prejudice, racism, distrust and mounting terrorist violence. Despite the world being against them, a romance builds between the ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 496
- MBE Code : 216
Noughts And Crosses: Oxford Playscripts
Dominic Cooke's acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation of the bestselling novel by Malorie Blackman. First performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2007.
Two young people are forced to make a stand in this thought-provoking look at ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 136
- MBE Code : 333
Nowhere on Earth
It starts with a plane crash.
There are survivors: a teenage girl and her little brother. They are running from something. But what?
Then the men arrive. They are hunting the girl and boy. And-
And that's all we can tell you ...
A ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 352
- MBE Code : 419
October, October (Carnegie Medal Winner)
A classic in the making for anyone who ever longed to be WILD.October and her dad live in the woods. They know the trees and the rocks and the lake and stars like best friends. They live in the woods and they are wild. And that's the way it is.Until ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 292
- MBE Code : 451
Pig Heart Boy
This thirteen-year-old just wants to live a normal life, like every other thirteen-year-old kid he knows. But most normal kids don't need a heart transplant…
So, a doctor has been discovered and he says that there is a chance for him to live a ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 256
- MBE Code : 262
Pike
A fishing expedition nosedives into near tragedy in this second addition to the Truth of Things series.
Nicky and Kenny return in Pike as a fishing expedition nosedives into near tragedy. The Bacon Pond is famous for its monster-sized fish and ...
- Book Cover : Paperback
- Number Of Pages : 136
- MBE Code : 693