Isaac's booklist: every book in Heartstopper
May we all find someone who looks at us the way Isaac Henderson looks at books.
Netflix's hit series Heartstopper is a heartfelt teenage romance and a love letter to queer friendship. It's also chock-full of books, which is pure delight for book lovers everywhere, since the show is based on the popular graphic novels by Alice Oseman. Everyone's favorite bookworm, Isaac Henderson (played by Tobie Donovan), is never without a book. He can be seen reading in just about every episode, whether he's sleeping over with friends, watching a rugby match, or at prom.
Isaac's taste is wonderfully eclectic. He reads everything from contemporary YA and manga to classic plays and 19th century novels. We've scoured every episode of the series to identify every book Isaac picks up.
Season 1
Dune Messiah
In the first episode of the series, while eating lunch with his pals Charlie and Tao, Isaac is deep into the second book in Herbert's classic sci-fi series.
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Naruto: Volume 72
In episode 2, during class, Isaac can be seen reading the final volume of this long-running and beloved manga series about a ninja on a mission. Volume 72 is actually the final volume of the series—although it seems unlikely that Isaac is going to run out of reading material anytime soon.
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Quantum Mechanics: The Theoretical Minimum
In episode 3, during a montage of the friend group texting back and forth, each in their respective bedrooms, Isaac is reading this nonfiction tome. This is such a classic Heartstopper moment—all his friends are looking at their phones, but Isaac is deep in the world of physics, only occasionally glancing at his notifications.
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A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
Many of the books in Heartstopper appear at lunch; it's one of the many lessons avid readers can learn from Isaac: never be caught without a book at mealtimes. In episode 4, once again at the group's preferred outdoor lunch table, he's reading the first book in Holly Jackson's YA crime/thriller series about a teenager who takes the investigation of an old murder case into her own hands.
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Proud: My Autobiography
In one of the most poignant book-related moments of the first season, Isaac is holding Proud, the autobiography of gay rugby player Gareth Thomas, while he watches Nick and Charlie play an important match in the rain. It's truly the perfect book for the moment, especially since rugby is one of the things that brought Nick and Charlie together.
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Pride and Prejudice
Every bookworm has an emotional support book, right? While playing monopoly at a sleepover with his friends, Isaac keeps his well-worn copy of Pride & Prejudice close by—just in case the game gets to be a bit too much, and he needs to escape into 19th century drama.
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Radio Silence
In episode 5, at Charlie's birthday bash at a bowling alley, Isaac is reading Oseman's second novel Radio Silence. It's not just a nod to the author of the books that inspired the show. Radio Silence is about Aled Last, a friend of Charlie's in the book who's replaced in the show by—you guessed it—Isaac!
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Gender Explorers: Our Stories of Growing Up Trans and Changing the World
Isaac goes through books at a rapid rate! In episode 7, at another lunch (as well as during class), he's perusing Juno Roche's poignant collection of interviews with trans youth and their families about their lives.
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There Is No Planet B: A Handbook for the Make or Break Years
In the Season 1 finale, the crew competes in the annual Truham School field day. Isaac, like book lovers everywhere, comes prepared for a day of sport with his latest read—an accessible guide to actions we can all take to address climate change.
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I Love This Part
Isaac is showing off his reading range from the get-go, because I Love This Part isn't the only book he reads in Episode 1. Later on in the episode, he's flipping through this fast-paced YA thriller about an anonymous texter that throws a high school into turmoil.
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Ace of Spades
Late in Episode 1, Isaac is flipping through this fast-paced YA thriller about an anonymous texter that throws a high school into turmoil.
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We Are Okay
This beautiful queer novel about grief, friendship, and growing up is one of the few that appears in multiple episodes. Isaac starts reading it in Episode 2, but he's also holding it in scenes in Episodes 4 and 5. Given his usual reading speed, maybe it's a favorite that he decides to reread.
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The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays
In Episode 2, Isaac sneaks in a little light reading with this collection of Oscar Wilde's plays.
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Night Sky with Exit Wounds
Blink and you'll miss the moment in Episode 3 where Isaac is walking around school with this iconic queer text, Ocean Vuong's debut poetry collection, tucked under his arm.
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Bi
While working on the school's Pride display with his potential love interest James, Isaac responds to James's question of "Have you read this one?" with a nod that screams "Of course!" The display itself is epic and includes a diverse array of LGBTQ+ books in many genres, including: Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon, My Shadow is Pink by Scott Stuart, I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver, Melissa (George) by Alex Gino, My Magic Family by Lotte Jeffs and Sharon Davey, All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson, 100 Queer Poems by Mary Jean Chan, The Kingdom of Sand by Andrew Holleran, When You Call My Name by Tucker Shaw.
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Book Lovers
Most of the books in Heartstopper aren't actually mentioned by name. This is one of the few exceptions—when his friend Tara asks him what he's reading, Isaac tells her he's reading Emily Henry's bestselling romance.
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Les Misérables
With his typical quiet flare, Isaac chooses to spend the bus ride from the UK to Paris for a school trip reading this classic French novel.
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The Little Prince
This is the book Isaac has with him while he and the gang are wandering through Paris—once again, he's on theme with the French literature.
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The Awakening
Isaac continues with his jaunt into classic literature with Chopin's 1899 novel, hailed as an early feminist work. He's reading during dinner at a Paris restaurant, once again proving that he's a bookworm prepared for every situation.
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The Outsider
Though the school trip to Paris is only a few days, Isaac manages to cram in a whole slew of French classics. Later in the trip, he's deep into this 1942 novel about the fallout of an act of violence in one man's life.
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Where’s Wally?: The Great Picture Hunt!
After an outing to the Louvre, Charlie, Nick, and Isaac spend a relaxing moment back at the hotel perusing a Where's Wally? (a.k.a. Where's Waldo?) book—maybe they're exhausted from all that art.
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The Swimming Pool Library
Charlie picks up this gay classic during the crew's trip to the iconic Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore in Paris—but we're pretty sure Isaac has read it.
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Loveless
Isaac doesn't practice any restraint while the group browses Shakespeare & Co. He's seen carrying a tottering stack of books while in the store, and just about all of them are spread out on his bed when they get back to the hotel. Alice Oseman's novel Loveless is the most prominent, but other books in his massive haul include: Pandora by Susan Stokes Chapman, The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel, The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think About Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth by A.O. Scott, Muse: Uncovering the Hidden Figures Behind Art History’s Masterpieces by Ruth Millington, Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World by Dr. Jacqui Lewis, and he tops the towering pile in his arms with Pax by Sara Pennypacker.
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Birthday
Isaac goes through quite a few books in Episode 6. Whether he's hanging out with the rest of the gang or wandering the halls of the hotel, he has a book in hand, starting with this unusual love story.
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Around the World in 80 Days
Despite having bought a huge pile of books at Shakespeare & Co., Isaac decides to read yet another 19th century classic, this one about a trip around the world, while walking around Paris in Episode 6.
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During Tara's 16th birthday party, while everyone else is drinking and playing spin the bottle, Isaac is reading this classic collection of gay poetry.
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Boy Erased
Isaac continues his tour of gay literature in Episode 7 with this memoir of a preacher's son who survived conversation therapy. He's reading it in his room while—once again—mostly ignoring texts from his friends (until a response is required, of course).
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All Boys Aren’t Blue
While out on the town with the gang, while everyone is looking for prom attire, Isaac is busy reading this recent memoir about Johnson's childhood and teenage years growing up Black and gay in the South.
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We Have Always Been Here
In Episode 7 (he's clearly in a memoir phase), Isaac brings this queer Muslim memoir with him to Elle's art opening.
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Summer Bird Blue
Always happy to help his friends, but never to be caught without a book, Isaac shows up to help decorate for the prom with this YA contemporary.
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Ace
In one of the most moving moments in the series, Isaac flees the prom in frustration, feeling like everyone else is having an experience he doesn't want. He goes to the one place he always feels like himself—the library—and picks up this modern classic about asexuality from the Pride Display he helped create.
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