Isaac Henderson spends three seasons at the edge of every group shot with his nose in a book, and the book changes almost every episode. It starts as a running joke. By season two the reading list is telling his story before he does, from Summer Bird Blue at the prom setup to Ace in the library afterward. Alice Oseman created the show from her own comics and still found room to put two of her novels in his hands.
Built on the lists The Geeky Waffle, Kobo and Meeghan reads kept first.
Drop a frame, get a number. The first 100 become Founding Sleuths.
Seen something in S1 E6? Drop the frame The first 100 become Founding Sleuths.
The first time we see Isaac, he's two books deep into Dune. The producers told Netflix the gag was always that he reads book 17 of some enormous series one day and something completely unrelated the next. Episode one is the enormous-series half of the joke.
Episode two trades desert politics for manga. Volume 72 is the last book of Naruto, the end of a 15-year, 700-chapter run, which means Isaac either read the previous 71 or skipped straight to the ending. Neither would surprise anyone who knows him.
By episode three he's reading a physics textbook for fun. It's the sequel to Leonard Susskind's 2013 bestseller The Theoretical Minimum, so Isaac read the first one too, and he is the only teenager in Kent who can say that.
Isaac sits on the sidelines of rugby practice reading Gareth Thomas's autobiography. The producers told Netflix they went looking for a rugby rulebook, couldn't find one, and landed on the memoir of a rugby legend who came out. Netflix's own article calls it incredibly pointed, and they're being polite.
Episode four is called Secret, and Isaac is reading Holly Jackson's YA thriller about a teenager who reopens a closed murder case in her small English town for a school project.
At the bowling alley Isaac holds Radio Silence, Alice Oseman's 2016 novel, and if you listen to the background you can hear him explaining the plot to Nick. The show's creator put her own book in the hands of a character she invented for the show.
Monopoly is on the table and Isaac has brought Jane Austen as a backup plan. Netflix calls him an Austen fan, which fits a guy who would rather watch the social maneuvering than take part in it.
Lunch, and Isaac is reading Juno Roche's interviews with young trans people. He's still at it in class afterward.
Sports day in the finale. Everybody else is racing. Isaac brought a handbook on saving the planet, which is the most Isaac way possible to participate in a field day.
Late in episode one Isaac is flipping through a YA thriller about two Black students at an elite private school who get targeted by an anonymous texter. Truham has its own anonymous-gossip problem. Isaac reads about it for fun.
Season two opens and the first thing Isaac picks up is a graphic novel about two girls in a small town who fall for each other and have no idea what to do about it. Last season's opener was Dune Messiah. Somebody in the writers' room decided the reading list was going to start saying things.
Episode two, and Isaac has moved on to a collection of Oscar Wilde's plays. Heartstopper puts Wilde in the hands of a teenager trying to figure out who he is, which is a tidy bit of casting.
Isaac starts We Are Okay in episode two and is still carrying it in episodes four and five, the longest he holds onto any book this season. For a guy who changes books like socks, that's a commitment.
Isaac switches to a rom-com. Season two is the one where everybody around him is pairing off, and he picks up a BookTok favorite to see what all the fuss is about.
Episode three, and Isaac is carrying a poetry collection under his arm through the school corridors. The poetry phase has started.
Group dinner at a Paris restaurant, and Isaac is reading The Awakening at the table. His friends are busy with their romantic subplots. He's reading about a woman who walks out of hers.
The group wanders Paris and Isaac has The Little Prince in hand, the most French book you can carry through France without it being a phrasebook.
The school trip to Paris, and Isaac packs the longest novel France has to offer for the ride over. Isaac starts in 1815.
Later on the Paris trip, Isaac gets to Camus. The book also turns up as his profile picture in the season-three group chat, so it stuck.
Tara's 16th birthday party, and Isaac brings a poetry book called Crush. At a party. The title is doing more talking than he does all episode.
Still in Paris, Isaac walks around reading Jules Verne, a French classic about a guy who treats Paris as a quick stop on the way somewhere else.
Episode six, Isaac walks the hotel halls with Meredith Russo's Birthday. It's also a hint about where the episode is headed, since Tara's birthday party is coming.
After the Louvre, back in the hotel room, Isaac is with Where's Wally. The guy who read Les Mis on the coach is allowed a picture book.
Elle's art opening, and Isaac brings Samra Habib's memoir. Isaac is the friend who shows up for your big night. He also brings a book to it.
The gang shops for prom outfits and Isaac shops with a memoir in hand. He's the only one who brought homework to the mall.
Back home after Paris, Isaac reads in his room and mostly ignores his phone. He's been left out of a lot this season, and the book he picks is about someone being told who he's allowed to be.
Isaac leaves prom, goes to the library, and finds Angela Chen's Ace. It's the book that names what he's been feeling all season, and the finale lets the cover do the talking.
The group decorates the school for prom and Isaac turns up carrying Summer Bird Blue. The narrator questions whether she's aromantic and asexual. Isaac's own big moment comes later that night.
At the beach in the season-three opener, Isaac reads Maia Kobabe's graphic memoir. After two seasons of figuring out who he is, he's opened with a book by someone who already wrote it down.
Season three opens with the gang walking to the beach and Isaac thumbing through a stack, Maggie Nelson on top.
Exam results day, and Isaac brings Emily Henry. He tried Book Lovers last season. He's back for more, which says something about a guy who isn't interested in romance for himself.
Nick's birthday trip to the zoo and Isaac brings a novel called The Loneliest Girl in the Universe. To a group outing. The title is a lot, even for him.
First assembly of the new school year, and Isaac is lost in a sci-fi novella. He keeps reading it for the rest of the day. The headteacher's speech never had a chance.
The Halloween party, and Isaac carries a hardback Emma. It may be part of a Regency costume, in which case he dressed as a Jane Austen reader and nailed it.
Charlie recommends The Song of Achilles by text in episode two. By episode four Isaac is reading it in the park and complaining to Charlie about how much it made him cry. Everybody who has read it saw that coming.
The friends sit on a blanket in the park cutting Darcy's hair and Isaac reads Akemi Dawn Bowman. That's his second Bowman, after Summer Bird Blue in season two. He's found an author.
New Year's Eve, and Isaac reads Piranesi at the party. There's always one guy reading at the party. On this show it's the same guy every time.
Christmas, and most of the friends are paired off. Isaac stays in with Jeanette Winterson and a hot chocolate. He looks happier than half the couples.
Season three, and Isaac is reading Malinda Lo's novel about a Chinese American girl in 1950s San Francisco who finds her way into a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.
Sex ed class, and Isaac is reading The Ethical Slut. He reads a book about relationships in the one lesson where it might get him in trouble, and he does it with a straight face.
The season finale at the school fete, and Isaac is reading Jandy Nelson. He ends the season the way he started the show, with a book open while the party happens around him.
Isaac reads Samantha Rendle's guide to aromanticism in study hall.
Isaac buys a stack of books at Shakespeare and Company in Paris, and Alice Oseman's Loveless ends up on his hotel bed.
