I asked my reading, teaching, writing friends for a list of their top Middle School reads. Here’s what we came up with:
The Emerald Atlas (Books of Beginning)
My Side of the Mountain Trilogy
Bomb: The Race to Build–and Steal–the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon (Newbery Honor Book)
Ender’s Game Boxed Set I: Ender’s Game, Ender’s Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon
Fablehaven: The Complete Series
Cragbridge Hall, Book One: The Inventor’s Secret
Janitors (Janitors series Book 1)
Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin
Tennis Shoes Adventure Series (12 Book Series)
Anne of Green Gables Collection
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Secrets of Shakespeare’s Grave: The Shakespeare Mysteries, Book 1
The False Prince: Book 1 of the Ascendance Trilogy
As a mom, here’s what I want to know…
For sensitive readers, is there content in any of these titles we should be aware of?
Some of these titles are brand new to me. For this, I’m excited. So many books!
I haven’t read every book on this list. Some look interesting. But there are two for which I’d add a caution, both due to levels of violence :
Michael Vey series and Enders Game series. I love Ender series but I think it’s more YA to adult. Personally, I’d say 16 years old and older on those.
Oh, and books like Animal Farm, 1984, and To Kill a Mockingbird, while I don’t think they’re necessarily inappropriate for middle schoolers, I’m not sure all children that age have the emotional maturity or life experience to fully understand the books. I’ve found that when younger readers are exposed to books above their emotional comprehension level, the often find them “boring” and then refuse to give the book another chance when they get older. Some of my kids loved those books at age 12, others didn’t appreciate them until they were in high school.