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This is a list of books that I or my students recommend for middle school readers. Books are organized by genre. Asterisks denote books that are a challenging read for middle schoolers. Click on a genre below to jump to that section, or scroll through the entire list. Underlined titles link to student created websites about that title.
Mystery | Historical Fiction | Myth | Classics | War | Biography | Sports | Adventure | Science Fiction | Romance | Western | Contemporary Fiction | Fantasy
Mystery
- The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
- Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie
- Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
- *The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton*
- The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
- The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
- Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
- Whatever Happened to Janie? by Caroline B. Cooney
- The Voice on the Radio by Caroline B. Cooney
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Historical Fiction
- Ties that Bind, Ties that Break by Lensey Namioka
- Long Journey Home by Julius Lester
- The Eyes of the Amaryllis by Natalie Babbit
- Night to Remember by Walter Lord
- The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood
- Sing Down the Moon by Scott O'Dell
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
- Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
- Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
- Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff
- A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
- Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer
- Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Green
- Witness by Karen Hesse
- Goodnight Maman by Norma Fox Mazer
- White Lilacs by Carolyn Mayer
- The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
- Antartica: Escape from Disaster by Peter Lerangis
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Myth
- Waiting for Odysseus
- Mythology by Edith Hamiliton
- Gods, Heroes, and Men of Ancient Greece by W.H.D. Rouse
- Heroes, Gods and Monsters of Greek Myths by Bernard Evslin
- Adventures of Ulysses by Bernard Evslin
- The Names Upon the HarpIrish Myths and Legends by Marie Heaney
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Classics
- *David Copperfield by Charles Dickens*
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
- Gulliver's Travels by Johnathan Swift
- Huck Finn by Mark Twain
- Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
- The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- White Fang by Jack London
- *Pride and Prejudice* by Jane Austen
- The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
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War
- Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
- Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
- *All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Marie Remarque*
- *For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway*
- *The Red Badge of Courage by Steven Crane*
- A Boy at War by Harry Mazer
- A Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen
- My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier
- My Name is America: The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins by Walter Dean Myers
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Science Fiction
- *Brave New World by Aldous Huxley*
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
- Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
- Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
- The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
- *1984 by George Orwell*
- The Tripod Trilogy by John Christopher
- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
- The Star Wars Series by Various Authors
- The Star Trek Series by Various Authors
- *The Andromeda Strain* by Michael Crichton
- Eva by Peter Dickinson
- The Dechronization of Sam Magruder: A Novel by George Simpson
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Biography
- The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
- *Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther*
- Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank Gilbreth
- Sojourner Truth: Ain't I A Woman? by Patricia and Frederick McKissack
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Paul Piers
- The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
- Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy
- I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing Up in the Holocaust by Livia Bitton-Jackson
- No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War by Anita Lobel
- The Man Who Listens to Horses by Monty Roberts
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Sports
- Brian's Song by William Blinn
- Tangerine by Edward Bloor
- Night Hoops by Carl Deuker
- Danger Zone by David Klass
- A Whole New Ballgame: The Story of the All-American Girls Baseball League by Sue Macy
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Adventure
- Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
- Rascal by Sterling North
- Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
- Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss
- Sounder by William Armstong
- Guts by Gary Paulsen
- Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
- The My Side of the Mountain Trilogy by Jean Craighead George
- Bearstone by Will Hobbs
- Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt
- The Maze by Will Hobbs
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Romance
- Thwonk by Joan Bauer
- *Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen*
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Western
- The Coffin Quilt by Ann Rinaldi
- Our Only May Amelia
- Shane by Jack Schaefer
- True Grit by Charles Portis
- I Remember the Alamo by D. Anne Love
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Contemporary Fiction
- Freak, The Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
- Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech
- Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
- Holes by Louis Sachar
- Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- The Cay by Theodore Taylor
- Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt
- Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt
- Joey Pigza Loses Control
- Hope Was Here
- Hero Ain't Nothing But a Sandwich by Alice Childress
- Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
- My Darling, My Hamburg by Paul Zindel
- Rumblefish by S.E. Hinton
- Jumping off to Freedom by Anilu Bernardo
- The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
- Bloomability by Sharon Creech
- Whirligig by Paul Fleishman
- Silent to the Bone by E. L. Konigsburg
- The Girls by Amy Goldman Kass
- Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle
- Troubling a Star by Madeleine L'Engle
- The Young Unicorns by Madeleine L'Engle
- Meet the Austins by Madeleine L'Engle
- The Moon By Night by Madeleine L'Engle
- Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
- Izzy Willy-Nilly by Cynthia Voigt
- Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan
- The Pigman by Paul Zindel
- Hangin' Out with Cici by Francine Pascal
- Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt
- What Jamie Saw by Carolyn Colman
- A Series of Unfortunate Events Series by Lemony Snicket
- Wringer by Jerry Spinelli
- Missing Girls by Lois Metzger
- Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright
- *A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks*
- *Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks*
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Fantasy
- The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
- Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
- The Wish by Gail Carson Levine
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
- Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
- Dragonwings by Laurence Yep
- The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- Redwall by Brian Jacques
- The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
- Beauty by Robin McKinley
- Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley
- The Princess Bride by William Goldman
- Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher
- Earthly Astonishments by Marthe Jocelyn
- Watership Down by Richard Adams
- The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin
- Spindle's End by Robin McKinley
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
- Downsiders by Neal Shusterman
- Coraline by Neil Gaiman
- The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
- The Hero and The Crown by Robin McKinley
- Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix
- Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
- Artemis Fowl: The Artic Incident by Eoin Colfer
- The Chronicles of Narnia Series by C. S. Lewis
- The Golden Compass Trilogy by Phillip Pullman
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