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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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