Literature List
for
Middle Grades
6–8
Revised July, 2001
Middle School Literature List
Science Fiction and Fantasy
994748XB
Alien Secrets. Klause, Annette
On the journey to the distant planet where her parents are working, twelve-year old Puck
befriends a troubled alien and becomes involved in a dangerous mystery involving a
precious artifact.
994750XB
Awake and Dreaming. Pearson, Kit
While living a miserable, poverty-stricken life with her young, irresponsible mother, nine-year-old
Theo dreams of belonging to a real family but finds a shadowy figure haunting her thoughts.
994760XB
Darkangel. Pierce, Meredith Ann
The servant girl, Ariel, must choose between her vampire master for his evil deeds or saving him
for the sake of his beauty and the spark of goodness she has seen in him.
994763XB
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm. Farmer, Nancy
In 2194 in Zimbabwe, General Matsika’s three children are kidnapped and put to work in a plastic
mine, while three mutant detectives use their special powers to search for them.
994765XB
Ella Enchanted. Levine, Gail Carson
In this novel based on the story of Cinderella, Ella struggles against the childhood curse that forces
her to obey any order given to her.
994766XB
Enders Game. Card, Orson Scott
In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race’s next attack, government agencies
breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. This is a tale of humanity as Enders struggles to grow up
into someone he can respect while living in a environments stripped of choices.
922826XB
Eva. Dickinson, Peter
After a terrible accident, a young girl wakes up to discover that she has been given the body of a
chi8mpanzee. How can her human brain reconcile with her ape brain given the way mankind has treated
other species?
994768XB
Galax-Arena. Rubinstein, Gillian
Kidnapped from an Australian train station, Joella, Peter, and Liane are taken on a rocket to the
Galax-arena, where children stolen fro Earth perform death-defying stunts for the amusement of the
inhabitant of the planet Vexak.
950708XB
Giver, The. Lowry, Lois
Newberry Winner
Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of
memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in
which he lives.
994770XB
Golden Compass, The. Pullman, Philip
Accompanied by her demon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other
kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North.
907135TR
Hare’s Choice. Hamley, Dennis
A hare killed by a car is found by two children who take it to school where they and their
classmates write stories about it—giving it both anew life and a choice to a make in the
afterworld.
994771XB
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Rowling, J.K.
Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny
proves his worth while attending Hogwarts’ School for Wizards and Witches.
842336XB
Hobbit, The. Tolkien, J.R.
The adventures of the well-to-do hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who lived happily in his comfortable
home until a wandering wizard granted his wish.
994935XB
Moorchild, The. McGraw, Eloise Jarvis
Feeling that she is neither fully human nor “Folk:, a changeling learns her true identity and
attempts to find the human child whose place she had been given.
994942XB
Sabriel. Nix, Garth
Sabriel, a daughter of the necromancer Abhorsen, must journey into the mysterious and magical
Old Kingdom to rescue her father from the land of the Dead.
994943 Shade’s Children. Nix, Garth
In a savage post nuclear world, four young fugitives attempt to overthrow the blood-thirsty rule of
the Overlords with the help of Shade, their mysterious mentor.
994945XB
Singularity. Sleator, William
Sixteen-year-old twins, Harry and Barry, stumble across a gateway to another universe, where a
distortion in time and space causes a dramatic change in their competitive relationship.
994976XB
Sirena. Napoli, Donna Jo
When the mermaid Sirena meets Philoctetes, Hercules’s friend, she falls in love. But the young
warrior must return home to fight the Trojan War and leave his magical love behind. Greek mythology
woven throughout.
994951XB
Thief, The. Turner, Megan
Gen flaunts his ingenuity as a thief and relishes the adventure which takes him to a remote temple
of the gods where he will attempt to steal a precious stone.
994961XB
Virtual War, The. Skurzynski, Gloria
In a future world where global contamination has necessitated limited human contact, three young
people with unique genetically-engineered abilities are teamed up to wage a war in virtual reality.
Middle School Literature List
Coming of Age / Decisions
994751XB
Belle Prater’s Boy. White, Ruth
When Woodrow’s mother suddenly disappears, he moves to his grandparent’s home in a small
Virginia town where he befriends his cousin Gypsy. Woodrow’s compassion and sense of fun guide Gypsy
to face her fear of dealing with the tragic circumstances of her father’s death.
100515TR
*Because of Winn Dixie. DiCamillo, Kate
This novel is a touching tribute to the power of canine love. Opal, the enchanting lead character
finds the dog terrorizing the local Winn Dixie store in her new home town of Naomi, Florida. She
immediately claims him as her own and instantly names him Winn Dixie. He charms and intrigues
everyone he meets with his wide smile, wagging tail, and wining sneeze. Win Dixie also helps Opal come
to grips with life in a new town and the sadness of her mother’s absence. A beautifully written first novel
that would be a great read-aloud, literature circle choice or writing catalyst. Opal is a ten-year-old but the
challenges that face her are ageless.
994757XB
Crash. Spinelli, Jerry
Seventh-grader John “Crash” Coogan has always been comfortable with his tough, aggressive
behavior, until his relationship with an unusual Quaker boy and his grandfather’s stroke make him consider
the meaning of friendship and the importance of family.
994773XB
Heaven. Johnson, Angela
Fourteen-year-old Marley’s seemingly perfect life in the small town of Heaven is disrupted when
she discovers that her father and mother are not her real parents.
994775XB
Holes. Sachar, Louis
Newberry Winner
As further evidence of his family’s bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative,
Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional cap in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a
treasure, and a new sense of himself.
100505TR
*Hope Was Here. Bauer, Joan
Bauer has created another compelling teenage central character that has the reader on her
side by the end of the first chapter. Hope is the best waitress “under the age of thirty” to
grace the counter of the Welcome Stairways Diner in Mulhoney, Wisconsin. Cheated by
the co-owner of their diner in Brooklyn, Hope and her aunt Addie are forced to move to
Wisconsin to help G.T. Stoop run his diner and run for mayor. Along the way they
become part of the town and take a stand against the corrupt city politics of the past. A
good read that moves as fast as Hope during the rush of lunch hour.
994783XB
Journey. MacLachlan, Patricia
Journey and his sister have been left with their grandparents. He tries to make sense of his
mother’s abandonment by looking through family photographs. By taking his own photographs, Journey
makes discoveries about his mother and his family.
994934XB
Make Lemonade. Wolf, Virginia Euwer
Saving money for college fourteen-year-old LaVaughn takes a job babysitting for Jolly, a proud
teenage mother with two children. Their unlikely alliance helps LaVaughn and Jolly find a path toward
maturity.
990770XB
Nothing But the Truth Avi
Ninth-grader Phillip Malloy can’t resist finding a way to irritate Miss Narwin, the English teacher
he blames for keeping him off the track team. So he decides to hum along with the daily audio-tape of the
“Star Spangled Banner,” in violation of school rules. Who would have thought the incident would escalate
into a national controversy?
914078XB
On My Honor. Bauer, Marion Dane
When he best friend drowns while they are both swimming in a treacherous river that they had
promised never to go near, Joel is devastated and terrified at having to tell both sets of parents the terrible
consequences of their disobedience.
930119XB
Shiloh. Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds
Newberry Winner
When he finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home, Marty tried to hid it from
his family and the dog’s real owner, a mean-spirited man known to shoot a deer out of season and to
mistreat his dogs.
101422XB
*Stargirl. pinelli, Jerry
In the genre of his novel Mania Magee, Spinelli has created female character so full of surprises,
that her deeds are those of legend. Is she the girl who brings her ukulele to school and sings Happy
Birthday to lucky celebrants during lunch? Or is she the girl who becomes a cheerleader and sets a
precedent by cheering for the other side? Is she the only adolescent who cares not whether she is cool?
Told from the viewpoint of the young mans who falls in love with her, this books\ answers some questions
but leaves the rest to history—or is it mystery? This book would be a great read-aloud, literature circle
choice or writing catalyst.
994960XB
Tangerine. Bloor, Edward
Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the
right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his
eyesight.
990774XB
Walk Two Moons. Creech, Sharon
Newberry Winner
After her mother leaves home suddenly, thirteen-year-old Sal and her grandparents take a car trip
retracing her mother’s route. Along the way, Sal recounts the story of her friend Phoebe, whose mother also
left.
996192TR
*Wanderer, The. Creech, Sharon.
This novel successfully uses Creech’s vehicle of traveling to learn something about oneself that
was so compelling in Walk Two Moons. Like Bloomability, the central character in The Wanderer
discovers herself through the voyage of the Wanderer from America to English. Sophie is to help her
adopted uncles and cousins sail the boat through difficult seas and teach them something along the way.
Her cousin Cody attempts to teach everyone juggling. Sophie decides to share the stories of her adopted
grandfather, Bompie. Sophie won’t admit where she heard the stories and refuses to acknowledge that she
is adopted. What is in the dark past that she refuses to confront? The reader and ;Sophie find out at the end
of the voyage. Great format that has the two journals and Sophie and Cody juxtaposed to reveal the story.
The book could appeal to both boys and girls.
100538TR
*Year Down Yonder, A. Peck, Richard.
Newberry Winner
This novel is a sequel to Peck’s Newberry Honor book, A Long Way from Chicago. The
recession of 1937 grips Mary Alice’s family: her bother Joey if forced to join the Civilian
Conservation Corps to plant trees in the west, her mom and dad loose their apartment and
Mary Alice must travel to Illinois to live with Grandma Dowdel. The novel weaves
together the same quirky, folksy vignettes that peppered the prequel, but in a way that
also illuminates the compassion and wisdom of Grandma Dowdel. This book won the
Newberry for this year. This work would be a great read-aloud and would provide many
writing connections.
Middle School Literature List
Social Issues
995546TR
*145th Street. Myers, Walter Dean
Myer’s latest work is a collection of short stories that reflect the flavor of this Harlem
neighborhood. Characters weave in and out of the stories, and by the end of the collection the reader
recognizes what it takes to survive, serve, fight and thrive through the conflicts that confront the residents
of 145th street. This is a great collection that made me laugh, cry and shiver with goose bumps. There
could be great writing tie-ins with this collection.
99749XB
Armageddon Summer. Yolen, Jane & Colville, Bruce
Fourteen-year-old Marina and sixteen-year-old Jed accompany their parents’ religious cult, the
Believers, to await the end of the world atop a remote mountain where they try to decide what they
themselves believe.
994753XB
Cages. Kehret, Peg
After losing an acting role and fighting with her alcoholic stepfather, Kit is arrested for shoplifting
and ordered to work at an animal shelter as part of her sentence.
994759XB
Dancing on the Edge Nolan, Han.
A young girl from a dysfunctional family created an alternative world for herself. Living in the
world nearly results in her death but ultimately leads her to reality.
994764XB
Earthshine. Nelson, Theresa.
Slim watches over her father, a disarmingly charismatic man, as his struggle with AIDS reaches its
climax.
862075TR
*Every Living Thing. Rylant, Cynthia.
This collection of short stories centers around the spirit of the animals we come into contact with
and how they help us create better lives for ourselves. The stories are short and very poignant. They do well
as read alouds, writing prompts and in literature circles. As an example, :The Stray” tells the story of Doris
and the puppy she finds cowering in the snow in her yard. Her family is very poor and hr father warns her
that the dog must go to the pound once the weather clears. Can Doris convince him t let her keep the dog?
994767XB
Freak the Mighty. Philbrick, W.R.
At the beginning of eighth grade, learning disabled Max and his new friend Freak, whose birth
defect has affected his body but not his brilliant mind, find that when they combine forces they make a
powerful team.
943336XB
Good Night Mr. Tom. Magorian, Michelle.
As WWII is about to begin, Willie Beach is sent from his abusive mother in London t live with a
gruff old man in the country. The friendship between the boy and the man provides the heart of this
memorable book.
994772XB
Harris and Me. Paulsen, Gary
Sent to live with relative on their farm because of his unhappy home life, an eleven-year-old city
boy meets his distant cousin Harris and is given an introduction to a hilarious new world.
994776XB
Honorable Prison, The. Jenkins, Lyll Becerra
Because of the moral stand taken by her father, a newspaper editor who has persistently attacked
the military dictator ruling their Latin American country, Marta and her family find themselves prisoners of
the government.
100058TR
*Joey Pigza Looses Control. Gantos, jack
In this sequel to Joey Pigza Swallows the Key, Gantos accurately portrays the internal pace of this
ADHD boy in his effort to reunite during summer vacation with his wayward dad. Dad has supposedly
“cleaned up” and wants to spend some quality time with Joey. Joey wears a medication patch for ADHD,
and has come to believe he can change his life. Dad falls off the wagon and encouraged Joey to “throw
away the crutch ” of his medication. What happens next is accurately and poignantly portrayed. This is a
great book for exploring self-doubt, special education issues and alcoholic family structures.
991933TR
*Joey Pigza Swallows the Key. Gantos, Jack
This is the original Joey Pigza book that tells the story of this brilliant ADHA student and how he
copes with his disability. In this book, Joey comes to the realization that he needs extra help. He is put in a
special education class and receives medication. There is one scene where Joey joins the teachers and his
mom for an intervention meeting. Before the meeting he had been unaware that he was such a “problem”
for them. Afterwards he comments that he thought he “had helped them” when they asked him to do special
work. He never dreamed they asked him to do this work because they wanted him out of their hair. This
novel is full of laughs and nods of recognition.
994937XB
Music of Dolphins, The. Hesse, Karen
After rescuing an adolescent girl from the sea, researchers learn she has been raised by dolphins
and attempt to rehabilitate her to the human world.
994956XB
Rifle, The. Paulsen, Gary
A priceless, handcrafted rifle, fired throughout the American Revolution, is passed down through
the years until it fires on a fateful Christmas Eve of 1994.
994962XB
Van Gogh Café, The. Rylant, Cynthia
The Van Gogh Café, located in Flowers, Kansas, has magic in its walls causing strange and
mysterious events to occur there.
994970XB
Yolanda’s Genius. Fenner, Carol
After moving from Chicago to Grand River, Michigan, fifth-grader Yolanda, big and strong for
her age, determines to prove that her younger brother is not a slow learner but a true musical genius.
Middle School Literature List
Mystery / Suspense
841877XB
Atlas, Babylon. Frank, Pat
This disturbing novel about what happens to the few survivors of a surprise nuclear attack, has
become a classic of nuclear apocalypse fiction.
922790XB
After the First Death. Cormier, Robert
Event of the hijacking of a bus of children by terrorists seeking the return of them homeland are
described from the perspectives of a hostage, a terrorist, an Army general involved in the rescue operation,
and his son, chosen as the go-between.
921407TR
Plague, The. Ure, Jean
Three teenagers attempt to survive on their own when a devastating plague sweeps London.
994941XB
Running Out of Time. Haddix, Margaret
When a diphtheria epidemic hits her 1840 village, thirteen-year-old Jessie discovers it is actually a
1995 tourist site under unseen observation by heartless scientists, and it’s up to Jessie to escape the village
and save the lives of dying children.
994947XB
Something Upstairs. Avi
A tale of ghosts located in a special place in the house and how they change the lives of those
living there. Theme relates to slavery.
990122TR
Terrorist, The. Cooney, Caroline
Sixteen-year-old Laura, an American living in London, tries to find the person responsible for the
death of her younger brother Billy, who has been killed by a terrorist bomb.
Middle School Literature List
Cultural Issues / Identity
994971XB
Baseball in April. Soto, Gary
A collection of eleven short stories focusing on the everyday adventures of Hispanic young people
growing up in Fresno, California.
100963TR
*Color of My Words, The. Joseph, Lynn
Written by a Hispanic poet, this novel of political unrest and the power of the word is beautifully
crafted. Ana Rose struggles to find her own voice in a country where writing the truth could signal treason.
Her brother Guario works as a waiter to keep his family in food and clothes. When the Dominican
government attempts to take the homes of the villagers so foreign investors can build resorts, Ana Rose, her
brother Guario and the whole village know they have a fight on their hands. This is a beautiful book that
weaves poetry into each chapter, and thoroughly examines the power of words to change the world.
101570TR
*Esperanza Rising. Ryan
This is a novel about literally and metaphorically rising up form despair and defeat. Esperanza
enjoys the life of a wealthy ranch owner’s daughter in Mexico until her enchanted life falls apart. She and
her mother are forced to immigrate to the United States and work as migrant farm workers. Esperanza
learns many hard-won lessons about life, expectation and the cycle of despair and hope. this novel is
written at about a fifth grade reading level but deals with mature themes such as union struggles and
awakening to responsibility before childhood has ended.
994978XB
Girl Named Disaster, A. Farmer, Nancy
While fleeing from Mozambique to Zimbabwe to escape an arranged marriage to an abusive man,
Nhamo, and eleven-year-old Shona girl, struggles to escape drowning and starvation and in so doing comes
close to the luminous world of the African spirits.
996191TR
*Homeless Bird. Whelan
Thirteen-year-old Koly is getting married, and, as is customary in India, knows only that her
husband-to-be is a sickly boy who may soon leave her a widow. This novel accurately and poignantly
portrays the dilemma of a young girl totally dependent upon the family structure of her husband’s family.
In a society that defines people by the grace with which they accept what seems to be inevitable, Koly
fights to survive and express herself through her art. This novel is poetic in its description of the beauty of
the India landscape and would fit well in a literature study group setting where the theme was survival.
994980XB
Lupita Manana. Beatty, Patricia
To help her poverty-stricken family, thirteen-year-old Lipita enters California as an illegal alien
and starts to work while constantly on the watch for immigration authorities.
931316XB
Maniac Magee. Spinelli, Jerry Newberry Winner
After his parents die, Jeffery Lionel Magee’s life becomes legendary, as he accomplishes athletic
and other feats which awe his contemporaries.
994981XB
Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida. Martinez, Victor
There is a strong voice in this novel as Manny comes of age in a clash of cultures, his life defined
by poverty in the turbulent hotbed of his proud Hispanic family.
100141LB
*Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets. Nye
This book contains a wide-ranging collection of poems written by students from 2 nd through 12th
grades. Moving, humorous, wild, adventurous and often emotional, these poems could be used as writing
starting points for any poetry unit. What better way to teach simile that the words of Christina Ramirez,
“My hair stinks like a dirty mop.?” Want to inspire Bio Poems that are more than a list of attributes? Use
the words of Jason Witherspoon, “I am …dust in a vacuum cleaner, a ball rolling inside of a hollow
doughnut, an armless Mickey mouse watch, a flay without a country…” This volume is well worth sharing
with the class and keeping for future inspired writing lessons.
994957XB
Seedfolks. Fleischman, Paul
One by one a number of people of varying ages and backgrounds transform a trash-filled innercity lot into a productive and beautiful garden, and in doing so, the gardeners transform themselves.
994958XB
Sees Behind Trees. Dorris, Michael
A Native American boy with a special gift to “see” beyond his poor eyesight journeys with an old
warrior to a land of mystery and beauty.
994959XB
A Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti. Temple, Francis
In the hospital after being beaten by Macoutes, seventeen-year-old Djo tells the story of his
impoverished life to a young woman who, like him, has been b\working with the social reformer Father
Aristide to fight the repression in Haiti.
994953XB
Thunder Cave. Smith, Roland
Determined, after his mother’s accidental death, to foil his stepfather’s plans for his future,
fourteen-year-old Jacob travels alone to Africa in search of his father, a biologist studying elephants in a
remote area of Kenya.
994954XB
Trouble’s Child. Walter, Mildred Pitts
Martha longs to leave her island home off the Louisiana coast and go to high school where she can
learn more than the wasy of her midwife grandmother and perhaps someday brodaden the lives of the
superstitious villagers.
994963XB
Under the Blood Red Sun. Salisbury, Graham
Tomikazu Nakaji’s biggest conecerns are baseball, homewok, and a local bully, until life with his
Japanese family in Hawaii h\changes drastically after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
994964XB
The Window. Dorris, Michael
When ten-year-old Rayona’s Native American mother enters a treatment facility, her estranged
father, a Black man, finally introduces her to his side of the family, who are not at all what she expected.
994965XB
Winter Camp. Hill, Kirkpatrick
In the sequel to Toughboy and Sister, a brother and sister learn to survive a harsh Alaskan winter
by relying upon their Athabascan heritage.
994969XB
Year of Impossible Goodbyes. Choi, Sook Nyul
A young Korean girl survives the oppressive Japanese and Russian occupation of North
Korea during the 1940’s to later escape to freedom in South Korea.
100305LB
*You Hear Me?: Poems and Writings by Teenage Boys. ed. Franco
Poems in this collection are powerful and raw. This book would be for teacher use only in middle
school because of graphic sex and violence. The poems are not to be missed for the authentic voice of
teenage boys that comes out loud and clear.
Middle School Literature List
Historical Fiction
838557TR
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Frank, Anne
The diary of a young Jewish girl who learns about herself, her family and love while in
hiding from the Nazis.
994972XB
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple. Cushman, Karen
In 1849, twelve-year-old California Morning Whipple, who renames herself Lucy, is distraught
when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a rough California mining town.
994974XB
Beyond the Burning Time. Lasky, Kathryn
When, in the winter of 1691, accusations of witchcraft surface in her small New England village,
twelve-year-old Mary Chase fights to save her mother from execution.
994973XB
Beyond the Divide. Lasky, Kathryn
A realistic depiction of a young Amish girl and her father who is shunned by his community and
decides to move west. Their journey is harrowing and depicts the extreme hardship of those moving west
by wagon train.
926770TR
The Big Lie. Leitner, Isabella
The author describes her experiences as a survivor of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz during
WWII.
994975XB
The Bomb. Taylor, Theodore
In 1945, when the Americans liberate the Bikini Atoll from the Japanese, fourteen-year-old Sorry
Rinamu does not realize that the next year he will lead a desperate effort of save his island home from a
much more deadly threat.
994976XB
Bound for Oregon. Van Leeuwen, Jean
A fictionalized account of the journey made by nine-year-old Mary Ellen Todd and her family
from their home in Arkansas westward over the Oregon Trail in 1852.
994555TR
*Bud Not Buddy. Curtis
This novel chronicles the travels of Bud Caldwell, ten-year-old orphan and philosopher, as he
searches for his father. His primary clue is a brochure advertising a blues band, the Dusky Devastators of
the Depression, which his mother left to him before she died Will the flyer lead him to his father? Will his
book Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of
Yourself, help him on his journey? This is a great novel to use in conjunction with a study of the great
depression. This novel also has wonderful writing tie-ins and has worked well as a read aloud.
932038LB
Bull Run. Fleischman, Paul
Northerners, Southerners, generals, couriers, dreaming boys, and worried sisters describe the
glory, the horror, the thrill and the disillusionment of the first battle of the Civil War.
994977XB
The Captive. Hansen, Joyce
When Kofi’s father, an Ashanti chief, is killed, Kofi is sold as a slave and ends up in
Massachusetts, where I\his fate is in the hands of Paul Cuffe, an African American shipbuilder who works
to return slaves to their homeland.
994754XB
Catherine, Called Birdy. Cushman, Karen
The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knit keeps a journal in which she records the
events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to
avoid being married off.
994755XB
The Cay. Taylor, Theodore
When the freighter on which they are traveling is torpedoed by a German submarine during
WWII, a twelve-year-old white boy, blinded by a blow on the head, and an old Black man are stranded on a
small desert island the Caribbean where the boy acquires a new kind of vision, courage, and love from his
old companion.
994756XB
Cezanne Pinto: A Memoir. Stolz, Mary
In his old age Cezanne Pinto recalls his youth as a slave on a Virginia plantation and his escape to
a new life in the North.
994758XB
Constance. Clapp, Patricia
A young girl’s diary reflects life in Plymouth Colony.
994761XB
The Devil’s Arithmetic. Yolen, Jane
Hannah opens the door during her family’s Passover celebration and finds herself in Poland in
1940. The Nazi soldiers are coming and Hannah tries to warn her family, but no one believes her. An
incredible novel providing an inside glimpse into the concentration camps of WWI and the courage of the
Jewish people.
994762XB
Dove and Sword. Garden, Nancy
This is the story of the Hundred Year’s War and great heroine, Joan of Arc. When Joan sets out to
lead an army against the English, her friend Gabrielle stays loyally by her side until the wrenching finish.
844738XB
The Endless Steppe. Hautzig, Esther
During WWII, when she was eleven years old, the author and her family were arrested in Poland
by the Russians as political enemies and exiled to Siberia.
881847XB
The Fighting Ground. Avi
Thirteen-year-old Jonathan goes off to fight in the Revolutionary War and discovers the real war is
being fought within himself.
994769XB
The Glory Field. Myers, Walter Dean
Follows a family’s two-hundred forty-one year history, from the capture of an African boy in the
1750’s through the lives of his descendents, as their dreams and circumstances lead them away from and
back to the small plot of land in South Carolina that they call the Glory Field.
842253XB
The Good Earth. Buck, Pearl
The story of a Chinese peasant and his struggle to overcome drought, flood and revolution in his
quest to acquire land.
943336XB
Good Night Mr. Tom. Magorian, Michelle
As WWII is about to begin, Willie Beach is sent from his abusive mother in London to live with a
gruff old man in the country. The friendship between the boy and the man provides the heart of this
memorable book.
994774XB
Hiroshima. Yep, Lawrence
Describe the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, particularly as it affect Sachi,
who becomes one of the Hiroshima Maidens.
881824XB
House of Sixty Fathers. Dejong, Meindert
Newberry Winner
Tien Pao becomes separated form his family as the Japanese invade China during WWII. He and
his pig link up with a group of American soldiers in this endearing Newberry Award Winner.
994780XB
Jar of Dreams. Uchida, Yoshiko
Eleven-year-old Rinko desperately wants to fit in and be like everyone else in Berkeley, California
in 1935. But until her Aunt Waka comes to visit, Rinko is ridiculed and made I\to feel different because
she is Japanese. As her aunt teaches her the old fashioned wisdom of Japan, Rinko comes to value her
heritage and her own strength and dreams.
994781XB
Jayhawker. Beatty, Patricia
In the early years of the Civil War, teenage Kansan farm boy Lije Tulley becomes a Jayhawker, an
abolitionist raider freeing slaves from the neighboring state of Missouri, and then goes undercover there as
a spy.
994782XB
Jip: His Story. Paterson, Katherine
While living on a Vermont poor farm during 1855 and 1856, Jip learns his identity and that of his
mother and comes to understand how he arrived at this place.
881855XB
Journey Home. Uchida Yoshiko
After their release from a WWII American concentration camp, a Japanese-American girl and her
family try to reconstruct their lives amidst strong anti-Japanese feeling which breed fear, distrust and
violence.
994784XB
Journey of the Sparrows. Buss, Fran Leeper
Maria and her brother and sister, Salvadoran refugees, are smuggled into the United States in
crates and try to eke out a living in Chicago with the help of a sympathetic family.
994785XB
Jump Ship to Freedom. Collier, James & Collier, Christopher
In 1787 a fourteen-year-old slave, anxious to buy freedom for himself and his other, escapes from
his dishonest master and tried to find help in cashing the soldier’s notes received by his father for fighting
in the Revolution.
852474LB
Legend Days. Highwater, Jamake
Amana, an eleven-year-old Northern Plains Indian, is abandoned in the wilderness when smallpox
devastates her tribe. She endures as a legend with courage and power, even as she witnesses the
disintegration of her people’s traditions.
9949928SB
Letters from Rifka. Hesse, Karen
In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles her family’s flight from Russia in 1919 and
her own experiences when she must be left in Belgium for a while when the other emigrate to America.
994929XB
Lily’s Crossing. Giff, Patricia Reilly
During a summer spent at Rockaway Beach in 1944, Lily’s friendship with a young Hungarian
refugee causes her to see the war and her own world differently.
842835XB
The Light in the Forest. Richter, Conrad
Johnny Butler was captured by the Indians when he was four years old. After eleven years of
Indian life he did not want to return to white society.
994930XB
The Matchlock Gun. Edmonds, Water Dumaux
In 1756, during the French and Indian War in upper New York state, ten-year-old Edward is
determined to protect his home and family with the ancient, and much too heavy, Spanish gun that his
father had given him before leaving home to fight the enemy.
994931XB
The Midwife’s Apprentice. Cushmann, Karen
Newberry Winner
In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in
spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented
heart, and a place in this world.
994932XB
Morning Girl. Dorris, Michael
Morning Girl, who loves the day, and her yonger brother Star Boy, h\who loves the night, take
turns describing their life on an island in pre-Columbian America; in Morning Girl’s last narrative, she
witness the arrival of the first Europeans to her world.
994933XB
Mr. Lincoln’s Drummer. Wisler, G. Clifton
Recounts the courageous exploits of Willie Johnston, an eleven-year-old Civil War drummer, who
became the youngest recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
994936XB
Mr. Tucket. Paulsen, Gary
In 1848, while on a wagon train headed for Oregon, fourteen-year-old Francis Tucket is kidnapped
by Pawnee Indian and then falls in with a one-armed trapper who teaches him how to live in the wild.
994938XB
Nightjohn. Paulsen, Gary
Twelve-year-old Sarny’s brutal life as a slave becomes even more dangerous when a newly
arrived offers to teach her how to read.
881839XB
The Night Journey. Lasky, Kathryn
A young girl ignores her parents’ wishes and persuades her great-grandmother to relate the story
of her escape from czarist Russia.
881838XB
North to Freedom. Holm, Anne
Having escaped from an eastern European concentration camp where he has spent most of his life,
a twelve-year-old boy struggles to cope with an entirely strange world as he fees northward to freedom in
Denmark.
911184XB
Number the Stars. Lowry. Lois
Newberry Winner
In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be
brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.
980035TR
Out of the Dust. Hesse, Karen
Newberry Winner
In sparse, free-floating verse, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo related the hardships of living on her
family’s wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression. Billy Jo experiences
unrelenting tragedy and begins to transcend it.
904897XB
Prairie Songs. Conrad, Pamela
Louisa learns much as her pioneer life on the Nebraska prairie is altered by the arrival of a new
doctor and his beautify tragically frail wife, Emmeline, who cannot adjust to her new life.
994940XB
The Ramsay Scallop. Temple, Frances
At the turn of the fourteenth century in England, fourteen-year-old Elenor finds her betrothal to an
ambitious lord’s son launching her on a memorable pilgrimage to far-off Spain.
891367XB
The Root Cellar. Lunn, Janet
For 12 year old Rose, the root cellar was a passage through which she could escape the present
and travel back in time to the 1860’s and the Civil War.
881789XB
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Coerr, Eleanor
Hospitalized with a dreaded atom bomb disease, Leukemia, a child in Hiroshima races against
time to fold one thousand paper cranes to verify the legend that by doing so a sick person will become
healthy.
994944XB
Sarny. Paulsen, Gary
Sequel to Nightjohn. Continues the adventures of Sarny, the slave girl Nightjohn taught to read,
through the aftermath of the Civil War, during which time she taught other blacks and lived a full life until
the age of 94.
920796XB
Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind. Staples, Suzanne
In a moving portrait of nomadic life in the Cholistan Desert along the India-Pakistan border, this
first person novel details the trials and choices of an eleven-year-old girl as she faces coming age and an
unwanted marriage in a traditional society.
875101XB
The Sign of the Beaver Speare, Elizabeth George
Left alone to guard the family’s wilderness home in eighteenth-century Maine, a boy is hardpressed to survive until local Indians agree to a trade. They will teach him their sills and in return he will
teach them how to read.
891831XB
Sing Down the Moon. O’Dell, Scott
This story is told through the eyes of a young Navaho girl as she sees the rich harvest in the
Canyon de Chelly in 1864 destroyed by Spanish slavers and the subsequent further destruction of her
homeland by white soldiers which forces the Navahos on a march to Fort Sumner.
842517XB
The Slave Dancer. Fox, Paula
Newberry Winner
A thirteen-year-old boy is kidnapped to play the fife on board a slave ship enroute to Africa from
New Orleans in 1840.
926631LB
The Snow Goose. Gallico, Paul
Against the backdrop of WWII, friendship develops between a lonely crippled painter and a
village girl, when together they minister to an injured snow goose.
891380XB
So Far From the Bamboo Grove. Watkins, Yoko
An exciting autobiography of a Japanese family living in North Korea who must fee for their lives
when the Chinese communists invade. The narrator is an eleven-year-old girl.
994949XB
Soldier’s Heart. Paulsen, Gary
Eager to enlist, fifteen-year-old Charley has a change of heart after experiencing both the physical
horrors and mental anguish of Civil War combat.
917189XB
Stepping of the Cracks. Hahn, Mary Downing
in 1944, while her brother is overseas fighting in WWII, eleven-year-old Margaret gets a new
view of the school bully Gordy when she finds him hiding his own brother, an army deserter, and decides
to help him.
983289TR
Stones in Water. Napoli, Donna Jo.
After being taken by German soldiers from a local movie theater along with other Italian boys
including his Jewish friend, Roberto is forced to work in Germany, escapes into the Ukrainian winter,
before desperately trying to make his way back home to Venice.
842543XB
Summer of My German Soldier. Greene, Bette
Sheltering an escaped German prisoner of war is the beginning of some shattering experiences for
a twelve-year-old Jewish girl in Arkansas.
994952XB
Titanic Crossing. Williams, Barbara
n 1912, thirteen-year-old Albert considers his younger sister a pest, but things change when they
travel with their mother and uncle aboard the Titanic and are caught up in its tragic sinking.
990772XB
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. Avi
A breath-taking seafaring adventure set in 1832, in which Charlotte, age 13, becomes involved in a
mutinous plot against the insane captain.
843397XB
Twenty and Ten. Bishop, Claire Huchet
Twenty French children under the care of Sister Gabriel decide to hide and protect ten Jewish
children during the German occupation.
994966XB
The Watsons Go the Birmingham—1963. Curtis, Christopher Paul
The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family
living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer
of 1963.
994967XB
Weasel. DeFelice, Cynthia
Alone in the frontier wilderness in the winter of 1839 while his father is recovering from an injury,
eleven-year-old Nathan runs afoul of the renegade killer known as Weasel and makes a surprising
discovery about the nature of revenge.
872276LB
When Daylight Comes. Howard, Ellen
After a slave uprising on an eighteenth century settlement in the Virgin Islands, a white girl held
prisoner by the rebels follows a slow passage to understanding of her captors and the hideousness of the
institution of slavery.
863794XB
The Whipping Boy. Fleishman, Sid
Newberry Winner
A bratty prince and his whipping boy have many rollicking adventures when they inadvertently
trade places after becoming involved with dangerous outlaws.
994968XB
With Every Drop of Blood. Collier, James & Collier, Christopher
A Southern boy finds himself captured by a Unions solder of about the same age.
Middle School Literature List
Adventure
994984XB
Death Walk. Morey, Walt
Rescued by trapper Mike Donovan following a sled crash in the Alaskan arctic, Joel
Rogers develops a deep bond with Mike, but disaster strikes in the form of two fugitives
on a murderous rampage.
994979XB
The Iceberg Hermit. Roth, Arthur J.
Shipwrecked in 1757 on an iceberg in the Arctic seas with only an orphaned polar cub for
companionship, seventeen-year-old Allan begins a seemingly hopeless struggle for survival.
882725XB
The Last Mission. Mazer, Harry
In 1944, Jack Raab, a fifteen-yea-old who dreams of being a hero, lies his way into the US Air
Force. He flies with 24 treacherous missions over Europe until, with Hitler near defeat, Jack’s plane is shot
down behind enemy lines. Taken prisoner and sent to a PWO camp, his experiences are more terrifying
than anything he could have imagined.
881840XB
Never Cry Wolf. Mowat, Farley
Mowat is dropped alone on the frozen tundra, where he begins his mission to live among the
howling wolf packs and study their ways. What he finds out challenges every traditional belief about
wolves.
994982XB
Rescue Josh McGuire. Mikaelsen, Ben
When thirteen-year-old Josh runs away to the mountains of Montana with a wild orphaned bear
cub destined for life in a zoo, they both must fight for their lives in a sudden snowstorm.
994983XB
Sparrow Hawk Red. Mikaelsen, Ben
Thirteen-year-old Ricky, the Mexican American son of a dormer Drug Enforcement Agency man,
tried to avenge his mother’s murder by crossing over into Mexico to steal a high-tech radar plane from drug
smugglers.
991080XB
Woodsong. Paulsen, Gary
Fro a rugged outdoor man and his family, life in northern Minnesota is a wild experience
involving wolves, deer, and the sled dogs that make their way of life possible. Includes an account of the
authors first Iditarod, a dogsled race across Alaska.