Middle School Summer Reading ListUnpublished

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"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug. So begins one of the best-loved children's classics, Little Women. Coming of age in the North during the Civil War, the March sisters--Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy--experience great joy and tragic loss while becoming...

Series streaming now on Disney+, with executive producers including NBA great LeBron James! The Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning middle grade bestseller! Basketball and heartache share the court in this slam-dunk novel in verse. "With a bolt of lightning on my...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The true story of an all-American girl, a boy from Zimbabwe, and the letter that changed both of their lives forever. It started as an assignment. Caitlin had never even heard of Zimbabwe when everyone in her class was told to...

Return to the American Revolution in this blistering conclusion to the middle grade Seeds of America trilogy. As the Revolutionary War rages on, Isabel and Curzon have narrowly escaped Valley Forge--but their relief is short-lived. Before long they are reported as runaways, and...

In this first book of an epic middle grade series, Katherine Applegate takes us on an unforgettable journey. A New York Times bestseller from the beloved author of the action-packed Animorphs series and the award-winning The One and Only Ivan. Byx is the youngest member of...

This stunning debut novel about grief and wonder was an instant New York Times bestseller and captured widespread critical acclaim, including selection as a 2015 National Book Award finalist! After her best friend dies in a drowning accident, Suzy is...

NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD WINNER A SYDNEY TAYLOR MIDDLE GRADE HONOR BOOK Like Ruta Sepetys for middle grade, Anne Blankman pens a poignant and timeless story of friendship that twines together moments in underexplored history. On a spring morning, neighbors...

After losing her parents, young Mary Lennox is sent from India to live in her uncle's gloomy mansion on the wild English moors. She is lonely and has no one to play with, but one day she learns of a secret garden somewhere in the grounds that no one is allowed to enter. Then Mary uncovers an old key...

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams. Although they are often labeled "quiet," it is to...

A tender and compelling contemporary novel for young readers about facing loss and finding friendship, from Ally Condie, international bestselling author of the Matched series. Nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for the 2017 Edgar Award   "Kids are...

Winner of the Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Author Award, and Kirkus Prize for Young Readers' Literature!  Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Gene Luen Yang, New Kid is a timely, honest graphic novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low...

A 2016 National Book Award Finalist! As featured on The Today Show's Read with Jenna Jr. Book Club Two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo returns to her roots with a moving, masterful story of an unforgettable summer friendship. Raymie...

A New York Times bestseller for three years and counting! "A gutsy, candid, and compelling story. It speaks volumes." --School Library Journal (starred review) "Unflinching and realistic." --KirkusReviews (starred...

In 1848 Vermont, railroad foreman Phineas Gage sat above a hole, preparing to blast through some granite. A 13-pound iron rod fell from his hands into the hole, triggering the explosion and sending the rod straight through Phineas' head. Thirty minutes after this terrible accident, Phineas sat on...

From the acclaimed author of The Great and Only Barnum-as well as The Lincolns, Our Eleanor, and Ben Franklin's Almanac-comes the thrilling story of America's most celebrated flyer, Amelia Earhart. In alternating chapters, Fleming deftly moves readers back and forth...

A timeless American classic and one of the most beloved children's books ever written, Old Yeller is a Newbery Honor Book that explores the poignant and unforgettable bond between a boy and the stray dog who becomes his loyal friend. When his father sets out on a cattle drive toward Kansas...

A timeless American classic and one of the most beloved children's books ever written, Old Yeller is a Newbery Honor Book that explores the poignant and unforgettable bond between a boy and the stray dog who becomes his loyal friend. When his father sets out on a cattle drive toward Kansas...

Can you find your way out of what James Patterson calls the "coolest library in the world"? Join gamer-fan Kyle Keeley as he competes in the escape game of a lifetime!   From the coauthor of I Funny and Max Einstein--and with 100+ weeks on the the New...

Can you find your way out of what James Patterson calls the "coolest library in the world"? Join gamer-fan Kyle Keeley as he competes in the escape game of a lifetime!   From the coauthor of I Funny and Max Einstein--and with 100+ weeks on the the New...

With more than 1.5 million books sold, the Baseball Card Adventures series brings the greatest players in history to life! Joe "Stosh" Stoshack has an incredible ability. He can travel through time using baseball cards. But the FBI has learned of his talent, and now they have...

Around her the workers were screaming out prayers and curses.... She herself was sobbing tearlessly.... Her only prayer was still, "I don't want to die." Oh, please, God, don't let me die, she thought. I've never even had a chance to live. Bella, newly arrived in New...

Now a major motion picture, Kon-Tiki is the record of Thor Heyerdahl's astonishing three-month voyage across the Pacific. Kon-Tiki is the record of an astonishing adventure across the Pacific Ocean. Intrigued by Polynesian folklore, biologist Thor Heyerdahl...

Now a major motion picture, Kon-Tiki is the record of Thor Heyerdahl's astonishing three-month voyage across the Pacific. Kon-Tiki is the record of an astonishing adventure across the Pacific Ocean. Intrigued by Polynesian folklore, biologist Thor Heyerdahl...

In Jennifer L. Holm's New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor winning middle grade historical fiction novel, life isn't like the movies. But then again, 11-year-old Turtle is no Shirley Temple She's smart and tough and has seen enough of the world not to expect a Hollywood ending....

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER AND NEWBERY HONOR BOOK ● Before Rosa Parks, there was 15-year-old Claudette Colvin. Read the first in-depth account of an important yet largely unknown civil rights figure in this multi-award winning, mega-selling biography from the incomparable Phillip Hoose.<...

A New York Times Bestseller . An emotionally-charged, uplifting novel that will speak to anyone who's ever thought there was something wrong with them because they didn't fit in. "Fans of R.J. Palacio's Wonder will appreciate this feel-good story of friendship...

The debut book in the New York Times bestselling Contract series, The Contract is a middle grade baseball novel inspired by the youth of legendary sports icon and role model Derek Jeter. As a young boy, Derek Jeter dreams of being the shortstop for the New York...

Presents the stories behind forty things that were invented or named by accident, including aspirin, X-rays, frisbees, silly putty, and velcro.

A Washington Post Best Children's Book of 2017 "For inspiring empathy in young readers, you can't get better than this book." --R. J. Palacio, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Wonder "Amina's anxieties are entirely relatable, but it's her sweet...

One lie snowballs into a full-blown double life in this irresistible story about an aspiring stand-up comedian. On the outside, Yumi Chung suffers from #shygirlproblems, a perm-gone-wrong, and kids calling her "Yu-MEAT" because she smells like her family's Korean barbecue...

An all-new, mesmerizing adventure from the masterful Gordon Korman!Is it a gift . . . or is it a curse? Jax Opus can use his color-changing eyes to make people do things they don't want to do. (Only his color-blind best friend, Tommy, seems immune.) At first, Jax doesn't know what he's doing --...

Pop delivers suspense, humor, sports action, and a compelling look at the damage those "pop"s in football can cause Gordon Korman's books appeal to a wide range of kids and adults and can pull in even reluctant readers. Share Pop in your home or classroom; sports fans in particular won't...

Inside Out and Back Again is a #1 New York Times bestseller, a Newbery Honor Book, and a winner of the National Book Award! Inspired by the author's childhood experience as a refugee--fleeing Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon and immigrating to Alabama--this coming-of-age debut novel told...

"Much like The Boy In the Striped Pajamas or The Book Thief," this remarkable memoir from Leon Leyson, one of the youngest children to survive the Holocaust on Oskar Schindler's list, "brings to readers a story of bravery and the fight for a chance to live" (VOYA). ...

The #1 Bestseller!   Michael Arroyo has a pitching arm that throws serious heat along with aspirations of leading his team all the way to the Little League World Series. But his firepower is nothing compared to the heat Michael faces in his day-to-day life. Newly orphaned...

Take a lively look at women's history from aboard a bicycle, which granted females the freedom of mobility and helped empower women's liberation. Through vintage photographs, advertisements, cartoons, and songs,Wheels of Changetransports young readers to bygone eras to see how women used the...

Green-growing secrets and powerful magic await you at Misselthwaite Manor, now reimagined in this bewitching graphic novel adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's beloved tale. From Mariah Marsden, author of the critically acclaimed Anne of Green Gables: A...

A New York Times Bestseller! Rose Howard is obsessed with homonyms. She's thrilled that her own name is a homonym, and she purposely gave her dog Rain a name with two homonyms (Reign, Rein), which, according to Rose's rules of homonyms, is very special. Not everyone...

Anne is a young orphan who finally finds a home at Green Gables, but it's not exactly smooth sailing. Anne always seems to find herself getting into scrapes! This easy-to-read adaptation of L.M. Montgomery's classic is guaranteed to hook beginning readers not yet ready to tackle the original.

Anne is a young orphan who finally finds a home at Green Gables, but it's not exactly smooth sailing. Anne always seems to find herself getting into scrapes! This easy-to-read adaptation of L.M. Montgomery's classic is guaranteed to hook beginning readers not yet ready to tackle the original.

Anne is a young orphan who finally finds a home at Green Gables, but it's not exactly smooth sailing. Anne always seems to find herself getting into scrapes! This easy-to-read adaptation of L.M. Montgomery's classic is guaranteed to hook beginning readers not yet ready to tackle the original.

A spellbinding tale of survival and self-discovery from award-winning author Michael Morpurgo, who is poised for breakthrough U.S. success. When Michael's parents lose their jobs, they buy a boat and decide to sail around the world with their son and their beloved dog. It's an...

A spellbinding tale of survival and self-discovery from award-winning author Michael Morpurgo, who is poised for breakthrough U.S. success. When Michael's parents lose their jobs, they buy a boat and decide to sail around the world with their son and their beloved dog. It's an...

Powerful and riveting, this Newbery Honor-winning narrative describes the illness known as yellow fever, the toll it took on the nation's capital--and the eventual triumph over the disease. Long before Covid and the West Nile virus, yellow fever was a medical mystery that forced thousands...

The Newbery Medal-winning tale of an orphan boy whose dream of becoming a master potter leads to unforeseen adventure in ancient Korea. Tree-ear is an orphan boy in a 12th-century Korean village renowned for its ceramics. When he accidentally breaks a delicate piece of pottery, he...

A New York Times bestseller! "Don't miss this dazzling tour de force."--Katherine Applegate, Newbery Medal winning author of The One and Only Ivan This gripping novel about survival and family is based on the real story of one wolf's incredible journey to find a safe place to...

Newbery Honor recipient Margi Preus tells the incredible true story of a group of French teenagers who helped save refugees in WWII Based on the true story of the French villagers in WWII who saved thousands of Jews, this novel tells how a group of young teenagers stood up for what is right. Among...

For readers of The Boy Who Dared and Prisoner B-3087, a collection of unforgettable true stories of children hidden away during World War II.Jaap Sitters was only eight years old when his mother cut the yellow stars off his clothes and sent him, alone, on a fifteen-mile walk to hide...

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection! From award-winning and bestselling author, Jewell Parker Rhodes comes a powerful coming-of-age story about two brothers, one who presents as white, the other as black, and the complex ways in which they are...

A modern classic for our time and for all time--this beloved, award-winning bestseller resonates with fresh meaning for each new generation. Perfect for fans of Kate DiCamillo, Christopher Paul Curtis, and Rita Williams-Garcia. Esperanza Rising joins the Scholastic...

While Americans fought for freedom and democracy abroad, fear and suspicion towards Japanese Americans swept the country after Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Culling information from extensive, previously unpublished interviews and oral histories with Japanese American survivors of...

In this unforgettable, gently humorous novel, New York Times bestselling, award-winning author Gary D. Schmidt tells two poignant, linked stories: that of a grieving girl and a boy trying to escape his violent past. Meryl Lee Kowalski is sent to a girls' boarding school in fall...

In this riveting novel, two boys discover the true meaning of family and the sacrifices it requires. Two-time Newbery Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt delivers the shattering story of Joseph, a father at thirteen, who has never seen his daughter, Jupiter. After spending time in a...

Perfect for middle grade readers and history enthusiasts, New York Times bestselling author Steve Sheinkin presents the fascinating and frightening true story of the creation behind the most destructive force that birthed the arms race and the Cold War in Bomb: The Race...

Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War is New York Times bestselling author Steve Sheinkin's award-winning nonfiction account of an ordinary man who wielded the most dangerous weapon: the truth. "Easily the best study of the...

New York Times bestselling author, Newbery Honor recipient, and National Book Award finalist Steve Sheinkin presents both the heroism and the treachery of one of the Revolutionary War's most infamous players in his biography of Benedict Arnold. Winner of the...

From New York Times bestselling Shel Silverstein, celebrated creator of Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, and Falling Up, comes an amazing collection of never-before-published poems and drawings. Have you ever read a book with everything on it? Well, here it is! You will say...

Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that "the longitude problem" was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day–and had been for centuries.The quest for a solution has occupied scientists for the better part of two centuries when, in 1714, England's Parliament upped the...

Winner of the 2021 Kirkus Prize for Young People's Literature A 2021 Newbery Honor Book A 2021 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book A 2021 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist A 2021 Orbis Pictus Honor Book A unique account...

This edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic is illustrated with 48 paintings by noted artist Michael Hague. Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed...

This edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic is illustrated with 48 paintings by noted artist Michael Hague. Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed...

The story of a formative year in 12-year-old Franny Chapman's life, and the life of a nation facing the threat of nuclear war.Franny Chapman just wants some peace. But that's hard to get when her best friend is feuding with her, her sister has disappeared, and her uncle is fighting an old war in his...

A New York Times Bestseller and National Book Award Winner Jacqueline Woodson, the acclaimed author of Red at the Bone, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse.   Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt...