Every summer, I get a few emails or texts from parents and students asking for book recommendations. I typically know these readers well, so I can fire off 5-10 book recommendations that I think their middle school readers will love. In hindsight though, I should be providing a list of best books for my students before the start of every school break.
With that, I decided to create this list for my blog. Not only did it help me brainstorm my favorite books, but hopefully it will help other teachers and readers find inspiration for creating their own list! You might be surprised to find out that even a few of your less-enthusiastic readers opted to read a few titles over break.
For any teacher or parent that is looking, here is my list of best books for middle school readers. Each of these books has been read or recommended by my students or I during the course of our time together:
Memoirs:
- The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence
- Obsessed: A Memoir of My Life with OCD by Allison Britz
- Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina by Misty Copeland
- Hidden Girl: The True Story of a Modern Day Child Slave by Shyima Hall and Lisa Wysocky
- I Got This: To Gold and Beyond by Laurie Hernandez
- The Red Bandana (Young Readers Adaptation) by Tom Rinaldi
- Chasing Space by Leland Melvin
- No Summit Out of Sight by Jordan Romero and Linda LeBlanc
- Ghosts of War: The True Story of a 19-Year-Old GI by Ryan Smithson
- Educated by Tara Westover
- I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb
Informational:
- Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different: True Tales of Amazing Boys Who Changed the World without Killing Dragons by Ben Brooks
- She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton
- Herstory: 50 Women and Girls Who Shook Up the World by Katherine Halligan
Fiction:
- Internment by Samira Ahmed
- Rebound by Kwame Alexander
- Booked by Kwame Alexander
- The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
- Posted by John David Anderson
- Wishtree by Katherine Applegate
- The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker
- Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings
- The Maze Runner Series by James Dashner
- If I Stay by Gayle Forman
- Focused by Alyson Gerber
- Space Case by Stuart Gibb
- Projekt 1065 by Alan Gratz
- Refugee by Alan Gratz
- The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
- The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm
- House Arrest by K.A. Holt
- Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly
- Restart by Gordon Korman
- The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
- Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
- Max the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
- Ghost by Jason Reynolds
- Patina by Jason Reynolds
- Sunny by Jason Reynolds
- Lu by Jason Reynolds
- Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings
- I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez
- Downsiders by Neal Schusterman
- The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
- When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
- Dear Martin by Nic Stone
- Smile by Raina Telgemeier
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
- On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
- The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draane
- Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks
- Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon
This list was generated from my conferencing notes based on what my students have read during the course of our year together. I find that my students are really thoughtful “recommenders” of texts, so I used their enthusiasm for these books to develop this growing list, which I can now post and share with students on Schoology or parents that contact me.
Grab the printable list below…
50 Best Books for Middle School Readers
More Best Book Lists:
My All-Time Favorite Books for 6th Graders
Diverse Books for Middle School
I hope you find some titles you have yet to read. Here is my Amazon affiliate link if you are looking to purchase any of the titles listed above. I would love to hear about any books your middle school students LOVED this year, so I can add to my classroom library and begin working on my list for next summer.
