One of the most commonly-asked questions that pops up on a weekly basis in our super-active Middle School ELA Teachers FB group is “What are your favorite books to teach?”
Another variation of that comes something like this: “What books do your middle school kiddos love?”
As English teachers, we live and breathe to see our students find a great-fit book to dive into.
What a healthy escape for entertainment, relaxation, thought-provoking discussion, and life-long dreaming!
That being said, I wanted to compile a collection of the books that teachers have recommended to each other repeatedly and consistently over the course of the year so you can skim through them and get some fantastic titles and authors to add to your own classroom collection.
Before we get to the (ever-growing) list, here’s how teachers are using books like these in their Middle School ELA classrooms right now:
- Independent choice / free time reading
- Small group literature circles or book clubs
- Whole-class reading experiences
- Campus library additions
- Classroom library additions
- Audio books and graphic novels
- First Chapter Fridays
- Mentor texts / mentor text sentences
Click Here for my entire Novel Study Task Pack {it’s FREE!} and I’ll send it over to you!
These books are listed in no particular order, and they represent a wide array of genres, themes, author backgrounds, and time periods (I am working to create a very user-friendly, searchable database of YA books, though, and I will update this when it’s ready).
Book/Novel List
- Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
- Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan
- Garvey’s Choice by Nikki Grimes
- Sylvia and Aki by Winifred Conkling
- The Tequila Worm by Viola Canales
- The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
- Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
- The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake
- Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
- Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
- Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins Forbes
- Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin
- Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage
- Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhhà Lai
- Coraline by Neil Gaiman
- Skellig by David Almond
- Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
- City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
- The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
- A Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
- Zach’s Lie by Roland Smith
- Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- Approach by Kate Roberts
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
- Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
- Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli
- Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
- War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
- Legend by Marie Lu
- Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
- One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
- Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
- The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
- The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
- Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
- The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- Restart by Gordon Korman
- Front Desk by Kelly Yang
- The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin
- Ghost Boys Jewell Parker Rhodes
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
- Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez
- Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
- Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt
- The Cage by Megan Shepherd
- Love that Dog by Sharon Creech
- The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson
- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Shadow Club and The Shadow Club Rising by Neal Shusterman
- Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
- City Spies by James Ponti
- Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo
- Ghost by Jason Reynolds
- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
- One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
- Scythe by Neil Shusterman
- Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
- Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
- Rebound, Solo, Swing by Kwame Alexander
- Monster by Walter Dean Myers
- Divergent by Veronica Roth
- Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
- The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
And of course, a little disclaimer:
Only you know what’s a best-fit book for your classroom library. We all live in different parts of the country (or world) which brings unique aspects of life into our book recommendations. I am by no means “officially recommending” any of these books. As a teacher, you must do your due diligence by deciding which books are or or are not a great fit for your classroom. I merely hope that this list can serve as a starting point and as a resource to help you get started on your own journey of what to include in your classroom library.
Need a resource for your students that’s PERFECT for pretty much any novel and that provides student choice while also supporting reading, comprehension, creativity, and analysis skills DURING the actual reading of the novel . . . and not just AFTER the novel is done?
Click Here for my entire Novel Study Task Pack {it’s FREE!} and I’ll send it over to you!
