I’d Rather Be Reading

Middle School Reads

• Kit's Wilderness.  Almond, David.  Delacorte.
  The past is alive in the present and creeps into the future.
  
  
• The Concrete Wave: The History of Skateboarding.  Brooke, Michael.  Warwick.
  Real-life stories.
  
  
• Throwing Smoke.  Brooks, Bruce.  Laura Geringer.
  Co-captain Whiz, with Frankenstein-style meddling, finds a way to have a winning team.
  
  
• Aria of the Sea.  Calhoun, Dia.  Winslow.
  13 year old Cerinthe is a folk healer who dreams of being a dancer.
  
  
• Matilda Bone.  Cushman, Karen.  Clarion.
  In Blood and Bone Alley, Matilda is apprenticed to Red Peg the Bonesetter.
  
  
• Joey Pigza Loses Control.  Gantos, Jack.  Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
  Joey finally meets his dad and he’s wired. “…Now I knew what Mom meant when she said he was like me, only bigger.”
  
  
• Out of the Dust.  Hesse, Karen.  Scholastic.
  A terrible accident transforms Billie Jo’s life, scaring her inside and out.
  
  
• Red Scarf Girl: a Memoir of the Cultural Revolution.  Jiang, Ji-li.  HarperTrophy.
  Ji-li’s family faces total humiliation under Mao’s regime.
  
  
• Heaven.  Johnson, Angela.  Aladdin.
  Marley finds out who her father is. Truth often brings change.
  
  
• Gathering Blue.  Lowry, Lois.  Houghton Mifflin.
  Kira, orphaned and shunned because of a physical flaw, is blessed with an almost magical talent.
  
  
• Something Wicked’s in Those Woods.  Montes, Marisa.
  Evil! 11 year old Javi Cisneros senses it the moment he and his little brother arrive at Aunt Amparo’s home.
  
  
• Magic Can Be Murder.  Vande Velde, Vivian.  Harcourt.
  It’s hard being a teen, but it’s even harder when you’re a witch.
  
  
• Miracle’s Boys.  Woodson, Jacqueline.  Penguin.
  They’re struggling against pretty large odds, but “brother to brother to brother” they can survive.
  
  
• The Imp That Ate My Homework.  Yep, Laurence.  HarperCollins.
  Jim and his Grandpop, the meanest man in Chinatown, plot to outsmart the homework-snacking demon.
  
  
• Esperanza Rising.  Ryan, Pam Muñoz.  Scholastic.
  

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