Middle School Summer Readers List

Classics

• The Arabian Nights: Their Best-known Tales, ed. Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith
• Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken
• The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
• The Incredible Journey, Sheila Burnford
• The Black Stallion, Walter Farley
• The Magic World, E. Nesbit
• Anne of Green Gables, L. M. Montgomery
• Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse, Anna Sewell

Realistic Fiction

• Moving Day, Meg Cabot
• Summer Begins, Elizabeth Doyle Carey
• P.S. Longer Letter Later, Paula Danziger
• The Homework Machine, Dan Gutman
• Hoot, Carl Hiaasen
• Rules, Cynthia Lord
• Secret Letter from 0-10, Susie Hoch Morgenstern
• Project Mulberry, Linda Sue Parks
• Surviving the Applewhites, Stephanie Tolan
• Millicent Min, Girl Genius, Lisa Yee
• Brooklyn Bridge, Karen Hesse
• Looking for Bapu, Anjali Banerjee
• Lost and Found, Andrew Clements
• Ruby Holler, Sharon Creech
• 4 Kids in S-E & 1 Crazy Year, Virginia Frances Schwartz
• Millions, Frank Boyce
• Sahara Special, Esmé Raji Codell
• My Man Blue: Poems, Nikki Grimes
• Silk Umbrellas, Carolyn Marsden
• The Mozart Season, Virginia Euwer Wolff
• Junebug, Alice Mead

Mysteries and Adventure Stories

• Down the Rabbit Hole, Peter Abrahams
• Chasing Vermeer, Blue Balliett
• Peter and the Starcatchers, Dave Barry
• Dovey Coe, Frances O’Roark Dowell
• The Thief Lord, Cornelia Funke
• Running Out of Time, Margaret Peterson Haddix
• Regarding the Fountain: A Tale, In Letters, of Liars and Leaks, Kate Klise
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg
• The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
• Holes, Louis Sachar
• The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Homes Mystery, Nancy Springer
• The Mysterious Matter of I. M. Fine, Diane Stanley
• Heir Apparent, Vivian Vande Velde
• Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
• Brian’s Winter, Gary Paulsen
• Buddha’s Diamonds, Carolyn Marsden
• Jack Plank Tells Tales, Natalie Babbitt
• The London Eye Mystery, Siobhan Dowd
• Masterpiece, Elise Broach
• The Name of this Book is Secret, Pseudonymous Bosch
• The Wright 3, Blue Ballett
• Nicholas, Rene Goscinny
• Secret Identity, Wendelin Van Draanen
• Maxx Comedy: The Funniest Kid in America, Gordon Korman

Fantasy, Imaginary Journeys, Legends

• The Book of Three, Lloyd Alexander
• Peter Pan in Scarlet, Geraldine McCaughrean
• The Adventures of Sir Lancelot the Great, Gerald Morris
• Over Sea Under Stone, Susan Cooper
• The Castle Corona, Sharon Creech
• The Transmorgrification of Roscoe Wizzle, David Elliot
• The Scarecrow and His Servant, Philip Pullman
• The Anybodies, N. E. Bode
• Half Magic, Edward Eager
• Inkheart, Caroline Cornelia Funke
• Coraline, Neil Gaiman
• Tunnels, Roderick Gordon
• Dragon Rider, Caroline Cornelia Funke
• The Owl Service, Alan Garner
• Gregor the Overlander, Suzanne Collins
• Mossflower, Brian Jacques
• Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, Robert C. O’Brien
• The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman
• The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan
• Magyk, Angie Sage
• The Changeling, Delia Sherman
• Matilda, Roald Dahl
• The Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo
• The Rope Trick, Lloyd Alexander

Historical Fiction

• Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis
• Jason’s Gold, Will Hobbs
• The Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare
• The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg, Rodman Phillbrick
• Elijah of Buxton, Christopher Paul Curtis
• Fever 1793, Laurie Halse Anderson
• Al Capone Does My Shirts, Gennifer Choldenko
• The Wonderful Winter, Marchette Chute
• Revolution is Not a Dinner Party, Ying Chang Compestine
• Rodzina, Karen Cushman
• Lily’s Crossing, Patricia Reilly Giff
• Missy Violet and Me, Barbara Hathaway
• Boston Jane, Jennifer Holm
• The Green Glass Sea, Ellen Klages
• Elizabeth I, Red Rose of the House of Tudor, Kathryn Lasky
• The Kite Rider, Geraldine McCaughrean
• Snow Treasure, Marie McSwigan
• Mary, Bloody Mary, Carolyn Meyer
• Beware Princess Elizabeth, Carolyn Meyer
• Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, Sarah Miller
• My Name is not Angelica, Scott O’Dell
• A Long Way from Chicago, Richard Peck
• Yellow Star, Jennifer Roy
• Riding Freedom, Pam Munoz Ryan
• All-of-a-Kind Family, Sydney Taylor
• A Jar of Dreams, Yoshiko Uchida
• Daughter of Madrugada, Frances M. Wood

Nonfiction

• Exploring the Ice Age, Margaret Cooper
• Rescues!, Sandra Markle
• Sneeze, Alexandra Siy and Dennis Kunkel
• The American Story, Jennifer Armstrong
• Just For Elephants, Carol Buckley
• Mistakes that Worked, Charlotte Flotz Jones
• Pirateology, Dugald A. Steer
• Bull Run, Paul Fleischman
• All Stations! Distress! April 15, 1912, the Day the Titanic Sank, Don Brown
• Bodies from the Ice: Melting Glaciers and the Recovery of the Past, James M. Dean
• Secrets of the Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H. L. Hunley, Sally M. Walker
• We Are the Ship: the Story of Negro League Baseball, Kadir Nelson

Biography and Autobiography

• Seeker of Knowledge, James Rumford
• Michelangelo, Diane Stanley
• The Blues Singers: Ten Who Rocked the World, Julius Lester
• Basher five-two: The True Story of F-16 Fighter Pilot Captain Scott O’Grady, Scott O’Grady,
• She Touched the World: Laura Bridgman, Deaf-Blind Pioneer, Sally Hobart Alexander
• The Other Mozart, Hugh Brewster
• A Boy Named Beckoning, Gina Capaldi
• Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, Eleanor Coerr
• Helen’s Eyes, Marfe Ferfuso Delano
• To Dance, Siena Cherson Siegel
• Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery, Russell Freedman
• Lincoln: A Photobiography, Russell Freedman
• The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights, Russell Freedman
• My Life with Chimpanzees, Jane Goodall
• We Were There Too!: Young People in U. S. History, Phillip M. Hoose
• The Cod’s Tale, Mark Kulansky
• Anne Elizabeth’s Diary: A Young Artist’s True Story, Anne Elizabeth Rector
• The Poet King of Tezcoco, Francisco Serrano
• Dear Mr. Bell… Your Friend, Helen Keller, Judith St. George
• A Young Painter:  the Life and Paintings of Wang Yani, Zheng Zhensun
• Boys of Steel: the Creators of Superman, Marc Tyler
• Christo and Jean-Claude: Through the Gates and Beyond, Jan Greenberg
• Knucklehead, Jon Scieszka
• The Trouble Begins at 8: a Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West, Sid Fleischman

Humor 
Poetry

• We the People, Bobby Katz
• Insectopedia, Douglas Florian
• Through the Paper Doorway, Dean Koontz
• The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear, Edward Lear
• 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, Naomi Shihab Nye
• Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems)
• The New Oxford Book of Children’s Verse, Neil Philip
• The New Kid on the Block, Jack Prelutsky
• The Random House Book of Poetry for Children, ed. Jack Prelutsky

Sports

• Heat, Mike Lupica
• Honus & Me, Dan Gutman
• The Million Dollar Shot, Dan Gutman
• The Roar of the Crowd, Rich Wallace
• S. O. R. Losers, Avi
• Out Standing in my Field, Patrick Jennings
• Tiger, Jeff Stone
• Girls Got Game: Sports Stories and Poems, ed. Sue Macy
• Winning Ways: A Photohistory of American Women in Sports, Sue Macy
• A Whole New Ball Game, The Story of the Girls in the Professional Baseball League,
• Sue Macy
• Play Like a Girl: A Celebration of Women in Sports, Sue Macy
• Annie Oakley: Young Markswoman, Ellen Wilson
• Athletes (Women In Profile Series), Leslie Strudwick
• Babe Didrikson: Athlete of the Century, Leslie Strudwick
• A Winning Edge, Bonnie Blair with Greg Brown
• A Turn for Lucas, Gloria Averbuch
• Always Dream, Kristi Yamaguchi with Greg Brown
• Boonsville Bombers, Alison Cragin Herzig
• The Broadway Ballplayers, Maureen Holohan
• Blowing Bubbles with the Enemy, Alison Jackson
• Bonnie Blair: Golden Streak, Cathy Breitenbucher
• Careers for Women Who Love Sports: Get in the Game, Robin Roberts
• Cat Running, Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Source: The Oakwood School