I just started a new job teaching middle school and I’m requiring my students to read a book a month; however, I have limited experience with YA lit because I spend the last several years teaching high school. Those of you who have kids who are middle school age, or any other middle school English teachers, can you recommend some high quality fiction for 12 year olds? My students range widely in ability, so anything you think would be good for 10-14 year olds would be helpful.
I just finished *The Witch of Blackbird Pond *and I’m in the middle of Holes, both of which I like alot. Witch was a bit predictable, but Holes is quite engrossing. I want more stuff like that. I’m also fond of the Chronicles of Narnia and *Wrinkle in Time *books, but I need more non-genre fiction to recommend.
Anthony Horowitz has a some new action books - the Alex Rider series, including Stormbreaker, Point Blanc and another one that’s just come out - I don’t know the name of it right now.
John Marsden - I’ve read Letters from the Inside and the Tomorrow, when the war began series - though these may be a little too mature for 7th graders, as the topics of sex and drugs come up (yes, I know 7th graders know about this stuff, but you know whether these kids can handle it).
Nancy Farmer - The House of the Scorpions. Fantastic book, falls into the fantasy realm, I think.
Garth Nix - the Abhorsen trilogy made up of Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen. More fantasy, but absolutely fantastic.
Tamora Pierce - she has a number of quartets, including Song of the Lioness, Wild Magic, Protector of the Small, Circle of Magic and The Circle Opens.
Instead of me typing up so many that I’ve loved, here is access to lists of recommended books for a class I took over the summer (this is not my website - I don’t believe I am violating any copyright laws by posting the link, but if I am in error, then please delete the link).
Try “The Chronicles of Prydain”, a five book series by Lloyd Alexander. Consists of The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King.
Another good book that is likely out of print, but could be in the library and is definitely available from out of print sites, is The Day of the Drones, by A. M. Lightner. The main protagonist is a girl who, at the outset of the book, is about seventh grade in age. Story starts out in Africa about five hundred? years from now, and begins “Because I was the darkest of the children it was always understood that I would receive the most education and rise highest in the state.”
If you can’t find a copy email me, I have an extra and would be happy to put it to good use by mailing it to you.
ACK! toque, I found a copy of that last year under my own seventh-grader’s pillow. I SOOOO do not want to talk about it. (And no, I have not been able to find out how it was obtained.)
To the OP: I don’t have many author names at hand, because I’m doing this from memory, but here are some of the books I did NOT have to confiscate last year -
The Giver - Lois Lowry
Hatchet (there are sequels to this one, too, I think) - Gary Paulsen
Holes (which you’ve already got)
Petey - no clue on the author, but it got raves here
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl
Any of the Dear America or My America books
Julie of the Wolves
Tuck Everlasting
Wringer
Skellig - David Almond
Switchers - Kate Thompson
Of Two Minds - Carol Matas and Perry Nodelman
The Wreckers
The Woman in the Wall - Patrice Kindl
I was a big fan of both S.E. Hinton and Paul Zindel at that age, but I’ve recently re-read both and I think you may find they’re a bit dated now.
I don’t know if they’re high quality fiction (probably not) but I’ve got a soft spot for Gordon Korman’s A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag and Losing Joe’s Place.
Wow, thanks for all these titles. I recognize some of them from what my kids are reading already as independent books. I’d like to get to the point where I’ve read all the standards and can identify them on sight. There’s a big book sale here in a few weeks and I will pick up as many as I can.
Anyone heard of Eve Ibbotson or something like that? Any good? How about Artemis Fowl? I’ve seen quite a few of these books amongst my students’ choices and am wondering if they are worthwhile.
Catcher in the Rye is definitely not seventh grade material. I really think the content is over most of their heads; they aren’t quite at the angst and alienation stage yet. Same goes for To Kill a Mockingbird, if for no other reason than length. Some of my kids could do it, but most could not or would not. I have also seen quite a bit of Goosebumps, which I allow because it’s better than nothing and I hope to use it as a transitional book.
I will print out this list and endeavor to find these titles. Thanks.
I remember I loved reading Number the Stars and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM when I was in the fifth grade. The first one I think is by Lois Lawry about WWII in Denmark through the eyes of a ten year old. The second I can’t remember who wrote.
Anything by Lois Lowry, especially any of the Anastasia Krupnik books. Absolutely wonderful! Heck, I wanna go out and buy some and read them for fun even though I’m 26 now and my kid is way too young for them.
Bridge to Terabithia, cant remember author. Really sad book.
Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret
On behalf of all present and former middle schoolers everywhere, Wuthering Heights is a POS!! Be kind! Don’t make 'em read it!
-Bunnicula (series)
-Human, All too Human
-Back to the Moon
-The Egypt Game
-Eaters of the Dead/The 13th Warrior (A real page turner)
-The Eyes of the Killer Robot
-A Wrinkle in Time (series)
-1632
-The Amber Spyglass
-“It”*
I’ve been called a cynic, but my advice is this: if it’s billed as a “young adult book” or a “coming of age story” or marketed in some such way (presented as a guide to helping kids through early adolescence) - don’t make them read it. All the books of this sort that I had to read at that age were didactic, whiny, boring crap.
There are plenty of good books on this list, although I’m not sure about the age qualifications, since I read some at a younger age. Actually, a bunch of the works on this list were recommended on a recent, similar thread for fifth graders. Which indicates, if you ask me, that good books are good books, and as long as they’re not so hard as to be incomprehensible, the age of the reader isn’t such a big deal.
They are not recent, to be sure, but I would still recommend all the the Walter Farley horse stories. The Black Stallion,The Black Stallion’s Filly,The Island Stallion,and The Blood Bay Colt (among others) are wonderful stories, well told and of interest to kids about that age (and a lot older).
Almost anything by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (Ranchoth has already mentioned “The Egypt Game”; it has a sequel called "The Gypsy Game). My favorite was “Black and Blue Magic”, about a boy who is given a magic potion that lets him grow wings. The scene where he flies to the zoo and lands on Monkey Island in the middle of the night is hilarious. A lot of her stuff is out of print, but most libraries still carry them.
“The View From the Cherry Tree” and “The Girl with the Silver Eyes” by Willo Davis Roberts.
“Nightbirds on Nantucket” by Joan Aiken.
Boy, this thread is bringing back memories. I think I’m going to have to make a trip to the library’s young adult section on my next day off.
I see nobody’s yet mentioned Susan Cooper’s “Dark is Rising” series, which is a fantastic fantasy series for young adults. The five books in it are (in order) Over Sea Under Stone, The Dark is Rising, Greenwitch, The Grey King, and Silver on the Tree. The Grey King won the Newbery (for good reason; it’s the best of the series, which is all excellent).
It disproves Marley23’s theory about books billed as “young adult” novels, as it is neither didactic nor whiny, and it is far from boring crap. The language of the books, by the way, is simply gorgeous.
Another book which breaks the “rule,” and is definitely billed as a young adult novel (though an adult can read and enjoy it too, as I did) is Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. Gaiman’s best book-length prose work, in my estimation, Coraline is right up there with the best of the best.
Also, Clive Barker (yes, that guy) has written some very good young adult fiction. The Thief of Always is a wonderful story which stands on its own, and Abarat is the first of a forthcoming series. The latter is not only beautifully-written and highly imaginative, it is also lavishly and gorgeously illustrated by Barker. Excellent stuff, probably the best work Barker’s done in years.
