Middle School Reads!

by Paul Dowswell Lexile: 1080 This is a collection of 10 survival stories about real people who have come face to face with death and survived. From terror in the skies and space to shark attacks to a frightening experience inside an active volcano, these short stories will keep you on the edge of your seat.

by Yoshiko Uchida Lexile: 970 Rinko, an 11 year old, growing up in California during the Depression, is struggling to fit in. She is Japanese and feels very different from most of her classmates. She and her family are targets of discrimination which makes her feel embarrassed about her heritage until her Anut Waka comes from Japan to visit for the summer. Rinko learns a lot about her heritage and about herself and discovers that she can develop her American self without losing her Japanese self.

by Marion Dane Bauer Lexile: 750 Joel and Tony are on their first solo trip to a state park. Joel can hardly believe that his father gave him permission to ride all the way there on his bike. Their plans change when Tony stops his bike at the dangerous Vermillion River. Joel and Tony argue and Joel dares Tony to swim out to the sandbar. When Joel reaches the sandbar, he is alone.

by Gordon Korman Lexile: 610 Wallace Wallace never lies and sometimes this gets him into trouble. When he is asked to write a book review for his Language Arts class, Wallace reports that he hates the book. His teacher, Mr. Fogelman, refuses to accept his work and assigns him detention until he writes a worthy review. Mr. Fogelman's plan backfires when Wallace gets involved with the school play that Mr. Fogelman is directing which is based on the same book Wallace needs to review. Thanks to Wallace, the play begins to take on many new directions.

by Sharon Draper Lexile: 830 Sylvia Patterson is growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas during a turbulent time in history when Central High School is being forced to integrate. Sylvia is one of the students chosen to attend. She must decide if she is up for the challenge. All she really wants to do is go to high school, be a cheerleader, and find a boyfriend. Does she have the strength to stand up to all the people who are against integration?

by Neil Gaiman Lexile: 820 Genre:  Fantasy Nobody "Bod" Owens is being raised in a graveyard after his family is brutally murdered. His guardian, the mysterious Silas, and his new parents, Mr. and Mrs. Owens, do their best to protect him from the evil man Jack who wishes to destroy him. Bod struggles with whether or not he should leave the safety of the graveyard...

by Patricia Hermes Lexile: ??? Emily gets tired of the tricks that her older brother Matthew is constantly playing on her, and decides to try and get even with him. In the midst of her plan, something terrible happens to her brother and Emily fears that it is her fault. She finds it difficult to accept what happens to her brother and struggles to tell the truth about what happened on that terrible day.

by Rodman Philbrick Lexile: 950 Harold and Homer are living with their mean uncle in Pine Swamp, Maine during the Civil War when their uncle decides to ship Harold off to fight in the Union Army. Homer figures out that what his uncle did was illegal and runs away to find his brother. Along the way he meets some interesting folks; some who help him and some who don't. Will he find Harold before it's too late?

by Neal Shusterman Lexile: ??? Fans of Shusterman's book The Schwa was Here will enjoy this book about Antsy Bonano's friend Gunnar Umlaut. Gunnar tells Antsy that he has a fatal disease and has only months to live. As Antsy spends more time with Gunnar and concocts a plan to buy him some more time, he learns some interesting things about Gunnar's family. Watching Gunnar's family unravel along with a tragedy in his own family, Antsy learns to better appreciate what he has.

by Walter Dean Myers Lexile: 910 It's summer in Harlem and 16 year old Matt has a job at a newspaper publishing office. Hes sort of interested in the job and the people he's meeting there, but his real dream is to become a famous saxophone player. Some of the activities he involves himslef with during his free time get him in a bit of trouble, first with his parents, then a mobster named Dutch Schultz and eventually the police.

by N.D. Wilson Lexile: 780 Thomas goes down to the river to float on a foam raft without realizing that his life is about to take a dramatic turn as he is swept underground and finds a castaway who has information for Tom that will change his life forever...if they can find a way out!