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.