MORE CHALLENGING CHOICES

An Every Growing List!

KNOW YOUR READER!
Caveat: Always preview books to see if they are appropriate for your reader.

For outside links to reading lists:

https://sites.google.com/a/eufsdk12.org/eastchester-middle-high-school-reading/book-lover-lists

Please make sure to check out nonfiction books listed below.

BEFORE YOU DESPAIR, CHECK OUT THESE POPULAR MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOICES

How Oscar Indigo Broke the Universe and Put it Back

By David Teague

http://middleschoolreadingblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/how-oscar-indigo-broke-universe-and-put.html

Nancy Farmer - Sea of Trolls and her other books

https://www.nancyfarmerwebsite.com/trolls-trilogy.html

The Ranger’s Apprentice

http://middleschoolreadingblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-rangers-apprentice-ruins-of-gorlan.html

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott (also on audio) Page turner! (for those who love Rick Riordan books)

http://middleschoolreadingblog.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-alchemyst-by-michael-scott.html

FABULOUS FANTASY BOOKS
http://middleschoolreadingblog.blogspot.com/2016/06/fabulous-fantasy-books.html

SCIENCE FICTION

• House of Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (pair this with Cells Up Close by Maria Nelson)
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and other Jules Verne books
• James Dashner books: The Eye of Minds (series) and others
• Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
• Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
• The Hunger Games
• Legend by Marie Lu
• The Testing by Charbonneau
• Foundation by Isaac Asimov (difficult)

MYSTERY

• The Mysterious Benedict Society

FANTASY

• The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
• The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials) by Philip PullmanThe Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan (not high level but good through grade 8 for interest)

HISTORICAL FICTION

• Refugee by Alan Gratz
• Forgotten Fire by David Bagdasarian
• Countdown by Deborah Wiles
• Johnny Tremain
• The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
• Call of the Wild by Jack London
• Old Yeller
• The Sounder
• The Yearling
• Where the Red Fern Grows

ANIMAL FICTION

• Redwall (wonderful! Available on audio)
• The Incredible Journey
• Watership Down

NONFICTION

• Phillip Hoose
• The Race to Save the Lord God Bird
• Moonbird and others
• Steve Sheinkin
• Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon
• Marc Aronson
• Master of Deceit: J. Edgar Hoover and America in the Age of Lies  (Pair this with Bomb by Sheinkin)
• If Stones Could Speak

http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/aronson

Author, editor, publisher, and speaker Marc Aronson believes passionately in the power of great nonfiction — in building background knowledge, nourishing children's interest in the real world, and helping young people become critical readers and thinkers. He has written history and biography books for middle school children and young adults, including books about the secrets of Stonehenge, the sugar trade (Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science), and the life of John Henry (Ain't Nothing but a Man). His biography of Sir Walter Raleigh (Sir Walter Raleigh and the Quest for El Dorado won the ALA's first Robert L. Sibert Information Book Award for nonfiction and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award.

You can watch the interview below, view the interview transcript, read a short biography of Marc Aronson, or see a selected list of his children's books.

(This video is also available on YouTube and iTunes.)

For an extended interview with Aronson and a list of his YA books, visit our sister site, AdLit.org.