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Great Middle School "Classic" Reads: Home

100+ "classic" middle school books that all Middle school students should read before they reach HS.... According to Mr. Boyer and others....

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100+ "Classic" Books that all middle school students should read before they get to high school…created by Mr. Boyer and a few others.  These books are in no particular order at this time.

I COULDN’T JUST STOP AT 100!

I have decided to put a genre tag to them as well, so that you have an idea of what the book is about. 

HF-Historical Fiction
SF-Science Fiction
F-Fantasy
BIO-Biography
NF-Nonfiction
ADV-Adventure, Survival
MYS-Mystery
RF- Real Life Fiction

SORA is a great place to find great books all the Time.  You have access to SORA Summer Sweet Reads, Magazines, Audiobooks, and more!.  Connect with your School ID or come to the Library, We can Help!

Books that are in the KISJ MS Library are Highlighted in Yellow

Collection 1

  • Outbreak by Bryn Barnard-NF
  • Dangerous Planet by Bryn Barnard-NF
  • The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba-NF
  • Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji-li Jiang-BIO
  • Revolution is Not a Dinner Party by Ying Chang Compestine- HF
  • Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys,HF
  • Little House on the Praire by Laura Ingalls Wilder, HF
  • The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander,F
  • Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, ADV
  • Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, F
  • The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, F
  • The Giver by Lois Lowry, SF
  • Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell, HF
  • Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry..and the whole Trilogy by Mildred D. Taylor, HF
  • Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt, RF
  • The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, MYS
  • Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryric Brink, HF
  • The Complete Grimm’s Fairytales
  • The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, HF
  • My Antonia by Willa Cather, HF
  • Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman, HF
  • Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, BIO
  • Dragonwings by Laurence Yep, HF
  • Homesickness by Jean Fritz *She went to SAS, HF
  • My Side of  the Mountain by Jean Craighead George, ADV
  • Love that Dog by Sharon Creech, RF
  • Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson, RF
  • 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, SF
  • Little Women or Little Men by Louisa May Alcott, HF
  • Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck, HF
  • Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, HF
  • The Great Fire by Jim Murphy* NF
  • Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World by Jennifer Armstrong *nonfiction
  • Legend of the Wandering King by Laura Gallego Garcia, HF, F
  • Best Bad Luck I Ever Had by Kristin Levine, HF
  • Sounder by William Armstrong, HF
  • Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, HF
  • The Door in the Wall by MarGuerite De AAngelina, HF
  • The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, HF
  • King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry, HF
  • Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London, ADV, HF

Collection 2

  • Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin, F
  • Poetry by Robert Frost
  • Poetry by Emily Dickinson
  • Poetry by Edgar Allan Poe
  • Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson, BIO
  • My Own Two Feet, a Memoir by Beverly Cleary, BIO
  • Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Anderson
  • Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, F
  • The Secret Garden by Frances Hodges Burnett, HF
  • Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars, RF
  • Year of the Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi, HF
  • The Report Card by Andrew Clements, RF
  • Crazy Lady by Jane Leslie Conly, RF
  • Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, RF
  • Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, HF
  • The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis, HF
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, F
  • The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert Dejong, HF
  • The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, MYS, HF
  • A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer, HF
  • Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, MYS
  • Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger’s Apprentice) by John Flannagan, F
  • Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman, RF
  • Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher, F
  • The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox, HF
  • Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, F
  • Joey Pigza Swallows The Key by Jack Gantos, RF
  • Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos, HF
  • Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George, HF
  • Lily’s Crossing by Patricia Riley Giff, HF
  • Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Riley Giff, RF
  • Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix, SF
  • Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix, F
  • Wait till Helen Comes Mary Downing Hahn, GHOST
  • The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton, HF
  • Hoot by Carl Hiaasen, ADV
  • The Stone Goddess by Minfong Ho, HF
  • Jason’s Gold by Will Hobbs, HF
  • Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm, HF
  • My Louisiana Sky by Kimberly Willis Holt, HF
  • When Zachary Beaver Comes To Town by Kimberly Willis Holt, HF
  • Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson, HF
  • The Underneath by Kathi Appelt, F
  • Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson, HF, ADV
  • Martin the Warrior by Brian Jacques, F
  • Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, F, HF
  • View From Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg, RF
  • No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman, RF
  • The Wreckers by Iain Lawrence, HF
  • A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, F

Collection 3

  • Dave At Night by Gail Carson Levine, HF
  • The Art of Keeping Cool by Janet Taylor Lisle, HF
  • Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, HF
  • Gold Dust by Chris Lynch, HF
  • Heroes Don’t Run by Harry Mazer, HF
  • The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean
  • Saffy’s Angel by Hilary McKay, RF
  • Beware Princess Elizabeth by Caroline Meyer, MYS, HF
  • Petey by Ben Mikaelsen, HF
  • Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, HF
  • Shizuko’s Daughter by Kyoko Mori, HF
  • Monster by Walter Dean Myers, RF
  • The Black Pearl by Scott o’Dell, HF
  • Eragon Christopher Paolini, F
  • When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park, HF
  • Single Shard by Linda Sue Park, HF
  • Bread and Roses, Too by Katherine Paterson, HF
  • Lyddie by Katherine Paterson, HF
  • Jip, His Story by Katherine Paterson, HF
  • A Year Down Yonder and Fair Weather by Richard Peck, HF
  • Riding the Flume by Patricia Curtis Pfitsch, HF
  • Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick, RF
  • Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce, F
  • The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, F
  • Mine Eyes Have Seen by Ann Rinaldi, HF
  • Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy, HF
  • The Dreamer by Pam munoz Ryan, HF
  • Holes by Louis Sachar, ADV
  • The Inventions of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, MYS
  • Loser by Jerry Spinelli, RF
  • The Cay by Theodore Taylor, HF
  • Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt, HF
  • Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan, HF
  • Jesse by Gary Soto, HF
  • Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, HF
  • Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli, RF
  • The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John, ADV
  • Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley, F
  • Shabanu by Suzanne Fisher Staples, HF
  • The Red Pony by John Steinbeck, HF
  • Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stephenson, ADV
  • Surving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan, RF
  • Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool, HF
  • The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, F
  • Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen, RF
  • So B. It by Sarah Weeks, RF
  • Chu Ju’s House By Gloria Whelan, HF
  • Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan, HF
  • Belle Prater’s Boy by Ruth White, HF
  • After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson, RF
  • Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss, ADV
  • Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, ADV
  • Hiroshima by Laurence Yep, HF
  • The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen, HF