6th Grade

Breathe: a Ghost Story – Cliff McNish
When he and his mother move into an old farmhouse in the English countryside, asthmatic, twelve-year-old Jack discovers that he can communicate with the ghost inhabiting the house and inadvertently establishes a relationship with a tormented, malevolent spirit that threatens to destroy both his mother and himself.

Crossing the Wire -Will Hobbs
Fifteen year old Victor Flores journeys north in a desperate attempt to cross the Arizona border and find work in the United states to support his family in Mexico.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney
Greg records his sixth grade experiences in a middle school where he and his best friend, Rowley, undersized weaklings amid boys who need to shave twice daily, just hope to survive -- at first.

Escape! : The story of the great Houdini – Sid Fleischman
A biography of the magician, ghost chaser, aviator, and king of escape artists whose amazing feats are remembered long after his death in 1926.

Lost and Found – Andrew Clements
Twelve-year-old identical twins Jay and Ray have long resented that everyone treats them as one person, and so they hatch a plot to take advantage of a clerical error at their new school and pretend they are just one.

Project Mulberry: A Novel -Linda Sue Park
While working on a project for an after-school club, Julia, a Korean American girl, and her friend Patrick learn not just about silkworms, but also about tolerance, prejudice, friendship, patience, and more.

The Revealers – Doug Wilhelm
Tired of being bullied and picked on, three seventh-grade outcasts join forces and, using scientific methods and the power of the Internet, begin to create a new atmosphere at Parkland Middle School.

7th Grade

Black Duck - Lisle, Janet Taylor
Years afterwards, Ruben Hart tells the story of how, in 1929 Newport, Rhode Island, his family and his best friend's family were caught up in the violent competition among groups trying to control the local rum-smuggling trade.

Confessions of a Closet Catholic - Sarah Littman
Justine Silver, a teenaged middle child, questions her faith when her best friend, Mary Catherine McAllister gives up chocolate for Lent, but when her grandmother suffers a stroke, Jussy has to face her relationship with religion.

The Green Glass Sea - Ellen Klages
In 1943, ten-year-old Dewey's dad is working at Los Alamos, officially a town that doesn’t exist. Famous scientists and mathematician, including Dewey’s father, work around the clock on a secret project everyone there calls only “the gadget.”The story is warmhearted and gently and wisely shows the pain of being an outsider and the joys of making a friend. An historical novel with plenty of World War II facts that will keep you reading and leave you thinking.

Left for Dead: a young man's search for justice for the USS Indianapolis - Peter Nelson
Recalls the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis at the end of World War II, the Navy cover-up and unfair court martial of the ship's captain, and how a young boy helped the survivors set the record straight fifty-five years later.

Letters from Wolfie - Patti Sherlock
Certain that he is doing the right thing by donating his dog, Wolfie, to the Army's scout program in Vietnam, thirteen-year-old Mark begins to have second thoughts when the Army refuses to say when and if Wolfie will ever return.

The story of my life: an Afghan girl on the other side of the sky - Farah Ahmedi
Farah Ahmedi, the victim of a land mine when she was just twelve years old, tells about her childhood in Afghanistan, a country trapped in war her entire life, and discusses the challenges she has faced as a result of losing her leg, and in trying to adapt to living in the United States.

Schooled – Gordaon Korman
When Capricorn’s hippie grandmother falls ill and she can no longer continue to home school him, he must attend public school and experience life with his peers for the first time.

Stuck in Neutral - Terry Trueman
Fourteen-year-old Shawn McDaniel, who suffers from severe cerebral palsy and cannot function, relates his perceptions of his life, his family, and his condition, especially as he believes his father is planning to kill him.

8th Grade

Code Orange - Caroline B. Cooney
While conducting research for a school paper on smallpox, Mitty finds an envelope containing 100-year-old smallpox scabs and fears that he has infected himself and all of New York City.

Devilish – Maureen Johnson
Cynical high school senior Jane initially admires Lanalee, the ultra-cool new sophomore at her all-girls, Rhode Island Catholic high school. But the unsettling makeover of Jane's hapless best friend after Lanalee takes her under her wing gives Jane reason to suspect something is amiss. Has Allison really sold her soul to the devil? This shrewd, playful Faustian drama delivers genuine chills and suspense.

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie – Jordan Sonnenblick
When his younger brother is diagnosed with leukemia, 13 year old Stephen tries to cope.

The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games.

Let me play: the story of Title IX, the law that changed the future of girls in America - Karen Blumenthal
Examines Title IX, the 1972 legislation which mandated that schools receiving federal funds could not discriminate on the basis of gender. and focuses on its effects in schools, politics, sports and the culture as a whole.

Maximum Ride The Angel Experiment - James Patterson
After the mutant Erasers abduct the youngest member of their group, the “birdkids,” who are the result of genetic experimentation, take off in pursuit and find themselves struggling to understand their own origins and purpose. Sequels: Saving the world and other extreme sports , School's out-- forever

The Schwa was Here - Neal Shusterman
A Brooklyn eighth-grader nicknamed Antsy befriends the Schwa, an "invisible-ish" boy who is tired of blending into his surroundings and going unnoticed by nearly everyone.