

This is the story of sixteen-year-old Starr Carter as she wrestles with her emotions after seeing her unarmed childhood friend killed by police, which has become a generational touchstone. This true story of Khosrou’s family and their escape from Iran in the middle of the night is an immediately gripping account of both middle school chaos and personal strife. Khosrou is not like the other kids in his Oklahoma middle school, but he knows how to tell a story. Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri Kendi’s National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning is an urgent exploration of how the history of race affects us in the here and now, created for young people. We only recommend items our team loves!) Best Middle School Books 1. (Just a heads up, WeAreTeachers may collect a share of sales from the links on this page. But remember, middle school maturity levels vary widely, and you know each student best. Engaged students learn better, and you don’t need a canned curriculum from some corporation to tell you that.Įvery one of these middle school books offers a path to identity and empathy. Read some aloud to your students, give them audiobooks to listen to, or let them read one chapter at a time to each other. Not every book has to be read silently or independently.

Today’s classroom requires flexibility, especially with young readers. While many young people feel more empowered than ever before, it’s still very common to feel alone-which is where books come in. Middle school students faced plenty of challenges before the social, political, and economic upheavals of the past few years. Gorman showed us so powerfully, the voices of young people matter, too.


Reading Morrison taught me how to write unapologetically with a Black feminist voice that was my own.” “It was also the first time I had seen a dark-skinned girl on the cover of a book and that absolutely enthralled me. “It informed my thinking on how poetic language can infuse itself into a novel,” she said. For Amanda Gorman, it was reading The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison in eighth grade that inspired her to become a writer. From timeless classic titles to modern new releases, you can count on the best middle school books to light a spark in your students.
