• Catalog
• My Account

Middle School Must Reads (Teen)

Classic fiction for young adults.

Walk two moons by Sharon Creech

After her mother leaves home suddenly, thirteen-year-old Sal and her grandparents take a car trip retracing her mother's route. Along the way, Sal recounts the story of her friend Phoebe, whose mother also left

Esperanza rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression

The giver by Lois Lowry

Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

After calling the cops to an end-of-summer party, Melinda is outcast at Merryweather High. Through her work on an art project she is finally able to face what happened at that terrible party and gain courage to fight back

Where the red fern grows : the story of two dogs and a boy by Wilson Rawls

A young boy living in the Ozarks achieves his heart's desire when he becomes the owner of two redbone hounds and teaches them to be champion hunters

A wrinkle in time by Madeleine L'Engle

Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Brian Robeson, 13, is the only passenger on a small plane flying him to visit his father in the Canadian wilderness when the pilot has a heart attack and dies. The plane drifts off course and finally crashes into a small lake. Miraculously Brian is able to swim free of the plane, arriving on a sandy tree-lined shore with only his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother had given him as a present. The novel chronicles in gritty detail Brian's mistakes, setbacks, and small triumphs as, with the help of the hatchet, he manages to survive the 54 days alone in the wilderness

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Sixteen-year-old Kat lives with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of what used to be the United States. When the districts waged war on the Capital, they were not only defeated, but forced to adhere to a set of rules. As part of these surrender terms, each district must send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised killing-spree event called the Hunger Games. When Kat's sister is chosen through the games' lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place

The book thief by Markus Zusak

Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors

Number the stars by Lois Lowry

In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm

The Outsiders by S Hinton

The struggle of three brothers to stay together after their parent's death and their quest for identity among the conflicting values of their adolescent society

Holes by Louis Sachar

As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself

The lightning thief by Rick Riordan

In the first installment of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, twelve-year-old Percy can't seem to get his act together. Unable to stay out of trouble at school, Percy finds himself outcast from his peers. However, he soon learns that he is actually the son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. Soon, he makes friends when he enters a school for demigods. However, his troubles have just begun as he is charged with the task of recovering Zeus' stolen lightning bolts

Recipient of the National Medal, the nation's highest honor for libraries.