Middle school students faced plenty of issues even before the social, political, and economic upheavals of today. At the same time, challenges to what students are allowed to read in school have made some of their experiences even more marginalized than they had been. With that in mind, we continue to revise our middle school book recommendations to be even more inclusive, with an eye toward middle school books you may not already have in your library.
Today’s classroom requires flexibility, especially with young readers. Not all middle school books have to be read silently or independently. Read some aloud to your students, give them audiobooks to listen to, or let them read one chapter at a time to each other. See what kind of conversations come up.
Be sure to fill out the form on this landing page to grab our free printable middle school reading list featuring all 60 books below organized by genre.
Remember, maturity levels vary widely, and you know your students best. Be sure to read the books first before you share them with your middle school students to make sure they’re appropriate for your classroom.
Adventure/Action Middle School Books
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1. All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue … by Christina Soontornvat
This book is a thrilling and information-packed true story of survival about the 2018 cave rescue in Thailand. Full of interviews and firsthand accounts, the story will keep even the most active students on the edge of their seats.
Castle Crenshaw, known as Ghost, has been running ever since his father threatened him and his mother with a gun. It’s not until he starts running for the middle school track team that he begins to see what running can do for him.
No middle school book catalog is complete without a few good manga titles. These are teacher-approved, rich with storytelling and character exposition, and ripe for literary analysis. If these titles don’t seem fit for your students, check with them—they know best! First up is the classic Naruto, a story about a young chaotic kid who is determined to become the world’s greatest ninja.
This vibrant and unique debut novel follows Tre, a teenager feeling pressured by his Ojibwe community and the memories of his older brother to succeed at his favorite sport.
5. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel) by Suzanne Collins
I still remember reading the original “Hunger Games” books with my students, and the prequels are proving to be just as great a way to engage today’s students.
If you’re looking for middle school books for sports fans, check out this title. Basketball-loving twins Josh and Jordan find their way through isolation and conflict in this novel in verse by master poet Kwame Alexander.
When Shoya meets Shoko six years after he knew her in school, he learns about the consequences of bullying. This is a great story for middle schoolers and is an accessible way into the manga genre.
This spin on traditional manga (with the usual high-flying warriors and action sequences) tells the story of two kids who want to become manga artists themselves. The characters are high school kids trying to live their dreams—very relatable to young readers.
Quality narratives that appeal to boys and struggling readers aren’t as easy to come by anymore, but we’re excited about this series. In Brock, we meet Nicky, who manages to turn tragedy into something beautiful.
The Feed scrolls constantly through Titus’ brain, providing him with entertainment, advertising, and social networking. On a spring break trip to the moon, he meets a girl who sees life differently.
Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real one. Now a ghost, Jerome watches the devastation unleashed on his family and community in the wake of what they see as an unjust and brutal killing. Soon, Jerome meets another ghost: Emmett Till, a boy from a very different time but similar circumstances.
Grayson is caught between knowing she’s a girl and everyone believing she’s a boy. This is a beautifully written story about self-esteem and empowerment.
The recipient of multiple awards and one of our favorite middle school books, this novel is a powerful story about a girl striving for success in a world that too often seems like it’s trying to break her.
14. The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
Simply put, this is one of the most well-written books you’ll ever find in YA lit. Protagonist Leigh Chen Sanders’ voice is stunning in this expertly woven tale of love, friendship, tragedy, and imagination.
15. The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden
Explore the cultural divides around class and the gun debate through the eyes of 7th grader Zoey, who lives on the edges of society and tries to find her way forward.
Kareem’s story about trying to make good decisions around peer pressure, a family crisis, and sports will resonate with many middle schoolers. The fact that it’s told in verse means it’s accessible, and it provides a lot of opportunities for discussion and debate.
Molly has concerns when her family moves into a church with a graveyard next door. But when her already-odd stepsister makes a sinister new friend, things get downright dangerous.
Born with extraordinary physical deformities, Auggie finally braves going to an actual school. He is stared at and tormented, but he also finds friendship. Middle schoolers will cheer for him and also cry for him.
Set against the backdrop of historical segregation in the American South, take a trip with an 11-year-old boy who is about to discover that the world hasn’t always been a welcoming place for kids like him, and things aren’t always what they seem—his G’ma included.
Ellen is a neurodiverse kid with a best friend who helps her navigate through school and sometimes confusing social situations. But when new friends and opportunities come along, Ellen has a chance to learn even more about how she actually fits into the world.
Khosrou is not like the other kids in his Oklahoma middle school, but he knows how to tell a story. 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.
Louise Wolfe is a Muscogee high schooler caught between family obligations and everything that being a teenager involves. Another one for older kids, this is an authentic coming-of-age story with a fresh voice.
Stella and her brother aren’t supposed to leave the house at night, but they run into much bigger problems when they stumble on a Ku Klux Klan rally. She fights racism within her community and learns about compassion in the process.
The first of two books by Maulik Pancholy, this story follows Rahul Kapoor, a middle schooler who loves his grandpa and is crushing on a boy at school.
27. The Probability of Everything by Sarah Everett
Eleven-year-old Kemi Carter has a good handle on math and probability, but the possibility of an apocalypse makes her question more than just her calculations.
28. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart
With connections to Common Core standards, this book follows Coyote, a young woman who travels the country with her dad in an old school bus. Over the course of thousands of miles, she will learn that going home can sometimes be the hardest journey of all.
Miranda loves a good mystery, and she gets a lot more than she bargained for when she begins writing notes to the future. Part Mystery, part Sci-Fi, part Thriller, and entirely engaging for students. Its attention to craft will keep us interested, as well.
If you’re looking to introduce backstory to something you might already be teaching, this new novel by Alice Hoffman might be perfect. Teach it with the play or on its own.
Explore style and narrative in this compelling novel-in-verse about Mina, a 13-year-old from Seattle, who is forced with her family into an internment camp after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This book is devastating, inspiring, and full of lessons in history, empathy, and story-telling.
Mimi tells her story in verse over the course of a year at a new school in Vermont, as the nation prepares to go to the moon for the first time. She has to fight for her place at school and community, and life lessons (as well as narrative lessons!) abound.
What does freedom look like? Are all kids allowed to dream or just the ones that fit society’s mold? Cerulean Gene, a young person with big, independent ambitions, is faced with these questions, and their story, while told from a unique point of view, will resonate with many students.
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist: books.
Three sisters head to California in 1968 to meet their mother, who sends them to a Black Panthers camp where the girls learn some important life lessons.
Crisp writing and a powerful voice are only two of the things that make this story special. A disruption during Avery’s senior year reveals secrets about the past and the present that she — and her family — can’t hide from anymore.
When Amanda Gorman read The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison in 8th grade, she was inspired to become a writer. “It was the first time I had seen a dark-skinned girl on the cover of a book and that absolutely enthralled me. Reading Morrison taught me how to write unapologetically with a Black feminist voice that was my own,” she said. Later in life, when she spoke at the presidential inauguration in 2021, Gorman raised the voice of her generation. Her book of poems is expansive and inventive, and it’s one of the top must-read books for today’s middle school kids.
George knows she’s a girl, but everyone else sees her as a boy. Gino does a masterful job of taking us into what social ignorance about gender assignment feels like.
Who can’t relate to dental trauma and bullying? Who can’t relate to public speaking anxiety or the struggle to believe in yourself when your dreams collide with the harsh world of judgment and social pressure? We all can, and so can Max Plink, whose struggles are both hilarious and very, very relatable.
Another one of our fave middle school books! Follow 11-year-old Melody, who is not like most people. She can’t walk, she can’t talk, and she can’t write, all because she has cerebral palsy. But she also has a photographic memory—she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school, but no one knows it.
This brilliantly composed story follows Simon as he wrestles with the aftermath of an event at school that literally changes everything. Students will appreciate this perspective on current events, and they can learn a lot about tone and style.
Acevedo brings her slam poet sensibility to this emotionally vivid story about Xiomara Batista, a first-generation Dominican American teen in a religious family who “feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood.”
The second in a series, this novel made waves in 2023 and stands alone as a compelling read for students. Perry Firekeeper-Birch is a self-assured kid who finds purpose in reclaiming what belongs to her family and her tribe.
Written in verse to be accessible to young mothers, Make Lemonade tells the story of LeVaughn, a 14 year old babysitter, who encounters social struggles through the experiences of the family she works for.
Nikhil is a 13-year-old gay Indian American boy who depends on his voice for his joy—he’s a voice actor for a popular cartoon. Then he ends up in a small Ohio town trying to put on a school musical. This is a relevant and touching story kids will love.
A timely story for middle schoolers. After Tyler’s father is injured in a tractor accident, his family is forced to hire migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont farm from foreclosure. Tyler isn’t sure what to make of them.
This is the story of 16-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. Definitely for older kids—and definitely worth the conversations that follow.
55. The March Series by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
The three-part graphic novel series details how John Lewis made his way from his family farm to the Edmund Pettus Bridge alongside Martin Luther King Jr. for the historic Selma-to-Montgomery March. Beautifully rendered and powerfully told, this trilogy lends itself to all kinds of classroom readings and activities.
This remix of Dr. Ibram X. 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. There’s even a teachers guide.
Libraries and book reviews loved this story as soon as it came out, and students will adore the fast-paced story about students at a prep school trying to defend their innocence after something terrible happens on campus.
Jameela lives with her mother and father in Afghanistan. Despite the fact that there is no school in their poor, war-torn village, and Jameela lives with a birth defect that has left her with a cleft lip, she feels relatively secure, sustained by her faith and the strength of her beloved mother, Mor. And then Mor passes away. …
Melinda Sordino can’t tell anybody why she called the police to break up a party the summer before 9th grade. In fact, after the trauma she suffered, she can’t speak at all.
Parvana is 11 when the Taliban comes to power in Afghanistan. Her father is arrested, and women are not allowed to leave the house without a male escort. Parvana must disguise herself and find work to save her family.
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