Suggested Books for Middle Readers

Students in Grades 3 – 5

 

  • Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan 

Making Appalachian Spring – Spare, dramatic text and uncluttered watercolors relay the story of the collaborative creation of a classic American ballet. Sibert Honor Book

  • The Bat Scientists by Mary Kay Carsonn

Exceptional photography and clear text capture the lives of bats and explore the myths and threats to these amazing mammals.

 

  • Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill 

Poetic text and lush illustrations tell the true story of an extraordinary artist living in 19th-century South Carolina. Caldecott Honor Book & ALA Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award

 

  • The Dolphin Diaries series by Ben M. Baglio

Travel the oceans and uncover the secrets of dolphins.

 

  • The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester by Barbara O’Connor 

In this summer adventure, Owen is enthralled by his conviction that something amazing has fallen from a train.

 

  • Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature by Sarah C. Campbell 

Crisp design and clear photography introduce and depict Fibonacci patterns in nature.

 

  • Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys by Bob Raczka 

Six haiku for each season of the year, celebrating the interaction of boys and nature, combine with loose, expressive cartoons to make a winning combination.

 

  • The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe by Loree Griffin Burns 

After beekeepers discover the strange abandonment of hundreds of hives, scientists seek to understand this catastrophic phenomenon.

 

  • How to Clean a Hippopotamus: A Look at Unusual Animal Partnerships by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page.

Animal partnerships often defy explanation; Jenkins and Page explore and clarify these relationships in concise text and glorious torn-paper collage.

 

  • The Island Series by Gordon Korman

Follow six kids as they become lost at sea in the first book of a trilogy.

 

  • Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot  by Sy Montgomery 

Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot – This book documents the successes and failures of a rescue effort in New Zealand dedicated to saving a species of flightless parrots numbering fewer than 100. Sibert Medal

 

  • Letters From Camp by Kate Klise

Delight in this spoof on summer-camp life told through notes, lists, and letters

 

  • A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck

Spend the season with two city-slicker kids visiting their grandma in a Newbery Honor book that spans summers from 1929–1942

 

  • Me, Frida by Amy Novesky

This story of newlywed artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in 1930 San Francisco is accompanied by paintings resembling Kahlo’s folkloric style. Belpré Illustrator Honor Book

 

  • Nic Bishop Lizards by Nic Bishop 

Using photographs so vivid and sharply focused that one can see a bit of dry scale on a glass lizard’s skin, Bishop treats readers to new appreciations of the diversity within the lizard world.

 

  • The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz 

Flory loses her wings after a bat attack and struggles to adapt to life as a day fairy.

 

  • Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes 

In this story of survival, twelve-year-old Lanesha and her adopted grandmother have little choice but to stay in New Orleans and weather Hurricane Katrina. ALA Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book

 

  • ¡Ole! Flamenco by George Ancona

In this nonfiction introduction to Spanish flamenco, the art form is described in easy, understandable language. Belpré Author Honor Book

 

  • One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia 

Three sisters find adventure when they are sent to Oakland in 1968 to meet their estranged poet-mother, who prints flyers for the Black Panthers. Newbery Honor Book

 

  • Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Gwen Strauss 

Using the Green Book, a guide to find welcoming places for African-Americans, Ruth's family travels through the segregated South of the 1950s.

 

  • Saltypie: A Choctaw Journey from Darkness into Light by Tim Tingle 

This picture book autobiographical vignette shows a modern Choctaw family enduring and supporting each other with love, courage, and fortitude.

 

  • Shake, Rattle & Turn That Noise Down! How Elvis Shook Up Music, Me and Mom by Mark Alan Stamaty 

An autobiography in graphic novel format shows how Stamaty’s love of Elvis and rock and roll, at first drove his mother crazy but ultimately made her proud.

 

  • Smile by Raina Telgemeier 

Through artwork showing the details, the reader shares Raina’s pain as the angst of middle school is exacerbated by her disfiguring dental mishap.

 

  • The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger  

In this hilarious tale, Tommy and his sixth grade friends must decide if the advice of an origami finger puppet can be trusted.

 

  • Summer Reading Is Killing Me! by Jon Scieszka

Travel through a world of children's book characters in this riotous Time Warp Trio book

 

  • A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

As dark and bloody as the title suggests, these six retellings tweak the classic fairy tale as Hansel and Gretel embark on an epic journey of self-discovery.

 

  • Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection Edited by Matt Dembicki

This collaborative effort by more than 40 writers and artists presents 21 Native American trickster tales in graphic novel format.

 

  • Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm 

Sassy eleven-year-old Turtle finds her life turned on end when she is sent to live with her aunt in Depression-era Key West. Newbery Honor Book