Buying books for your classroom? Here’s an inclusive list.

What are your favorite middle-grade books?

I have some money to buy books for my tenth grade English class. Suggestions?

What books would you recommend for reluctant/high-standards freshman readers?

In recent weeks, I’ve seen many posts and tweets of this nature and even more responses from generous teachers and authors offering suggestions. There have been plenty of posts and articles with book lists featuring the newest releases, but I want to shine some light on books that I have shared with teen readers the past two years, so this post is really just a post of collected titles and a few articles I’ve written about how I share these books with teen readers.

I have read every book on this list and have shared and discussed every book with teens. The list is diverse in genre, form, author, and subject matter. Every book is in my classroom library — except for the ones that students have “kept.” I hope some of these make their way into the hands of your teen readers in the 2017-18 school year.

Articles: 

“Letting Literature Do the Work: How I Started an Inclusive Literature Workshop”

I applied for a grant that I called “Reading Humanity: Inclusive Literature for an Inclusive Society” and earned $1,000 to buy books that first and foremost told a good story and second represented gender, sexual orientation, class, ability, race, culture, landscape, and religion for teen readers.  This grant was in the memory of Mr. Richard Bokor: teacher, coach, and district board member. Mr. Bokor was passionate about inspiring and motivating students, and I was honored to earn this grant in his memory.

“Illinois Reading Council: Inclusive Literature Reading Workshop”

Included in this post is a screencast of my presentations at IRC and links to assignments I created for the inclusive literature workshop to promote conversation about and across books for reading conferences, book groups, blogs, movies, and speeches. In every case, I tried to use these assignments as ways of entering or continuing a conversation about the human beings we were encountering in our reading and how those reading experiences shaped us as readers and human beings.

“Read Everything: Why What Teachers Read (and Don’t Read) with Students Matters”

With the results of this survey in mind, we set the goal for independent and partner reading to be books that would stretch them into the lives of characters beyond their own, beyond that which they are familiar. I did use Donalyn Miller’s 40 book challenge as inspiration for this, but in addition to genre quotas (or alongside), I asked students to explore culture, language, class, religion, ability difference, gender identity, and sexual orientation. I read over 300 books, trying my best to read “everything,” and a generous grant from the Bokor family helped me to develop a more inclusive classroom library. Knowing these books and having so many titles on hand (literally) just made reading into lives beyond our own more accessible.

“4 Steps Toward a More Inclusive Classroom”

An inclusive curriculum promotes an understanding that within any group – racial, ethnic, religious, class, ability, gender, sexual orientation –there are variations, and that among groups, there are similarities. However, an inclusive curriculum is not just a checklist of texts, films, and articles about difference. An inclusive curriculum considers who produced the content, the accessibility of the content’s form, how students make sense of the content, and the freedom for students to read about themselves and stretch into discovering a world beyond their own.

 

Books I bought for 2015-16 school year

Alexander, Kwame. The Crossover. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.
Beam, Cris, and Ben Mautner. I Am J .Little, Brown and Company, 2011.
Bell, Cece, and David Lasky. El Deafo. Amulet Books, 2014.
Brown, Don. Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015.
Cofer, Judith O. Call Me Maria: A Novel. Orchard Books, 2004.
Draper, Sharon M. Out of My Mind. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2010.
Draper, Sharon. Stella by Starlight. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2016.
Edwardson, Debby D, Alex Ferrari, and Melanie Kroupa. My Name Is Not Easy. Marshall Cavendish, 2011.
Engle, Margarita. The Wild Book. Harcourt Children’s Books, 2012.
Erskine, Kathryn. Mockingbird (mok‘ing-Bûrd). Philomel Books, 2010.Wilson, G W, Adrian Alphona, Ian Herring, Joe Caramagna, Sara Pichelli, Justin Ponsor, Jamie Mckelvie, and Matthew Wilson. Ms. Marvel: Vol. 1.No Normal. Marvel Worldwide, 2014.
Federle, Tim. Better Nate Than Ever.Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers,2014.
Gansworth, Eric L. If I Ever Get Out of Here: A Novel with Paintings. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2013.
Gantos, Jack. Joey Pigza Loses Control.Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.
Grimes, Nikki. Words with Wings.WordSong, 2013.
Howe, James. The Misfits. Aladdin Paperbacks, 2003.
Hunt, Lynda M. Fish in a Tree.Nancy Paulsen Books, 2015.
Koja, Kathe. Buddha Boy.Frances Foster Books, 2003.
Kuklin, Susan. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out.Candlewick Press, 2014.
Lekuton, Joseph, and Herman J. Viola. Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna. Washington, D.C: National Geographic, 2003.
Levithan, David. Boy Meets Boy. Alfred A. Knopf, 2003.
Levithan, David. Every Day. Alfred A. Knopf, 2012.
Lo, Malinda. Ash. Little, Brown and Co, 2009.
Lowrey, Sassafras, Jennifer C. Burke, and Judy P. Shepard. Kicked Out. Homofactus Press, 2010. Martin, Ann M. Rain Reign. Feiwel and Friends, 2014.
Martinez, Claudia G. Pig Park. Cinco Puntos Press, 2014.
Martinez, Claudia G. The Smell of Old Lady Perfume. Cinco Puntos Press, 2008.
Medina, Meg. Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass. Candlewick Press, 2013.
Miller-Lachmann, Lyn. Rogue: A Novel. Nancy Paulsen Books, 2013.
Nelson, Jandy. I’ll Give You the Sun.Dial Books, 2014.
O’Connor, Barbara. How to Steal a Dog: A Novel. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007.
Okorafor, Nnedi. Akata Witch. Viking, 2011.
Palacio, R J. Wonder. Alfred A. Knopf, 2012.
Quintero, Isabel. Gabi, a Girl in Pieces.Cinco Puntos Press, 2014.
Reynolds, Jason, and Brendan Kiely.All American Boys. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2015.
Reynolds, Jason. The Boy in the Black Suit. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2015.
Reynolds, Jason. When I Was the Greatest. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2014.
Ryan, Pam M. Echo: A Novel. Scholastic Press , 2015.
Scott, Elaine. Buried Alive!: How 33 Miners Survived 69 Days Deep Under the Chilean Desert.Clarion Books, 2012.
Stork, Francisco X. Marcelo in the Real World. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2009.
Tammet, Daniel. Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant : a Memoir. Free Press, 2007.
Telgemeier, Raina, and Stephanie Yue. Smile. Graphix, 2010.
Telgemeier, Raina. Drama.Graphix/Scholastic, 2012. Print
Ursu, Anne. The Real Boy. Walden Pond Press, 2013.
Wilson, G W, Elmo Bondoc, Takeshi Miyazawa, Ian Herring, Irma Kniivila, Joe Caramagna, Kris Anka, Marguerite Sauvage, Jacob Wyatt, Mark Waid, Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, Edgar Delgado, and Julian T. Tedesco. Ms. Marvel: Vol. 3., Crushed.Marvel Worldwide,2015.
Wilson, G W, Jacob Wyatt, Adrian Alphona, Ian Herring, Joe Caramagna, Jamie Mckelvie, Matthew Wilson, and Kris Anka. Ms. Marvel: Vol. 2. Generation. Marvel Worldwide, 2015.
Wittlinger, Ellen. Parrotfish. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2007.
Woodson, Jacqueline. Brown Girl Dreaming.Nancy Paulsen Books, 2014. Print.

Books I bought for the 2016-17 school year

A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel by Madeleine L’Engle, Hope Larson
Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay by Susan Hood
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
All the Broken Pieces by Anne E. Burg
Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in LA by Luis J. Rodriguez
American Ace by Marilyn Nelson
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Batman: The Killing Joke, Deluxe Edition by Alan Moore, Brian Bolland
Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas
Boy 21 by Matthew Quick
Caminar by Skila Brown
Cruise Control by Terry Trueman
Cut by Patricia McCormick
Death Coming Up the Hill by Chris Crowe
Dust of Eden by Mariko Nagai
Edison’s Alley (Accelerati Trilogy) by Neal Shusterman, Eric Elfman
Elena Vanishing: A Memoir by Elena Dunkle, Clare B. Dunkle
Empty Places by Kathy Cannon Wiechman
Fake ID by Lamar Giles
Fat Angie by e.E. Chartlon-Trujillo
Gaijin: American Prisoner of War by Matt Faulkner
Genius: The Game by Leopoldo Gout
Ghost by Jason Reynolds
Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier
Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky
Grandfather Gandhi by Arun Gandhi
If I Grow Up by Todd Strasser
It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
It’s So Amazing: A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families by Robie H. Harris, Michael Emberley
Life Happens Next by Terry Trueman
Life in Prison by Stanley Williams, Barbara Cottman
Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
Monster: A Graphic Novel by Walter Dean Myers, Guy A. Sims
Ms. Bixby’s Last Day by John David Anderson
My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf
Navy SEAL Dogs: My Tale of Training Canines for Combat by Mike Ritland
One by Sarah Crossan
Pink is for Blobfish: Discovering the World’s Perfectly Pink Animals by Jess Keating
Positive: A Memoir by Paige Rawl, Ali Benjamin
Princeless, Book 2: Get Over Yourself by Jeremy Whitley, Emily Martin
Princeless: Save Yourself by Jeremy Whitley, M. Goodwin
Rhyme Schemer by K.A. Holt
Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson
Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune by Pamela S. Turner, Gareth Hinds
Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks
Shakespear Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge
Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor by Robert Burleigh
Still a Work in Progress by Jo Knowles
Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm
Tales from the Brother’s Grimm and the Sisters Weird by Vivian Vande Velde, Brad Weinman
Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
The Accelerati Trilogy Book One: Tesla’s Attic by Neal Shusterman
The Boxer: The True Story of the Holocaust Survivor Harry Haft by Reinhard Kleist
The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste
The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork
The Memory of Things: A Novel by Gae Polisner
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, Patricia Castelao
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
The Seventh Wish by Kate Messner
Tina’s Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary by KEshni KAshyap, Mari Araki
Tiny Stitches: The Life of the Medical Pioneer Vivien Thomas by Gwendolyn Hooks
Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Ungifted by Gordon Korman
Unidentified Suburban Object by Mike Jung
When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laban Carrick Hill
Wild Boy: The Real Life of the Savage of Aveyron by Mary Losure, Timothy Basil Ering