I have had a great time this year reading the newest middle-grade releases. On occasion, I have even been able to preview books before their release and share these with students. Indeed, new books are exciting, but new books also have a long hold list at libraries and on listening apps because they are in high demand.
For this summer reading list, instead of recommending the newest-most-wonderful books (and there are many), we have some recommendations that are still most-wonderful but also range from a few years post-release to, well, before your middle school reader was born so that you won’t have to wait all summer to read them.
I have invited two reader-teacher-friends to create this list: Anna Roseboro and David Schaafsma. If I have learned anything from years of reading alongside students it’s that every reading life is richer with recommendations from friends. So here is our list, and we welcome your recommendations, Ethical ELA friend.
Sarah’s Recommendations
Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri has horses. In the city of Philadelphia. The main character is twelve-year-old Cole, and his mom sent him to stay with his dad (who he doesn’t know very well) because of some behavior issues at school. Cole learns a lot about horses (and himself) by working with a group of African American “cowboys” who rescue horses.
Words With Wings by Nikki Grimes is one of my favorite books and one I have shared with many 7th and 8th graders over the years. Gabby is a daydreamer and gets in trouble all the time because she is not paying attention. In this verse novel, Gabby finds a way to channel her dreams.
See You at Harry’s by Jo Knowles is set in a diner. Who doesn’t love milkshakes in the summer? Fern is twelve with a quirky family that just got bigger with baby Charlie. Tragedy strikes, and Fern has to navigate friendship and school in a whole new way. A quick read that I couldn’t put down because the pace of the plot kept moving my heart along.
When She Was Good by Norma Fox Mazer takes readers into Em Thurkill’s life in a trailer with troubled parents and a violent sister. Parts are tough to read, but readers witness what some twelve-years-olds endure and overcome. Another quick read at 238 pages that is perfect for a rainy summer day (when you can’t go swimming).
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson takes on bio-medical ethics. I wanted to get sci-fi, dystopian book in here that would be great for series readers, too. Jenna is seventeen and has no memory of her life before a “terrible accident.” As she pieces together her memory, she begins to realize how far her parents went to save her life.
Anna’s Recommendations
Anna J. Small Roseboro, a National Board Certified Teacher is a published author and poet but is primarily an educator with over forty years’ experience teaching English and Speech to students in middle school, high school and college in public, private, and parochial schools in five states. A mentor for early career educators, Ms. Roseboro earned a B.A. in Speech Communications from Wayne State University and an M.A. in Curriculum Design from the University of California, San Diego. Her newest published work is a series of books published by Rowman and Littlefield designed for pre-service teachers and for those teaching middle school for the first time. See those three books GETTING STARTED (2018) MORE ABOUT WRITING (2019) EXPERIENCE POEMS AND PICTURES (2019) and NOT INTIMIDATING (2019) on her website http://teachingenglishlanguagearts.com/.
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck is set in rural Vermont. It tells a haunting story of a thirteen year old boy who learns the facts of life through myriad experiences and observations on the family farm, the county fair, and around town.
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff portrays a young man on quest to discover what happened to the Roman legion his father led in Great Britain. Mysteriously, soldiers had disappeared across Hadrian’s Wall. How shocked he is to learn how men from different cultures interacted. What now?
I, Juan de Pareja by Rosemary de Trevino, an autobiographical novel set during the Renaissance, tells the story of a young African who began life as a slave assisting Diego de Velázquez, court painter to the King of Spain. Juan De Pareja learned painting from his master. The Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain now exhibits Juan’s work.
Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya tells the story, set in India, of a young teenager forced to marry a tenant farmer she had never met. Before moving to the city, she learned to be a wife, mother and co-breadwinner during a time of monsoons, droughts.
Rumors of Peace by Elle Leffland tells this World War II story of a Danish girl living in Northern California who fears for classmates in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor bombing. More concerning are the letters the family receives from relatives living in Europe. How do they cope!
The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez is based on the real-life experiences of Panchito whose family crossed into the United States through a hole in a fence to find work as migrant workers. How can one learn enough to graduate when one seldom is at school a full school year?
Dave’s Recommendations
David Schaafsma is a Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he directs the Program in English Education. He teaches courses in English teaching methods, graphic novels, and young adult literature. He’s the author of five books and is a former editor of the journal English Education. He’s published numerous articles on community-based literacy, but also increasingly writes fiction and poetry. He’s the father of five children and has five siblings living in three states. He lives in Oak Park just outside Chicago. Check out his Goodreads for many, many more recommendations.
This One Summer by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki is a graphic novel about Rose, at 12, who hangs with 10-year-old Windy every summer at a cottage on Lake Huron. Rose’s Mom is depressed, and it’s not clear why, but hey, who is that guy that all the girls like who works at the convenience store? I never saw him before! Quiet summer girls on the cusp of teenhood, wondering what it means to be a woman. On the surface not much seems to be happening—almost no one talks to each other—but SO much is happening just beneath the surface.
The Smell of Old Lady Perfume by Claudia Guadalupe Martinez features twelve-year-old Chela, a soccer player whose whole world is her family. This is especially so when her Dad, the person she is above all closest to, has a stroke, and the whole house fills with the smell of old lady perfume, as relatives fill the house to help. A book about sisters, and love, and grief. How strong is Chela? How strong does she need to be?
The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang is a graphic novel about a prince whose parents want him to find a bride, and a girl who wants to become a dressmaker whom he secretly hires to make what he really wants to wear: Dresses! A funny, lively and sweet story about two people from different classes who become friends, in the tradition ofThe Prince and the Pauper.
Anne Frank’s Diary is a graphic adaptation by Ari Kolman of The Diary of Anne Frank, the story of a Jewish girl who grows up in an Amsterdam attic where she is hidden to escape the Nazis. This graphic novel helps “fill out’ the story of Anne and her family, while including much of the original diary. Beautiful and inspiring accompaniment to the diary, further reading for the young reader who loved the book, or a way in for the struggle in a reader who might not otherwise finish it.
Neighborhood Girls is Jessie Ann Foley’s story set in the north side, Jefferson Park neighborhood of Chicago, featuring Honors student Wendy Boychuck, whose Dad, a former cop, is in prison for his involvement in a torture case that echoes actual real events. Wendy is bullied, but during this miserable time in school, she stops hanging with her smart nerd girlfriends and seeks protection from some mean girls. It’s a book about neighborhoods, morality, religion, spirituality, and redemption.
This one is NEW: Shuri’s the sister of T’Challa, The Black Panther, ruler of Wakanda, who became a popular character in the film. Nnedi Okorafor (Binti, Akata Witch) creates a Marvel series about this girl whose brother goes missing. She is a really smart science and technology student whose brother suddenly goes missing. Wakanda needs a leader. Is young Shuri that person? She mostly wants to work in the lab, and of course, find her brother.
What about books written by Walter Dean Myers or Virginia Hamilton??!!!
Yes! I have recommended both in the past and absolutely think they are great summer reads!