50 Must Read Books for Middle School

She's a reader. There's no denying that.

She's also quite driven. At only 11, she has already chosen her desired college, major, and minor.

And while I recognize that at eleven her opinions and plans might ebb and flow in the coming years, I also know HER and know that when she gets her sights set on a goal, there's no stopping her determination.

That being said, the plan she has penciled in for herself after much prayer and self-evaluation requires a strong literary background. With that in mind, I have spent many months putting together a middle school reading list that will set her on that path.


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The Selection Process

Since I'm not a huge fan of most modern reading lists and award-winning books, I have consulted only quality lists from sources that I trust which include THESE lovely gems, The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Teens, and The Home Scholar. I have pored over countless titles and have devised a list of 50 that I think represent a worthwhile sampling of different genres, themes, and eras. There is an intentional absence of non-fiction books since she reads so many of these already for our living literature style science and history.

In my opinion, middle school is a time to start developing personal opinions and convictions on many topics while under the protective umbrella of home. That being said, several of these books contain gentle messages that will challenge her current belief system. While I don't introduce them to sway her from her Christian worldview. On the contrary, I hope to use these weightier-themed books to slowly help her grow stronger in her ability to filter EVERYTHING through a Biblical lens. 

My home is a greenhouse...a place where small buds can grow strong and form deep roots in Truth. Up until this point, so much of my daughter's growing has come from exposure to nothing-but-Truth. But now that she is in middle school and currently doing some high school level course work, she needs to learn how to weather the tough storms that the world will hurl at her by being gently released to find the Truth amidst the lies. 

With that in mind, I plan on reading several of these heavier titles with her. We will each read our own copy separately and dialogue about them as we are able, dissecting the Truth from the lie.

The Plan

I have placed all of these books on a "shelf" called Middle School MUST READS in my Goodreads account so that she can see the list at a glance. There really is no structured order to it all. She is free to pick any title at any time. I don't necessarily expect her to read all of these books by the time she starts high school. (Then again, she's an avid reader and just might surprise me. She's actually read a handful of them already!) I mostly just want to set a wide variety of books in front of her that will each add an element of excellence to her literary journey without the worldly indoctrination that so many popular books offer.

As always, when she finishes a book, she will document it for her annual portfolio and mark it as "read" in my Goodreads account.

The Books

Classics

An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Call it Courage by Armstrong Sperry

Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

My Antonia by Willa Cather*

Old Yeller by Fred Gipson

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

General Fiction

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff
Blue Willow by Doris Gates
Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins Forbes
Letters from Rifka byKaren Hesse* 
Lyddie by Katherine Paterson*
Men of Iron by Howard Pyle*
Mr. Tucket by Gary Paulsen*
Rascal by Sterling North
Redwall by Brian Jacques
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor*
Sounder by William H. Armstrong
Steal Away by Jennifer Armstrong*
The Borrowers by Mary Norton

The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong*
The Miracle Worker by Willian Gibson

The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood*
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Tree Castle Island by Jean Craighead George*
The Cay by Theodore Taylor
The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell*

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Tales from Shakespeare by Charles Lamb

Biographies/Autobiographies

America's Paul Revere by Esther Hoskins Forbes

Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham

Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman

Joni: An Unforgettable Story by Joni Eareckson Tada

Not a Tame Lion: The Spiritual Legacy of C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia by Terry Glaspey

The Diary of a Young Girl by Ann Frank

Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington

*Books that I am not as familiar with and will be reading alongside her.

Looking for more lists like this?

Once a month, I email a book list to the members of the Biblio-files. Every title on the list has been personally read and vetted by me and has been compiled by age range in order to help you navigate the library with your kids. In addition, I also include a few books that you should be aware of--books that contain explicit language, sexual agenda, graphic violence, etc. so that you can make an educated decision when/if your kids should ever be interested in reading any of them. What's more, members are invited to join me in a private Facebook group where we help each other find just the right books for our kids and each other. We'd love to have you join us!