Best Middle Grade Books!

After the 100 Books Every Child Should Hear Before Starting School (one of my postings in August), I promised you books for older students.  

Here is my compilation of the BEST Middle Grade Books.  Remember to continue reading aloud to your students, no matter what grade you teach!  Next week, I'll post the Best YA Books - Stay tuned!

Middle Grade Books

Enjoy this list of the best middle grade books.  Read aloud to your students every day, even if it's just a teaser, to get them hooked on the story . 

Best Books of 2011 and 2012: Children’s Middle Grade Books (www.Amazon.com)  and Best Middle Grade and Chapter Books (www.books4yourkids.com) and the Ten Middle Grade Novels I’m Looking Forward To In 2012 (Blog.schoollibraryjournal.com), and Best Middle Grade Fiction (www.granitemedia.org)

1.Okay for Now

2.Something to Hold

3.Wonderstruck

4.Every Thing On It

5.The Son of Neptune

6.Close to Famous

7.The Emerald Atlas

8.The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

9.The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales

10.  Liesl & Po

11.  Breadcrumbs

12.  Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes

13.  Vanished

14.  Wildwood

15.  The Unforgotten Coat

16.  Waiting for the Magic

17.  The Midnight Zoo

18.  A Year Without Autumn

19.  A Talk Dark & Grimm

20.  The Seven Sorcerers

21.  Horton Halfpott

22.  One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street

23.  Lime Pickle Juice on a Cookie

24.  Kat, Incorrigible

25.  Nerd Camp

26.  Small Acts of Amazing Courage

27.  Into the Unknown: How Great Explorers Found Their Way by Sea, Air, and Land

28.  Giants Beware

29.  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again

30.  Merits of Mischief

31.  The Mighty Miss Malone

32.  Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms

33.  Remarkable

34.  The Paradise Trap

35.  The False Prince

36.  Cold Cereal

37.  Lone Bean

38.  Kaspar the Titanic Cat

39.  Illsionolgy

40.  Castle of Shadows

41.  Wonder

42.  The Case of the Deadly Desperados: Western Mysteries

43.  Mr. and Mrs. Bunny – Detectives Extraordinaire!

44.  May B.

45.  Glory Be

46.  The One and Only Ivan

47.  See You at Harry’s

48.  The Prince Who Fell from the Sky

49.  Three Times Lucky

50.  The Crafty Criminals

51.  Chomp

52.  Ruby Redfort Look Into My Eyes

53.  Remarkable

54.  The Great Cake Mystery

55.  The Whole Story of Half a Girl

56.  Never Say Genius

57.  Chained

58.  The Humming Room

59.  The Amazing Adventures of John Smith, Jr., A.K.A. Houdini

60.  Oddfellow’s Orphanage

61.  A Monster Calls

62.  The Unseen Guest

63.  The Edgar Awards

64.  Ten Miles Past Normal

65.  Superfan

66.  One Dog and His Boy

67.  Winterling

68.  The Grave Robber’s Apprentice

69.  Wilma Tenderfoot: The Case of the Frozen Hearts

70.  Fake Mustache

71.  Hidden

72.  29 Clues: The Medusa Plot

73.  13 Gufts

74.  Secrets at Sea

75.  The Flint Heart

76.  Turtle in Paradise

77.  Floors

78.  True (… Sort of)

79.  The Emerald Atlas

80.  Ruby Red

81.  The Lovely Shoes

82.  The Bridge to Never Land

83.  With a Name Like Love

84.  The Cabinet of Earths

85.  Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading

86.  Breaking Stalin’s Nose

87.  Dead End in Norvelt

88.  Moon over Manifest

89.  When You Reach Me

90.  One Dog and His Boy

91.  Like the Willow Tree

92.  Bigger Than a Bread Box

93.  The Visconti House

94.  Zora and Me

95.  Wondenstein: The Creature from My Closet

96.  Pippi Longstocking

97.  The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth

98.  My Name is RachelJunonia

99.  The Other Felix

100.  The Magic Cake Shop

Read aloud to your students today.  It's that important. Even if just for 5 minutes.

Until next time, share a literacy strategy!

Denise Gudwin

 

It's Monday, It's ELA Common Core Day! Today's Tip: Step 5

It’s Monday, It’s ELA Common Core Day! Today's Tip: Step 5: What will my students need to do, to demonstrate an understanding of this standard?  What facts should they know, what concepts should they understand, and what skills should they use?

I've been missing-in-action this month...  work deadlines just took over.  But now, I'm back!  

Today is a continuation of our look at Ainsworth's (2003) work in unwrapping the standards, where we’ve focused on Steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 (out of 5). Today's tip is Unwrapping the Standards, Step 5 (the last of the 5 steps) – What will my students need to do…

Step 5 – What will my students need to do, to demonstrate an understanding of this standard? What facts should they know, what concepts should they understand, and what skills should they use? (Ainsworth)

Facts they           should know	Concepts they should understand	Skills they           should use

Try thinking of a standard in a new way.  What facts should our students know? What concepts should they understand?  And what skills should they use?

In the sample of RL.__.2, what facts should they know?  Maybe what a key detail looks like? What concepts should they understand?  Maybe how a retell is different than a summary?  and What skills should they use?  As one teacher asked, "Is listening to the story an appropriate skill they should be able to use?" Yes!  Make it personalized for your students! 

So take a moment to think about one standard - it doesn't have to be this one below, (see more at http://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_ELA%20Standards.pdf but think about what facts should our students know, what concepts should our students understand, and what skills should our students use - and that may truly assist you in your planning and instruction. 

 Sample of K-6 Standard RL.__.2:

Kindergarten Teachers: 

Standard RL.K.2: With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.

1^st Grade Teachers:

Standard RL.1.2: Grade 1 students will retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

2^nd Grade Teachers:

Standard RL.2.2: Grade 2 students will recount stories, including fable and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.

3^rd Grade Teachers:

Standard RL.3.2: Grade 3 students will recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

4^th Grade Teachers:

Standard RL.4.2: Grade 4 students will determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

5^th Grade Teachers:

Standard RL.5.2: Grade 5 students will determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

6^th Grade Teachers:

Standard RL.6.2: Grade 6 students will determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

This unwrapping the standards 5-step-process should be helpful to you and your colleagues.  Remember though, you don't have to attempt it alone.  Sit with a group of friends/colleagues to work through these 5 steps together.  It is a ton more fun that way.  It seems like a lot of extra work to do, but front-loading this will give you an understanding that will help your teaching go even more smoothly, and the benefit is for both you and your students.

Until next time, share a literacy strategy!

Denise Gudwin, Ph.D.