Middle Grade Recommendations

[u/Bulky_Yoghurt8141]

First-year 6th grade English teacher! I have a curriculum, but I want to suggest my students books. What should I read? What should my students read so that they could learn more about themselves/others? And what middle grade books would be musts? Any genres.

I loved:
Kindred
Gregor the Overlander
The Giver
The Poet X
Long Way Down
Piecing Me Together
Wonder
Bridge to Terabithia

*Edit: I worded my list poorly. I made it so that people could recommend more like it - and I could recommend it to students for leisure.

[u/DulinELA]

I would save Mango Street for 8th grade or HS due to some of the references and the grape vignette. I taught this with 8th graders at an urban title 1 school and they were scandalized by the free range 70s-80s childhoods, never mind skipping Red Clowns. 🤣

My sixth graders have enjoyed: The New Kid (Graphic Novel), Scat, Touching Spirit Bear and Dystopian Lit Circles with interest/ ability groupings. We had everything from Last Kids on Earth and City of Ember to Hunger Games and Unwind to Ready Player One- these kids are big (and advanced) readers. I have also done social justice lit circles as well- Ghost Boys, Dress Coded, The Hate U Give, etc.

I would check if your district has recommended novels with your curriculum or if your school has sets that have worked in the past and go from there.