Mid-Continent Public Library

Selected Middle Grade Fiction Reading List

Updated 07/04/2015

A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

The Pickles are new to Midnight Gulch, Tennessee, a town which legend
says was once magic--but Felicity is convinced the magic is still there, and
with the help of her new friend Jonah the Beedle she hopes to bring the
magic back.
Call Number: JF LLOYD
ISBN: 9780545552707

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle

An eighth-grader who dreams of performing in a Broadway musical
concocts a plan to run away to New York and audition for the role of Elliot
in the musical version of "E.T."
Call Number: JF FEDERLE
ISBN: 9781442446892

The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel

Aboard "The Boundless," the greatest train ever built, on its maiden
voyage across Canada, teenage Will enlists the aid of a traveling circus to
save the train from villains.
Call Number: JF OPPEL
ISBN: 9781442472884

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be
a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps
even to glimpse Unknown Regions.
Call Number: JF DUPRAU
ISBN: 9780375822735

Countdown by Deborah Wiles

Franny Chapman just wants some peace. But that's hard to get when her
best friend is feuding with her, her sister has disappeared, and her uncle is
fighting an old war in his head. Her saintly younger brother is no help, and
the cute boy across the street only complicates things. Worst of all,
everyone is walking around just waiting for a bomb to fall. It's 1962, and it
seems the whole country is living in fear.
Call Number: JF WILES
ISBN: 9780545106054

Doll Bones by Holly Black

Zach, Alice, and Poppy, friends from a Pennsylvania middle school who
have long enjoyed acting out imaginary adventures with dolls and action
figures, embark on a real-life quest to Ohio to bury a doll made from the
ashes of a dead girl.
Call Number: JF BLACK
ISBN: 9781416963981
El Deafo by Cece Bell
The author recounts in graphic novel format her experiences with hearing
loss at a young age, including using a bulky hearing aid, learning how to
lip read, and determining her "superpower."
Call Number: JF BELL
ISBN: 9781419710209

Escape from Mr. Lemoncellos Library by Chris Grabenstein

Twelve-year-old Kyle gets to stay overnight in the new town library,
designed by his hero (the famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello), with
other students but finds that come morning he must work with friends to
solve puzzles in order to escape.
Call Number: JF GRABENSTEIN
ISBN: 9780307931474

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

In central Texas in 1899, eleven-year-old Callie Vee Tate learns about love
from the older three of her six brothers and studies the natural world with
her grandfather which leads to an important discovery.
Call Number: JF KELLY
ISBN: 9781410422156

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes
the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and
discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.
Call Number: JF LOWRY
ISBN: 9780544340688

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a
graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise
him as one of their own.
Call Number: YF GAIMAN
ISBN: 9781410414410

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone by J.K. Rowling

Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy
with a great destiny gets the chance to prove his worth while attending the
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Call Number: JF ROWLING
ISBN: 9780590353403

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the
wilderness, learning to survive with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his
mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce.
Call Number: JF PAULSEN
ISBN: 9780689840920

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson

After inheriting her uncle's homesteading claim in Montana, sixteen-yearold orphan Hattie Brooks travels from Iowa in 1917 to make a home for
herself and encounters some unexpected problems related to the war
being fought in Europe. Includes readers guide and a short interview with
Kirby Larson following the bibliography
Call Number: YF LARSON
ISBN: 9780440239413

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in
another boy's attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed
construction site.
Call Number: YF HIAASEN
ISBN: 9780786250141

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within
the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and
his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are
jeopardized.
Call Number: JF SELZNICK
ISBN: 9780439813785

Matilda by Roald Dahl

Matilda applies her untapped mental powers to rid the school of the evil,
child-hating headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, and restore her nice teacher,
Miss Honey, to financial security.
Call Number: JF DAHL
ISBN: 9780140342949

Nuts to You by Lynne Rae Perkins

After surviving being carried off by a hawk, a young squirrel resolves to
find his way home, as his best friends begin their search for him.
Call Number: JF PERKINS
ISBN: 9780060092757

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived for years in a down-and-out circusthemed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant that has been added to the
mall, he decides that he must find her a better life.
Call Number: JF APPLEGATE
ISBN: 9780061992254

The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney

After her tribal village is attacked by militants, Amira, a young Sudanese
girl, must flee to safety at a refugee camp, where she finds hope and the
chance to pursue an education in the form of a single red pencil and the
friendship and encouragement of a wise elder.
Call Number: JF PINKNEY
ISBN: 9780316247801

The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg

Four students, with their own individual stories, develop a special bond and
attract the attention of their teacher, a paraplegic, who chooses them to
represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition.
Call Number: JF KONIGSBURG
ISBN: 9780613062787

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

After her mother leaves home suddenly, thirteen-year-old Sal and her
grandparents take a car trip retracing her mother's route. Along the way,
Sal recounts the story of her friend Phoebe, whose mother also left.
Call Number: JF CREECH
ISBN: 9780590649438

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1970s television game
show, "The $20,000 Pyramid," a twelve-year-old New York City girl tries
to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous
source that seems to defy the laws of time and space.
Call Number: JF STEAD
ISBN: 9780385737425

Who Could That Be at This Hour? by Lemony Snicket

Thirteen-year-old Lemony Snicket begins his apprenticeship with S.
Theodora Markson of the secretive V.F.D. in the tiny dot of a town called
Stain'd By The Sea, where he helps investigate the theft of a statue.
Call Number: JF SNICKET
ISBN: 9780316123082

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial
abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being homeschooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan,
which entails enduring the taunting and fear of his classmates as he
struggles to be seen as just another student.
Call Number: JF PALACIO
ISBN: 9780375869020