Recommended King Philip Middle School Independent Reading Books

 Realistic Fiction, Teenage Issues, Coming of Age

Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser

After by Francine Prose

Fifteen by Beverly Cleary

Loud Silence of Francine Green by Karen Cushman

A Northern Light by Alex Flinn

Sister Spider Knows All by Adrian Fogelin

The Diary of Pelly D by L.J. Adlington

Adam Canfield of the Slash by Mike Wineup

Runaround by Helen Hemphill

My Almost Epic Summer by Adele Griffing

Life As We Know It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

12 Again by Sue Corbett

Speak, Prom and Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson

A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass

Rock Star, Superstar by Blake Nelson

Hush by Jacqueline Woodson

Words by Heart Ouida Sebestyen

Empire Falls by Richard Russo

Homecoming, Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt

Stuck in Neutral and Cruise Control by Terry Trueman

The Silent Boy by Lois Lowry

All the Lisa Harrison books – Revenge of the Wannabes, It’s Not Easy Being Mean, Dial L for Loser

Here’s to You, Rachel Robinson by Judy Blume

Cut and My Brothers Keeper by Patricia McCormick

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks

Scorpions, Fallen Angels, The Beast or anything by Walter Dean Myers

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt

Outcasts of Schuyler Place by E.L. Konigsbury

Go Ask Alice Anonymous

The Truth About Forever, Dreamland or anything by Sarah Dessen

Rob&Sara.com by Peterson and Ruckman

Don’t Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey by Margaret Haddix

How My Private Personal Journal Became a Bestseller by Julia DeVillers

An All American Girl by Meg Cabot

Small Steps, the sequel to Holes by Louis Sachar

The Truth About Forever and What Happened When My Sister Went Crazy by Sonia Sones

Girl Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

Bronz Masquerade by Nikki Grimes

Honey, Baby Sweetheart by Deb Caletti

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Perfect by Natasha Friend

The Pigman and The Pigman Legacy by Paul Zindel

The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman

The Teacher’s Funeral, A Comedy in Three Parts by  Richard Peck

Nothing to Lose by Alex Flinn

 

Other Places, Other Lands; Adjusting to a New Life

A Step From Heaven by An Na

Over a Thousand Hills by Hanna Jansen

Naming Maya by Uma Krishnaswami

Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier

Shiva’s Fire, Haveli,  Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples

Bound by Donna Jo Napoli

So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

Project Mulberry, My Name is Keoko by Linda Sue Park

Thura’s Diary by Thura al-Windawi

The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini

The Other Side of Truth by Beverly Naidoo

Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan

The Good Earth by Pearl Buck

Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton

 

Futuristic and Fantasy

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Twilight, New Moon by Stephanie Myers

Gifts by Ursula LeGuin

So Yesterday, Pretties, Uglies, Specials  by Paul Westerfield

The High King by Lloyd Alexander

The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer

The Road by Cormac McCarthy ( a bestseller)

The Golden Compass , The Amber Spy Glass by Philip Pullman

The Ear, The Eye, and The Arm by Nancy Farmer

House of The Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Eva by Peter Dickenson

Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

Messenger, Gossamer by Lois Lowry

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula LeGuin

Enchantress from the Stars  by Sylvia Louise Engdahl (challenging)

Eragon, Eldest by Christopher Paolini

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

Feed by M.T. Anderson

The Afterlife by Gary Soto

Night of the Bat by Paul Zindel

Shade’s Children, Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen  by Garth Nix

Buried Fire and the Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud

The Gift Moves by Steven Lyon

First Test, Page, Squire, and Lady Night by Tamora Pierce

The Night Dance by Suzanne Weyn

The Silver Child and The Silver City by Cliff McNish (easy)

 

Action and Adventure

The Lightening Thief, The Sea of Monsters and The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan (Hero quest)

The Game of Sunken Places by M.T.Anderson

The Alex Rider series of books by Anthony Horowitz

Maximum Ride, The Angel Experiment and Maximum Ride, School is Out Forever by James Patterson

A Time to Kill by John Grisham

The Shadow Children series by Margaret Haddix

Breakout by PaulFleischman

Hatchet, Guts, Brian’s Winter by Gary Paulsen

Island Boys (short stories) ed. By Wendy Lamb by Random House

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

Godless by Peter Hautman

The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson

 

Sports

Goal, The Dream Begins by Robert Rigby (soccer)

Crackback by Jon Coy

Heat by Mike Lupica

Larry Bird, Drive, The Story of My Life by Larry Bird with Bob Ryan

Under the Baseball Moon by John H. Ritter

Football and Other Contact Sports by Carter

Kind of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography by Chris Crutcher

How Angel Peterson Got His Name:  And Other Outrageous Tales about Extreme Sports ed. By Wendy Lamb for Random House

Life, Love and the Pursuit of Free Throws by Janette Rallson

The Moves Make the Man by Bruce Brooks

Iron Man, The Crazy Horse Electric Game or any book by Chris Crutcher

The Boy Who Saved Baseball by John H. Ritter

Last Shot:  A Final Four Mystery by John Feinstein

Faithful by Stephen King and Steward O’Nan (2004 World Series Red Sox season)

 

Mystery , Suspense, Witchcraft

Killing Mr. Griffin, Down a Dark Hall or anything by Lois Duncan

Kidnappers, A Mystery by Willo Davis Roberts

Demon In My View, In the Forests of The North, Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Never Trust a Dead Man by Vivian Vande Velde

Nightmare by Nixon

The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson ( a forensic mystery)

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett

Story Time by Edward Bloor

A Break With Charity by Ann Rinaldi

Clay by David Almond ( a good companion to A Single Shard)

Grand and Humble by Brent Hartinger (paranormal)

 

Historical Fiction

The Winter King, Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood ( highly recommended as it connects to eighth grade Shakespeare curriculum)

any book by Ann Rinaldi

The Girl With the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Black Duck by Janet Lisle

Bread and Roses, Too by Katherine Patterson

 

Best sellers not to be missed…..

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards (best seller)

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (memoir)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

The Davinci Code, Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

 

For more details about any of the above books, just go to www.amazon.com and type in the title.

 

List compiled by Susan Stoller