Middle School Books
Recommended Titles in your Library
Nonfiction Titles
Navy Seal Dogs: My Tale of Training Canines for Combat, by Michael Ritland
Grade Levels: 7-12
Lexile: 1140L
Outcasts United: The Story of a Refugee Soccer Team That Changed a Town, by Warren St. John
Grade Levels: 6-8
Lexile: 980
Curriculum Connections: Social Studies
Sensitive Areas: War; Violence
Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science, by John Fleischman
Grade Levels: 6-9
Lexile: 1030L
Curriculum Connections: Science
The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe
Lexile: NC1120L
Grade Levels: 4-8
Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith, by Deborah Heiligman
Grade Levels: 8-12
Lexile: 1020L
Curriculum Connections: Science, Social Studies
Awards and Honors: National Book Award Finalist, Printz Award Honors
We've Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children's March
Grade Levels: 4-7
Lexile: 1020L
Curriculum Connections: American History, Social Studies
Awards and Honors: 2013 Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist
Nelson Mandela: "No Easy Walk to Freedom," by Barry Denenberg
Barry Denenberg explores the history of South Africa and its often violent struggle for civil rights, while tracing Mandela's role in that history. As a lawyer, a leader of the African National Congress, a political prisoner who spent 26 years in jail, a president—no one else has had such enormous influence on his fellow South Africans. Even beyond South Africa, Nelson Mandela influenced freedom fighters everywhere.
Grade Levels: 5-8
Lexile: 950L
Curriculum Connections: Social Studies (Prejudice and Racism, Equality, Culture and Diversity, Fairness and Justice)
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, by Jim Murphy
Publisher Description: "Gruesome, suspenseful, and informative, this gripping nonfiction account of the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 is illustrated with historical prints, pictures, and documents."
Grade Levels: 6-8
Lexile: 1130L
Curriculum Connections: American History (American Revolution)
Awards and Honors: National Book Award Finalist, Newbery Honors
The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery
Grade Levels: 6-9
Lexile: 990L
Curriculum Connections: American History, Social Studies
Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans During World War II, by Martin W. Sandler
Grade Levels: 5-12
Lexile: 1240L
Sensitive Areas: *Some mature content
Awards and Honors: YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist
Lincoln's Grave Robbers, by Steve Sheinkin
Grade Levels: 6-9
Lexile: 930L
Curriculum Connections: American History, Social Studies
Awards and Honors: National Book Award Finalist
The President Has Been Shot! The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, by James L. Swanson
Interest Grade Level: 6-9
Lexile: 1080L
Curriculum Connections: American History, Social Studies
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster
- Photos of the ship and its passengers
- Glossary, timeline, and survivor bios and letters
- Tips on how to be a Titanic researcher"
Grade Levels: 4-7
Lexile: 1040L
Awards and Honors: 2013 Sibert Informational Book Award Honor, YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults finalist
Ten True Tales: Kid Pirates: Their Battles, Shipwrecks, & Narrow Escapes
Each book in this thrilling nonfiction series from best-selling author Allan Zullo rips true stories right from the pages of history or the daily news—presenting unforgettable characters in bite-sized stories that take only a few minutes each to read.
Lexile: 940L
Grade Levels: 4-7
Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement, by Rick Bowers
Interest Grade Levels: 6-10
Lexile: 1290L
Curriculum Connections: American History, Social Studies
Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917
Two ships (one carrying explosives and weapons to World War I soldiers in Europe, the other picking up medical supplies) collided, causing the largest man-made explosion in recorded history before the atom bomb. Every structure for two square kilometers along the shores of Halifax and nearby Dartmouth was completely obliterated by a blast that created a tsunami in the harbor and a pressure wave that snapped trees, bent metal, and hurled fragments of the ships for miles through the air. Then, on top of this devastating tragedy, a giant blizzard struck, leaving rescue workers in a desperate race against time to find survivors before those buried beneath the snow were lost forever.
Interest Grade Level: 5-8
Lexile: 1100L
Curriculum Connections: World History, Social Studies
Stolen into Slavery: The True Story of Soloman Northrop, Free Black Man
Interest grade level: 5-8
Curriculum Connections: American History, Social Studies
The Great Fire, by Jim Murphy
Grade Levels: 5-9
Lexile: 1130L
Curriculum Connections: American History, Social Studies
Awards and Honors: Newbery Honors
Blizzard: The Storm That Changed America, by Jim Murphy
Filled with period illustrations and photos, this fascinating nonfiction book is also an extraordinary trip back in time to life in a 19th-century city.
Lexile: 1080L
Grade Levels: 5-9
Leaving Glorytown: One Boy's Struggle Under Castro
Lexile: 730
Interest grade level: 7-10
Curriculum Connections: World History, World Cultures, American History
Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert
Lexile: 1070
Interest grade level: 5-8
Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees
Lexile: 860
Curriculum Connections: Social Studies
Kids of Kabul: Living Bravely Through a Never-Ending War
Lexile: 800
Curriculum Connections: Social Studies
Solving Crimes with Trace Evidence (Nonfiction- Graphic Novel Format)
Curriculum Connections: Science
Meltdown! The Nuclear Disaster in Japan and our Energy Future
Lexile: 1000
Curriculum Connections: Science, Social Studies
Black Gold: The Story of Oil in our Lives
Curriculum Connections: Science, Social Studies
The skull in the rock: how a scientist, a boy, and Google Earth opened a new window on human origins
Level: 1140L
Curriculum Connections: Science, Geography, Social Studies
Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates
Lexile: 1010
Curriculum Connections: Science, Social Studies
Propaganda: World War II Sourcebook
Lexile: 1060
Curriculum Connections: World History, Social Studies
The plant hunters: true stories of their daring adventures to the far corners of the Earth
Lexile: 1170
Curriculum Connections: Science
I.M. Pei: Architect of Time, Place, and Purpose
Lexile: 1070
Grade Levels: 5-8
Awards & Honors: Booklist 2011 Editors' Choice, Books for Youth, Nonfiction, Older Readers; Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Books of 2011; Booklist Top 10 Biography Books for Youth: 2012; Booklist Top 10 Books for Youth 2012, Arts
Curriculum Connections: Art (Architecture)
The War to End All Wars: World War I by Russell Freedman
Grade Levels: 5-8
Lexile: 1220L
Awards and Honors: Horn Book Fanfare, Best Books of 2010, Nonfiction; Kirkus Reviews 2010 Best Books for Teens; Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Books 2010, Nonfiction;School Library Journal Best Books 2010: Nonfiction; YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Nomination, 2010; Children's Book Committee Bank Street College of Education Children's Choices - Best Books of 2011, Special Interests, History; BCCB Blue Ribbon 2010, Nonfiction
Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon, by Steve Sheinkin
Grade Levels: 7-12
Lexile: 920L
Awards and Honors: 2013 Sibert Informational Book Award, 2013 Newbery Honor, 2013 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults
The Iranian Revolution, by Brendan January
Grades levels: 5-8
Lexile: 1020L
Lafayette and the American Revolution, Russell Freedman.
Grade Levels: 5-8
The Greatest: Muhammad Ali, by Walter Dean Myers
Ali's compelling, one-of-a-kind story, told through recollections and many black-and-white photos, is written in an approachable style that will appeal to young nonfiction readers."
Grade Levels: 6-8
Lexile: 1030L