Middle School Book List

Books for middle school students, taken from the California Department of Education:

• Beauty of the Beast: Poems from the Animal Kingdom (Prelutsky, Jack)
• Been to Yesterdays: Poems of a Life (Hopkins, Lee Bennett)           
• Black Is Brown Is Tan (Adoff, Arnold)
• The Canterbury Tales (Chaucer, Geoffrey, adapted by Hastings, Selina)
• Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 (Thayer, Ernest L.)           
• Celebrating America: A Collection of Poems and Images of the American Spirit (compiled by Whipple, Laura)           
• Dream Keeper and Other Poems, The (Hughes, Langston)           
• Falling Up (Silverstein, Shel)           
• Grassroots: Poems by Carl Sandburg (Sandburg, Carl)           
• Great Frog Race and Other Poems, The (George, Kristine O'Connell)           
• Hailstones and Halibut Bones (O'Neill, Mary)           
• Heartland (Siebert, Diane)           
• Honey, I Love and Other Love Poems (Greenfield, Eloise)           
• I Am Wings: Poems About Love (Fletcher, Ralph)
• If (Perry, Sarah)
• If You're Not from the Prairie (Bouchard, David)           
• Insectlopedia: Poems and Paintings (Florian, Douglas)           
• I See the Rhythm (Igus, Toyomi)
• A Jar of Tiny Stars: Poems by NCTE Award-Winning Poets (Cullininan, Bernice E.)           
• Knock at a Star: A Child's Introduction to Poetry (Kennedy, X. J., Kennedy, Dorothy)
• A Light in the Attic (Silverstein, Shel)           
• Lives: Poems About Famous Americans (selected by Hopkins, Lee Bennett)           
• Maples in the Mist: Children's Poems from the Tang Dynasty (Ho, Minfong)
• Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo (Feelings, Tom)           
• Mind's Eye (Fleischman, Paul)           
• Mojave (Siebert, Diane)            
• Neighborhood Odes (Soto, Gary)
• New Kid on the Block (Prelutsky, Jack)
• Nothing but the Truth: A Documentary Novel (Avi)
• Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems (George, Kristine O'Connell)
• Out of the Dust (Hesse, Karen)
• Oxford Book of Poetry for Children (edited by Blishen, Edward)           
• Popcorn (Stevenson, James)
• Quotations for Kids (compiled by Senn, J. A.)           
• Rainbows Are Made: Poems by Carl Sandburg (Sandburg, Carl)           
• The Random House Book of Poetry for Children (selected by Prelutsky, Jack)           
• Relatively Speaking: Poems About Family (Fletcher, Ralph)
• Salting the Ocean, 100 Poems by Young People (edited by Nye, Naomi Shihab)           
• Sierra (Siebert, Diane)            
• Soul Looks Back in Wonder (Feelings, Tom)           
• A Suitcase of Seaweed (Wong, Janet)           
• Waiting to Waltz, a Childhood: Poems (Rylant, Cynthia)
• War and the Pity of War (edited by Philip, Neil)           
• Water Music (Yolen, Jane)           
• What Have You Lost? (edited by Nye, Naomi Shihab)           
• When the Rain Sings, Poems by Young Native Americans (edited by Gale, David)