Your Favorite Middle Grade Titles

Editor’s Note: So many of you responded with your favorite middle grade titles last week that we decided to round them up and pass them along. Read on for a great little reader-created booklist…

“Sasha, My Friend by Barbara Corcoran. It was such a heart breaking story. I hid the flashlight under my covers and stayed up past my bedtime to finish it the first night I got it from the library. It’s also the only book I remember re-reading as a child….” – Keri

“Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman did it for me. We read it aloud in 6th or 7th grade, and I could never forget it.”  – Susy

“King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry was that book for me. She is still my favorite children’s author (with apologies to S. D. Smith).” – Rebecca

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

“Bridge to Terabithia was the book for me. I finished it before the assigned date, and walked into class the next day, the tears starting fresh when I saw my teacher, and she knew I had finished it. Ack!”  – Laurel

“Around that age I read and reread When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr. It introduced me to World War II and the idea that actual people lived through those extreme and extraordinary days. I still can’t resist any story about real experiences and day to day lives lived in the World Wars. I think good writing read at around grades 5-8 captivates for a lifetime.” – Sarah-Jane

“Early middle school in the late 90’s was all about the OG American Girl books for me. I lived in a small, rural New England town and was entranced by the stories of girls my own age from such different cultural backgrounds. Their stories, though simple in many ways, were filled with real life struggle and difficulty and triumph and achievement. I was inspired by their diverse life experiences and their stories kicked off my interest in ethnic and cultural diversity that hasn’t stopped growing. I haven’t re-read the books in many years now, but look forward to meeting the characters again soon with my own children.” – Jen

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Kelly Keller

Kelly Keller is the managing editor of Story Warren. She has her BS in Elementary Education from Messiah University and has taught various ages, but her favorite was worldview and literature with high school students. The “gap” in her resume is actually a window of eighteen years of homeschooling, which she recommends as an effective, though demanding, way of expanding one’s home library.

When she’s not behind her laptop, Kelly enjoys live music, baseball, reading great books, and traveling with her husband, David. Kelly hails from beautiful snowy New England, but after nearly two decades in North Carolina, she feels right at home.

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