MWSubstack 027: Middle Grades Books (2)
12 more articles featuring middle grades and YA fiction and nonfiction books, with ideas for teaching, independent reading and expanding class libraries!
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►MIDDLE GRADES BOOKS (2)
More helpful articles highlighting great MG/YA books.
Here's our promised second round (first round here) of MiddleWeb articles suggesting myriad ways to use middle grades and young adult books in your classroom and school. Please note that some of these books fit into the proposed Young Teen Lit category being championed by many school librarians (see our ELSEWHERE entry below).
13 Exciting Titles for Your Classroom Library
Need fresh titles for your classroom library? In 2023, ELA teacher Kasey Short shared 13 newly published books that are still sure to resonate with middle graders. These relatable stories offer diverse perspectives and themes that authentically capture the experiences and challenges of today’s students.
Refresh Class Libraries with Appealing Nonfiction
Students getting a bit bored with your classroom library? The return from winter break is a perfect time for a “refresh,” says teacher Megan Kelly. She stretches her dollars by purchasing nonfiction books with broad appeal. Here are some of her cross-content favorites.
June is Pride Month! Books Featuring LGBTQ Teens
In celebration of Pride Month 2021, 8th grade ELA teacher Kasey Short highlighted 12 middle level books featuring LGBTQIA+ characters who represent diverse identities, sexualities, experiences and families – showing young teens experiences that may be similar to or different from their own.
Relating Classic Texts to Students’ Lives Today
The world and our students are constantly changing. Adding modern connections to classic texts can engage readers by helping them relate to and understand the universal themes and messages in these works. ELA teacher Kasey Short shares examples of connection and some favorite titles.
Picture Books Support Summertime Learning
Summer offers time for middle schoolers to select books they’ll enjoy. Media literacy facilitator Jennifer Sniadecki sees a role for picture books to engage them. Diving into several genres, she describes books that will catch their attention. Spiders and memory jars, anyone?
19 Global YA Novels for Your Class Library
When Megan Kelly asked her students to paste sticky notes on a world map to show the setting of YA novels they were reading for pleasure, she quickly saw she needed to diversify her classroom library. See her map and her list of 19 recommended “adds” and share your own favorites!
Teaching YA Novels with Multiple Perspectives
Kasey Short recommends offering middle schoolers YA novels with multiple narrators as a way to enrich opportunities for content instruction and SEL. They’re also really engaging and fun for kids to read. She includes sample questions and activities and lots of suggested titles.
Why Visual Literature Deserves Our Attention
Jason DeHart knows the unique characteristics of visual literature can grab kids’ attention. He shares ideas from his research and middle school teaching experience about using comics and graphic novels in the classroom – and includes lots of winning titles for grades 4-8.
Try Nonfiction Graphic Novels to Engage Kids
Ready to share nonfiction graphic novels with your students? ELA teacher Kasey Short outlines reasons why such books expand kids’ knowledge and appreciation of reading. She also provides lots of questions to ask as kids approach the texts and includes many suggested titles.
Kids Need Feel-Good Middle Grades Books
When middle grades kids looked back to the Covid pandemic, Megan Kelly wanted them to remember finding refuge in books. In this 2020 post she highlighted graphic novels, short stories, mysteries and more she planned to share with her students to help them feel good and reduce their stress. Included: Graphic novels, short stories, humorous books, capers and mysteries, realistic fiction.
Picture Books Are Perfect for Middle Schoolers
Students at ages 9-13 still want to hear their teachers read aloud, want to sit on the rug, want to engage in stories. Jennifer Sniadecki and Jason DeHart share evidence that picture books are also an effective way to teach figurative language and other ELA standards, social studies content, science and more. Follow the links to read all three articles in this series and discover lots of suggested titles.
4 Ways to Teach With Wordless Picture Books
When Megan Kelly uses wordless picture books in her middle grades classroom, she’s able to push her students deeper. Learn about some of the intriguing texts she uses (like Boat of Dreams above) to improve inference skills, reinforce vocabulary, inspire descriptive writing, and support ELLs.
BONUS: To encourage her seventh graders’ reading, Katie Durkin finds herself constantly searching for new ways to keep books in the hands of students. In Planting the Seeds of Reading Enthusiasm she shares four sustainable practices she uses throughout the school year to plant the seeds of reading with her students.
►ELSEWHERE
Addressing the long-standing Young Teen Lit dilemma.
School library media specialists Christina Chatel and Marcia Kochel made a front-page splash at the School Library Journal in early February 2025 with their Teen Librarian Toolbox guest blog "Move Over, Middle Grade: It’s Time for Young Teen Lit." It was the latest in a years-long protest by middle level teachers and librarians about the glaring age gap between the publishing industry's Middle Grade and Young Adult book categories. They make a convincing case for a new Grades 6-9 category.
►OUR BOOK REVIEW
Life Skills for All Learners: How to Teach, Assess, and Report Education’s New Essentials. By Antarina S.F. Amir and Thomas R. Guskey
Life Skills for All Learners offers a comprehensive exploration into crucial life skills education and shows how to integrate the skills into lessons. Teacher and instructional coach Melinda Stewart says the book is both insightful and a practical guide to skill-building, advocating for a reflective approach that "mirrors what learners are also being asked to do." Read the complete review.
►NEXT TIME
Teaching multilingual learners.
Whether you describe them as MLs, English learners, ELLs, or with other acronyms, our students who are working to gain fluency in English face many challenges. We'll share some of our most-read teaching articles by language specialists Valentina Gonzalez, Tan Huynh, Beth Skelton, Larry Ferlazzo and others.