Virginia Reader’s Choice
Middle School Book List
  2008-2009

[Library]

          

Adam Canfield of the Slash Michael Winerip Candewick, 2005

Overachiever Adam Canfield regrets agreeing to be co-editor of the school paper, the Slash, but he has a crush on Jennifer, his fellow editor and he's committed to hard-hitting, courageous journalism. The comedy scores and the writing zips along with real suspense, making this a fun, fast read. Along with the comedy it also to present kids with some of the most subtle social and ethical questions currently shaping their futures.

Airborn Kenneth Oppel HarperCollins 2004
Exciting fantasy adventure with airships, pirates, and mysterious flying mammals takes place on an earth with the same geography as ours but different technology. Fifteen-year-old Matt works as cabin boy on the Aurora, a two-million-pound airship kept aloft by gas cells filled with hydrium, the lightest gas in the world. Kate, a rich passenger Matt's age, enlists Matt’s help to search for the flying sky mammals mentioned in her late grandfather's journal but unknown to anyone else. Sequel is Skybreaker.

Black Duck Janet Lisle Sleuth/Philomel, c2006.

Two boys find a man's body on the shore. He's barefoot but dressed in a suit and has a bullet hole in his neck. When they bring help, the body has disappeared. It's 1929, along the coast of Rhode Island, a site of rum-running during the Prohibition era. Bootleggers, modern-day pirates, locals cheering on the bad guys-it's the stuff of fine storytelling. Based on the true story of the Black Duck, a fast, hard-to-catch boat that ran circles around the Coast Guard state of Rhode Island, this is solid historical fiction.

Blue J. Hostetter Calkins Creek, c2006.

A dramatic story of resourcefulness, loss, and the healing power of friendship. When Ann Fay Honeycutt's father goes off to war in 1944, the 13-year-old steps into his overalls as the oldest of four children. Despite support from Junior, her 17-year-old neighbor, the daunting tasks of tending the family's large vegetable garden, helping with household chores, and looking after her sisters and brother becomes overwhelming. Ann Fay's world is further rocked when she contracts the devastating disease, polio, and is hospitalized. This historical fiction novel is based on the true story of the polio hospital built in Hickory, N.C. during the epidemic.

Hattie Big Sky Kirby Larson Delacorte Press, c2006.

In this heartwarming historical novel set in 1918, 16-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks leaves Iowa and travels to a Montana homestead inherited from her uncle. In the beautiful but harsh setting, she has less than a year to fence and cultivate the land in order to keep it. Effectively portrays Hattie's struggles as a courageous young woman with limited options during the time of WWI. Newbery Honor Book.

Hitler’s Canary Sandi Toksvig Roaring Brook Press, 2007, c2005.

Ten-year-old Bamse's life in Copenhagen changes dramatically after the Germans occupy his country in this story based on the author’s family history. The action is suspenseful and riveting as Denmark wages an active underground opposition to the Nazis and Bamse's brother joins the Resistance movement. The British called the courageous Danes, "Hitler's Canary." There are poignant, startling, and occasionally humorous scenes in this historical fiction book.

La Linea Ann Jaramillo Roaring Brook Press, 2006.

When Miguel, 15, leaves San Jacinto, Mexico, to join his parents in California, his sister, Elena, 13, secretly follows him. Together with their guides they barely survive a harrowing journey through the desert and across la linea, the border. A gripping contemporary survival adventure, this spare first novel is also a heart-wrenching family story of courage, betrayal, and love.

The Loud silence of Francine Green Karen Cushman Clarion Books, c2006

This historical fiction novel is set in 1949 Los Angeles at the beginning of anti-Communist fever and atom-bomb concerns. Francine, age thirteen, does her best to fly under the radar at her repressive Catholic school. Then she befriends nonconformist Sophie and learns about "free speech and improving the world and not being so afraid of trouble."

The Mailbox Audrey Shafer Delacorte Press, c2006

When twelve-year-old Gabe's uncle Vernon (a Vietnam veteran and Gabe's sole guardian) dies, the boy keeps Vernon's death a secret and tries to manage on his own. He is assisted by a mysterious, unseen well-wisher who communicates by notes.

Surviving Antarctica : reality TV 2083 Andrea White Eos, c2005

In a future where the government plies the public with nonstop reality television to provide distraction from the rampant poverty, and higher education is won or lost on a dice toss, Historical Survivor is the most popular program on the tube. Teens Andrew, Polly, Robert, Billy, and Grace have been chosen from a pool of thousands to reenact Robert F. Scott's fatal 1910-13 expedition to the South Pole in Antarctic Historical Survivor. The story swings from one cliff-hanger to the next in this real page-turner!