Literary fictionOn grade128 pp
Bridge to Terabithia
Katherine Paterson · 1977
Friendship, imagination, and grief in rural Virginia.
Newbery Medal
Reading Library
Books for free reading, summer, and stretch challenges.
40 curated middle-grade titles, separate from the lesson-anchored Bookshelf. Browse by category or by reading level — below grade for confidence builds, on grade for the typical sixth grader, and stretch challenges for advanced readers.
Literary fiction
Literary fictionBelow grade (confidence build)144 pp
Number the Stars
Lois Lowry · 1989
A Danish girl helps her Jewish best friend escape the Nazis.
Newbery Medal
Literary fictionOn grade280 pp
Walk Two Moons
Sharon Creech · 1994
A road trip with grandparents that unfolds into a story about loss.
Newbery Medal
Literary fictionOn grade233 pp
Holes
Louis Sachar · 1998
Wrongly sentenced to a desert work camp, Stanley digs holes — and history.
Newbery Medal
Literary fictionStretch challenge180 pp
The Giver
Lois Lowry · 1993
A 12-year-old chosen as Receiver discovers the cost of a 'perfect' society.
Newbery Medal
Literary fictionStretch challenge232 pp
A Wrinkle in Time
Madeleine L'Engle · 1962
Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin tesseract across the universe.
Newbery Medal
Historical fiction
Historical fictionStretch challenge276 pp
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Mildred D. Taylor · 1976
Cassie Logan's family stands against racism in 1930s Mississippi.
Newbery Medal
Historical fictionOn grade249 pp
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Elizabeth George Speare · 1958
Kit arrives in Puritan Connecticut and befriends an old Quaker woman.
Newbery Medal
Historical fictionStretch challenge224 pp
My Brother Sam Is Dead
James & Christopher Collier · 1974
A family torn apart by the American Revolution.
Newbery Honor
Historical fictionOn grade262 pp
Crispin: The Cross of Lead
Avi · 2002
A medieval English peasant boy flees for his life. Pairs with Q4.
Newbery Medal
Pairs with Quarter 4Fantasy & sci-fi
Fantasy & sci-fiOn grade208 pp
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
C. S. Lewis · 1950
Four siblings step through a wardrobe into Narnia.
Pairs with Quarter 4Fantasy & sci-fiStretch challenge310 pp
The Hobbit
J. R. R. Tolkien · 1937
Bilbo Baggins, thirteen dwarves, and a dragon named Smaug.
Fantasy & sci-fiOn grade377 pp
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan · 2005
A modern boy discovers he's a demigod. Perfect Q2 companion.
Pairs with Quarter 2Fantasy & sci-fiStretch challenge399 pp
The Golden Compass
Philip Pullman · 1995
Lyra, her daemon, and an armored bear chase a great mystery north.
Fantasy & sci-fiOn grade256 pp
The Phantom Tollbooth
Norton Juster · 1961
A bored boy drives through a magical tollbooth into the Lands Beyond.
Mystery & adventure
Mystery & adventureStretch challenge216 pp
The Westing Game
Ellen Raskin · 1978
Sixteen heirs compete to solve a millionaire's puzzle.
Newbery Medal
Mystery & adventureOn grade199 pp
When You Reach Me
Rebecca Stead · 2009
Mysterious notes from a stranger in 1979 New York.
Newbery Medal
Mystery & adventureOn grade254 pp
Chasing Vermeer
Blue Balliett · 2004
Two kids investigate a stolen masterpiece in Chicago.
Mystery & adventureOn grade195 pp
Hatchet
Gary Paulsen · 1987
After a plane crash, Brian survives 54 days in the Canadian wilderness.
Newbery Honor
Biography & memoir
Biography & memoirStretch challenge266 pp
Bomb: The Race to Build — and Steal — the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
Steve Sheinkin · 2012
True spy story of the atomic bomb.
Sibert Medal · Newbery Honor
Biography & memoirOn grade337 pp
Brown Girl Dreaming
Jacqueline Woodson · 2014
The author's childhood between South Carolina and New York, in verse.
National Book Award
Biography & memoirOn grade256 pp
I Am Malala (Young Readers)
Malala Yousafzai · 2014
The Nobel laureate's account of standing up for girls' education.
Biography & memoirBelow grade (confidence build)
Who Was Cleopatra?
Megan Stine
Accessible biography. Pairs beautifully with Q1's Egypt arc.
Pairs with Quarter 1Science & nature
Science & natureOn grade304 pp
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (YR)
William Kamkwamba · 2015
A Malawian teenager builds a windmill from scrap.
Science & natureOn grade240 pp
Hidden Figures (YR)
Margot Lee Shetterly · 2016
Black women mathematicians at NASA in the space race.
Science & natureOn grade134 pp
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream
Tanya Lee Stone · 2009
The Mercury 13 and the fight for space.
Sibert Medal
Science & natureStretch challenge
Survival of the Sickest
Sharon Moalem (YR adapt.)
Why genes for diseases stick around — evolutionary medicine.
History & culture
History & cultureOn grade194 pp
Chasing Lincoln's Killer
James L. Swanson · 2009
The 12-day manhunt for John Wilkes Booth.
History & cultureStretch challenge224 pp
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler
Phillip Hoose · 2015
Danish teenagers who started a resistance cell.
History & cultureOn grade88 pp
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball
Kadir Nelson · 2008
Illustrated history with breathtaking paintings.
Poetry & novels in verse
Poetry & novels in verseOn grade262 pp
Inside Out & Back Again
Thanhha Lai · 2011
A Vietnamese girl resettles in 1975 Alabama, told in verse.
Newbery Honor
Poetry & novels in verseStretch challenge227 pp
Out of the Dust
Karen Hesse · 1997
Dust Bowl Oklahoma through a young girl's poems.
Newbery Medal
Poetry & novels in verseBelow grade (confidence build)96 pp
Love That Dog
Sharon Creech · 2001
A boy reluctantly discovers poetry. Perfect bridge to /poetry.
Graphic novels
Graphic novelsOn grade240 pp
American Born Chinese
Gene Luen Yang · 2006
Three stories about identity converge.
Printz Medal
Graphic novelsBelow grade (confidence build)248 pp
El Deafo
Cece Bell · 2014
Memoir of growing up deaf, drawn as a rabbit superhero.
Newbery Honor
Graphic novelsStretch challenge121 pp
March: Book One
John Lewis & Andrew Aydin · 2013
Civil rights history from the late Congressman himself.
Graphic novelsOn grade240 pp
Roller Girl
Victoria Jamieson · 2015
A 12-year-old finds her people at roller derby camp.
Newbery Honor
Humor
HumorStretch challenge485 pp
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Trenton Lee Stewart · 2007
Four gifted kids infiltrate a sinister boarding school.
HumorBelow grade (confidence build)288 pp
The Wild Robot
Peter Brown · 2016
A robot learns to live among wild animals on a remote island.
HumorBelow grade (confidence build)105 pp
Frindle
Andrew Clements · 1996
A fifth grader invents a new word for 'pen' and changes everything.