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Picture Books about the Middle Ages for Middle School
Picture books aren’t just for little kids! Picture books are every bit as enjoyable—and beneficial—for middle school kids. Use one (or all) of the books below to bring the Middle Ages to life for your middle schoolers. Check your local library for titles; you might need to get some of the older titles through inter-library loan, but all should be available in some form. Unless otherwise noted, these books really are best reserved for middle school students (ages 10 and up). These books contain more material—and more mature material—than your average picture book. Medieval Picture Books for Middle School The Adventures of Marco Polo by Russell Freedman and illustrated by…
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The Silent Friend by Diane Jeffrey
Powerful And Disturbing The Silent Friend by Diane Jeffrey is a gripping contemporary psychological thriller that will have you glued from the start. The story is split into the time periods of ‘before’ and ‘after’ as well as alternating between two voices. It is cleverly and uniquely constructed, enabling the reader to become emotionally invested […]
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The Best of Iggy by Annie Barrows
Iggy learns not all bad deeds are created equal in this humorous tour of relative morality. The Best of Iggy by Annie Barrows, illustrated by Sam Ricks. GpPutnam’s Sons, 2020, 125 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 7-11 “All of us do things we wish we hadn’t done.” So true—but you may never have realized that there are categories of those things, in ascending order of badness. To wit: 1) things we mostly just wish we’d never got in trouble for, 2) things we wish we hadn’t pushed as far as we did, and 3) things we really, completely, honestly wish we hadn’t done. Iggy Frangi,…
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Fly on the Wall by Remy Lai
The hero of Fly on the Wall hatches a daring scheme to remake his self-image. Fly on the Wall by Remy Lai. Henry Holt, 2020, 329 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-14 Listen up, fellow kids: in your hands you hold the secret manual of Lone Wanderer Henry Khoo, age 12, whose family still thinks he’s a WAH WAH WAH baby and “hovers over him so much he’s like a heliport.” But he’s out to prove them all wrong by embarking on the greatest adventure everrr, just like the heroes of those Chinese martial-arts dramas his grandma is always watching on DVD. That is, all…
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Dangerous Deception by Evelyn Hill
Where The Truth Lies Dangerous Deception by Evelyn Hill is a thrilling contemporary Christian romantic suspense that will have you questioning as you read. The novel concerns truth, lies and trust. A character finds trust in short supply as she wonders just who is telling her the truth. Everything she has built her life on […]
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3 Picture Book Biographies: Beatrix Potter, Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay, and … a Horse
Picture book biographies are one of my favorite categories of picture books. Today, I have three new ones for you: a childlike look at Beatrix Potter, a thorough look at the first men to climb Everest, and a horse whose claim to fame is how many races he lost. Saving the Countryside: The Story of Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit by Linda Marshall and illustrated by Ilaria Urbinati. little bee books, 2020. 40 pages. Most biographies of Beatrix Potter focus primarily on her stories, how she invented Peter Rabbit. This biography spends more time on Beatrix’s desire to do something important despite the strictures of her Victorian society. For instance,…
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The Girl Without A Name by Suzanne Goldring
Wow, Just Wow The Girl Without A Name by Suzanne Goldring is a powerful dual time-line novel that had me completely enthralled from the start. The action begins in 2004 looking backwards to 1939 before working its way forwards. The voices alternate within the time periods. This was a novel that I ‘lived’ as I […]
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13 Books for 13 Year Old Boys (and Girls!)
13 year olds: ready to be done with middle school, but not yet in high school. Officially “teenagers,” but plenty of maturing still to do. 13 year olds straddle the “middle grades” and “young adult” line, not quite ready for some of the more mature content in many YA books but anxious to move out of the more childish stories of the broad middle grades label. It’s a stereotype, but true: girls at this age have an easier time than boys do when it comes to finding books to read. Why? For one, many classics that are accessible to this age group simply appeal more to girls than boys (Jane…
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Picture Books for Young Writers: My Pencil and Me and How to Write a Story
My Pencil and Me by Sara Varon. First Second, 2020, 34 pages. Reading Level: Picture Book, ages 4-8 Recommended for: ages 5-7 Every writer knows the terror residing in a blank page. “It’s always so hard to get started,” our nameless protagonist laments. Fortunately, she has a secret weapon: her pencil. This cheerful chap oozes encouragement right out of the can: “C’mon, you can do this! You and I are a team!” Since this writer is also an illustrator, she starts with sketching ideas. Real characters at a baseball game are soon joined by imaginary characters. Nice start, but where’s the conflict? A dispute leads to a broken pencil, and…
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Sports Beat Mysteries by John Feinstein
Feinstein’s Sports Beat Mysteries are great fun for teen sports lovers. Sports Beat Mystery Series by John Feinstein. Yearling. Last Shot: Mystery at the Final FourVanishing Act: Mystery at the U. S. OpenCover-Up: Mystery at the Super BowlChange-Up: Mystery at the World SeriesThe Rivalry: Mystery at the Army-Navy GameRush for the Gold: Mystery at the OlympicsReading Level: Teens, ages 12-15 Recommended For: Teens, ages 12-15 Teen sports journalists Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson meet after they both win a prize for young journalists that brings them to the Final Four. But when they uncover a plot to throw the championship game, the two sleuths are mired in a mystery—and…
