By the time kids reach middle school reading levels, they typically have gained more advanced word attack skills, increased their reading rate, and have at least basic comprehension skills.
If your student still struggles to decode multisyllable words, it would be wise to add a vocabulary curriculum that goes through syllable rules and the meanings behind prefixes and suffixes. This is an extension of phonics instruction called morphology. Morphology helps students to analyze the parts of bigger words to isolate the root (or base) word, and then determine how a prefix or suffix changes (or morphs) the meaning of the word. I have a few favorite vocabulary programs that work on morphology, and help teens prep for college level vocabulary.
Of course, reading books at a slightly higher level help students with dyslexia or other language-based disability to encounter more advanced vocabulary. I like to use middle school level books for read aloud when kids are in 4th grade and up. Remember that kids with dyslexia and many other issues that impact reading have average to above average intelligence.
We also want to keep in mind that middle school books are meant for kids who are developmentally preteens and early teens.
If you have a precocious 4th grader who is reading at the middle school level, keep in mind that just as a remedial reader may be developmentally aligned with their chronological age, so advanced readers may be capable of reading more advanced books, yet lack the life experiences or emotional maturity to handle content meant for older kids.
If a student is reading at 6th to 8th grade levels, many times comprehension can be more difficult. Reviewing literary elements, expanding on literary devices, and having the student narrate can help homeschool parents or tutors ensure that the student is comprehending without adding a lot of worksheets that end up as busy work and squash a love of reading. This is the age where discussions are fun to focus on, such as: themes, complicated plot lines, minor and major climax points, figurative language, and advanced devices (irony, distractors and clues in mysteries, description through dialogue, etc). You can find my literary elements graphic organizer with a list of devices in the Unique Learners store or on TPT.
If you want additional titles beyond this list of 155 books, look for lists of award winning books, like the Newbery Award titles and the Children’s Literature Legacy Award.
155 Books and there’s still more that are great!
The following is a list of my favorite reads for students who are between the ages of 12 and 20, and are reading at a middle school level. Although I find these books to be intriguing and motivating reads, select the titles you find are a good fit for your own student.
- A Christmas Carol
- A Door in the Wall
- A Gathering of Days
- A Little Princess
- A Lost Prince (also by Frances Hodgson Burnett)
- A Place to Belong
- A Ring of Endless Light
- A Secret Garden
- A Wrinkle in Time
- Across Five Aprils
- Adam of the Road
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
- Adventures of Tom Sawyer
- An Elephant in the Garden
- Anne of Green Gables
- Arabian Nights
- Archimedes and the Door of Science
- Behind Rebel Lines
- Ben and Me
- Big Red
- Black Beauty
- Blue Willow
- Boy’s King Arthur
- Bridge to Terabithia
- Brighty of the Grand Canyon
- Calico Captive
- Call It Courage
- Call of the Wild
- Canterbury Tales
- Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
- Catherine Called Birdy
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Cheaper by the Dozen
- Chronicles of Narnia
- Conspiracy 365 series
- Cricket in Times Square
- Crispin
- D’Aulaire books
- Dancing Shoes
- David Macaulay books
- David Macauley books
- Dear Mr. Henshaw
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid
- Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank
- Ender’s Game
- Esperanza Rising
- Fever 1793
- Floors
- Francis Tucket series
- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
- Gathering Blue
- Ginger Pye
- Graven Images, Paul Fleischman
- Hank the Cowdog series
- Hatchet series
- Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day
- Heidi
- Holes
- Holling C. Holling books
- Hound of the Baskervilles
- Huckleberry Finn
- In His Steps
- In Their Own Words: Biographies
- Indian in the Cupboard
- Island series
- Island of the Blue Dolphins
- Jacob Have I Loved
- James and the Giant Peach
- Janette Oke books
- Johnny Tremain
- Journey to Jo’burgh
- Julie of the Wolves
- Landmark series – nonfiction
- Little Women
- Mary Poppins
- Matt Christopher series
- Menagerie series
- Messenger
- Moffats
- More Than a Carpenter
- Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
- My Side of the Mountain
- My Side of the Mountain
- Number the Stars
- Oliver Twist
- One and Only Ivan
- Onion John
- Otto of the Silver Hand
- Out of My Mind
- Out of the Dust
- Percy Jackson series
- Peter Pan
- Phoenix and the Carpet
- Pollyanna
- Prince and the Pauper
- Rascal
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
- Red Badge of Courage
- Redwall
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
- Robinson Crusoe
- Romeo and Juliet
- Sarah Bishop
- Sherlock Holmes
- Sign of the Beaver
- Sing Down the Moon
- Singing Tree
- Slave Dancer
- Son
- Streams to the River, River to the Sea
- Summer of the Swans
- Swiss Family Robinson
- The Big Wave
- The Black Pearl by Scott O’Dell
- The Book Thief
- The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
- The Bronze Bow
- The Cabin Faced West
- The Cay
- The Endless Steppe
- The Giver
- The Golden Fleece
- The Great Brain series
- The Chronicles of Prydain series
- The Hobbit
- The Land of Stories
- The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles
- The Lemonade War
- The Little Lame Prince
- The Map to Everywhere series
- The Midwife’s Apprentice
- The Old Man and the Sea
- The Pearl
- The Phantom Tollbooth
- The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
- The Tiger Rising
- The Westing Game
- The Wizard of Oz series
- The Worst Hard Time
- Tom Sawyer
- Treasure Island
- True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
- Tuck Everlasting
- Twenty and Ten
- Walk Two Moons
- Watership Down
- Westward Ho!
- Wheels on the School
- Where the Lilies Bloom
- Where the Red Fern Grows
- White Fang
- Witch of Blackbird Pond
- Wonder Struck
- Yearling
- Zlata’s Diary
