The 25 Books Most Assigned by Middle School Teachers in 2025

In the 1960s, tensions between two rival gangs separated along economic lines reach a violent breaking point.

Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a regimented community that is free from pain and suffering — but also free from joy, independence, and even color. When he is appointed the community's Receiver of Memory, Jonas begins to question everything he has been taught.

A boy named Salva struggles to survive after being separated from his family in war-torn Sudan. A girl named Nya spends hours each day collecting water for her parents and sister. Their lives eventually intersect in this novel based on a true story.

Percy Jackson's normal life is turned upside down when gods from Greek mythology accuse him of stealing a supernatural weapon. Percy must find the real thief — and figure out his connection to the gods.

The sole survivor of a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness, thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson will need resourcefulness, courage, and strength in order to stay alive.

Three young refugees — a Jewish boy fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939, a Cuban girl suffering under the Castro regime in 1994, and a Muslim boy trying to escape war-torn Syria in 2015 — make desperate journeys in search of freedom and safety.

In this comic adventure, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a juvenile detention center where the inmates spend their days digging mysterious holes. But what on earth are they looking for?

During the Great Depression, a ten-year-old boy hits the road in search of the father he has never known.

In this novel, a boy with facial anomalies tries to navigate the sometimes treacherous world of public school.

When tragedy strikes, Esperanza's family has to leave their ranch in Mexico and move to a farmworkers' camp during the Great Depression.

Freak the Mighty tells the story of an unlikely friendship between an awkward, lumbering outcast and a physically challenged genius. Together, the two boys become a force for good.

Castle Cranshaw, also known as Ghost, could be the star sprinter on his middle school track team — if he can stay out of trouble.

What would happen if the Russian Revolution of 1917 took place on a small English farm? This provocative novella blends fable, satire, and allegory while grappling with some of the twentieth-century's most consequential political ideas.

Written in free verse, this Newbery Medal-winning novel details the struggles of an Oklahoman teenager during the dust-filled years of the Great Depression.

During World War II, ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her family take part in a courageous effort to protect the Jewish citizens of Denmark from the Nazis.

In this prequel to The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo Baggins enjoys a quiet life until a group of dwarves and a wizard named Gandalf enlist him in their quest for a dragon's treasure.

Katniss Everdeen must fight for her life in a televised survival competition. Learn these words from the first book of Suzanne Collins's dystopian trilogy.

After meeting the Tucks, a family that is able to live forever after drinking from a magical spring, Winnie Foster questions whether immortality is a blessing or a curse.

A city built to save humanity now faces dark times.

An ordinary Pakistani girl is shot by the Taliban while fighting for her right to an education. Co-written with Patricia McCormick, in this memoir, Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, tells her story.

In this unflinching memoir, Elie Wiesel describes his experience as a young man imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust. 2006 Hill and Wang edition.

While trying to track down her missing mother, thirteen-year-old Salamanca entertains her grandparents with strange stories about a girl named Phoebe Winterbottom.

Madeleine L'Engle's classic novel details the adventures of the precocious Murry children as they travel across space and time to track down their missing father.

In this novel, a boy imprisoned in a concentration camp and the son of a Nazi commandant develop an unlikely friendship.

When they are marooned on a deserted island, a group of schoolboys attempts to form a new society.