Build a Bookstore: Middle Grade Novels & Non-Fiction


Alison Morris - December 2, 2008

Yesterday I kicked off this week’s "Build a Bookstore" week by asking you to list up to five young adult novels that you think no self-respecting bookstore should be without, knowing that (of course) no one store can afford to carry everything.

Today your charge is to list up to five middle grade novels and middle grade non-fiction books (meaning non-fiction aimed at upper elementary and/or middle school) you think no self-respecting bookstore should be without. Yes, your list of titles can contain some of the same titles that others’ do. NO, you can’t list more than five titles, even if you find it torturous to limit yourself this way!

Once again I will put myself through the wringer here and list five choices of my own.

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Such torture! ARGH! And, crud. I just realized I didn’t include a single non-fiction book. But… I stand by these five. No self-respecting bookstore should be without them. Nor should they be without the other titles I know you’re all gearing up to type in right now, so… GO!

37 thoughts on “Build a Bookstore: Middle Grade Novels & Non-Fiction

  1. Carin Siegfried

    Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell Bridge to Terebithia by Katherine Patterson Holes by Louis Sacher The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White

    Reply
  2. carterbham

    Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban, The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman, Naked Bunyip Dancing by Steven Herrick, Donuthead by Sue Stauffacher, and So B. It by Sarah Weeks

    Reply
  3. Karen Ruelle

    Don’t forget about Adam Rex’s brilliant and funny The True Meaning of Smekday. Right up there with Charlotte’s Web and Holes and just about anything by Jerry Spinelli, but most especially Maniac Magee. And Cynthia Rylant’s Van Gogh Café.

    Reply
  4. Liz Mills

    My top picks would be: The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper; Murder in the Cathedral by Beth Hilgartner, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E. L. Konigsberg, Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White, and the Ramona Quimby series by Beverly Cleary.

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  5. Karen Finlay

    Ohhh, this is IMPOSSIBLE! Luckily there are so many! The Westing Game, From the Mixed Up Files…, the Judy Blumes and Beverly Clearys (can they just be a category of their own?), Witches of Worm or The Egypt game or really anything by Zilpha Keatley Snyder… There are just too many to choose from!

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  6. mary ann rodman

    CHARLOTTE’S WEB, THE GREAT GILLY HOPKINS, HARRIET THE SPY, HOMESICK by Jean Fritz, SPARKS by Graham McNamee (and all the Cleary RAMONA books…which belong in a class to themselves!)

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  7. call non-fiction, true books, then we ca

    Wonderful blog about children’s books, and yet, and yet, how about a small voice for non-fiction (aka true books)? When I get out to speak at schools, the kids I talk to LOVE reading animal books and space books and volcano books, and and and… How about some TRUE books in children’s book stores? Of course I do have a bit of a vested interest in this,,,but only slightly 🙂

    Reply
  8. Cathe Olson

    The best current mid grade books I’d recommend are: The Mysterious Benedict Society, Chains, Fire Girl, and Diary of A Wimpy Kid. The one classic I’d say that you must have is Anne of Green Gables.

    Reply
  9. Four Story Mistake

    This is too difficult! So I’m not mentioning the ones others have already mentioned, pretending that we’re stocking the bookstore together, okay? 🙂 Wind in the Willows Little Women Gone-Away Lake Half Magic The Wizard of Oz

    Reply
  10. Not a Girlie Man

    Someone wondered where all the boy books were. And I wonder where are all the classics. How about these: Treasure Island, Tom Sawyer, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Hobbit, Lord of the Flies, A Wrinkle in Time…Oh crap…That’s six. And giving the girlie girls a plug(and holding my nose) The Secret Garden (yuck).

    Reply
  11. Julianne Daggett

    “The Secret Garden”, “A Little Princess”, “Anne of Green Gables” for Girls and the “Artemis Fowl” series and “Holes” for Boys. And, cheating a bit, I know this is supposed to be five books, but “The Warriors Saga” because it is a book series that both boys and girls love.

    Reply
  12. Melanie

    Oh my goodness this one was so hard but here it is: Anne of the Green Gables, Matilda, The True Meaning of Smekday, Charlotte’s Web, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

    Reply
  13. Rachel

    Tale of Desperaux, Invention of Hugo Cabret, Al Capone Does My Shirts, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sideways Stories From Wayside School, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, City of Ember, Among hte Hidden

    Reply
  14. Liz Mills

    For Boys, I’d say: Hatchet, though some of the material might be a bit mature; Mouse and the Motorcycle, Ribsy, the Matt Christopher sports books, Ender’s Game.

    Reply
  15. Anna M Lewis

    Once again, because I HAVE to stand up for the non-fiction books: KID CHAT GONE WILD!, 38 WAYS TO ENTERTAIN YOUR PARENTS ON SUMMER VACATION, HER STORY: A TIMELINE OF THE WOMEN WHO CHANGED AMERICA, SKY’S THE LIMIT: STORIES OF DISCOVERY BY WOMEN AND GIRLS, HOW BRIGHT IS YOUR BRAIN?

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  16. Joel

    Anything from DK. I taught history for a year and even the students who absolutely dispised the subject were fascinated by these books. There’s nothing like teaching about the middle ages and having books that simply and beautifully describe things at the same time that they provide detailed illustrations for what is being written about.

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  17. Al Scafuri

    I wanted to suggest a few underappreciated newer titles: The Penderwicks and The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, Savvy, The BIrchbark House and The Game of Silence (haven’t gotten around to Porcupine Year just yet). I also think that the Beacon Street Girls are great, especially because they involve a character with dyslexia!!!

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  18. Ary

    Anything by Larry Gonnick, especially the “Cartoon History of the Universe, Vol I-III” and anything by David Macaulay, especially “The Way Things Work.”

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  19. jo

    Ah, I would be so keen to recommended these titles to an eager reader. Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor It’s about time I read Roll of Thunder again.

    Reply
  20. Connie

    The Book of Three – Lloyd Alexander (and the other 4 in the Chronicles of Prydain); The Lightning Thief – Rick Riordan; The Borrowers – Mary Norton; Number the Stars – Lois Lowry; Sarah, Plain and Tall – Patricia MacLachlan

    Reply
  21. La

    Yes – The Lion’s Paw!; Little House in the Big Woods; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Secret Garden; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

    Reply
  22. Maw Ess Braintrust

    The Neverending Story, Harry Potter series, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Lord of the Flies, Watership Down…agonizing to only pick five!!! I know I’ll think of ten more as soon as I hit submit!

    Reply

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