Classic Books For Middle Schoolers

In this novel filled with wordplay, the eternally bored Milo travels to the Lands Beyond and embarks on a quest to rescue Rhyme and Reason. Learn these words from Norton Juster's beloved classic.

Mrs. Frisby and her children, a family of mice, must leave their home in order to escape the farmer's plow. Because her son Timothy is too sick to leave his bed, Mrs. Frisby enlists the help of a group of super-intelligent rats to help move her family to safety.

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.

Set in Mississippi during the Great Depression, this classic novel follows Cassie Logan and her family as they face prejudice and economic hardship.

Alice falls asleep in a meadow and wakes in a surreal world inhabited by characters such as the White Rabbit, the Red Queen, and the Cheshire Cat. Learn these words from Lewis Carroll's delightful and witty novel.

In this classic novel, a pig named Wilbur befriends a spider, who attempts to save his life.

Where there's a will, there's a motive to solve a murder. When eccentric millionaire Sam Westing dies, he leaves instructions for sixteen people to come to the reading of his will. With a fortune on the line, Westing's death becomes a puzzle they'll race to solve.

Crowded by his parents and eight siblings in a New York City apartment, twelve-year-old Sam Gribley runs away to live by himself on his great-grandfather's abandoned farm in the Catskill Mountains.

In this classic novel, an orphaned girl goes to live with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps. Learn these words from the translation by Elisabeth P. Stork.

In L.M. Montgomery's classic novel, imaginative and outspoken orphan Anne Shirley comes to the town of Avonlea to live with her new guardians.

Anna Sewell's classic novel tells the life story of a horse who experiences both hardship and kindness.

In this classic novel, Chester the cat is convinced that his family's new pet rabbit is a vampire.

When Claudia Kincaid and her brother run away from home, they find themselves caught up in a mystery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Learn these words from E. L. Konigsburg's award-winning novel.

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.

Karana's people have left her behind on the island where she was born. Now she must learn to survive while contending with fearsome wild dogs, an unforgiving landscape, and her own loneliness.

In this beloved novel, a magical nanny arrives at the Banks's home to care for two children, Jane and Michael.

Brilliant Matilda Wormwood finds clever ways to get the best of her ignorant parents and the cruel headmistress of her school.

When Charlie Bucket and four other children find golden tickets in their chocolate bars, they are invited to tour Willy Wonka's famous candy factory.

Mr. Popper, who dreams of exploring the polar regions, receives a penguin as a gift — and soon he training an entire penguin family to be part of Popper's Performing Penguins.

After emigrating from Barbados to Connecticut Colony, sixteen-year-old Katherine (Kit) Tyler finds herself at odds with her Puritan neighbors, which turns dangerous when she befriends a Quaker woman accused of being a witch.

In this award-winning book set in the late 1800s, a young woman answers an ad placed by a Midwestern man seeking a wife.

In this historical novel set during the American Revolution, Tim Meeker must decide whether he should do as his father says and remain loyal to the British king or join his brother among the rebels.

In this powerful and heart-wrenching book, a sharecropper's family, including devoted dog Sounder, struggles to survive.

In this classic novel, a boy enters a dogsled race in the hopes of winning enough money to save his grandfather's farm.

When their father goes off on a cattle drive, a family survives with a little help from a beloved pet dog. Learn these words from the classic novel by Fred Gipson.

Stuart Little may be a mouse, but he grows up with a human family and embarks on many bold adventures.

Jess and Leslie spend their free time playing in the fantasy land of Terabithia; but when tragedy strikes, one of them will have to learn to cope with loss in the real world.

When Melanie, April, and Marshall discover an abandoned yard, they think it's the perfect place to play games based on their shared love of ancient Egypt. But the children aren't prepared to deal with a creepy antiques dealer, mysterious oracles, and a shocking murder.

Chester Cricket makes an unexpected journey from the fields of Connecticut to bustling New York City, where he meets several new friends but misses his rural home.

When eleven-year-old Galadriel Hopkins is sent to live with Maime Trotter in Maryland, the latest in a series of foster parents, she hatches a plan to run away to her biological mother in California.

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.

When Earth is destroyed to make way for a freeway, Arthur Dent joins his friend Ford Prefect on a hilarious odyssey through space. Learn these words from the first book in Douglas Adams's popular science fiction series.

In this collection of stories set in India, Rudyard Kipling introduces beloved characters such as Mowgli, the boy raised by wolves, and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the courageous mongoose.

Billy saves enough money to buy two pups, Old Dan and Little Ann. Together they become one of the best hunting teams in the Ozarks—and devoted friends as well. But when the unthinkable happens, Billy must learn how to nurture hope in a time of tragedy.

When her parents die from an infectious outbreak in colonial India, ten-year-old Mary Lennox is sent to live with her uncle in England, where she discovers a garden that seems to make magical things happen. Read the full text here.

Henry Fleming is a young Union private during the Civil War. After fleeing from battle, he'll do anything for a second chance to prove his bravery.

Kenneth Grahame's classic novel recounts the adventures of four woodland friends: Mole, Rat, Badger, and the irrepressible Mr. Toad. Read the full text here.

During a cyclone, Dorothy Gale and her dog are transported from Kansas to a strange land where she seeks a wizard to help them get home.

In this tale of pirates and plunder, Jim Hawkins sets out for Skeleton Island to find buried treasure.

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.

In this classic novel, an Eskimo girl lost in the arctic wilderness must fight for survival while she grapples with her sense of identity. Learn these words from the Newbery Medal winner by Jean Craighead George.