Below is a list of books that New Roads Middle School teachers and administrators love and recommend to you. These are great suggestions for you to explore over the summer. What you read is your choice, and you are not required to read the books listed; we encourage parents to reference
Common Sense Media in order to research age- and developmental-appropriateness for your student if you have a specific concern.
Once you have read a book, we invite and encourage students to send an email or a letter to the teacher who recommended it to let that person know your thoughts about the book. We look forward to hearing from you after you have read one of these books!
Josh Adler, Director of Middle School
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Noggin by John Corey Whaley
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Allyson Daniels, Middle School Academic Dean
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
Piecing me Together by Renee Watson
The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore
Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar
Ghost by Jason Reynolds
House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
Hayley Sherer, K-8 Counselor
The Inheritance Games Series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Elisa Schultz, Spectrum Program Director
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Keondria Jooste, English Teacher
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adyemi
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
Jessica Fischbein, English Language Arts Teacher
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia
Hide and Seeker by Daka Hermon
Legend by Marie Lu
Larry Friedman, Middle School English Teacher
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (rising 8th graders)
Bob Cloer, Science Teacher & Engineering/Robotics Chair
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
A Long Way Home: A Memoir by Saroo Brierley
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
Nishat Alikhan, Science Teacher
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario (YA Version)
Refugee by Alan Gratz
Lauren Valla, K-8 Mathematics Department Chair
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
The Hunger Games (series) by Suzanne Collins
Diana Levi, Math Teacher
Wonder by R. J. Palacio
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Barbara Ransom, Mathematics teacher
Throne of Glass (series) by Sarah J Maas
I am Number Four (series) by Pittacus Lore
Uglies (series) by Scott Westerfeld
Are you There God? It’s Me Margaret by Judy Bloom
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Young Elites (series) by Marie Lu
Into the Blood Red Woods or Devine Intervention by Martha Brokenbrough
Kika Elias, Spanish Teacher & Department Chair
El Lector, by William Durbin
El Color de Mis palabras OR The Color of My Words, by Lynn Joseph
(Bilingual students might read this book in Spanish)
It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel, by Firoozeh Dumas
Esperanza Rising, Pam Munoz Ryan
The Hill We Climb, by Amanda Gorman
La Búsqueda de Un Sueño by Reyna Grande
Becoming by Michelle Obama (adapted for young readers)
Sadie Yarrington, Dance Department Chair
The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
Stephen Billington, Music Department Chair
All Summer Long, and All Together Now by Hope Larson
Music is History by Questlove
Passion For Practice With Musings From Music Masters by Becky Chaffee
Antonia Carnevale, Drama Department Chair
What It Is by Lynda Barry (6-8)
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (7-8)
The Total Tragedy of a girl named Hamlet by Erin Dionne (6-7)
The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake (6-7)
Leah Hamilton, Spanish Teacher
Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir by Pedro Martín
This Is Our Rainbow: 16 Stories of Her, Him, Them, and Us (an anthology) by Katherine Locke (Editor), Nicole Meleby (Editor) Hurricane Child by Kacen Calender
The Dream Keeper by Langston Hughes
Leah Antonelis, Spectrum Teacher
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Speak Up! By Rebecca Burgess
Alex Martynowicz, Spectrum Teacher
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas