[yalsa-bk] Read Alouds for Middle School Book Talks

Compiled by BudNotBuddy@aol.com [BudNotBuddy@aol.com]

The great thing about booktalking in middle school is that you can move back and forth between really young and relatively mature so long as there is something for everyone. Here are some that I keep permanently bookmarked and use regularly in middle school booktalks:

NOTES FROM THE MIDNIGHT DRIVER by Jordan Sonnenblick: the entire first chapter titled "Last September: Gnome Run."

CUT by Patricia McCormick: from (p.1) "It was at the last cross-country meet..." through (p.3) "Then exhausted."

LOCOMOTION by Jacqueline Woodson: the pieces (p.7-8) "Mama" and (p.35-6) "Pigeon."

INVISIBLE by Pete Hautman: the first chapter, "My Best Friend."

TROUBLE by Gary D. Schmidt: from (p.15), "He untied the kayak..." through (p.24), "Then his mouth opened, and though no sound came out, his silent howls filled the kitchen."

THINGS NOT SEEN by Andrew Clements: the beginning of Chapter 1, "About Me" up through (p.4) near the top, "Dad turns off the heat under the eggs."

SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson: [This is taught at my local middle school so I don't get to booktalk it there.] from the beginning of the first page, "Welcome to Merryweather High," through (p.4), "I am outcast."

THE BOYFRIEND LIST by E. Lockhart: I bring along a posterboard blowup of the actual list from opposite page 1 so I can point to the names and then read from (p.3), "I'm not a lunatic, or even a neurotic." through (p.4), "Enough to give anyone panic attacks, right?"

THE LINCOLNS: A SCRAPBOOK LOOK AT ABRAHAM AND MARY by Candace Fleming: the piece (p.23), "The Title Page of the Book that Changed Mary's Future."

TECHNICALLY, IT'S NOT MY FAULT and BLUE LIPSTICK by John Grandits: the cover (title) piece from TECHNICALLY and the piece, "Tattoo and Tongue Stud" from BLUE LIPSTICK.

YOU DON'T KNOW ME by David Klass: the entire first chapter, "Who I Am Not."

WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN'T KNOW by Sonya Sones: the pieces (p.1) "Nicknames" and (p. 123) "Three Hours Before the Dance."

PICTURES OF HOLLIS WOODS by Patricia Reilly Giff: entire first chapter, "First Picture."

FAT KID RULES THE WORLD by K.L. Going: the entire first chapter.

DEMONKEEPER by Royce Buckingham: the entire first chapter, "A Lonely Boy."

LET ME PLAY: THE STORY OF TITLE IX, THE LAW THAT CHANGED THE FUTURE OF GIRLS IN AMERICA by Karen Blumental: from (p.30), "Hearings were held..." through (p.31), "And while Mrs. Green ran the hearins every day, no more than four of the fifteen male congressmen on the subcommittee ever showed up at one time."

JOEY PIGZA SWALLOWED THE KEY by Jack Gantos: the entire first chapter, "Off the Wall."

THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN by Sherman Alexie: from the beginning of the first chapter, "The Black-Eye-of-the-Month Club" up through (p.4), "Yep, I belong to the The Black-Eye-of-the-Month Club."

DAIRY QUEEN by Catherine Gilbert Murdock: the entire first chapter, "Schwenk Farm."

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman: from the beginning of Chapter 1, "How Nobody Came to the Graveyard," up through (p.23), "'It is going to take more than just a couple of good-hearted souls to raise this child. It will,' said Silas, 'take a graveyard.'"

RINGSIDE 1925: VIEWS FROM THE SCOPES TRIAL by Jen Bryant: the piece (p.6) narrated by Jimmy Lee Davis.

TENDING TO GRACE by Kimberly Newton Fusco: the piece (p.2), "My teacher is a look-away."
19 VARIETIES OF GAZELLE: POEMS OF THE MIDDLE EAST by Naomi Shihab Nye: the piece (p.23-4) "My Father and the Fig Tree."

LITTLE BROTHER by Cory Doctorow: (p.57) from "There's something really liberating..." through "It's about your life belonging to you."

FREEDOM RIDERS: JOHN LEWIS AND JIM ZWERG ON THE FRONT LINES OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT by Ann Bausum: from (p.46), "An overnight standoff..." through (p.49), "Then his beating began."

NEVER MIND! by Avi and Rachel Vail: from (p.19), "I was heading back to my room when the phone rang." through (p.20), "Then, hoping my folks wouldn't come by, I listened to the whole conversation."

SHATTERING GLASS by Gail Giles: the first paragraph, "Simon Glass was easy to hate. I never knew exactly why, there was too much to pick from. I guess, really, we each hated him for a different reason, but we didn't realize it until the day we killed him."

KEESHA'S HOUSE by Helen Frost: the piece (p. 2-3), "Now this Baby"

ACCELERATION by Graham McNamee: the entire second chapter.

and some brand new ones:

FLYGIRL by Sherri Smith: from (p.64), "The bus was waiting for us..." through (p.65), "I suck it up, stick it out, and I'm surer than sure I'll never get to the end of this bus ride without being found out."

RETURN TO SENDER by Julia Alvarez: from (p.13), "While you were away..." through the end of p.16.

CHASING LINCOLN'S KILLER by James Swanson: from (p.76), "The crowd gasped..." through the end of p.77.

ALMOST ASTRONAUTS: 13 WOMEN WHO DARED TO DREAM by Tanya Lee Stone: the John Glenn quote (p.79), "'I think this gets back to the way our social order is organized, really. It is just a fact. The men go off and fight the wars and fly the airplanes and come back and help design and build and test them. The fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order.'"

TALES OF THE MADMAN UNDERGROUND: [This is really YA, but two of the eighth grade readers going to ALA in Chicago have been letting the rest of the school know how great it is.] from (p.6), "I picked up the old coal shovel I had for the purpose..." to (p.7), "I hadn't seen BeautySong in a while, though, so maybe she'd run out of luck."

POP by Gordon Korman: [This one which, to this point in time, remains my favorite middle school book of 2009 doesn't come out until August.] the entire first chapter.