POLK COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
MIDDLE SCHOOL APPROVED INSTRUCTIONAL READING LIST WITH GUIDELINES
Revised: May 2012
Dr. Sherrie B. Nickell
Superintendent
David Lewis
Associate Superintendent, Division of Learning
Paula Leftwich
Senior Director of K-12 Curriculum and Instruction
Jackie Baldwin
Senior Coordinator of Secondary Reading
Diane Conley
Senior Curriculum Coordinator of Secondary Language Arts
Chairperson – Approved Instructional Reading Selection Committee
School Board
Hazel Sellers, Board Chair
District 3
Frank J. O'Reilly
District 1
M35/1
Lori Cunningham
District 2
Dick Mullenax
District 4
Debra S. Wright
District 6
Tim Harris
District 7
Kay Fields
District 5
5/15/12
Table of Contents
Title
Page
Guidelines .................................................................................................................................. 3
Approved Reading Lists
Grades 6–8 .................................................................................................................... 5
M35/2
5/15/12
GUIDELINES
PURPOSE for the Approved Instructional Reading List
The purpose of the “Approved Instructional Reading List” is solely to assist teachers in selecting reading materials that can be
used in their classrooms for the purpose of INSTRUCTION.
Books included on this list provide teachers with a variety of CHOICES of classroom reading material which can be matched, most
importantly, to their students’ levels of content and maturity, and secondarily, to the lexile range of the written text. No teacher
should select books for instruction without considering student diversity.
It is requested that teachers honor the designated levels (middle, 9-12 and AP) to avoid repetition of instruction. However, if
your students inform you that they have already read this selection, please view it as an opportunity for a reread without having
to emphasize elements of plot.
The Instructional Reading Selection Committee is comprised of an equitable representation of middle, high and advanced
placement teachers who are highly knowledgeable and well versed in literature.
~ EXPECTATIONS FOR THE CLASSROOM TEACHER ~
It is the district’s expectation that a book MUST be on this list in order to be used for instructional purposes. Teachers are
expected to submit, to their Language Arts and/or Reading Department heads, by August 31st of each year, a list (maximum of
ten books) that they are considering teaching during the upcoming year. A copy of each list will then be forwarded from the
department head(s) to the school’s Assistant Principal of Curriculum. The books submitted must be on the Approved
Instructional Reading List.
~ CHANGES TO THIS LIST ~
If teachers wish to suggest changes to this list, they must complete the “REQUEST FOR CHANGE TO APPROVED INSTRUCTIONAL
READING LIST” (available by link in Public Folders/Learning) and submit it to the current COMMITTEE CHAIR; that is designated at
the bottom of the template. This form can be submitted by email and/or hard copy to the committee chair.
~ CRITERIA FOR SELECTION ~
It is expected that a minimum of five members of the Approved Instructional Reading Selection Committee will read any book
recommended for addition, deletion or level change. Their recommendation will then be sent to the Senior Curriculum
Coordinators of Secondary Reading and Language Arts. The Senior Curriculum Coordinators will then confer with the
appropriate Senior Director (of middle or high school) who will make the final decision. The teacher submitting the request will
then be notified of the Senior Director’s decision. All submissions, deletions and level changes will be noted in the district
document.
DISCLAIMER WORDING: No additions or deletions can be made to this list except by the designated district committee with the
approval of the Senior Directors of Middle and High Schools.
READING SELECTION COMMITTEE
Special appreciation to the many language arts and reading teachers/coaches that served on this committee,
led by co-chairs, Elvira Randall and Diane Conley.
M35/3
5/15/12
CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF BOOKS
1. The book is a work of literary merit that represents a common genre, a literary period, and/or a noted
author.
2. The book is well written.
3. The book is on reputable lists for recommended reading, such as Newberry, American Library
Association, NCTE, ALAN, and state depository.
4. The book deals with contemporary and/or universal problems and issues.
5. The book encourages respect, compassion, and love for one's fellow man.
6. The book celebrates the worth and dignity of the individual.
7. The book shows fundamental truths and conditions of humanity.
8. The book is appropriate for the maturity level of the students.
9. The book is selected for its total effect.
10. The book and recommended grade level(s) are matched by approximate lexile levels.
M35/4
5/15/12
APPROVED READING LIST
GRADES 6–8
Page 5
Author
Adler, C.S.
Alcock, Vivien
Alcott, Louisa Mae
Alexander, Lloyd
Andersen, Hans Christian
Annixter, Paul
Appleman-Jurman, Alicia
Armstrong, W. H.
Asher, Sandy
Avi
Babbitt, Natalie
Bach, Richard
Bagnold, Enid
Barrett, William E.
Barry, Dave & Pearson,
Riddley
Bauer, Marion Dane
Beach, Edward L.
Benary-Isbert, Margot
Blanton, Catherine
Blinn, William
Blume, Judy
Bonham, Frank
Boyd, James
Bradbury, Ray
NP = Non-Prose text – at least 50% nonstandard prose
Title
Lexile
Aesop's Fables
Arabian Nights
Arthurian Tales
The Bible
With Westie and the Tin Man
Footsteps on the Stairs
Cuckoo Sister
Eight Cousins
Little Men
Little Women
*The Kestrel
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Swiftwater
Alicia: My Story
Sounder
Just Like Jenny
Fighting Ground, The
True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Tuck Everlasting
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
National Velvet
The Lilies of the Field
Peter and the Starcatchers
780
970
On My Honor
Run Silent, Run Deep
The Ark
Hold Fast to Your Dreams
Brian's Song
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret
Blubber
Iggie's House
Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great
Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself
Then Again, Maybe I Won't
Tiger Eyes
Durango Street
*Drums
*Fahrenheit 451
*Illustrated Man
750
Additions/Deletions
1150
700
700
600
1260
1200
1200
710
860
880
900
580
740
770
700
770
770
5-12
11-08
11-08
NP
590
660
540
590
700
590
650
640
900
890
680
Latest revisions made on: 5/15/12
M35/5
*Advanced level reading
DISCLAIMER WORDING: No additions or deletions can be made to this list except by the designated district committee with the
approval of the Senior Directors of Middle and High Schools.
APPROVED READING LIST
GRADES 6–8
Page 6
NP = Non-Prose text – at least 50% nonstandard prose
Author
Title
Lexile
Bridgers, Sue Ellen
All Together Now
Home Before Dark
Deep Summer
*Jubilee Trail
Find Debbie
*The Good Earth
NP
A Little Princess
The Secret Garden
The Incredible Journey
The Computer Nut
The Summer of the Swans
Alone
Accent on April
Going on Sixteen
Dear Mr. Henshaw
Dust of the Earth
Grover
The Kissimmee Kid
Me, Too
Where the Lilies Bloom
The Whys and Wherefores of Litta Belle Lee
Sadako & the Thousand Paper Cranes
Why Me?
Motorcycle Racer
On the Far Side of the Mountain
The Little Lame Prince
Jurassic Park
The Children of Dickens
Boy–An Autobiography
Charley and the Chocolate Factory
James and the Giant Peach
Charley and the Great Glass Elevator
Seventeenth Summer
The Cat Ate My Gym Suit
Daniel Boone
*Miracle on 34th Street
Fishman and Charly
A Dog of Flanders and Other Stories
Tumble, the Story of a Mustang
*A Christmas Carol
*Great Expectations
930
970
1320
620
830
Bristow, Gwen
Brown, Roy
Buck, Pearl
Burnett, Frances Hodgson
Burnford, Sheila
Byars, Betsy
Byrd, Richard E.
Cavanna, Betty
Cleary, Beverly
Cleaver, Vera & Bill
Coerr, Eleanor
Conford, Ellen
Covington, John P.
Craighead-George, Jean
Craik, Dinah Maria Mulock
Crichton, Michael
Crothers, Samuel
Dahl, Roald
Daly, Maureen
Danziger, Paula
Daugherty, James
Davies, Valentine
Davis, Gibbs
De la Ramee, Louise
Dennis, Wesley
Dickens, Charles
1530
Additions/Deletions
Moved from high
school 8-18-08
910
920
630
3-08
760
12-07
710
1090
810
870
720
1130
610
1080
1230
Latest revisions made on: 5/15/12
M35/6
*Advanced level reading
DISCLAIMER WORDING: No additions or deletions can be made to this list except by the designated district committee with the
approval of the Senior Directors of Middle and High Schools.
APPROVED READING LIST
GRADES 6–8
Page 7
NP = Non-Prose text – at least 50% nonstandard prose
Author
Title
Lexile
Additions/Deletions
Dodge, Mary Mapes
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan
Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates
*The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
*The Hound of the Baskervilles
Copper Sun
*My Cousin Rachel
*Rebecca
The City of Ember
Joni
A Step Further
The Matchlock Gun
Black Stallion
April Morning
Hot Rod
Decathlon Men: Greatest Athletes in the World
Path of the Pale Horse
The Whipping Boy
Johnny Tremain
Mama's Bank Account
The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Came
Trail of the Lonesome Pine
*The Slave Dancer
*The Diary of a Young Girl
Mrs. Mike
Homesick
My Side of the Mountain
The Missing 'Gator of Gumbo Limbo: An
Ecological Mystery
Julie of the Wolves (recommended for 8th grade
only)
The Miracle Worker
Belles on Their Toes
Cheaper By the Dozen
Old Yeller
Savage Sam
The Wind in the Willows
Phillip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon, Maybe
*Death Be Not Proud
Shadow Children Series
The Planet of Junior Brown
M.C. Higgins the Great
House of Dies Drear
Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush
1020
1080
1090
820
3-08
880
670
12-07
Draper, Sharon
Du Maurier, Daphne
DuPrau, Jean
Eareckson, Joni
Edmonds, Walter D.
Farley, Walter
Fast, Howard
Felson, Henry G.
Finlayson, Ann
Fleischman, Paul
Fleischman, Sid
Forbes, Esther
Forbes, Kathryn
Fox, John Jr.
Fox, Paula
Frank, Anne
Freedman, B. & N.
Fritz, Jean
George, Jean Craighead
Gibson, William
Gilbreth, Frank B. & Carey,
Ernestine G.
Gipson, Fred
Grahame, Kenneth
Greene, Bette
Gunther, John
Haddix, Margaret Peterson
Hamilton, Virginia
860
680
1050
570
840
820
970
1080
710
860
810
740
NP
890
890
910
940
1140
900
1060
730
620
670
550
Latest revisions made on: 5/15/12
M35/7
*Advanced level reading
DISCLAIMER WORDING: No additions or deletions can be made to this list except by the designated district committee with the
approval of the Senior Directors of Middle and High Schools.
APPROVED READING LIST
GRADES 6–8
Page 8
NP = Non-Prose text – at least 50% nonstandard prose
Author
Title
Lexile
Hemingway, Ernest
Henry, Marguerite
*The Old Man and the Sea
Justin Morgan Had a Horse
King of the Wind
The Day They Came to Arrest the Book
All Creatures Great and Small
All Things Wise and Wonderful
All Things Bright and Beautiful
Dog Stories
The Lord God Made Them All
*Kon-Tiki
Hoot
*The Outsiders
That Was Then, This Is Now
Rumblefish
Farewell to Manzanar
Across Five Aprils
*The Lottery Rose
No Promises in the Wind
Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Raising Demons
Redwall
The Bridge Between
Gabriel's Girl
The Keeping Days
Myself and I
The Swallow's Song
The Wishing Star
The Acorn People
Voice of Bugle Ann
*The Story of My Life
If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever?
Little Little
Son of Someone Famous
Flowers for Algernon
Westward Ho!
*Captain Courageous
Just So Stories
*Kim
*The Man Who Would Be King
*Toast Stop, Camp 7
Lassie Come Home
940
880
830
890
990
940
1070
Hentoff, Nat
Herriot, James
Heyerdahl, Thor
Hiaason, Carl
Hinton, S.E.
Houston, Jeanne
Hunt, Irene
Ishmael, Beah
Jackson, Shirley
Jacques, Brian
Johnston, Norma
Jones, Ron
Kantor, McKinlay
Keller, Helen
Kerr, M. E.
Keyes, Daniel
Kingsley, Charles
Kipling, Rudyard
Kirst, Hans
Knight, Eric
Additions/Deletions
990
1310
750
780
680
1040
1100
1070
930
920
12-08
800
1000
720
1150
970
760
910
1020
1060
940
1100
780
Latest revisions made on: 5/15/12
M35/8
*Advanced level reading
DISCLAIMER WORDING: No additions or deletions can be made to this list except by the designated district committee with the
approval of the Senior Directors of Middle and High Schools.
APPROVED READING LIST
GRADES 6–8
Page 9
NP = Non-Prose text – at least 50% nonstandard prose
Author
Title
Lexile
Konigsburg, E. L.
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E.
Frankweiler
To Race the Wind
*Tales from Shakespeare
Let the Hurricane Roar
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
*To Kill a Mockingbird
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wind in the Door
A Swiftly Tilting Planet
Pharaoh’s Daughter
*The Chronicles of Narnia
*The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
*The Spirit of St. Louis
The Contender
The Call of the Wild
*The Sea Wolf
*White Fang
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson
A Night to Remember
Gathering Blue
The Giver
The Messenger
Number the Stars
Dragonsong
Character Is Destiny
Chinese Cinderella
Sarah, Plain and Tall
*The Guns of Navarone
*Ice Station Zebra
Teacup Full of Roses
Taking Terri Mueller
Gone With the Wind
Save Queen of Sheba
Anne of Green Gables
Gentle Ben
Fallen Angels
Monster
The Keeper
The 25¢ Miracle
Name of the Game is Murder
Octagon Magic
700
Krents, Harold
Lamb, Charles
Lane, Rose WiIder
Latham, Jean Lee
Lee, Harper
L'Engle, Madeline
Lester, Julius
Lewis, C. S.
Lindbergh, Charles
Lipsyte, Robert
London, Jack
Lord, Bette
Lord, Walter
Lowry, Lois
McCaffrey, Anne
McCain, John
Mah, Adline Yen
MacLachan, Patricia
MacLean, Alistair
Mathis, Sharon B.
Mazer, Nolma Fox
Mitchell, Margaret
Moeri, Louise
Montgomery, Lucy Maud
Morley, Walt
Myers, Walter Dean
Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds
Nelson, Teresa
Nixon, Joan Lowery
Norton, Andre
Additions/Deletions
1390
770
570
870
740
790
850
10-10
890
940
940
760
1120
1020
970
730
950
10-07
670
960
12-07
960
560
10-07
560
570
1100
1070
990
740
650
1070
730
5-07
890
12-07
5-12
3-08
Latest revisions made on: 5/15/12
M35/9
*Advanced level reading
DISCLAIMER WORDING: No additions or deletions can be made to this list except by the designated district committee with the
approval of the Senior Directors of Middle and High Schools.
APPROVED READING LIST
GRADES 6–8
Page 10
NP = Non-Prose text – at least 50% nonstandard prose
Author
Title
Lexile
O'Dell, Scott
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Zia
My Friend F1icka
Green Grass of Wyoming
Bob, Son of Battle
Island on Bird Street
*Animal Farm
1000
790
960
Bridge to Terabithia
Come Sing, Jimmy Jo
The Great Gilly Hopkins
Jacob Have I Loved
*Hatchet
Ghosts I Have Been
Something for Joey
A Day No Pigs Would Die
Freak the Mighty
*The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear
*Tales and Poems
True Grit
Robin Hood
The Story of King Arthur And His Knights
The Yearling
Where the Red Fern Grows
*Light in the Forest
Esperanze Rising
Holes
Small Steps
810
760
800
880
1020
830
860
690
1000
810
1200
800
1270
1430
750
700
870
750
660
Not
determined
O'Hara, Mary
Olivant, Alfred
Orlev, Uri
Orwell, George
Paterson, Katherine
Paulsen, Gary
Peck, Richard
Peck, Robert Newton
Philbrick, Rodman
Platt, Kin
Poe, Edgar Allan
Portis, Charles
Pyle, Howard
Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan
Rawls, Wilson
Richter, Conrad
Ryan, Pam Munoz
Sachar, Louis
Sands, Bill
Schaefer, Jack
Sewell, Anna
Silverstein, Shel
Sherburne, Zoe
Shura, Mary Francis
Snyder, Zilpha Kentley
Sook, Nyul Choi
My Shadow Ran Fast
Shane
Black Beauty
A Light in the Attic
Where the Sidewalk Ends
The Giving Tree
*Almost April
*Jennifer
*Why Have the Birds Stopped Singing?
The Josie Gambit
The Egypt Game
Years of Impossible Goodbyes
690
1170
Additions/Deletions
Moved from high
school 12-1-11
2-09
11-08
10-5-11
5-1-11
870
900
NP
NP
530
740
1010
840
Latest revisions made on: 5/15/12
M35/10
*Advanced level reading
DISCLAIMER WORDING: No additions or deletions can be made to this list except by the designated district committee with the
approval of the Senior Directors of Middle and High Schools.
APPROVED READING LIST
GRADES 6–8
Page 11
NP = Non-Prose text – at least 50% nonstandard prose
Author
Title
Lexile
Speare, Elizabeth
The Sign of the Beaver
Witch of Black Bird Pond
Call It Courage
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
Maniac Magee
Heidi
The Red Pony
*Black Arrow
*Kidnapped
Treasure Island
Airs Above the Ground
Moon Spinners
*Dracula
The Noonday Friends
Goodbye, My Lady
Hie to the Hunters
The Thread That Runs So True
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Let the Circle Be Unbroken
The Road to Memphis
The Cay
The Hiding Place
It Must Be Love 'Cause I Feel So Dumb
*The Hobbitt
*Fellowship of the Rings
*Lord of the Rings
*Return of the King
*The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
*The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
*A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
*The Prince and the Pauper
Pudd'nhead Wilson
Banner in the Sky
*Around the World in 80 Days
*Journey to the Center of the Earth
*Mysterious Island
*Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Homecoming
Dicey's Song
Izzy, Willy-Nilly
Jackaroo
J.T.
770
850
830
Sperry, Armstrong
Spinelli, Jerry
Spyri, Johanna
Steinbeck, John
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Stewart, M.
Stoker, Bram
Stoltz, Mary
Street, James
Stuart, Jesse
Taylor, Mildred
Taylor, Theodore
Ten Boom, Corrie
Thomas, Allison
Tolkien, J.R.R.
Twain, Mark
Ullman, James R.
Verne, Jules
Voight, Cynthia
Wagner, Jane
820
550
810
980
990
1100
990
Additions/Deletions
12-08
10-08
990
790
860
880
920
850
670
860
900
1000
860
920
990
950
1080
1160
1130
680
1080
1000
1030
630
710
790
840
730
Latest revisions made on: 5/15/12
M35/11
*Advanced level reading
DISCLAIMER WORDING: No additions or deletions can be made to this list except by the designated district committee with the
approval of the Senior Directors of Middle and High Schools.
APPROVED READING LIST
GRADES 6–8
Page 12
NP = Non-Prose text – at least 50% nonstandard prose
Author
Title
Lexile
Wells, H. G.
*The Invisible Man
*Island of Dr. Moreau
*Time Machine
*War of the Worlds
Cress Delahanty
Friendly Persuasion
Deathwatch
Torpedo Run
Up Periscope
*The Sword in the Stone
Little House on the Prairie
The Castle in the Attic
Shadow of the Bull
Happily Ever After . . . Almost
*The Swiss Family Robinson
Dragon Wings
Devil’s Arithmetic
Confessions of a Teenage Baboon
I Never Loved Your Mind
Pardon Me, You're Stepping on My Eyeball
*The Pigman
*The Pigman's Legacy
*The Undertaker's Gone Bananas
980
990
1070
1170
West, Jessamyn
White, Robb
White, T.H.
Wilder, Laura
Wintrop, Elizabeth
Wojciechowska, Maia
Wolkoff, Judie
Wyss, Johann
Yep, Lawrence
Yolen, Jane
Zindel, Paul
Additions/Deletions
970
990
1120
760
750
740
740
1260
870
730
980
12-07
960
950
1010
1050
Latest revisions made on: 5/15/12
M35/12
*Advanced level reading
DISCLAIMER WORDING: No additions or deletions can be made to this list except by the designated district committee with the
approval of the Senior Directors of Middle and High Schools.