One of the best things about being a librarian is connecting students with the right books. I feel like middle school is the time where kids really become life-long readers. They discover their reading preferences and start to read books with more meat to them. I love having our library arranged by genre, I find that students are able to browse the library and find books that are of interest to them very easily. Within each section, I have my go to recommendations that I find myself constantly suggesting to students. I thought I would share mine, and hope that you’ll leave me comments with any others that you love to recommend!
I love to recommend any books from the I Survived series by Lauren Tarshisto reluctant readers who are looking for a fast-paced read that isn’t intimidating. I’m so excited to see that this series is continuing to grow!
Gordon Korman has several great action/adventure series, including The Island Trilogy, The Dive Trilogy, and The Everest Trilogy. Similar to the I Survived, these short books are a great way to get reluctant readers to pick up a novel.
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen is one of those tried and true recommendations. Living in south Louisiana, so many of my students love to hunt and fish, so they really get into an outdoors adventure story.
 
 
Other outdoor adventure recommendations include Wild Life by Cynthia DeFelice, The Great Wide Sea by M.H. Herlong, and Alabama Moon by Watt Key. I have multiple copies of all of these titles, and they stay checked out all year long.
The Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz are great action-packed kid spy books that my students devour. Middle school students LOVE a series!
 
For my action/adventure readers that I think would also be interested in reading science fiction/fantasy, I recommend The Limit by Kristen Landon and The Maximum Ride series by James Patterson.
  
For my more mature readers who are into action and adventure, I love to recommend Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick and Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman. I thought both of these books were super fun, fast-paced reads!
What books do you find yourself constantly recommending to students who are hunting for an action/adventure read?
Our entire sixth grade reads Hatchet. I have had so many requests for the series of “Brian” books that I keep a display list of the book order right on the fiction shelves above the books and have multiple copies of each book. I also have several of Gary Paulsen’s non-fiction books such as Woodsong, My Life in Dog Years, and Guts:The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books. My kids love these “oldies but goodies!”
My school is K – 6, so the reading level is lower, but I always recommend the 39 Clues series.
Always loved Hatchet and all of his sequels. Brians winter was pretty good. It was ingenious to have a what if he wasn’t rescued. Love those types of spin offs. Man. Now I feel like buying the audiobook…sometimes I need to be saved from myself. Love books too much.