Belonging: Books for Middle Schoolers
Coming to terms with your heritage, learning to love and trust someone else, and accepting others for who they are form the core themes of the middle school books listed below. You’ll learn to love these characters by looking at them through their eyes and the eyes of those around them. These books are a mix of warmth, acceptance, and humor. Enjoy!
Listen Slowly written by Thanhha Lai; grades 5-8; Mai is a first generation 12 year old Vietnamese girl born in the United States. Like most young people her age, her world is the beach and her friends. However, the summer she’s 12 her parents send her to Vietnam with her grandmother to help her connect to her roots. Mai doesn’t want to go and doesn’t consider Vietnam, its people, or culture part of her heritage. She has to learn to navigate the waters between her country and that of her grandmother. This is a story of love, humor, and acceptance.
The War That Saved My Life written by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley; grades 4-7; Ada is unsure of her age and has never been outside. She’s a prisoner in her own home as her mother is ashamed of Ada’s clubfoot. Her mother uses this shame as an excuse to abuse Ada. When children begin to be evacuated from London during WWII, Ada sneaks out from her apartment with her younger brother, Jamie. Once in the countryside Susan Smith, a recluse, is forced to care for both of them. There Ada learns to read, teaches herself to ride Susan’s pony, and looks out for German soldiers. However, she seems to misread Susan’s actions, so she pushes her away when all she wants is love. Ada’s will to survive is remarkable, and eventually she learns to trust and love Susan, but the question becomes whether this love will be able to keep her safe from her mother.
Wonder written by R. J. Palacio; grades 4-7; August Pullman is ten years old and likes Star Wars and X-Box. He wants the same things in life that others his age want: acceptance, friendship, and freedom to be himself. When he reaches fifth grade, he enters public school for the first time. What’s the big deal? He has jarring facial anomalies. August (Auggie) wonders if he can get other people to look beyond his facial differences and see who he really is. The story is told beautifully from Auggie’s perspective and through the words of those around him. The reader is able to see the struggle criticism and compassion and rejection and acceptance. The author, Palacio, calls her novel “a meditation on kindness.”
