Great Middle Grade Reads discussion

I've been in several conversations lately with parents looking for books for reluctant readers. Some librarians call these "Hi-Lo" books -- high interest with lower reading levels.

We're looking for high-concept stories here (No "See Spot run" please), with writing that keeps struggling readers in mind.

To get us started, I found this excellent list by the ALA:

http://www.ala.org/alsc/sites/ala.org...

I'd like to include books that may not specifically vetted for easier reading level, but are likely to appeal to kids who might prefer a more straightforward storyline and a tighter story, with less symbolism, descriptive passages, etc.

The one that always comes to mind for me is Jungle Dogs by Graham Salisbury. Definitely not for those under age 9, but both exciting and thought-provoking.

I'll add more as I think of them.

There's been some discussion in the Intro Forum recently about books for reluctant readers, so I thought I'd bump the thread to see if we could get some more discussion on this topic. What books do you recommend for older students tween students who are struggling with their reading skills, but need books that feed their interests? Kids are becoming more conscious of peers at this age, and don't want to be seen reading the early chapter books that everyone else in their class read when they were 7 or 8.

To get us started, I'll mention The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck, which have a nice hefty feel to them, but are a wonderful blend of pictures and text.

What else?

The diary style books would be good for reluctant readers. My girls favorite are the Ellie McDoodle Diaries and another title is Dork Dairies .

Oh, I'm being girl-centric, aren't I? There is also of course the Diary of a Wimpy kid, but none of my own kids got into those that much. For boys, I would suggest something like a Legos or Star Wars Encyclopedia/Visual Dictionary . Or a book like Cool Stuff .

I just bumped into a fun example - apparently part of a series for educational purposes: Escape from Tomorrow.

We might also discuss digital books in relation to reluctant readers. With digital, readers cannot readily judge the heft of a book. That factor, which is so important in the selection of a paper book, is missing in the digital world. Digital books don't really have a page count, as text just spills form one screen to the next.
So what are the factors that contribute to enticing reluctant readers to tackle a digital book? Cosmetic factors, such as cover design (which appears even with digital books) can make a difference, as can the length of paragraphs. On a digital device, font sizes can be selected by readers, which eliminates the large-fonts-are-for-babies issue.
Digital components can also help reluctant readers in other ways. Books with digital components (i.e., choose the ending) or associated online activities offer a side-door entree to the book that can work for readers who are digitally inclined, but may not feel comfortable with a sea of words.
Digital books can also readers a built-in dictionary to explain words that might be troublesome for reluctant readers. Some dictionaries are clumsy, but a dedicated dictionary that defines words in the context of the narrative are quite useful.
I've been working on digital components for Dead Chest Island at the edisonjones.com website this past month. When I started, my thought was that readers would work with these activities after finishing the book. But as the list of activities grew (and I don't have most them online yet) I realized that they would be a good starting place, too.
The issue with digital is: How many middle grade readers are using digital books? Scholastic, for example, expects about 30% of its book revenue to be based on digital products by 2015. But ebook sales in the children's market actually decreased in 2013, a puzzling statistic considering that so many kids are using computers and tablets. There is a great article here http://bit.ly/1d0ZPKU about kids, ebooks, and e-readers.

J.J. wrote: "We might also discuss digital books in relation to reluctant readers. With digital, readers cannot readily judge the heft of a book. That factor, which is so important in the selection of a paper b..."

I had the same thought about ebooks for reluctant readers. No one can tell what you're reading. :)

As general categories, graphic novels and novels in verse (both have only a few words per line, which is less intimidating.)

Also, there are lots of nonfiction books filled with photos and illustrations. My boys loved the Worst Case Scenario Junior series -- we've learned how to ward off rhino attacks, how to build a raft after a shipwreck, and how to ride an avalanche to the bottom of a mountain : ) (Just in case, you never know . . . )

I used to volunteer in a K-8 school library, and I found that the graphic novel series, Bone (Bone, Vol. 1: Out from Boneville), seemed to be very popular with 3rd to 6th grade students of varying reading levels.

I also agree with recommending the Dork Diary & Wimpy Kid Diary series.

Nyssa wrote: "I used to volunteer in a K-8 school library, and I found that the graphic novel series, Bone (Bone, Vol. 1: Out from Boneville), seemed to be very popular with 3rd to 6th grade studen..."
My son likes Bone! So another vote for that.

I met Greg Neri at our local book festival this last weekend. His books specifically target reluctant boy readers, and have received national awards and some good reviews:
Ghetto Cowboy
Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty, just to list two. The books are written for older tweens and above, with inner city settings and serious themes. I'm looking forward to reading them.

My reluctant reader is 11 and want to read the Junie b Jones books I bought for her when she was in 1st grade! She wants to read them NOW.

Not that big of a deal if she was better at reading books on her grade level. Maybe she will read them to her 6 year old sister as a bedtime story lol.

Liza wrote: "My reluctant reader is 11 and want to read the Junie b Jones books I bought for her when she was in 1st grade! She wants to read them NOW.

Not that big of a deal if she was better at reading book..."

That's a great idea! The teachers ask the 5th graders in our elementary school to read stories to the kindergarteners, and all the students say they love it. It's a win-win for everyone, because the 5th graders get to teach the younger students, which boosts their own confidence and fluency.

M.G. wrote: "Liza wrote: "My reluctant reader is 11 and want to read the Junie b Jones books I bought for her when she was in 1st grade! She wants to read them NOW.

Not that big of a deal if she was better at..."

Liza wrote: "My reluctant reader is 11 and want to read the Junie b Jones books I bought for her when she was in 1st grade! She wants to read them NOW.

Not that big of a deal if she was better at reading book..."

It is a great idea. Thats exactly what I did with my eldest when he was learning to read. Everyone benefited from his doing so.

My son, age 10, is a struggling reader. He easily feels overwhelmed by just looking at a book (number of pages and font size). If the language or concepts are over his head, he is easily discouraged. I do hours of research to find books he may enjoy, which led me to this very helpful group. A book he read very quickly and enjoyed was Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman.

What about Andrew Clement's books, Frindle and The Report Card. The font size is a tad bigger than most middle grade books, and the page count is not too intimidating. Most importantly, they are fun stories!

I remember reading Frindle maybe five or six years ago, and thinking it was pretty good.

Thank you for the recommendations M.G. :-). Added to my "to read" list!

My reluctant readers appreciate the magic of the Roald Dahl books. They are also excited to read Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and other Beverly Cleary books.

And I've recommended them before (in this thread?), but we had a lot of success with the Hank the Cowdog books by John R. Erickson

Look for the Jake Maddox sports themed books. They are in chapter book format, with illustrations. Jake Maddox: Hoop Hotshot, Jake Maddox: Soccer Spirit, Jake Maddox: Gridiron Bully, Jake Maddox: Striker Assist - just a few in his series. Some of his books have girl main characters.

I just gave a friend some books from the Bindi series Trouble at the Zoo - it's certainly high interest with not a terribly challenging reading level. There's a whole series, so if kids get into it, there is lots to devour and it's a chapter book, so that helps with peer pressure issues.
I also love The One in the Middle Is the Green Kangaroo it's a great book and very achievable!

Just finished The One and Only Ivan and thought that it would be a good book for reluctant readers. The sentences tend to be simple and short, very fitting for the thoughts of a gorilla, who is the POV character for the book. The chapters are also very short. But a story of wonderful emotion and depth.

I have a question about the whole Hi-Lo evaluation. The hi/high interest is a bit subjective, but the “low” (lower reading level) – how do they evaluate that? Are there statistics and web sites that can measure this? Is there a measure that’s generally accepted? And what values counts as “low”?

this has a good overview I think.

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/reading_...

basically reading level looks at words per sentence, difficulty of words used, types of things, but Hi interest means subjects a person their age would be in, so a high school student with poor reading skills can be interested in a book about games or celebrities or sports instead of preschool subjects.

Okay, that was a good overview. Particularly the conclusion at the end:

Enough already! No wonder we're all confused about reading levels!

I was thinking about the Scholastic catalog my kids brought home, and how it contained several different arcane scores for most of the books -- but I can see that they have so many scores because there are so many different measurements.

Thanks for the pointer.

M.G. wrote: "Just finished The One and Only Ivan and thought that it would be a good book for reluctant readers. The sentences tend to be simple and short, very fitting for the thoughts of a gor..."

It is, I agree, an extraordinary read and a well-fitted story for reluctant readers, mostly because of the topic and the very short chapters. The book itself is longer than most MG novels, but because of the way the story is told, it is a good choice for a kid who can't keep up with a long novel.

M.G. wrote: "What about Andrew Clement's books, Frindle and The Report Card. The font size is a tad bigger than most middle grade books, and the page count is not too intimidating. M..."

All Andrew Clements's books are amazing good reads.

I had an interesting observation on Andrew Clements. Look at the cover for his 1996 Frindle: . If you haven’t read this excellent book, the student comes up with a new word for pen, and names it a “frindle.” The cover makes perfect sense. The book did well. But because of that, the publisher wanted to remind future audiences that “this is they guy who wrote Frindle” so they forced the following covers:


See a pattern?

I have had great luck with books in verse for those students as well. The struggling reader isn't overwhlmed with dense text but they are getting very rich language. I have heard great thing about recently. Also, anything by Sonya Sones,Lisa Schroeder, Ron Koertge.

I like it when authors' books have recognizable cover patterns, like Clements. Much better to do that, imo, than have a cover forced into a trend in the genre, even though it doesn't fit the book.

For example, (for upper MG & YA), consider the excellent General Winston's Daughter . At least we see part of the girl's face - but that turned body in the lovely gown is not a good fit for the story itself, really. It doesn't belong in the same shelf as, say, .

I think reluctant readers, especially, might appreciate covers that give honest clues about content.

That very issue is one I struggle with as a writer. I have a cover style for the three books in my one series. They are unified by shades of color, the circular shape of the upper right corner and a childish watercolor style. But while everyone who has read the book loves them, several admit they didn't like the cover before they read them. So I have the problem of a cover series that doesn't attract new readers. Grrrr. Frustrating. But sorry, this starts on but wanders off the main topic.

For kids who are older but have poor reading skills I have noticed a real attraction to non fiction with lots of pictures. Things like world record books and true adventures work if someone hovers close enough to see that they really try the words and don't just make assumptions from the pictures

Jay wrote: "I had an interesting observation on Andrew Clements. Look at the cover for his 1996 Frindle: . If you haven’t read this excellent book, the student comes up with a new w..."

Kids respond well to repetition or at least similar patterns, so it makes sense for a publisher to get a book cover that reminds readers of the previous book. It is especially true for Andrew Clements but also for Anthony Horowitz, for exemple.

Christine wrote: "I have had great luck with books in verse for those students as well. The struggling reader isn't overwhlmed with dense text but they are getting very rich language. I have heard great thing abou..."

Have you tried Margarita Engle's books? They are also in verse and short, so they would be a good fit too.

I teach Grade 3 and 4 and have found my reluctant boys love the Steve Surname hi lo books set in Minecraft. They're quite long chapter books but partly illustrated and great high frequency words and very high interest for minecraft keen students. Just search for Steve Surname in Amazon or Barnes http://www.amazon.com/H.-L.-Reader/e/...