Don&apos;t Ask Me Where I&apos;m From by Jennifer de LeonLiliana is floored when she is called to the office of her high school at the beginning of her sophomore year and finds out she has been accepted into the METCO program. The only problem is that Liliana has no idea what the METCO program is. So she goes to talk to her guidance counselor, who, it just so happens is a graduate of the METCO program. Liliana is shocked to discover that her parents signed her up for this opportunity when she was young and her name has final come up. The METCO program takes kids from the urban areas of Boston and puts them into schools in the surrounding suburbs. The white surrounding suburbs. Liliana, a proud Latina, isn’t sure she wants this “opportunity.”But things are messed up at home. Her father has gone missing. Although, it soon becomes apparent that her mom knows where her dad is, but doesn’t want to share that information with Liliana and her younger twin brothers. Her mom is STRESSED out, understandably so, but Liliana has no idea how to help out since she doesn’t know what is really going on.Recommended for grades 8 and up. 

Books In the Middle Podcast

Don't Ask Me Where I'm From by Jennifer de Leon (Contemporary Fiction)

Who Killed Christopher Goodman  by Allan WolfHe was a newer kid in town, but even though he was different, it was different in a way everyone liked . Everyone thought Christopher Goodman was a cool guy, because he was just so nice and helpful to everyone, all the time. Some of the teenagers knew him better than others, and some didn’t know him at all. Still, when he’s killed the night of the local festival, everyone takes a moment to think of what could have been.Recommended for 8th grade and up. 

Who Killed Christopher Goodman by Allan Wolf (Historical Fiction)

Words We Don’t Say by K.J. ReillyJoel has it all figured out. For example, he’s figured out that the school could actually save money by buying all the juniors and seniors cars and it could be less than the annual transportation budget. Or maybe motorcycles if the cars turn out to be too expensive. He also knows how to really let people know how he feels by writing text messages to them and then, just not sending them. Yup, he has his whole life figured out, for sure. Or maybe not. Most assuredly not. In fact, Joel is pretty messed up.Recommended for grades 8 and up. There are copious amounts of swear words in this book, all, in this reviewers opinion, used completely authentically. However, if that is something that  concerns you, you have been  told!  No  swear words are in this podcast however, but the word Bleeping  has been substituted for one. 

Words We Don't Say by K.J. Reilly (Contemporary Fiction)

Blended by Sharon DraperIt has been a while since her parents got divorced, but it doesn’t mean that things are easier now for Isabella (as her dad calls her) or Izzy (as her mom calls her.) See, they can’t even agree on what to call their own child! Every week, Izzy finds herself in a new home – either living with her dad or her mom. It is hard to feel like she truly belongs anywhere. And now that she’s in 6th grade, she is realizing there are some things harder than just knowing whose week it is, but how does she, a child of a white mother and a black father, fit in to the world around her.Life just keeps seeming to get harder and more complex for Izzy. She plays piano and has a huge recital coming up that she is both excited for and a bit stressed out about and on top of that, something really horrible happens at school that makes her begin to wonder if she knows people at all or what they stand for. What does she believe and stand for? And her parents can’t seem to agree on anything, big or small and it is all becoming way too much for her to handle – why can’t they see that?Recommended for grades 6 and up. 

Blended by Sharon Draper (Contemporary Fiction)

This is Our  Story by Ashely ElstonWhen she heard the news, it took her breath away. She was just getting to know Grant, and now, suddenly, he’s dead. Shot by one of his best friends on a hunting trip. But who did it and why? Kate, and everyone else, can’t wrap their heads around the fact that one of the most popular boys in their small community has died and no one is saying who pulled the trigger.Recommended for  8th grade and up. 

This is Our Story by Ashley Elston (Contemporary Fiction)

Unwind   By Neal ShustermanWhat do Conner, Risa, and Lev all have in common? They are all considered unwinds. What exactly is an unwind? An unwind is a kid between the ages of 13 and 18 who has been deemed by their parents to be unfit to go on in their current state, or who has pledged their life as a tribute for their religion. Basically, they will be taken away, and their body parts harvested. What would you do if you were to be unwound?Recommended for grades 8 and up. 

Unwind by Neal Shusterman (Science Fiction)

Midnight Without a Moon by Linda Williams JacksonThat summer was a hot one, just like all the others in Mississippi. Yet Rose Lee was used to the heat, even if she never got USED to it. It just was. But that July, she and her brother Fred Lee got bad news, news that they should have seen coming but didn’t. Their mother, who had married a man to take care of his younger children, was moving to Chicago, without them. Not that they had seen their mother much since she’d married Mr. Pete, but still, now she was moving to Chicago, without them, and didn’t seem to have any issues with it. Of course, she’d already left them with her parents, Papa and Ma Pearl, about seven years ago, so why should she start acting like a mother now? Still Rose is terribly hurt by the fact that her mother is showing she obviously doesn’t care about either her or Fred.And after that big hit, they just keep coming. The summer turns out to be one shock after another, and all of them are unpleasant and show how different some of her own family feel about events happening in and around Mississippi. When horror strikes close to home, Rose feels like her connection to Mississippi and home is slipping away.Recommended for grades 7 and up due to  authentic  use  of language.

Midnight Without a Moon by Linda Williams Jackson

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. KendiRace, in America, is a complicated and divisive subject. How can we talk about it, if we don’t exactly know how it all came about, and where so many of the ideas we still believe today actually had their origins?  When we look back at the history of enslaved people in our country, how is it that so many beliefs that were started hundreds of years ago to justify this horrific economic machine are still around, over 150 years after the abolition of the official practice?Hopefully, you’ve heard of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, but what about W.E.B. Du Bois and Angela Davis? And did you know that the guy who played a big part in the Salem Witch Trials, also played a huge role in shaping how people who lived in the colonies viewed people who were black and the ideas about enslaving people? My guess is you didn’t, and neither did I – at least about Cotton Mather – the Salem Witch guy. Even the movies you might have grown up with helped to reinforce many of the ideas that are centuries old, and still have tremendous power to this very day.Recommended for grades 7 and up. 

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi (Nonfiction)

Skinny by Donna CoonerYou know that voice? The one that tells you you’ll never get that part in the play, or get a spot on the team, or that boyfriend you want? Well, meet Skinny. Skinny is “that voice” for Ever. Ever is overweight and she is constantly reminded of that fact by the voice she has named Skinny. The voice that tells her no one likes her because of her weight and no one ever will. The question is, is Skinny right?Recommended for grades 7 and up. 

Skinny by Donna Cooner (Contemporary)

Splinter    By Sasha DawnFor ten years, Sami has been haunted by the last memory she has of her mother. She said she would see Sami on Wednesday, but her mother never came back. Instead, Sami was found by herself, scared. But she doesn’t even recall that. All she knows is that her father is under suspicion for her disappearance. In all the years though, Sami has believed her father had nothing to do with any foul play against her mother – even though they were divorced.Now, however, Sami’s mother’s cold case file has taken a new turn.Recommended for grades 7 and up. 

Splinter by Sasha Dawn (Suspense)

Across the UniverseBy Beth RevisKnowing that you will live your entire life on board a spaceship in route to a new planet, a planet you will never see is a strange feeling. Knowing you will be in charge of the entire spaceship soon can’t be easy either. Yet that is the position Elder finds himself in, and when the bodies of people who aren’t supposed to wake up until they land on the new planet start being unfrozen, the spaceship has never seemed so dangerous.Recommended for grades 8 and up. 

Across the Universe by Beth Revis (Science Fiction)

The Tragedy Paper     By Elizabeth LabanWhat makes something tragic? Is it different for everyone? Tim has never viewed his life as tragic, per se, however, as he heads out to begin the last semester of his senior year of high school at a new boarding school, he has to come face to face with the idea of tragedy. First, because it is a major school assignment to write a tragedy paper for his English class. And second, because he thinks he’s fallen in love for the first time, and the girl of his focus already has a boyfriend.Recommended for grades 8 and up. 

Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth Laban (Contemporary Fiction)

All American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie CourtneyAllie has moved around, a lot. Her dad has been in search of the perfect professor teaching position and it looks like he has finally found it - just outside of Atlanta, GA. Allie is hopefully her family can finally put down some roots. But that might mean living in a place long enough for people to find out she&apos;s Muslim. She isn&apos;t sure how she feels about that, since she herself, doesn&apos;t really feel Muslim. After a disturbing incident involving her father that Allie witnesses, she decides to take matters into her own hands, and learn more about what it means to be Muslim, at least for her!Recommended for grades 7 and up. 

All America Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie Courtney (Contemporary)

What I Carry by Jennifer LongoMuiriel was named after the hospital she was abandoned at. To be precise, the John Muir Medical Center in California. And since she was a girl, well, they tried to keep it close. And when her social worker, Joellen, gave her a book about her namesake for her 8th birthday, it, in many ways changed the direction of her life. If she had any say in it, that was. Because John Muir was a famous naturalist, who spent most of his life outdoors and trying to protect the wilderness we have today - places like Yosemite. Still, to a little kid of 8, probably not the best gift, or so she thought at the time.Now Muir is about to embark on her last placement in foster care, because she is 17 and will be aged out of the system when she turns 18. And then she will truly be on her own. But her rules have been carefully in-place for herself for many years, and she believes she will survive this placement as well as she has the others. Don&apos;t make any friends or connections, don&apos;t cause trouble and always be ready to leave.Recommended for grades 8 and up. 

What I Carry by Jennifer Longo (Contemporary)

Caster by Elsie ChapmanAza is struggling - with the death of her older sister Shire, with the failing fortunes of her parents&apos; tea shop and most of all with her own full magic abilities and how best to use them to help her family, or not use them! But now the gang lord that runs their sector of Lotusland is calling in a payment, and Aza is trying to shield her parents from it, all because of lies she&apos;s told to keep them from worrying, but life is getting to complicated and her lies are beginning to multiply. When she stumbles upon a tournament for full magic casters, like herself, she thinks it just might be the answer she&apos;s been looking for. Or is it?Recommended for grades 8th grade and up. 

Caster by Elsie Chapman (Fantasy)

Looking for booktalks for middle school students? Look no farther than this podcast. Browse through the many titles in all different genres for just the right title to get your students inspired, excited and racing to the library for a copy of the book. Looking for written reviews for more titles? Check out the blog BooksinthemIddle.Wordpress.com to expand your own library and give students more options.

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Books In the Middle Podcast

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