Animal/Non-Human Protagonists

KEY: ◉ - especially popular with students ♞ - this book is challenging ☛ - this book is a quick or easy read ❂ - Ms. Smith’s special favorites! ✢ - series book ☊ - awesome on audio ▞ - best for mature Grade 7 and Grade 8 readers A Very Small and Ever-changing Sampling of Ms. Smith’s Favorite Books for Middle School Wolfhounds This list is sorted by genre. If a book falls into multiple genres, I put it in the one I thought “best” described it. You can use the key to get more info on each book. Animal/Non-Human Protagonists The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate- Ivan, also known as “The One and Only Ivan,” is a silverback gorilla who only vaguely remembers his life in the wild, as he was captured very young and has lived in captivity ever since. His “domain,” which he comes to realize is just a cage, is in a shopping mall, and he shares this space with his friends, an elephant named Stella, a homeless dog named Bob. When a new animal is added to this small ‘zoo,’ Ivan’s world is turned upside down as his protective instincts take over and he must figure out how to use his strength and his talents to make a better life for her, and ultimately for himself. You will love Ivan’s simple but poetic voice and his beautiful story. ◉☛❂ Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo- A squirrel is vacuumed and gains the power of poetry (and flight). A boy, who may or may not be blind and knows of the ever-expanding universe and quarks, holds hands with a heroine. A lamp shaped like a shepherdess may or may not have replaced a daughter in her mother’s affections. A woman who knows of trolls and who comes from Blundermeceen provides a seat for wayward souls on her horsehair couch, which is quite slippery. This quirky and delightful book by Kate DiCamillo (of Mercy Watson, Desperaux, and Winn-Dixie fame) is a tale of comics, heroes, and squirrels- none of which are mutually exclusive. Holy bagumba! ❂◉ The Wild Robot by Peter Brown- Roz, a robot built by a warlike human civilization, is accidentally marooned on an island populated with only animals. How will she, a creation of technology, react to the “wild,” and what will happen when her creators return to reclaim her? ❂◉✢ Watership Down by Richard Adams- This classic survival and adventure novel tells the story of a group of rabbits forced to leave their home and journey far to find safety. Long, complex, and rife with epic themes of heroism, exile, survival, and perseverence, this gripping tale applies well as an allegory for many aspects of the human experience. ❂▞ ♞ KEY: ◉ - especially popular with students ♞ - this book is challenging ☛ - this book is a quick or easy read ❂ - Ms. Smith’s special favorites! ✢ - series book ☊ - awesome on audio ▞ - best for mature Grade 7 and Grade 8 readers Creepy/Scary Doll Bones by Holly Black- Zach, Poppy, and Alice have a secret. Even though they’re twelve, they still play with dolls. Pirate dolls, soldier dolls, mermaids- they battle, quest, and face innumerable obstacles in a rich world of imagination the three create together. One doll rules over the whole game from her place in a glass cabinet, but she is a doll none of them dares to touch- the Queen. But when Poppy tells Zach and Alice that the Queen may indeed be haunted by a restless spirit and proposes a quest that will put the ghost to rest, these three friends must travel to a graveyard in another town, over water, through woods, in a race against the clock. The cracks in their friendship need mending, too, if they are to succeed. ◉ Dread Nation by Justina Ireland- When the dead begin to rise and walk the battlefield at Gettysburg, the Civil War grinds to a halt while the people of America scramble to protect themselves against the walking dead. But not everything changes: the social structures in place in the country persist despite this new threat, and Native and African American children are forced into battle schools and sent to the front lines to stop the “shamblers.” Jane McKeen is almost finished with Ms. Preston’s School of Combat when an old acquaintance shows up to ask her help with a quest. From School Library Journal: “This is a fictional exploration of the chattel slavery and American Indian boarding school systems. Ireland skillfully works in the different forms of enslavement, mental and physical, into a complex and engaging story.” ♞☊▞ The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman- Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place—he's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery citizens, Bod has learned the customs of his guardians' time as well as their ghostly teachings—such as the ability to Fade so mere mortals cannot see him. ☊ The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier- Two abandoned Irish siblings who travel to work as servants at a creepy, crumbling English manor house. But the house and its family are not quite what they seem. ◉ KEY: ◉ - especially popular with students ♞ - this book is challenging ☛ - this book is a quick or easy read ❂ - Ms. Smith’s special favorites! ✢ - series book ☊ - awesome on audio ▞ - best for mature Grade 7 and Grade 8 readers A Tale Dark and Grimm and others in the series by Adam Gidwitz- This series, immensely popular with Grade 6 readers, re-infuses the old Grimm’s fairy tales with their original darkness. Squeamish readers beware- but not too ‘ware- the grotesque exists right alongside the humorous. This is one of those books, like those in A Series of Unfortunate Events, wherein the author speaks directly to the reader, which can be really fun! This first volume stars Hansel and Gretel, who run away from home and encounter witches, monsters, curses, quests, and even the devil himself before resolving their “story” in an ending that is both fresh and very traditional-fairy-tale. ◉❂✢ Sabriel by Garth Nix- Since childhood, Sabriel has lived outside the walls of the Old Kingdom, away from the power of Free Magic, and away from the Dead who refuse to stay dead. But now her father, the Abhorson, is missing, and Sabriel must cross into that world to find him. ✢♞❂ Today’s News Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes- Twelve year-old Jerome Parker is shot by a white police officer who mistakes his toy for a gun. He narrates the rest of the book as a ghost, witness to the aftermath and its effects on his own family and the family of the officer. ❂◉ Nowhere Boy by Katherine Marsh- 14 year-old Ahmed fled a burning Aleppo with his father, but heavy seas claim the man and Ahmed finds himself alone in Brussels, Belgium. When living in a public park with other refugees becomes impossible, Ahmed is left without safe choices and finds shelter hiding in an unlikely place. At the same time Max, a boy from Washington, DC, moves to Brussels against his wishes with his family because his father works for the UN. Feeling powerless and like a fish out of water, Max encounters Ahmed and a friendship begins to grow. ❂◉ The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas- Starr and her friend Khalil are on their way home from a party when they are pulled over by a policeman, who shoots and kills Khalil during the traffic stop. As Starr struggles to come to terms with her grief, she finds herself swept up into a nationwide discussion about policing and the black community, and gradually finds her voice within that discussion. ❂▞ Fantasy KEY: ◉ - especially popular with students ♞ - this book is challenging ☛ - this book is a quick or easy read ❂ - Ms. Smith’s special favorites! ✢ - series book ☊ - awesome on audio ▞ - best for mature Grade 7 and Grade 8 readers Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor- Sunny was born in the United States but lives in Nigeria, where her albino features stand out. A soccer star, she cannot go out to play because of the sun’s effect on her skin. However, when she makes new friends and discovers her latent magic, she is set on a dangerous mission to catch a criminal... This book has been called “the Nigerian Harry Potter.” Need I say more? ✢◉ The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by MT Anderson- An elf historian is catapaulted across the Bonecruel Mountains into the rival kingdom of goblins, bearing a peace offering that might be more than meets the eye. This wacky and hilarious story is told from multiple points of view, in pictures and in text, and savvy readers will sense that some narrators are less than reliable. A National Book Award honor book. ❂♞ (vocabulary) Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley- Micah’s beloved grandfather, Ephraim, is gravely ill and his horrid Aunt Gertrudis seems to think visits from Micah just make him worse. Missing his grandfather’s incredible stories about the Circus Mirandus, a magical circus he visited as a boy, Micah takes to living in the treehouse outside his grandfather’s window. He strikes up a friendship with Jenny, the smartest girl in his class (who doesn’t seem to believe in magic) and the two undertake a journey to find the circus and retrieve a promise from one of its most magical performers, the Lightbender, who once told Ephraim he would give him a miracle. Can the Lightbender’s miracle save Micah’s grandfather? ◉ The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer Holm- Ellie Cruz’z mother goes to pick up her grandfather...at the police station...and he comes home...thirteen years old.

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