Books In the Middle Podcast
Looking for booktalks for middle school students? Look no further 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. New episodes typically release every Monday unless it is a holiday, however during the summer months, they will release every other week or so. Enjoy!
Episodes
363 episodes
The Burning Season by Caroline Starr Rose (Novel in Verse and Contemporary)
The Burning Season by Caroline Starr Rose Opal is now 12 and that means a few things. In her mind, it means she might finally be old enough to live in town with friends of the family, so she can go to school with all the other kids ...
Blood in the Water by Tiffany D. Jackson (Mystery)
Blood in the Water by Tiffany D. JacksonKaylani is not looking forward to spending her summer on Martha's Vineyard with a former best friend, named London and her older sister Cassie. While they had been good friend when they were little...
X Marks the Haunt by Lindsay Currie (Horror)
X Marks the Haunt by Lindsay CurrieWhen Will and his classmates in 7th grade visit the cemetary his mother runs, Will is so worried that someone will find out. And when it comes out, at first it isn't as bad as he thinks! And when he get...
All the Blues in the Sky by Renee Watson ( Novel in Verse and Contemporary)
All the Blues in the Sky by Renee WatsonSage was looking forward to spending her 13th birthday with her best friend, until tragedy struck. When her best friend is killed, Sage struggles to have the energy to move on with her own life. Ho...
How the Ghost Army Hoodwinked Hitler by Rebecca Siegel (Nonfiction)
How the Ghost Army Hoodwinked Hitler by Rebecca SiegelThis is the incredible story of how one unit was able to fool the German army during World War II and possibly help save thousands of lives. Because it was a secret army, it is hard t...
Gaslit by Megan Davidhizar (Mystery and Contemporary Fiction)
Gaslit by Megan DavidhiszarElla is facing a huge medical diagnosis. She found out that the migraines she has been having that are just debilitating are not caused by stress, or diet, but by a brain tumor. Being in high school and finding...
Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown by Candace Fleming (Nonfiction)
Death in the Jungle by Candace FlemingWhat really happened to the people of Jonestown in Guyana, South America on the night of November 18, 1978? Were people there willingly, or had some wanted to leave but were not allowed? This book do...
Are You Nobody Too? By Tina Cane (Novel in Verse and Slightly Historical Fiction)
Are You Nobody Too? By Tina CaneEmily is having a terrible time fitting in to her new school. On the surface, it seems like she should be having no trouble, because she is Chinese American and her new public school has a ton of Chinese A...
Slugfest by Gordon Korman (Contemporary Fiction)
Slugfest by Gordon Korman Yash is ready to move on from 8th grade to high school. He feels like he is pretty much there already since he has gotten to skip PE at his middle school and go play on all the JV teams at the high school.....
Al Capone Does My Shirts By Gennifer Choldenko (Historical Fiction)
Al Capone Does My Shirts By Gennifer CholdenkoMoose really doesn’t want to leave his home in Santa Monica to move to Alcatraz Island. His father takes a job as a guard so the family can get Natalie, Moose’s si...
Soldier Boys by Dean Hughes (Historical Fiction)
Soldier Boys by Dean Hughes Both Dieter and Spence have a few things in common - both have a desire to stand up for their country and do what they think is right. Both have families that care about them going to fight in the war, an...
Fever 1793 By Laurie Halse Anderson (Historical Fiction)
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse AndersonMatilda, or Mattie as the cook employed by her mother calls her, is not thrilled having to do a ton of work around her family's coffee house. But when the city of Philadelphia is struck by disease that ...
Follow the Water by Ellen Cochrane ( Nonfiction and Adventure)
Follow the Water by Ellen CochraneWhen Juliane is 17 years old, she falls out of an airplane almost 2 miles up...and survives! What makes this an even more amazing story, is she is able to survive her days and nights in the Amazon jungle...
Grenade by Alan Gratz (Historical Fiction)
Grenade by Alan GratzOkinawa is a relatively small island off the southern tip of Japan, but at the end of World War II it was the place of the last and bloodiest battle of the whole Pacific Ocean war.Hideki...
Spring Break!!!
Hi Everyone!Another year has flown by! My goodness. I hope you have enjoyed listening to my podcasts this year while I take a quick break for Spring and get more reading done. My breaks from my school are usually not a break at all, but ...
How to Tell a True Story by Tricia Springstubb (Contemporary Fiction)
How to Tell a True Story by Tricia SpringstubbAmber wakes up to an absolute nightmare when her house catches on fire. Her older brother, though, saves the day, by saving her life. Her brother, Gage, that her dad has been berating for the...
The Color of a Lie by Kim Johnson (Historical Fiction)
The Color of a Lie by Kim JohnsonWhen Calvin and his parents move to a new town in Pennsylvania, he is not pleased. It meant leaving the life he had back in Chicago, but not only that, it means he can never really BE himself...because hi...
The Right Call by Tommy Greenwald (Sports Fiction)
The Right Call by Tommy GreenwaldCal is a talented pitcher - so talented that he has scouts from colleges that are interested in him and that can mean a lot of pressure - pressure on him and it turns out, on his parents. Cal just ...
Murder Between Friends by Liz Lawson (Mystery and Contemporary Fiction)
Murder Between Friends by Liz LawsonFor years, Grace, Ally and Henry were all the best of friends, but that all changed when Grace thought she saw Henry's older brother in the backyard of one of their teacher's. A teacher who was later f...
Will's Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Adventure and Historical Fiction)
Will's Race for Home by Jewell Parker RhodesFor as long as he can remember, Will's father has seemed dissatisfied. Will never knows what it will take to make his father, a sharecropper in Texas, happy. Until, one day he comes back from t...
Very Bad at Math by Hope Larson (Graphic Novel and Contemporary Fiction)
Very Bad at Math by Hope LarsonVerity, or Very, as everyone calls her, has everything going for her in 8th grade, except for Math. Even though she is the Student Council President and has tons of great ideas and plans, she can't get out ...
Louder Than Hunger by John Schu (Novel in Verse and Historical Fiction)
Louder Than Hunger by John SchuIn 8th grade, Jake finds himself lost, except for the voice in his head, that tells him things will get better if he can just make himself small enough. As in, physically small, so no one will see him and t...
The Enigma Girls by Candace Fleming (Nonfiction)
The Enigma Girls by Candace FlemingEver wonder just how everyone communicated during World War II? And all the secrets, spies, and information that could fall into the wrong hands? Who was out there intercepting all of that "chatter"? It...
