My publisher, Chicken Scratch Books, offers two ONLINE NOVEL ENRICHMENT COURSES for 5th-8th grade students. http://chickenscratchbooks.com The 4-week literature EXPLORE course features video instruction, ‘paper and pencil’ activities, and lots of fun. The more robust 6-week literature ANALYSIS course delves more deeply into Raccoon Summer, focusing on the importance of secondary characters. It includes video instruction, vocabulary building and online and at home assignments.
Other great Middle Grade reads from Chicken Scratch Books:
Jeff Pennant's Field Guide to Raising Happy Parents by Kelli McKinney
Jeff is an endearing, irrepressibly optimistic kid. When his relationship with his best friends is threatened because of his parents’ frequent grounding punishments, Jeff rebounds by beginning a “scientific” study of what makes his parents happy. He creates a happy-face “visual guide” much like the one seen in a doctor’s office. But Jeff’s faces are much more expressive, with labels such as Guaranteed Grounding, Steer Clear, and Proceed with Extreme Caution. Using his guide, he evaluates the results of his various actions to make his parents happy (spoiler: most of them backfire horrendously!). But ultimately, Jeff’s “Field Guide” leads to fruitful revelations for both himself and his parents.
Perfect by Kiri Jorgenson
Perfect is a perfectly wonderful read.
Sixth grade Sal has her OCD perfectly under control at school. The key is to make herself invisible, someone who cares about no one and whom no one cares about. If some deviance from the regular order of things appears, she can control her reaction by squeezing the little wooden block she always keeps in her pocket. She can steady her breathing and heartbeat. She can count steps or objects; counting helps steady her. Jorgensen does a great job of portraying Sal, without making her someone to be pitied or who requires special treatment.
But when her science teacher shows photos of snowflakes to the class, Sal is immediately and irrevocably hooked. Her desire to learn more about the practically perfect crystals means she must join the school’s Weather Club and interact with its members– radical deviations from her routine and the safety of invisibility. Jorgensen deftly handles her character’s progress along that sometimes turbulent path. Sal becomes stronger and more confident throughout that journey. She even manages to channel her OCD affinity for patterns into a way to trap the thief who has been stealing student phones and the school’s electrical equipment.
Without a doubt, Perfect is an affirmative book for youngsters with OCD or those who are differently abled. It is also a wonderful book to help middle grade students learn the value of people who think or act differently from themselves.
Sophie Murphy Does Not Exist by T. Blanchard
The normal middle school anxiety about who is important and why is compounded for Sophie Murphy whose father has recently died of cancer. His career as a dentist is not noteworthy enough to earn him a listing in Netopia. Sophie is a delightful character and her attempts at becoming important are hilarious. At the same time her eventual understanding of her father’s real importance leads her through her grief and to the understanding of what she really needs to do to become a significant person to others.
Sixth Grade Secret Service by Jason F. Franz
This is a fun mystery for middle graders. Abraham Truman comes from a family of secret service agents, so it seems perfectly logical for him to become sixth grade president Tibby Roosevelt’s personal secret service agent. Unfortunately, there also seems to be a curse associated with the Truman agents through the ages. Abe hopes to be the agent who breaks the curse, but it seems he has only reinforced it when the president he is supposed to be protecting gets kidnapped. Truman’s efforts to find the kidnapper and rescue Tibby involve a number of funny, but often risky, schemes – and the use of some nifty SS spy tools – as he eliminates prime suspects one after another. In the process of solving the case, Truman learns that people’s motives are often more complex than they seem on the surface. The book even finds room to put in a plug for responsible journalism and no-kill dog shelters.
Miss Classified by Susan Phelan
While this story deals with two middle school children having difficulty in school and their different ways of trying to hide or cope with it, I found most compelling the theme of the main character's slide into helping the other girl cheat. Phelan portrays Blythe as a very likeable character, so the reader tends to empathize with her rather than condemn her. Her first decision to take money to help someone cheat occurs at a time when she desperately wants to buy film for her photography hobby. The story shows how quickly and easily one can get sucked into more and more cheating and lying. And how hard it is to crawl back out. Another issue presented is the unreasonable expectations of her father. He thinks he is being encouraging and supportive, but he really is trying to mold her into being the math genius he would like to have been. That, of course, makes it even harder for her to confide in her parents when she finds herself way too deep into bad decisions. I highly recommend this book for middle grade kids -- and it would also give parents good insight into the problems of that age child.
Betty Vanderwielen 