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Great Books for Book Discussions

Upper Elementary

Curtis
The Watsons Go to Birmingham
The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drasticallychanged after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.
Dahl
The BFG
Kidsnatched from her orphanage by a BFG (Big Friendly Giant), Sophie concocts with him a plan to save the world.
DeFelice
The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker
After his family dies of consumption in 1849, 12-year-old Lucas becomes a doctor's apprentice.
DiCamillo
Because of Winn-Dixie
India Opal Buloni describes all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie.
Gantos
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
When his prescription meds wear off, Joey starts getting worked up and acting wired, and has trouble paying attention and controlling his mood swings.
Kehret
Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio
This is a moving account of the author's battle against polio when she was 12 years old and of her struggles to overcome the debilitating effects of the disease.
Park
Mick Harte Was Here
When Mick is killed in a bicycle accident, Phoebe struggles to accept the loss of her funny younger brother and best friend.
Rowling
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witches.
Rylant j
Missing May
After the death of the beloved aunt who has raised her, Summer and her uncle leave their West Virginia trailer in search of the strength to go on living.
Wrede
Dealing With Dragons
Bored with traditional palace life, Princess Cimorene goes off to live with a group of dragons.

Middle School

Avi
The Barn
In an effort to fulfill their dying father's last request, Ben and his brother and sister construct a barn on their land in the Oregon Territory.
Bloor
Tangerine
Paul fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness, and slowly he begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.
Creech
Walk Two Moons
After her mother leaves home Sal and her grandparents take a car trip retracing her mother's route.
Farmer
A Girl Named Disaster
While journeying to Zimbabwe, 11-year-old Nhamo struggles to survive drowning and starvation and comes dangerously close to the luminous world of the African spirits.
Fletcher
Shadow Spinner
When Marjan joins the Sultan's harem in ancient Persia, she gathers for Shahrazad the stories that will save the queen's life.
Haddix
Among the Hidden
In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived twelve years in isolation and fear, until another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong.
Hesse
The Music of Dolphins
After rescuing a girl from the sea, researchers learn that she has been raised by dolphins and attempt to rehabilitate her to the human world.
Holt
My Louisiana Sky
Tiger Ann struggles with her feelings about her stern but loving grandmother, her mentally slow parents, and her good friend and neighbor, Jesse.
Johnson
Heaven
Marley's seemingly perfect life in the small town of Heaven is disrupted when she discovers that her father and mother are not her real parents.
Konigsburg
The View From Saturday
Four students with a special bond, represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition.
Lowry
The Giver
When he is chosen to be the community's Receiver of Memories, Jonas discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.
Naylor
Sang Spell
In an attempt to hitchhike across country, Josh finds himself trapped in a mysterious village somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains.
Pullman
The Golden Compass
Lyra Belacqua sets out to rescue her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North.
Raskin
The Westing Game
The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must solve a mystery before they can claim their inheritance.
Spinelli
Stargirl
An eccentric student named Stargirl challenges the rules, falls in love, and changes Mica High School forever.
Taylor
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
A black family living in the South during the 1930s is confronted with prejudice and discrimination.
Wolff
Bat 6
In a small Oregon town, shortly after World War II, 21 sixth grade girls recount the story of an annual softball game, during which one girl's bigotry comes to the surface.

High School

Almond
Kit's Wildernesss
Kit goes to live with his grandfather in a decaying coal mining town and finds both the old man and the town haunted by ghosts of the past.
Anderson
Speak
A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year in high school.
Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451
Guy Montag, a firefighter and book-burner for the State, discovers that in order to remain human he must preserve books.
Card
Ender's Game
Ender Wiggin is a genius among geniuses; he wins all the games, but is he smart enough to save the planet?
Cormier
The Chocolate War
A high school freshman discovers the devastating consequences of refusing to join in the school's annual fund raising drive and arousing the wrath of the school bullies.
Dessen
Dreamland: A Novel
After her older sister runs away, 16-year-old Caitlin decides that she needs to make a major change in her own life and begins an abusive relationship with a boy who is mysterious, brilliant and dangerous.
Filipovic
Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo
Zlata Filipovic began writing her diary shortly before her 11th birthday and the breakout of fighting between Bosnia and Hercegovina, which changed her world.
Haddix
Leaving Fishers
After joining her new friends in the religious group called Fishers of Men, Dorry finds herself immersed in a cult from which she must struggle to extricate herself.
Jackson
I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing up in the Holocaust
The author, who was imprisoned in Auschwitz as a teenager, describes her terrible experiences as one of the camp's few adolescent inmates and the miraculous twists of fate that enabled her to survive.
Myers
Monster
While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, Steve records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script.
Wittlinger
Hard Love
After starting to publish a zine in which he writes his secret feelings, John meets an unusual girl and begins to fall in love.