Wildcats Read

6th Grade

Historical Fiction

• Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna, Pearson
  • Based on a true story, the tale of one girl’s perilous journey to cross the U.S. border and lead her family to safety during the Mexican Revolution BIPoC, immigration
• Troublemaker, Cho
  • With the events of the 1992 LA Riots unfolding around him, Jordan, a Korean American, decides to take matters into his own hands when he follows his strict father to check on the family store. BIPoC
• Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero, Faruqi
  • Yusuf is excited to start middle school in his Texas town, but with the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks coming up, suddenly it feels like the country’s anger and grief is all focused on his Muslim community. BIPoC

Fantasy/SCI Fi

• Orphan’s of the Tide, Murray
  • A mysterious boy washes in with the tide, trapped inside the belly of a whale and Ellie must prove that he’s not dangerous. Only Ellie believes that the boy is innocent but saving him means revealing her own dangerous secret.
• The Last Fallen Star, Kim
  • After thirteen-year-old Hattie Oh casts a dangerous spell so that her adopted sister, Riley, will get a share of her inherited magic, Riley must undertake a near-impossible quest to save Hattie from death. BIPoC
• Pahua and the Soul Stealer, Lee
  • While trying to rescue her brother’s soul from the spirit world, eleven-year-old Pahua discovers that she is the reincarnation of a legendary shaman warrior. BIPoC
• The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy, Ursu
  • Marya’s parents believe that her older brother Luka is destined to be a sorcerer and be famous. When his test turns into a disaster, and the Guild declares that he has no magical talent, they blame Marya. She is sent away to the Dragomir Academy where she finds her talent and worth.

Middle Grade Realistic Fiction

• Across the Desert, Bowling
  • While using a public library computer to find help for her mother who is addicted to pain medicine, Jolene witnesses a friend’s crash-landing in the desert and embarks on a journey to rescue her. SEL
• The Best Liars in Riverview, Thompson
  • While searching the woods that used to be their personal sanctuary, Aubrey recalls the events and incidents preceding their best friend’s disappearance and quietly questions their own gender identity. LGBTQIA, SEL
• Brother’s Keeper, Lee
  • Sora & Youngsoo must try to escape North Korea’s oppressive Communist regime on their own in 1950. Includes historical notes, photographs of the author’s mother, glossary of Korean words, and timeline. BIPoC
• Born Behind Bars, Venkatraman
  • In Chennai, India, after spending his whole life in jail with his mother, who is serving time for a crime she did not commit, Kabir is suddenly released and has to figure out how to survive on his own. BIPoC
• Every Missing Piece, Conklin
  • When a new boy moves to town, Maddy is convinced that he’s not who he says he is-he’s a boy who went missing six months ago. Maddy, her dog, her best friend, and her stepdad team up to see what he’s hiding.
• Falling Short, Cisneros
  • Best friends Isaac and Marco–one athletically gifted and one academically gifted–have more in common than they realize when their goals intersect, forcing them to find a way to support each other so they don’t fall short. BIPoC, SEL
• Fast Pitch, Stone
  • Shenice dreams of leading the Firebirds softball to the regional championship. But Shenice’s focus gets shaken when her great-uncle reveals that a career-ending-and family-name-ruining-crime may have been committed.
• A High Five for Glenn Burke, Bildner
  • After researching Glenn Burke, the first major league baseball player to come out as gay, Silas Wade slowly comes out with unexpected consequences. LGBTQIA
• Glitter Gets Everywhere, Clark
  • After Kitty’s Mom dies, her dad moves the family from London to NYC. Kitty will need to say goodbye to the places and people that help keep her mother’s memory alive. Mental health, grief, therapy. SEL
• The Many Meanings of Meilan, Wang
  • A family feud before the start of 7th grade propels Meilan from Boston to rural Ohio, where she must tap into her inner strength and sense of justice to make a new place for herself. BIPoC
• Thanks A Lot, Universe, Lucas
  • Brian has always been anxious, but Brian starts having panic attacks after he and his brother are placed in foster care. Ezra wants to help, but he worries his friends will realize that he has a crush on him. But when Brian and his brother run away, Ezra has no choice but to take the leap and reach out. LGBTQIA, SEL
• Violets are Blue, Dee
  • Wren is learning special effects makeup and is thrilled to be makeup artist for her new school’s production of Wicked, but her parents’ divorce is seriously affecting her mother. SEL
• What About Will, Hopkins
  • Novel in verse – Trace has always looked up to his older brother Wil. when Will gets a brain injury, everything changes for them. TBI, Depression, addiction. SEL
• Those Kids from Fawn Creek, Kelly
  • Fawn Creek K-12 have been together all their lives, so when graceful Orchid Mason arrives, with exotic clothes and glorious hair, the other seventh graders do not know what to think.
• Ten Thousand Tries, Macechnie
  • Golden Maroni starts eighth grade determined to be master of his universe but learns he cannot control everything on the soccer field, in his friendships, and especially in facing his father’s incurable disease. SEL

Nonfiction

• Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown, Sheinkin
  • Competition between USSR and the US to build even more destructive bombs and conquer the Space Race. The Cold War game grows more precarious as weapons are pointed towards each other, with fingers on the trigger.
• How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity’s Greatest Adventure, Rocco
• Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom with a Few Flat Tires Along the Way, Macy

All Grades

Historical Fiction

• Angel of Greenwood, Pink
  YA – Love story set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, leading up to the massacre in Greenwood. BiPOC, Historical Fiction
• Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna, Dobbs
  MG – Based on a true story, the tale of one girl’s perilous journey to cross the U.S. border and lead her family to safety during the Mexican Revolution. BiPOC, Immigration
• I Must Betray You, Sepetys
  YA, CH – In a country governed by isolation, fear, and a tyrannical dictator, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. He decides to use his position to try to outwit his handler, undermine the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country. Historical Fiction
• Yusuf Azeem is Not a Hero, Faruqui
  MG – Yusuf is excited to start middle school in his Texas town, but with the 20th anniversary of the September 11. attacks coming up, suddenly it feels like the country’s same anger and grief is all focused on his Muslim community. BiPOC
• Troublemaker, Cho
  MG – With the events of the 1992 LA Riots unfolding around him, Jordan, a Korean American, decides to take matters into his own hands when he follows his strict father to check on the family store. BiPOC
• When the World Was Ours, Kessler
  Three young friends spend a perfect day together in Vienna in 1936. Around them, Europe is descending into a darkness, and they are ripped apart from each other as their lives take very different directions. WWII, Holocaust.

Anti-racism, Social Justice, Black Lives Matter

• Hollow Fires, Saed
  CH – After discovering the body of Jawad Ali in Jackson Park, journalism student Safiya Mirza begins investigating his murder and ends up confronting white supremacy in her own high school. BiPOC
• Surviving the City #1 & #2, Spillett
  RR – After discovering the body of Jawad Ali in Jackson Park, journalism student Safiya Mirza begins investigating his murder and ends up confronting white supremacy in her own high school. BiPOC
• Kneel, Buford
  When his best friend is unfairly arrested and kicked off the football team, Rus must speak up or live in fear. Rus kneels during the national anthem. In one instant, he falls from local stardom and becomes a target for hatred. BiPOC

Fantasy/Sci Fi YA

• Cemetery Boys, Thoms
  YA – Yadriel, a trans boy, summons the angry spirit of his high school’s bad boy, and agrees to help him learn how he died, thereby proving himself a brujo, not a bruja, to his conservative family.
• This Poison Hear, Bayron
  YA – Teenaged Briseis, who possesses a supernatural power over plants, even poisonous ones, inherits a dilapidated estate in rural New York and must protect herself and her family from centuries-old secrets that threaten their lives.
• The Darkness Outside Us, Schrefer
  YA – Two boys, alone in space. Sworn enemies sent on the same rescue mission. Ambrose wakes up on the Coordinated Endeavor with no memory of a launch. Evidence indicates strangers have been on board, the ship’s operating system is voiced by his mother, and his handsome, brooding shipmate has barricaded himself away. In order to survive the ship’s secrets, Ambrose and Kodiak will need to work together and learn to trust each other . . . especially once they discover what they are truly up against.
• Defy the Night, Kemmerer
  YA – “The kingdom of Kandala is recovering from a devastating plague but the cure is rare and expensive, so a girl hatches a plan to infiltrate the castle and bring the corrupt system crashing down”

Fantasy/Sci Fi

• Six Crimson Cranes, Lim
  The exiled Princess Shiori must unravel the curse that turned her six brothers into cranes, and she is assisted by her spurned betrothed, a capricious dragon, and a paper bird brought to life by her own magic.
• Orphans of the Tide, Murray
  A mysterious boy washes in with the tide, trapped inside the belly of a whale and Ellie must prove that he’s not dangerous. The citizens of the City believe he’s ruled by the Enemy, come again to cause chaos. Only Ellie believes that the boy is innocent but saving him means revealing her own dangerous secret.
• The Last Fallen Star, Kim
  After thirteen-year-old Hattie Oh casts a dangerous spell so her adopted sister, Riley, will get a share of her inherited magic, Riley must undertake a near-impossible quest to save Hattie from death. BiPOC
• Pahua and the Soul Stealer, Lee
  While trying to rescue her brother’s soul from the spirit world, eleven-year-old Pahua discovers that she is the reincarnation of a legendary shaman warrior. BiPOC
• The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy, Ursu
  Marya’s parents believe that her older brother Luka is destined to be a sorcerer and make the family’s fortune. When his test turns into a disaster, and the Guild declares that he has no magical talent, they blame Marya for upsetting the test. She is sent away to the Dragomir Academy where she finds her worth.
• The House on the Cerulean Sea, Klune
  Linus Baker is a by-the-book case worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth who must determine whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world. Arthur Parnassus is the master of the orphanage. He would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn.
• Once Upon a Broken Heart, Garber
  Desperate to stop her beloved from marrying another, sixteen-year-old Evangeline Fox strikes a deal with the mythic Prince of Hearts leading her down a dangerous path that may ultimately end in her destruction.

Nonfiction, Informational, Memoir

• Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown, Sheinkin
  Competition between USSR and the US to build even more destructive bombs and conquer the Space Race. The Cold War game grows more precarious as weapons are pointed towards each other, with fingers on the trigger.
• The Other Talk, Kiely
  CH – In an accessible, anecdotal, and honest account from his own life, Brendan Kiely introduces young readers to white privilege, unconscious bias, and allyship-because racism isn’t just an issue for people of color, it’s an issue white people have to deal with, too, and it’s time we all start doing our part.

Middle Grade Realistic Fiction

• A High Five for Glenn Burke, Bildner
  After researching Glenn Burke, the first major league baseball player to come out as gay, Silas Wade slowly comes out with unexpected consequences. LGBTQIA, high five
• Glitter Gets Everywhere, Clark
  After Kitty’s Mom dies, her dad moves the family from London to NYC. Kitty will need to say goodbye to the places and people that help keep her mother’s memory alive. Mental health, grief, therapy
• A Kind of Spark, McNicoll
  When she discovers that her small Scottish town used to burn witches, a neurodivergent girl who sees & hears things cannot refuse to let them be forgotten.
• Violets are Blue, Dee
  Wren is learning special effects makeup and is thrilled to be makeup artist for her new school’s production of Wicked, but her parents’ divorce is seriously affecting her mother.
• Every Missing Piece, Conklin
  When a new boy moves to town, Maddy is convinced that he’s not who he says he is-he’s a boy who went missing six months ago. Maddy, her dog, her best friend, and her stepdad team up to see what he’s hiding.
• Across the Desert, Bowling
  While using a public library computer to find help for her mother who is addicted to pain medicine, Jolene witnesses a friend’s crash-landing in the desert and embarks on a journey to rescue her.
• The Best Liars in Riverview, Thompson
  While searching the woods that used to be their personal sanctuary, Aubrey recalls the events and incidents preceding their best friend’s disappearance and quietly questions their own gender identity. LGBTQIA, bullying
• Brother’s Keeper, Lee
  Sora & Youngsoo must try to escape North Korea’s oppressive Communist regime on their own in 1950. Includes historical notes, photographs of the author’s mother, glossary of Korean words, and timeline. BiPOC
• Born Behind Bars, Venkatraman
  In Chennai, India, after spending his whole life in jail with his mother, who is serving time for a crime she did not commit, Kabir is suddenly released and has to figure out how to survive on his own. BiPOC
• Falling Short, Cisneros
  Best friends Isaac and Marco–one athletically gifted and one academically gifted–have more in common than they realize when their goals intersect, forcing them to find a way to support each other so they don’t fall short. BiPOC
• Fast Pitch, Stone
  Shenice dreams of leading the Firebirds softball to the regional championship. But Shenice’s focus gets shaken when her great-uncle reveals that a family-name-ruining-crime may have been committed. It’s up to Shenice to discover the truth about her family’s past before secrets take the Firebirds out of the game forever.
• Ten Thousand Tries, Mackechnie
  Golden Maroni starts eighth grade determined to be master of his universe but learns he cannot control everything on the soccer field, in his friendships, and especially in facing his father’s incurable disease.
• Those Kids from Fawn Creek, Kelly
  Fawn Creek K-12 have been together all their lives, so when graceful Orchid Mason arrives, with exotic clothes and glorious hair, the other seventh graders do not know what to think.
• The Many Meanings of Meilan, Wang
  A family feud before the start of 7th grade propels Meilan from Boston to rural Ohio, where she must tap into her inner strength and sense of justice to make a new place for herself. BiPOC
• Thanks A Lot, Universe, Lucasd
  Brian has always been anxious, but after he and his brother are placed in foster care, Brian starts having panic attacks. Ezra wants to help, but he worries his friends will realize that he has a crush on him. But when Brian and his brother run away, Ezra has no choice but to take the leap and reach out. LGBTQIA
• What About Will, Hopkins
  CH – Novel in verse – Trace has always looked up to his older brother Wil. when Will gets a brain injury, everything changes for them. TBI, Depression, addiction

YA Realistic Fiction

• All My Rage, Tahir
  YA, CH – A family extending from Pakistan to California, deals with generations of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness.
• Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry, Goffney
  YA – Quinn keeps a lot of lists. By writing her fears on paper, she never has to face them in real life.That is, until her journal goes missing… Then an anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public.
• The Heartbreak Bakery, Capetta
  YA – Syd, a baker at the Proud Muffin, is perplexed after couples who eat their brownies immediately split up, but when the owners of the bakery eat the brownies, Syd is afraid the bakery may close and it is only, Harley, a delivery person, who convinces Syd that their baking can actually fix things. LGBTQIA
• In the Wild Light, Zentner
  YA – Attending an elite prep school in Connecticut on a scholarship with his best friend (and secret love) science genius Delaney Doyle, sixteen-year-old Cash Pruitt, from a small town in East Tennessee, struggles with emotional pain and loss until his English teacher suggests writing poetry.
• Final Season, Green
  YA – Ben’s Dad has ALS and it might be the last season he can watch his son as quarterback.
• Found, Bruchac
  YA, RR – On his way to teach at Camp Seven Generations, a Native outdoor school, Nick witnesses a murder and then is thrown off a train. Remembering and using the teachings of his Abenaki Elders will prove to be the difference between life and death for him. BiPOC
• Loveless, Oseman
  YA – A funny, honest, messy, completely relatable story of a girl who realizes that love can be found in many ways that don’t involve romance. From the author of Heartstopper. LGBTQIA
• The Agathas, Glasgow
  YA – In a wealthy oceanside town, two teenage girls — rich and popular Alice and her less popular, less rich tutor, Iris, work together to solve the murder of Alice’s ex-best friend. With all signs pointing to one person, the girls consult the complete works of the master herself, Agatha Christie, to help uncover the truth.
• Ace of Spades, Àbiké-llyimidé
  YA – When shocking secrets are blasted out to students at Niveus Private Academy via an anonymous texter, two lives are turned completely upside down on the cusp of graduation. However, they soon realize that Aces happens to be targeting the only two Black students in the elite private school. BiPOC
• I Kissed Shara Wheeler, McQuiston
  YA – Chloe has spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates to win valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara. But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes. Three unlikely students with nothing in common but one thing, must untangle Shara’s trail of clues and find her.
• Nothing More to Tell, McManus
  YA – Be sure to keep your friends close . . . and your secrets closer. Another Karen McManus mystery. From the author of One of Us Is Lying and Two Can Keep a Secret
• The Red Palace, Hur
  YA – While investigating a series of grisly murders, nurse Hyeon navigates royal and political intrigue and becomes entangled with a young police inspector.

Wildcats Read 22-23

1. Ace of Spades
2. Across the Desert
3. The Agathas
4. All My Rage
5. Angel of Greenwood
6. Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna
7. The Best Liars in Riverview
8. Born Behind Bars
9. Brother’s Keeper
10. Cemetery Boys
11. The Darkness Outside Us
12. Defy the Night
13. Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry
14. Every Missing Piece
15. Fallout
16. Falling Short
17. Fast Pitch
18. Final Season
19. Found
20. Glitter Gets Everywhere
21. High Five for Glenn Burke
22. Hollow Fires
23. The Heartbreak Bakery
24. The House on the Cerulean Sea
25. I Kissed Shara Wheeler
26. I Must Betray You
27. In the Wild Light
28. A Kind of Spark
29. Kneel
30. The Last Fallen Star
31. Loveless
32. The Many Meanings of Meilin
33. Nothing More to Tell
34. Orphan’s of the Tide
35. Once Upon a Broken Heart
36. The Other Talk
37. Pahua and the Soul Stealer
38. The Red Palace
39. Six Crimson Cranes
40. Surviving the City #1 & #2
41. Ten Thousand Tries
42. Thanks A Lot, Universe
43. This Poison Heart
44. Those Kids from Fawn Creek
45. The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy
46. Troublemaker
47. Violets are Blue
48. What About Will
49. When the World Was Ours
50. Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero

All Grades Book List Key and Additional Resources

• Key
  • MG – Middle Grade – 6th and 7th grade
  • YA – Young Adult – 7th & 8th grade – contains more mature content but is still age appropriate
  • CH – Challenge – age appropriate for readers seeking YA  & more challenging content & vocabulary
  • RR – Rapid Read – less frustrating for some, smaller books, easier to read
• SPL.org BiblioCommon Book List for 2022-23. View Wildcats Read 22-23 List.
• Use Destiny Discover to browse WMS books.
• Find recommendations and reviews using Schoology and on our Whitman MS Library Page.

6th Grader Explore Great Books and Book Lists

• Whitman MS Library Page
• SPL.org BiblioCommons Book Lists for Whitman MS (sharpmacerlibrarian). View 6th Grade Wildcats Read List.
  • Sign in with your Library Link username and password, go to your account and choose “Lists”
• Use Destiny Discover to browse WMS books