Top 25 books to read before middle school

August Pullman, who was born with a facial difference, starts fifth grade at school. Told by several voices, with a clear lesson about kindness that does not feel preachy.

Watch for: A classmate bullies August; mean behavior is shown and addressed.

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After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian survives alone in the Canadian wilderness for 54 days with only a hatchet. Short, tense, a Newbery Honor book.

Watch for: The pilot dies in the crash; Brian faces hunger, a moose and a tornado; his mother's secret is revealed.

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Jonas lives in a seemingly perfect community and is chosen to hold its memories. Short, with big questions about choice; Newbery 1994.

Watch for: Euthanasia of infants and elderly; some readers find it disturbing.

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Stanley Yelnats is sent to a juvenile camp in the Texas desert where boys dig holes all day. Three timelines weave together with a curse and a buried secret.

Watch for: Mild violence; a boy is hit; the story discusses race and injustice.

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A ten-year-old Danish girl helps hide her Jewish friend from the Nazis in 1943. A short Newbery winner and an easy way into World War II fiction.

Watch for: War, danger of arrest, and a death.

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A girl survives alone for years on an island off California. Based on the true story of the Lone Woman of San Nicolas; Newbery 1961.

Watch for: Her brother is killed by wild dogs; a character is killed; contains dated depictions of Native peoples.

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Jess and new neighbor Leslie invent a secret kingdom in the woods. A Newbery winner about friendship, creativity and loss.

Watch for: A main character dies suddenly; plan to be nearby when a child reads the ending.

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Winnie meets a family that drank from a spring and cannot die, and must choose what to do with the secret. A short, thoughtful book about death and time.

Watch for: Death, and a man is killed in a struggle.

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A bored boy drives a toy car through a tollbooth into a land where words and numbers rule. Full of puns, so it rewards a confident reader.

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An orphan discovers he is a wizard and starts at Hogwarts. Vocabulary is accessible but the book is long, so it suits strong readers.

Watch for: Some peril and a scary villain; later books get darker. Published in the UK as Philosopher's Stone.

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A twelve-year-old finds that he is the son of Poseidon and sets out across America to prevent a war between the gods. A fast read that opens up Greek myths.

Watch for: Monsters and fights; mild peril.

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Bilbo Baggins joins a company of dwarves to retake a mountain from a dragon. Dense vocabulary and long descriptive passages, so best for advanced readers or reading together.

Watch for: Battle, deaths of main characters in the last chapters.

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Meg and her brother travel through space to rescue their father with help from three strange women. Big ideas about conformity and love.

Watch for: Dark, abstract and scary in places; a few sections confuse younger readers.

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A rich Mexican girl loses her father and must work on a California farm labor camp during the Great Depression. Warm and carefully researched.

Watch for: The father is killed; labor strikes and poverty.

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In 1936, ten-year-old Bud runs from foster homes to find the jazz bandleader he believes is his father. Won the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award.

Watch for: Racism, hunger and the death of his mother; the Great Depression setting.

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The Logans, a Black landowning family in 1930s Mississippi, face racism and violence. A Newbery winner often taught in fifth or sixth grade.

Watch for: Racist violence, including lynching, and racial slurs.

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Melody has cerebral palsy and cannot speak, but has a photographic memory. A school story that puts the reader in her place.

Watch for: Bullying and a hurtful trip.

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Woodson's memoir in verse of growing up in South Carolina and New York in the 1960s and 70s. Won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

Watch for: Segregation and racism; a family's grief.

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Twin brothers who are basketball stars face a rift between them, told in verse. Won the 2015 Newbery Medal.

Watch for: The father dies of a heart condition near the end.

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Sixteen heirs are paired off to solve the puzzle of a millionaire's death. A clever mystery that rewards slow reading; Newbery 1979.

Watch for: Some period stereotypes.

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A pig named Wilbur is saved from the butcher by a barn spider who writes words in her web. Gentle, funny and a good first classic to read alone.

Watch for: Charlotte dies near the end; the farm setting includes talk of killing a pig.

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Four children step through a wardrobe into Narnia, a land under a winter spell. Best read first by publication order, though many series editions renumber it.

Watch for: Christian allegory; a battle and the death of Aslan.

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A talkative orphan comes to a farm on Prince Edward Island by mistake and wins the family. Older vocabulary but long, warm, comic chapters.

Watch for: Orphan backstory; period details.

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Roy, the new kid in Florida, joins a barefoot runaway to save burrowing owls from a pancake restaurant. A comic mystery and a Newbery Honor book.

Watch for: Mild language; bullying; a bully is humiliated.

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Salamanca tells her friend's story while on a car trip to find her missing mother. Won the 1995 Newbery Medal.

Watch for: A mother's death and a classmate's mental illness.

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