Middle School Reading Recommendations (by Kate)

As the primary IT guy for our website, one of the benefits my family enjoys is ordering books when I make code changes to DiscoverBooks.com. After a change, I always order a test book (to make sure everything still works properly). My daughter and wife fight about who gets the next “free” book (free to them – of course I pay for books just as everyone else does, after checking our social media and email campaigns for a coupon code). My 11-year-old daughter wrote a blog post about the books/series she recommends for other middle school readers:

Greetings, fellow readers! My name is Kate. I am in the sixth grade, and here are some of my middle school reading recommendations:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

by Rick Riordan

I started to read the first (of five books in the series) in the summer before fifth grade. It had been sitting on my shelf, and I decided to bring it along on a trip. Once I started reading it, I could not put it down. It is beautifully written and absolutely hilarious. I finished it at the beginning of the school year, and I was very excited to read the next book in the series. While reading, you will learn about Greek mythology. I already knew some Greek mythology before I read this series, but Riordan brought the characters to life for me. You’ll learn about Poseidon, Zeus, Medusa, Athena, Hera, Demeter, Ares, and many more, including cool monsters and Titans.

One of my favorite chapters in the first book is about Aunty Em’s Gnome Emporium, which turns out to be a statue shop – with statues that Aunty Em (Medusa) created with her deadly gaze. I gave the books to my mom when I was done, and she likes them, although she has to fight my friends for them because they’re all reading them too! Rick Riordan has four other different series right now, and I’ve enjoyed them all as well. I’ll talk about them in my next post.

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Harry Potter

by JK Rowling

The Harry Potter series is very well known to readers worldwide (more than 400 million copies sold, in 55 languages — including Latin and Ancient Greek). JK Rowling is the first author to make $1 billion. The series is about a boy who finds out he is a wizard. In every book, he goes on a new adventure, usually with his two best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. I like to watch the movies after having read the books to see how they are different. The book is always better. My favorite book from the series is The Goblet of Fire.

In this book, Harry has to compete against wizards from other schools in many challenges. My favorite characters in the book are Hagrid, Cho Chang, and Fleur Delacour. I was lucky to have my mom take me for a weekend to Universal Studios in Florida. We visited the World of Harry Potter. I had butterbeer (it’s like an ice cream float – so good!), and we had a lot of fun exploring Diagon Alley. I highly recommend reading the books (first), watching the movies (second), and visiting Universal (if you can- get the butterbeer and chocolate frogs).

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The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games series is probably my favorite series so far this year. It is thrilling and action-packed. The only problem is younger readers may be frightened by the violence that’s described. The story takes place in the future with a country divided into 12 districts that are harshly ruled by an evil president in the capital. Every year, two children from each district participate in the “games.” They fight each other until only one person is left alive.

As the series continues, there is a revolt. The main character, Katniss, becomes the face of the revolt and is nicknamed the Mockingjay (which is the name of the third/final book in the series). For Christmas last year, I got a bow and arrow set – sometimes, my dad calls me Kate-nis when I’m practicing. I don’t mind too much. I watched the movies after reading the books. They were good but left out a lot of parts I enjoyed from the books.