Lit Circle Themes Middle School (Grades 6-9)

Exploitation & Child Labor

Boys without Names - Kashmira Sheth

Bitter Chocolate – Sally Grindley

I am a Taxi – Deborah Ellis

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster - Jonathan Auxier

Iqbal - Francesco D'Adamo

The Bitter Side of Sweet – Tara Sullivan

Lost Riders- Elizabeth Laird

Poverty & Homelessness

Crenshaw – Katherine Applegate

Homecoming - Cynthia Voigt

The Seventh Most Important Thing - Shelley Pearsall

The Bridge Home - Padma Venkatraman

The Hundred Dresses – Eleanor Estes

Death By Toilet Paper – Donna Gephart

Paper Things - Jennifer Richard Jacobson

The Garbage King – Elizabeth Laird

Refugee Crisis & Immigration

Refugee – Alan Gratz

A Long Walk to Water - Linda Sue Park

Walking Home – Eric Walters

The Only Road – Alexander Diaz

Shooting Kabul – N.H. Senzai

Stormy Seas: Stories of Young Boat Refugees - Mary Beth Leatherdale

The Red Pencil – Andrea Davis Pinkney

Immigration Experience

Inside Out and Back Again – Thanhha Lai

It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel! – Firoozeh Dumas

The Turtle of Oman – Naomi Shihab

Front Desk – Kelly Yang

Drita, My Homegirl - Jenny Lombard

The Wish Tree – Katherine Applegate

Chloe in India - Kate Darnton

Children in War

I am David – Anne Holm

Number the Stars – Lois Lowry

The Breadwinner – Deborah Ellis

The Boy at the Top of the Mountain – John Boyne

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas – John Boyne

The War that Saved My Life – Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

The Devil’s Arithmetic – Jane Yolen

Making Bombs for Hitler - Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Oranges in No Man’s Land – Elizabeth Laird

Segregation & Racism

Iggie’s House - Judy Blume

Stella by Starlight – Sharon M. Draper

Ninth Ward – Jewell Parker Rhodes

Full Cicada Moon – Marilyn Hilton

Brown Girl Dreaming – Jacqueline Woodson

The Wish Tree – Katherine Applegate

Maniac Magee – Jerry Spinelli

Sylvia & Aki - Winifred Conkling

LBGTQ & Gender Identity

George – Alex Gino

Girl Mans Up – M. E. Girard (for 13 and up)

Gracefully Grayson - Ami Polonsky

My Life as A Diamond – Jenny Manzer

The Boy in the Dress - David Walliams

Better Nate Than Ever - Tim Federle

Lily and Dunkin – Donna Gephart

The Stars Beneath Our Feet - David Barclay Moore

Diversity, Inclusion & Overcoming Adversity

Out of My Mind – Sharon M. Draper

A Boy Called Bat – Elana K. Arnold

Rules – Cynthia Lord

El Deafo – Cece Bell

Stargirl – Jerry Spinelli

Fish in a Tree – Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Wonder – R.J. Palacio

Jane, the Fox and Me – Fanny Britt

A Mango-Shaped Space - Wendy Mass

Save Me a Seat – Sarah Weeks

Counting By 7’s – Holly Goldberg Sloan

Paperboy – Vince Vawter

Truth & Reconciliation

Wenjack - Joseph Boyden

Tilly: A Story of Hope and Resilience - Monique Gray Smith

My Name is Seepeetza - Shirley Sterling

Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation - Monique Gray Smith

A Stranger at Home: A True Story - Christy Jordan-Fenton

Fatty Legs – Christy Jordan Fenton

Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story - David Alexander Robertson