Great Middle Grade Reads discussion

Can you point me to excellent and up-to-date lists of books commonly assigned.

Renaissance did a survey and published results years ago, but it has not been updated in years. Goodreads has numerous lists, but I'm not sure that any are up-to-date.

Ideally, I'd list about the 100 books most frequently assigned.

Thanks in advance for your attention.

Jim

It might help members reply if you were more specific Jim.

'Commonly assigned' in what way, where, to whom?

Thank you for pointing out that I was not very specific.

I'm hoping to find an excellent and up-to-date list of novels that are commonly assigned for reading in middle school. I'd like to list the top-100.

On the list, I would expect to find novels like:
Wonder
The Giver
The Outsiders
Holes
The Hunger Games
Number of the Stars
etc.

Here's the 2016-17 list. https://www.renaissance.com/2018/01/2...

But just because they are on AR does not mean they are absolutely the most read, especially in high school.

Thank you Susie. That is the kind of thing I'm looking for!!! It's a great resource for *what students read,* though I'm still looking for a list of what teachers *assign*.

At one time, Renaissance did a survey of thousands of teachers asking that question. Despite the overlap, it resulted in a different list than *what students read*. Alas, that old Renaissance list is no longer up-to-date.

I use the information you referenced to list books that, for example, 7th graders frequently read. However, I am trying to come up with an additional list that says "These books are most commonly *assigned* by middle school teachers."

Goodreads has a couple lists that *might* help answer that question, but the longer ago they were created, the less ideal they are. I can see how many teachers voted for a given books, but I haven't been able to determine when the votes were cast.

So if anyone knows how to answer that question or can recommend another good source for books commonly assigned, I will be grateful.

I should, perhaps, explain that I have a site that helps teachers reinforce vocabulary students encounter while doing assigned reading. One way of making the site more interesting and easy to peruse is to provide a list of commonly assigned novels. It allows teachers to glance at the list and link to a specific book's vocabulary from it.

During the school year, the site gets about 75,000 visitors a month, so if anyone can help me find a good, up-to-date list, you will be helping all those visitors in addition to me.

HI, Jim.
I've stayed out of this conversation until now. It is virtually impossible to develop a comprehensive list of "what teachers assign' unless you designate more clearly the educational philosophy to which the teacher or institution subscribes. The actual implication that there are limits numbers of titles that are a sort of "must read" canon implies that students lack choice. If you haven't yet done so, please read Donalyn MIller's original work: THE BOOK WHISPERER, and her subsequent title, READING IN THE WILD. Also check on the writings of Pernille Ripp and Mary Howard. There is a growing wave of education practitioners (in classrooms and preservice professionals) who offer countless suggestions of titles, but not locked into a narrow grade range or as mandatory reads. In fact, the direction of commercial and educational presses is to focus on what kids DO read, not what they have been assigned to read.
Also, Do some deep reading about what modern educators and many studies are saying about the relative benefits/damage of AR programs and limitations of their lists. Ask librarians, too.
Could you clarify for us for what grades and ages?
The material I referenced also discusses ways to develop vocabulary without providing lists and/or assigning dictionary work, etc.

Hi Sandy,

Thank you for such a thoughtful and helpful response! I just ordered the Miller books you recommend and look forward to reading them.

I am not a teacher and depend upon teachers to guide me. I love literature and have a computer database background which I am putting to use in my retirement years by creating a database to help teachers reinforce the natural vocabulary acquisition that happens while reading.

I certainly agree that increasing vocabulary is only an incidental benefit of reading and that lists are not the primary way to increase vocabulary. Also, in agreement with your comments, I try to support a *broad* list of novels--whether teacher-assigned or student-selected. Over 1,000 books are already supported. But as a practical matter, knowing which books are most popular or most assigned helps me to determine how to spend limited funds and time purchasing and scanning books. Also, words chosen for emphasis and the quizzes created are much enhanced when I or a teacher improve the computer algorithm's recommendations. Accordingly, book lists also help me to decide where I should focus my editing effort.

In response to your question regarding grades/ages for which the site is intended: I started the site years ago in support of high school teachers, but have started to move it into middle school the last couple of years.

If you would be willing to help further, you might glance at the rationale for the site and offer any advice.
https://www.verbalworkout.com/support....

If you would be willing to offer advice on how I should recommend the site be used (or how to change the site), you might look at the page of suggestions at https://www.verbalworkout.com/how-to-....

If you are interested in the reason I created the site, you might like to look at https://www.verbalworkout.com/note-fr....

Thanks again for your thoughtful response to my question. I look forward to reading the Donalyn Miller books you recommended. I hope I haven't taxed your patience with such a long reply.

Jim wrote: "purchasing and scanning books"

I assume you aren't putting scans of pages up online, Jim. That would sound like breach of copyright to me.

If you're scanning covers, do you realise you can save cover images online? I save cover images to my computer and upload to my blog for all my book reviews.

On Goodreads, go to the book you want; check 'all editions' if you want a particular cover, get the book page; mouseover the cover and you'll see the opportunity to enlarge cover. Click that, then you can right-click on the larger cover to save it/download to your computer. They are a good size for websites and databases, too.

You can also save covers from Amazon. You need to get to the image of the cover without the 'read more' bit. I haven't done that for a while, but if you look at the links under the cover, I think you'll find it.

The site shows only single sentences using academic words.

Didn't know covers are available like that. Thanks for mentioning.