Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Books I'd Recommend to a Middle Schooler

I had heard about Top Ten Tuesdays ages ago when I'd first started following some book blogs. I'm so excited to bring it here to Paper Worlds. Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that has different preset lists and is hosted at Broke and Bookish. This week's theme was Top Ten Books I'd Recommend to (insert a category of person here) and I picked a middle school reader.



Let's just jump right in with books that I would recommend to a middle schooler or middle grade reader, although I would happily reread any of these! They are in no particular order.

no. 10 - The Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene
Quintessential mystery solving books. I love these and I think that if you're a mystery fan you should definitely try this series out!

no. 9 - The Beacon Street Girls series by Annie Bryant
I loved these because they have a really diverse close knit group of friends that each have qualities anyone can relate to. Plus, the stories are cute and quick reads. 

no. 8 - The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Hmm...how does one describe Harry Potter? There's magic and there's mystery there's Hogwarts and there's Gryffindors and Slytherins and Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs and...tell you what, let's go with I highly, highly recommend this series as one of my all time favorites.

no. 7 - The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Speaking of favorite series, let's talk about another favorite of mine. The wonderful Chronicles of Narnia are a story of a land you'll never forget and are so rich and beautifully written. I think this is a great series.

no. 6 - The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
These were some of my childhood favorites. I loved reading the adventures and seeing all these woodland creatures of magic. A really fun series to read.

no. 5 - Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
This story was sweet and endearing, with real heart and a great story. I love Shannon Hale's writing and I would recommend her Books of Bayern series as well (I know Sunny is rereading Goose Girl right now) and I just loved this book- I heard a sequel is going to be released too!

no. 4 - The Far Flung Adventures by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
This series is very near and dear to my heart. It's fantastical, it's quirky, and each story has this really cute, eclectic world it takes place in. They aren't very well known books but I remember loving Fergus Crane so much, and Corby Flood and Hugo Pepper were really good as well.

no. 3 - The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards

This is such a wonderful book. It's fantastic and marvelous and takes place in this adorable and magical world that I am so happy Julie Andrews made. She did a fabulous job writing it, and I remember this being my favorite book for quite awhile.
no. 2 - Various Star Wars series by Jude Watson
Yes, I was a Star Wars fan. Yes, I still am. Jude Watson has written quite a few Star Wars novels, and several are directed for a younger audience. The Star Wars Jedi Quest series takes place between Episode I and Episode II and follows Anakin's training; there's another series based on a character from Jedi Quest that follows his life post Episode III, and then one of my favorite Star Wars Jude Watson books was her Episode I Queen Amidala journal. Queen Amidala was my favorite character for the prequels, and I really enjoyed reading her perspective.

no. 1 - The School Story by Andrew Clements

This is one of my favorite picks for this Top Ten list. I really loved this book- I loved how it was about publishing a book, how determined the characters were, and how much fun it was to read. I think this is a marvelous book and would definitely recommend it.

So there are some recommendations! I'm not sure why I picked middle school readers, but it just struck me that I had some good suggestions, and even if you are beyond middle school age, if any of these books interest you check them out on Goodreads!

From a paper world,

V