HIT: MIDDLE: top 5-10 book selection topics

[Meg Schimmels <MSchimmels@USD259.NET>]

Several people asked me to post a HIT on this topic. Thank you to all who
responded to the original request.

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I would suggest self-help books, like the ones from Rosen Publishing (Coping
With Series).  My students love to read about people with problems, not
necessarily their own.  They'll read books about diseases, the human body,
sexuality, substance abuse, crime and notorious criminals, music and
musicians, celebrities, sports and sports figures, magic tricks, knights,
movies.  And there are always a few who love to read about animals and pets.

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My Middle Schoolers love:

Reptiles - especially frogs, poisonous snakes

Mammals - wild cats

Race Car Driving and drivers

Ghosts!

The Holocaust: Anne Frank, Tell Them We Remember...Hiroshima no pika

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I can tell you what is big in non-fiction in my library.  They may not be
very informational but they are popular especially with reluctant,
non-readers.

Chicken Soup-type books
military (especially with weapons)
drawing books
sports, sports, sports, sports
joke books
poetry
They like the David Macauley books (diagrams of stuff broken down)
books on animals and pets (especially pets)
The girls get on foreign language kicks on occasion including sign
Language

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I can't keep the Origami books on my shelves.

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I would suggest some sports biographies from Chelsea House pub. The
boys really like the basketball and football stars. Rosen Press has a nice
series on skateboarding, bicycle stunt riding, and other recreational
activities. I don't have the catalog at home, but I think it's the Extreme
Sports series. Drawing books are also popular with some of our students. I
recently purchased the DK Ultimate X-Men book and it hasn't been on the
shelf for more than a day!  Hope this is helpful.

*****

sports
getting along with others
sports
problems
sports
civil war
sports
cars
sports
hunting and fishing
sports
animals
sports

*****

1. Chicken Soup books
2. Cars, Racing, etc.
3. Sports, sports, sports
4. Poetry
5. Eyewitness books---all of them!

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My kids are really interested in supernatural books.  Gary Blackwood is a
favorite author.

They also like sports, animals, biographies of current famous people, and
anything to do with WWII.

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All of the Nature's Children books! :->

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A child called "it" by Pelzer, autobiographical, about his abused childhood,
is very popular.

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The Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul books are a hot item here. My students
also really like poetry books. The Shel Silverstein books and Maya Angelou
are very popular. Animals, especially dangerous ones, like sharks, snakes,
big cats, etc. are also popular items.

Guinness Book of World Records (and other such amazing true stories)
Novels that are written in poetry or prose form
Biographies of celebrities/sports heroes, etc.
Harry Potter and Harry Potter"ish" books

*****
Dogs, natural disasters, horses cars, trucks, ATV's, drawing animals,
especially snakes, fishing, hunting.

*****
Cars, wrestling, beauty/cosmetics, comics, joke books, sports,
entertainers/athletes bios, mysteries, animals (esp. dogs), Chicken
Soup-style books, how-to-draw


Meg Schimmels
Library Support Media Specialist
Library Media Services
Wichita (KS) Public Schools
(316) 973-2073
mschimmels@usd259.net

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