Student Voices: Advice for Picking Books by Four of Kellee’s 2017-18 Middle School Students

Reading Non-Fiction Books Are Not as Horrible as You Might Think! by Lorenza M. (7th grade)

At the beginning of the year, Mrs. Moye announced that our next unit would include reading an informational non-fiction book. I was a little disappointed because in my mind non-fiction meant huge, boring books that my dad likes to read. However, I was proven wrong.

Our first task was to choose the book we wanted to read. We had countless books to pick from that covered a vast variety of topics. I’ve always been interested in medicine and the human body, so I chose The Book of Blood.

In the weeks to come, I became obsessed with my book. I learned more from reading that book than any anatomy lesson I’ve ever had in science. I also made it my life’s goal to tell all my friends and teachers the nastiest facts about blood.

Our final project for the unit, after we finished our books, was to created a presentation about the topic we learned. From watching my peers’ presentation, I learned about plenty of topics I had no knowledge about, and it was super fun sharing what I’d learned with my class.

Reading a non-fiction book taught me never to judge a book by its genre, and neither should you! The book I read for this unit was one of the best and most resourceful books I’ve ever read, and I plan to continue reading non-fiction books even if I don’t have to.

Dos and Don’ts When Picking Out a Book by Clara A. (8th grade)

DOs

• DO get out of your comfort zone!
  • Reading different genres exposes you to different situations, types of characters, and points of view. Plus, you won’t know if you like a certain genre if you have never tried it.
• DO ask someone for recommendations.
  • There are many books in the world. You won’t read them all, so ask for help. Your friends probably know great books that you’ve never heard of.
• DO read the next book of the series as soon as possible.
  • If you read the 2nd book of the series a long time after reading the 1st book, it may be very confusing if you don’t remember the 1st book.

DON’Ts

• DON’T judge a book by its cover!
  • While the saying may be cliche, it is true. Saying a book is bad because it looks bad is similar to saying a jacket does not keep you warm just because it has a bad design on the front. It just isn’t right!
• DON’T not read a book just because you don’t know the author.
  • If you don’t read Long Way Down because you don’t know Jason Reynolds, then you are missing out on a great book. And that is just one example. There are many authors you don’t know that have great books.
• DON’T judge a book by its movie.
  • There are so many great books with horrible movies (ex. City of Ember). Many directors have to change the book’s details, and this ends up making the movie worse than the book! Trust me, books are always better than the movie!

If You Liked… by Tulsi M. and Stanley T. (8th grade)

• If you like Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan, you’ll love The Young Elites by Marie Lu.
• If you like Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, you’ll love Warcross by Marie Lu.
• If you like Scythe by Neal Shusterman, you’ll love Renegades by Marissa Meyer.
• If you like Rescued by Eliot Schrefer, you’ll love Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby.
• If you like Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan, you’ll love Magnus Chase by Rick Riordan.
• If you like The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, you’ll love Dear Martin by Nic Stone.
• If you like the movie Tarzan, you’ll love Rescued by Eliot Schrefer.
• If you like the movie 9/11, you’ll love The Memory of Things by Gae Polisner.
• If you like the T.V. show Steven Universe, you’ll love Upside Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Emily Jenkins, and Lauren Myracle.
• If you like the T.V. show Star Wars: The Clone Wars, you’ll love Star Wars: Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston.

Thank you to my wonderful students, Lorenza, Clara, Tulsi, and Stanley, for sharing your advice!