But physical perfection comes at a mind-numbing cost. The setting: an alternate world where everyone grows up looking average until they get mandatory life-changing cosmetic surgery when they reach age 16. This has been made into a hit movie and is the first of a trilogy, so there’s plenty of reading available. When they don’t progress fast enough, the stakes get higher. They have to survive within a courtyard surrounded by a maze with walls 50 feet high and dodge the monsters that lurk in it. Teen Thomas wakes in a service elevator being lifted into a harsh world populated only by other boys his age.

It’s the first in a three-book series that Disney purchased for future film production. This sends her on a journey to question the choices made for them and how little control they have over their futures. Cassia is matched with her best friend, Xander, but sees that an outcast named Ky was a discarded possibility. In a world rigidly controlled by the “Society,” young people at age 17 are matched (by the powers that be) to their life partner. Here are a few in this category to consider if your tween likes games and TV shows that are a little darker. Post-apocalyptic novels are set in a period after a world-changing cataclysm. You just might find a title that will entice your middle school child to start turning pages (whether paper or electronic) immediately! Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic Books for Middle Schoolersĭystopian literature is a popular Young Adult genre that is typified by a society unlike our own with unsettling or unpleasant living conditions that must be overcome. Here’s an intriguing roundup of everything from end-of-the-world tales to mysteries to nonfiction. Shop for kids’ camps, classes & workshops > Consider trying out lit in many forms - graphic novels, Kindle books and good old fashioned paperbacks. Not only does this ensure my tween has compelling (and appropriate) reading material, but it also gives us plenty of things to talk about around the dinner table. My personal strategy is to pre-read books with my son’s taste in mind, then put only the best books in front of him. Getting your child to read can be a matter of simply putting engaging material in front of them. From fantasy to nonfiction to movie stories and more … If your middle schooler hasn’t fallen in love with reading, take a look at this list of books.

Visions by Lauren Klever