I am asked often for books that engage even the most reluctant readers. With the caveat that there is no one magic bullet, no one book that will motivate ALL readers, I offer the following titles. I include many of these in booktalks with kids. They seem to appeal to a wide range of readers and are available in paperback editions. Many of them would make good choices for Literature Circles as well as for independent reading.
Among the Hidden
Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging
Birthday Room
Boys Lie by
Bud not Buddy
Car
Choosing Up Sides
Cirque du Freak
Cure
Dealing with Dragons
Doing Time: Notes from the Undergrad
Drive By
Driver’s Ed
Drowned
Duplicate
Eat Your Words
Extreme Elvin
Father Water, Mother Woods
Flash Fire
Freedom’s Children
Green Thumb
Harris and Me
Hatchet
Holes
If You Come Softly
In the
In the Middle of the Night
Ironman
Killer’s Cousin
Killing Mr. Griffin
Kissing Doorknobs
Making Up Megaboy
Misfits
Monster
Nose Pickers from Outer Space
Nothing but the Truth
Others See Us
Raptor
Rats
Romiette and Julio
Schernoff Discoveries
Shakespeare Stealer
SOR Losers
Speak
Squashed
Tales from the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird
Terrorist
Time Capsule
Watsons Go to
Way Things Never Were
We All Fall Down
Whispers from the Dead
Wolfrider
Wrestling with Honor