Books In the Middle Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Goodbye, Rebel Blue   By Shelley Coriell It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary - since Rebel got detention ALL THE TIME. However, to see Kennedy there, now that was a shock. Kennedy, the perfect high school girl, who everyone loved. So when their assignment is to come up with a bucket list of all the things they want to do before they die, Rebel thinks it is a silly, dumb require...

Send us Fan Mail Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem     By Rosalyn Schanzer So what really happened in Salem, MA during the witch trials in 1692? Were there just tons of witches running around Salem and they were all found out? Did any innocent people get falsely accused? How were they found guilty? Get the answers to these questions and more in this book. Recommended for grade...

Send us Fan Mail Lincoln’s Grave Robbers      by Steve Sheinkin Who would have thought counterfeiters would want Lincoln’s body? His dead body that is. What would they stand to gain by robbing Lincoln’s tomb in Springfield, IL in 1876? Turns out, a lot. A lot of money, real and fake. Did you know that during the Civil War, half of all money in circulation was fake? Some people were really good at...

Send us Fan Mail Revenge of the Whale By Nathaniel Philbrick         Amazing true story of a whaling ship that was attacked in 1820 by a whale after the sailors killed some other whales. The crew of 21 men went into three smaller boats and were adrift for over three months. 8 sailors survived the ordeal, when they were found off the coast of South America. Recommended for grades 7 and up.  Support...

Send us Fan Mail How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous By Georgia Bragg         So, seriously, you read this book and you’ll never wish to go back in time again. Or at least go back into a time where there were no antibiotics, or how about just plain doctors who washed their hands! This book looks at nineteen deaths of famous folks and really more gory details about their ends tha...

Send us Fan Mail Within Reach By Mark Pfetzer         So at what age would you climb Mt. Everest? How about fifteen years old? This is exactly what Mark Pfetzer did. He attempted to climb Everest during one of the deadliest seasons to date on the giant mountain. Learn how he struggled to stay alive at the top of the world. Recommended for grades 7 and up.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail The Fairy Ring or Elsie and Frances Fool the World    By Mary Losure It was just to stop their parents from teasing them, really. Frances who was 9 and Elsie, who was 15 were cousins, living in the same house while Frances’ father was off fighting in World War I. Frances saw fairies and little men out behind the cottage, and Elsie said she saw them too. And so one day, Elsie asked...

Send us Fan Mail Wild Boy      By Mary Losure What would it be like to be completely by yourself. Surviving by your wits alone, in the cold, rain, snow, heat? No one to talk to, no one to help you? For one boy in the late 1700s, this was his reality. In a small village in France, in 1798, a boy was captured, a wild boy. He appeared to be around the age of 9 or 10, and he seemed totally wild. This...

Send us Fan Mail Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L.Hunley    By Sally M. Walker         Did you know that there were submarines used in the Civil War? In 1864 the Hunley was the first submarine to ever sink an enemy ship. However, it also didn’t return to port after this feat. The fate of the Hunley was a mystery until 1995. This is the incredible story of that sub...

Send us Fan Mail Cruel BeautyBy Rosamund Hodge She was raised to be the hope for her kingdom and the revenge of her mother. All that was required would be her death. Nyx has known since she was nine her life was not her own. Her kingdom of Arcadia has been cursed for over nine hundred years and it is up to her to be the one to break that curse. To do so, she only has to marry a monster and then fi...

Send us Fan Mail Tillie Pierce: Teen Eyewitness to the Battle of Gettysburg    By Tanya Anderson Tillie Pierce was a teen when the Battle of Gettysburg began to erupt in her small town. Tillie’s family thought she would be safer outside of town, at the farm of a neighbor’s parents, away from where they thought the fighting would happen. Instead, Tillie and the neighbor’s family found their farm in...

Send us Fan Mail A Soldier’s Heart    By Gary Paulsen         Charley Goddard was in the First Minnesota Volunteers in 1861. War sounded like a good thing to him, after all, everyone was joining up, so why not. He joins, even though his is too young and goes on to fight in major battles during the Civil War. Recommended for 6th grade and up.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Riot    By Walter Dean Myers When the street erupt in violence targeting the rich as well as blacks, Claire, a biracial girl living in New York with her parents, suddenly finds her world turned upside down. After all, what do you do when people who were your friend one day, turn on you the next, simply because of the color of your skin. Set against the turbulent times of the Civil...

Send us Fan Mail The Horrors of Andersonville: Life and Death Inside a Civil War Prison    By Catherine Gourley         With the Confederacy barely able to feed their own soldiers, it was little wonder the captured Union soldiers didn’t fare well. Thousands of soldiers starved to death or died of disease in the miserable conditions that were the large Confederate prison Andersonville. Support the...

Send us Fan Mail Chasing Lincoln’s Killer    By James Swanson  What made John Wilkes Booth want to kill President Abraham Lincoln? Was he acting alone, or did he have accomplices? Follow this incredible true account of the hunt for Lincoln’s killer as well as finding out more about the larger plot to disrupt the entire government in this fascinating, page turning book. Recommended for grades 7 and...

Send us Fan Mail Bonechiller By Graham McNamee         Danny thinks that he and his father will never stop running, running from the memories of his dead mother. Both of them miss her horribly, and Danny’s dad has taken them far away into the frozen land of Canada, almost to the end of the wilderness. Just as Danny is beginning to feel he has a place in this land of misfits, something begins to st...

Send us Fan Mail Very Bad Things     By Susan McBride  Things were certainly looking up for Katie her senior year at the private boarding school, Whitney. Her boyfriend is gorgeous, sweet and a star hockey player for the school. She has a wonderful best friend, Tessa, and other than the creepy nightmares that started a few months ago, things are coming up roses! At least until her boyfriend looks...

Send us Fan Mail Blood Wounds     By Susan Beth Pfeffer  Willa knows she should feel lucky. She has a mother and step-father who love her – two step-sisters who she gets along with, and well, a pretty normal life. Except that her step-sisters’ mother has a ton of money and her daughters get the benefit of that, while Willa doesn’t seem to see any of it. Still, things are good right? One afternoon...

Send us Fan Mail Revolver     By Marcus Sedgwick         Alone with his dead father’s body, Sig is struggling to comprehend how his life has suddenly changed and what it can mean. He isn’t expecting the bear of a man who appears at his cabin door demanding information from him regarding gold that he says is owed to him from 10 years before. In the frozen wilderness, Sig must make decisions that wi...

Send us Fan Mail No Such Person    By Caroline B. Cooney Miranda both loves and admires her older sister, Lander. However, they have never been close. Miranda is 7 years younger than Lander, and Lander seems to operate in her own little world. However, one day at their summer cottage, both girls witness something. Miranda thinks she has witnessed an attempted murder, whereas Lander tells her to st...

Send us Fan Mail 23 Minutes     By Vivian Vande Velde It all started because she wanted to get out of the rain. Who could have predicted that the bank she ducked into would be the scene of a robbery and that the only person in it that was nice to her would be shot and killed in front of her eyes. Just bad luck right? But she might be the only person in the world who can change the past, or at leas...

Send us Fan Mail My Life Before Me    By Norah McClintock All she had to go on was a newspaper clipping of a photograph taken over fifteen years before. Katie is an orphan and the only thing that she has in her life that might lead her to a good story, is this one old clipping. What she doesn’t realize is that she might be stirring up more than a good story. She might be uncovering a long ago murd...

Send us Fan Mail The Special Ones    By E.M. Bailey It is almost time for another renewal, and Esther is apprehensive. She knows that Harry will do a good job, but it can be so stressful when a new “special one” comes to the farm. If only she could help Harry, with well, anything! But she can’t. As Esther, she isn’t even allowed to leave the farm house. She must pretend that everything is fine. Be...

Send us Fan Mail House Arrest    By K. A. Holt He was only trying to help his brother. But it all went wrong, really fast. Timothy’s younger brother Levi was born with a bad trachea. As a result, he needs a LOT of medical help. In an attempt to make things better, Timothy steals a wallet and uses one of the credit cards to purchase medical supplies for his brother. He is caught. His sentence is to...

Send us Fan Mail The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe by Ally Condie Poe has vengeance in her heart and at times it seems her very blood. The person she loved most in the world was killed, murdered, by the raiders. Ever since that moment two years ago, Poe has worked hard to make it impossible for the raiders to ever board another Outpost dredge. She has designed armor for the outside of the last dredge...