Books In the Middle Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Throat    By R.A. Nelson         A curse, that is what is was…her epilepsy. Emma is tormented by the fact she can’t do things others can do, like drive a car, because she has epilepsy. What she doesn’t realize though, is that there are creatures out in the world who prey on unsuspecting people. And Emma is about to become one of those people. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail 24 Hours in Nowhere by Dusti Bowling Gus is about to get a mouthful of cholla, a horrible spiny cactus that will hook into you and you need pliers to pull it out! Yeah, because of Bo, the resident bully and his lackeys. Gus’ face is getting closer and closer to the nasty stuff when Rossi comes to Gus’ rescue – sort of. Bo is mad because Rossi, a girl, beat him AGAIN in the motor c...

Send us Fan Mail Guest by Mary Downing Hahn      Growing up in Mirkwood with the perfect babby brother can be a pain. At least that is what Mollie thinks. Yeah, he never cries, and he’s sweet and cute as a button, but sometimes a girl just gets tired of all the attention given to the little one. One day when she is out weeding the garden, watching her little brother Thomas, she just wishes that he...

Send us Fan Mail Z for ZachariahBy Robert O’Brien               After a year she had given up hope; hope of ever seeing another person again. Till the day she noticed smoke far out on the dead plain and watched it get closer and closer. At first it seemed wonderful, but then again, maybe she was just too anxious to know she wasn’t the only person left alive on earth.  Recommended for 7th grade and...

Send us Fan Mail This Side of Home by Renee Watson Maya and Nicki are named after two of their mother's favorite poets. And their father is a community activist, always helping somewhere and someone, many of them Maya and Nicki's friends. Maya has always loved her neighborhood, but over the last four or so years, there have been changes. Many that Nicki seems to embrace, but ones that ha...

Send us Fan Mail The Dogs     By Allan Stratton A new house, a new town, a new school. Cameron has done it all before, multiple times. In fact, he’s getting so tired of the same old story, that he’s beginning to question whether his mom is making things up. Maybe his dad wasn’t quite as bad as she remembers. Maybe if Cameron did contact him, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. After all, he hasn’...

Send us Fan Mail Bruiser     By Neal Shusterman         What if you didn't have to feel pain, any pain? No physical, no emotional pain, ever. The only problem is that you don't just get rid of it; you transfer it to another person. Would you still do it, or would you own your pain? Brewster, or Bruiser as most of his classmates know him, has tried to remain aloof from everyone except his...

Send us Fan Mail Among the Hidden By Margaret Peterson Haddix For years, Luke always thought that when he got a little bit older, he would be able to do everything that his older brothers could. But then the day arrives when Luke is six, and he thinks old enough to go to school. After all that is when his brothers’ went. Only he learns that he is special, so special that he can never be seen outsi...

Send us Fan Mail Dear Martin by Nic Stone Have you ever heard of the expression, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished? Well, Justyce is thinking something along those lines while he sits on the ground in handcuffs after trying to prevent his ex- girlfriend from driving home drunk. Even when parents get involved, the police STILL don't want to let him go. Finally, one of his friend's mom's w...

Send us Fan Mail The Running Dream    By Wendelin Van Draanen         Jessica runs. That is who she is, how she thinks, what she does. On her way back from setting a league record for the 400-meter dash the team’s school bus gets into a crash. Jessica loses part of her right leg. Now Jessica has to decide if she will ever have her dream of running again.  Recommended for 7th grade and up.  Support...

Send us Fan Mail Shark Girl     By Kelly Bingham         When Jane goes to the beach with her brother and mother one day before the new school year begins, she never in her wildest imagination thought she’d be losing her right arm to a shark. However, now faced with the painful realization of all she dreamed disappearing, Jane must decide how she wants to go on. Recommended for grades 7 and up.  S...

Send us Fan Mail Kissing Doorknobs     By Terry Spencer Hesser At first it just seemed like she worried a lot. Really a lot. But then she hears that old saying “step on a crack, and break your mother’s back.” And her life changes. She can’t step on a crack, because what if her mother died because of it? And other things happen. She can’t stop praying for people who swear, and needs to count cracks...

Send us Fan Mail Waiting to Forget    B y Sheila Kelly Welch  Waiting can be the hardest part, especially if you are waiting to find out if your younger sister will come out of her coma. T.J. can’t believe that his life has brought him to just such a place, after all the times he and Angela survived living with their mother, and all her crazy boyfriends. To have Angela struggling to survive becaus...

Send us Fan Mail Struck     By Deb Loughead Claire has a lot to think about. She wants one of the lead roles in the play at school, she wants her mom and dad to officially call it quits, and she would love to finally understand Math! Plus, there is this guy at school, Eric, who she thinks is pretty awesome...if only he'd stop looking at Lucy, another girl at school, long enough to see her! On...

Send us Fan Mail The Blood Guard  by Carter Roy How would you react to finding out your mom is part of a secret ancient sword wielding society called the Blood Guard sworn to protect a group of “pure” souls around the world, and she conveniently tells you this while you are running for your lives. Recommended for grades 7 and up.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Ella Enchanted    By Gail Carson Levine What happens when a gift becomes a curse? That is the life Ella leads after a fairy gives her the “gift” of obedience. The only problem is, this means Ella must obey a direct command. And if anyone finds out about this, they can make her life miserable...and they do. Recommended for grades 6 and up.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Forgive My Fins    By Tera Lynn Childs        Since deciding to live on land, Lily has been obsessed with Brody, a fantastic swimmer at her high school. Lily is a mermaid, so her obsession with someone who can swim well is understandable. Not only is Lily a mermaid, she is a princess and knows her time is limited before she must go back to the sea. Her plan to win Brody over keeps...

Send us Fan Mail The Dark Side of Nowhere    By Neal Shusterman      Boring....borriiinnnngggg. That is the only way Jason can describe his hometown of Billington. Borning.  Nothing ever happened. Then one of his close friends’ diess of a burst appendix, and the school janitor hands him a very cool glove that shoots BBs. And well, aliens are planning on invading earth. Recommended for grades 6 and...

Send us Fan Mail The Size of the Truth by Andrew Smith When Sam Abernathy was four years old, James Jenkins threw a ball up in the air so high that everyone playing the neighborhood game of SPUD ran really far – so far that Sam took that one extra step before the ball was caught…and fell down a well. A well that put his little Texas town on the map, and led to T-shirts being sold that all said “Pr...

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Send us Fan Mail Jungle of Bones   By Ben Mikaelsen After his father died two years ago covering the conflict in Darfur as a photojournalist, Dylan can’t seem to connect with anyone or anything. He is hostile, angry, and just plain unpleasant to be around. One night he lands in jail after joyriding through a field in a stolen car. Enter his dad’s brother, Uncle Todd. Uncle Todd has some crazy idea...

Send us Fan Mail Three Days     By Donna Jo Napoli  Jackie loves going on trips with her father around the world on business. When she goes with him on a trip to Italy her fun trip turns into a nightmare when her father dies and Jackie is abducted by people she thought were going to help her. Recommended for grades 6 and up.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Knucklehead    By Jon Scieszka (Nonfiction Memoir)         Growing up one of 6 boys was plenty of fun for Jon. But he didn’t realize all those years ago what those fun days would mean when he was older. For example, lots of ideas for stories for children. This book is laugh out loud fun! Recommended for 6th grade and up.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Nazi Hunters    By Neal Bascomb After World War II and the Nuremberg Trials, not ALL the major Nazis were captured and tried. Some escaped justice for a time and some for all time. One major person of interest was Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi official who was in charge of removing Jews from Germany and ultimately, all of German occupied Europe. This meant he was the one responsible fo...

Send us Fan Mail Left for Dead   by Pete Nelson         One night watching the movie Jaws, Hunter asked his dad about the shark attacks mentioned on the men of the Indianapolis and finds out it did happen. Hunter begins researching what happened the night so many men went into the water and why so few came out alive. Recommended for grades 8 and up.  Support the show