69 Fun Facts About Middle School Book

In The Giver, 12-year-old Jonas is selected to become the community's what?

Jonas is chosen as the Receiver of Memory at the Ceremony of Twelve, inheriting from the Giver every memory of the time before Sameness, including colour, snow and pain.

Who wrote The Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner?

Lois Lowry won the 1994 Newbery Medal for The Giver, her second after Number the Stars in 1990; the book became one of the most frequently challenged titles in American schools.

In Hatchet, what happens to the pilot that strands Brian Robeson in the Canadian wilderness?

The pilot has a heart attack mid-flight and dies, and Brian crash-lands the Cessna in an L-shaped lake with only his windbreaker and a hatchet.

Who gave Brian the hatchet he survives with in Hatchet?

He learns to make fire with it and eats everything from turtle eggs to the grouse he calls fool-birds.

In Holes, where is Stanley Yelnats sent to dig after being wrongly convicted of theft?

Stanley is sent to Camp Green Lake, a Texas juvenile detention camp where there has been no lake for over a hundred years; the boys dig a hole a day in the dried lakebed.

Who wrote Holes, which won both the National Book Award and the Newbery Medal?

Louis Sachar wrote Holes, which took the 1998 National Book Award and the 1999 Newbery Medal; he also wrote the Wayside School books, and Shia LaBeouf played Stanley in the 2003 film.

In Wonder, what is the name of the boy with a facial difference who starts mainstream school?

August Pullman, known as Auggie, has Treacher Collins syndrome; R.J. Palacio got the idea after her son reacted with distress to a girl with a facial difference.

In Wonder, Auggie starts fifth grade at which private school?

Auggie enters fifth grade at Beecher Prep, where the director Mr Tushman asks Jack Will, Charlotte and Julian to show him around before term starts.

In The Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson turns out to be the son of which Greek god?

Percy is claimed by Poseidon, breaking an oath the Big Three swore after World War II to father no more demigods; that is why Zeus suspects Percy of stealing his master bolt.

Percy's school friend Grover in The Lightning Thief turns out to be what kind of creature?

Grover Underwood is a satyr, half goat and half human, who guides Percy to Camp Half-Blood, where Chiron the centaur trains demigods.

In The Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers as tribute to take the place of whom?

Katniss takes the place of her sister Primrose, whose name was in the reaping only once; Katniss is 16 and Prim 12, both from coal-mining District 12.

Who is Katniss's fellow tribute from District 12, the baker's son who once gave her bread?

Peeta Mellark, the baker's son, threw Katniss burnt bread when her family was starving; their drunken mentor Haymitch is the only living District 12 victor.

In Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Greg Heffley insists his book is not a diary but a what?

Greg insists on the first page that it is a journal, not a diary; Jeff Kinney worked on the book for eight years and serialised it on Funbrain from 2004 before it was printed.

Who is Greg Heffley's loyal best friend, who later got his own spin-off series?

Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal came out in 2019.

In Bridge to Terabithia, how do Jess and Leslie get into their secret kingdom?

Jess and Leslie reach Terabithia by swinging over a creek on a rope; Katherine Paterson based the story on her son's friend Lisa Hill, who was killed by lightning in 1974.

In Number the Stars, Annemarie helps Ellen Rosen escape occupied Copenhagen to which neutral country?

The Rosens are smuggled by fishing boat to Sweden from Uncle Henrik's home in the fishing village of Gilleleje, using a fake funeral for an invented Great-aunt Birte as cover.

In The Outsiders, the greasers' rivals, the wealthy Socs, get their name from what word?

Socs is short for Socials, the rich West-side kids; S. E. Hinton wrote the book as a Tulsa teenager and used her initials so male reviewers would not dismiss it.

Who narrates The Outsiders?

Ponyboy Curtis, 14, tells the story as a school theme; his brothers Darry and Sodapop are raising him, and Francis Ford Coppola filmed the book in 1983.

In Where the Red Fern Grows, what does Billy name his two coonhounds?

Billy names them Old Dan and Little Ann after seeing the two names carved inside a heart on a tree, camping on the walk home from Tahlequah after two years of saving the $50.

Where the Red Fern Grows is set in which mountain region?

Billy Colman's story unfolds in the Ozarks of northeastern Oklahoma, where Wilson Rawls grew up; the book is autobiographical fiction drawn from his own boyhood coon hunting.

In A Wrinkle in Time, Meg and Charles Wallace travel through space and time to rescue which family member?

They tesser to Camazotz to rescue their dad, the physicist Mr Murry, who vanished while working on a secret government project; Calvin O'Keefe goes with them.

Who wrote A Wrinkle in Time?

Madeleine L'Engle wrote A Wrinkle in Time; it won the 1963 Newbery Medal and opens her Time Quintet, followed by A Wind in the Door.

In Tuck Everlasting, what has made the Tuck family immortal?

The Tucks became immortal by drinking from a spring in the wood near Treegap; ten-year-old Winnie Foster sees Jesse Tuck drink from it, and he stops her from doing the same.

Island of the Blue Dolphins is based on the true story of a woman left alone on an island for how many years?

Karana's real-life counterpart, the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island, lived alone there for 18 years, from 1835 until she was brought to Santa Barbara in 1853.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry follows the Logan family in which state in the 1930s?

The Logans farm their own 400 acres in rural Mississippi in 1933; unlike most Black families around them they own the land, and keeping it is what the story turns on.

In Maniac Magee, the orphan Jeffrey Magee is allergic to which food?

Jeffrey 'Maniac' Magee turns out to be allergic to pizza; he can also untie any knot, including Cobble's Knot, and runs everywhere he goes in the divided town of Two Mills.

In Walk Two Moons, Salamanca's grandparents drive her across the country to find whom?

Sal and her grandparents drive from Ohio to Lewiston, Idaho, to reach her mother, retelling her friend Phoebe's story on the way; the book won the 1995 Newbery Medal.

In Esperanza Rising, Esperanza's family flees Mexico for farm work in which US state?

Esperanza's family ends up in a farm-labour camp near Arvin, California, after bandits murder her father on the eve of her birthday and his stepbrother Tío Luis seizes the ranch.

In Bud, Not Buddy, orphan Bud Caldwell searches for his supposed father in which state?

Bud Caldwell travels from Flint to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1936 to find the bandleader Herman E. Calloway; the book was the first to win both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award.

In The Westing Game, sixteen strangers are invited to rent apartments in which building?

The heirs are gathered as tenants of Sunset Towers, a new lakeshore apartment block within sight of the Westing house; Samuel Westing made his fortune in paper, and his will turns them into players.

In Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal names her scruffy dog after what?

Opal names him after the Winn-Dixie supermarket where she finds him knocking over produce; her father is known as the Preacher, and the book won a 2001 Newbery Honor.

In Freak the Mighty, big, kind-hearted Max teams up with the brilliant Kevin, who has which condition?

Kevin has Morquio syndrome, a rare disorder that stops his body growing, so he rides on Max's shoulders and together they become Freak the Mighty; the 1998 film was called The Mighty.

In The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins joins Gandalf and how many dwarves on the quest to the Lonely Mountain?

Bilbo is hired as the fourteenth member because thirteen was thought unlucky.

In The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, the family drives from Flint to leave which member with his grandmother?

The Watsons drive Byron, the delinquent eldest, to Grandma Sands in Birmingham; Kenny, the middle child, narrates, and the family is there when the church is bombed.

Out of My Mind is narrated by Melody Brooks, a brilliant girl who has which condition?

Melody has cerebral palsy, cannot speak or walk, and has a photographic memory; a Medi-Talker speech device finally lets the people around her see how much is going on in her head.

In The City of Ember, Lina and Doon follow clues left by the Builders to escape a city that is where?

Ember turns out to be underground, built by the Builders to shelter people while the surface was uninhabitable; Lina and Doon find the way out by boat along a river, and the sequel is The People of Sparks.

Cornelia Funke's Inkheart was first published in which language?

Cornelia Funke is German, and Inkheart first appeared as Tintenherz in 2003; Inkspell (Tintenblut) and Inkdeath (Tintentod) followed.

Christopher Paolini began writing Eragon at what age, after finishing home school?

Paolini started Eragon at fifteen, after finishing home school; his parents self-published it and novelist Carl Hiaasen, whose stepson loved it, brought it to Knopf, which reissued it in 2003.

Eoin Colfer pitched Artemis Fowl as "Die Hard with" what?

Eoin Colfer summed up Artemis Fowl as 'Die Hard with fairies'; the 12-year-old criminal mastermind kidnaps the fairy police officer Holly Short for a ransom in gold.

In Redwall, the young hero Matthias is what kind of animal?

Matthias is a young mouse, a clumsy novice at Redwall Abbey who dreams of being like Martin the Warrior and eventually wields Martin's sword against the rat Cluny the Scourge.

Which villain pursues the Baudelaire orphans in a different disguise in every book?

Count Olaf, the Baudelaires' first guardian, chases their fortune in a new disguise each book, including Captain Sham in The Wide Window and Stephano in The Reptile Room.

Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events, is the pen name of which writer?

Daniel Handler writes as Lemony Snicket, who is also a character in the books; Handler has published adult novels under his own name, including The Basic Eight.

Tui T. Sutherland's Wings of Fire series is about which creatures?

Wings of Fire follows young dragons, the dragonets of prophecy, across the dragon kingdoms of Pyrrhia; the first book, The Dragonet Prophecy, appeared in 2012.

Raina Telgemeier's graphic novel Smile is about her own struggles with what, from sixth grade onward?

Smile recounts Raina damaging her two front teeth in a fall in sixth grade, and the years of braces, surgery and headgear that followed; Scholastic's Graphix imprint published it in 2010.

Kwame Alexander's Newbery-winning basketball novel The Crossover is written entirely in what form?

Twins Josh and Jordan Bell are the players; it won the 2015 Newbery Medal.

In Hello, Universe, four middle schoolers' stories collide when one of them becomes trapped where?

Chet drops Virgil's backpack, guinea pig and all, into a well, and Virgil gets stuck at the bottom; Kaori and Valencia search for him over a single summer day, and the book won the 2018 Newbery.

In Stargirl, Leo's family moves from Pennsylvania to which state, where he meets Stargirl?

Leo's family moved to Mica, Arizona, and he meets the ukulele-playing Stargirl Caraway at Mica Area High School; Grace VanderWaal played her in the 2020 Disney+ film.

In Flipped, Juli Baker's long protest is about saving what?

Juli sits in the branches of a sycamore tree to stop it being cut down; Bryce Loski, who has spent years avoiding her, secretly feels terrible when she is pulled out of it.

In Chasing Vermeer, Calder and Petra try to recover a stolen Vermeer painting in which city?

Calder and Petra are sixth-graders in Hyde Park, Chicago, near the University of Chicago; the stolen painting is A Lady Writing, and the thief taunts the city through newspaper adverts.

In The Mysterious Benedict Society, what is the name of Mr Benedict's villainous twin brother?

Mr Benedict's identical twin Ledroptha Curtain runs the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened on Nomansan Island; Reynie, Sticky, Kate and Constance are sent in as his students.

In Al Capone Does My Shirts, Moose Flanagan's family moves to which island for his dad's prison job?

Moose's father takes a job as a guard and electrician on Alcatraz in 1935, when Capone really was an inmate; the sequels include Al Capone Shines My Shoes.

In Cynthia Lord's Rules, Catherine writes rules to help her younger brother David, who has what?

David has autism, and Catherine's rules such as 'No toys in the fish tank' are her way of coping; she befriends Jason, who communicates with word cards at David's occupational therapy clinic.

The One and Only Ivan is narrated by a silverback gorilla who has spent 27 years living where?

It is based on the real Ivan, who lived in a mall in Washington state; the book won the 2013 Newbery Medal.

Jason Reynolds's Ghost is the first book in a series about kids who take up which sport?

Castle 'Ghost' Cranshaw joins the Defenders, an elite youth track team coached by a former Olympian known as Coach; the follow-ups Patina, Sunny and Lu each follow a teammate.

In Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson's childhood moves between Ohio, New York and which state?

Woodson was born in Columbus, Ohio, spent early years with her grandparents in Greenville, South Carolina, then moved to Brooklyn, New York; the memoir won the 2014 National Book Award.

In When You Reach Me, Miranda helps her mom prepare to appear on which real game show?

Miranda drills her mom for The $20,000 Pyramid, hosted by Dick Clark; the book is set on Manhattan's Upper West Side in 1978 and 1979 and won the 2010 Newbery Medal.

Which fairy tale does Gail Carson Levine's novel about a girl cursed to obey retell?

Ella Enchanted reworks Cinderella, complete with a stepmother, stepsisters and a prince named Char; Gail Carson Levine's book won a 1998 Newbery Honor and became a 2004 film with Anne Hathaway.

Anne Frank's diary was written while her family hid for two years in which country?

The Franks hid for two years in the Secret Annexe behind Otto Frank's office on Amsterdam's Prinsengracht, in the Netherlands; Miep Gies saved the diary and gave it to Otto, the family's only survivor.

The Warriors (Warrior Cats) series is written by a team of authors under what shared pen name?

Erin Hunter is a collective pen name; Victoria Holmes devised the concept and plotted the storylines, while Kate Cary and Cherith Baldry wrote the first arc, starting with Into the Wild in 2003.

In Ranger's Apprentice, the orphan Will is chosen to serve the King of which country?

Will becomes apprentice to the Ranger Halt in the kingdom of Araluen, serving King Duncan; John Flanagan first wrote the stories to get his son Michael reading, then expanded them into The Ruins of Gorlan (2004).

How many novels make up C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia?

C. S. Lewis wrote seven Narnia novels between 1950 and 1956; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe came first but is numbered second in editions that follow Narnia's own timeline, after The Magician's Nephew.

In Among the Hidden, why must 12-year-old Luke Garner stay out of sight?

Luke is an illegal third child in a state that limits families to two because of food shortages; he hides in the attic until he spots another hidden child, Jen, in a neighbouring house.

In The Graveyard Book, what is the name of the boy raised by the ghosts of a graveyard?

Nobody Owens, called Bod, is adopted by the ghosts Mr and Mrs Owens after the man Jack murders his family; Gaiman got the idea watching his toddler son cycle around a graveyard and modelled it on The Jungle Book.

The Graveyard Book was the first book to win both the Newbery and which British children's prize?

The Graveyard Book won the 2009 Newbery and the 2010 Carnegie Medal, the first novel to take both; it also won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and Chris Riddell's illustrations made the Kate Greenaway shortlist.

In The Phantom Tollbooth, what kind of creature rescues Milo from the Doldrums?

Tock is a watchdog with a large alarm clock built into his body; he tells Milo that only by thinking can he leave the Doldrums, where the Lethargarians spend their days killing time.

In Fish in a Tree, sixth-grader Ally Nickerson is eventually identified as having which condition?

Ally's new teacher Mr Daniels recognises her dyslexia and begins teaching her to read after school; the title comes from the saying that judging a fish by its ability to climb a tree makes it believe it is stupid.

In The War That Saved My Life, Ada and her brother Jamie are evacuated from London to which county?

Ada and Jamie end up with Susan Smith in a Kent village near the coast, under the Battle of Britain's dogfights; Ada, hidden away because of her clubfoot, secretly taught herself to walk before the September 1939 evacuation.

In Alan Gratz's Refugee, Josef Landau's family flees Nazi Germany aboard which real ship?

Josef's family sails from Hamburg in 1939 on the MS St. Louis, the liner Cuba and the United States really did turn away; the Cuban officer Josef meets turns out to be Isabel's grandfather, Lito.

In Kelly Barnhill's 2017 Newbery winner, what does the witch Xan accidentally feed a rescued baby?

Xan feeds the baby moonlight instead of her usual starlight, filling Luna with magic so dangerous that Xan locks it away inside her until she comes of age; the book won the 2017 Newbery Medal.