Reading Beyond Grades 6-8

For children in grades 6-8 reading at a high school grade level. Books that are challenging to read but still appropriate for advanced younger readers.

Showing 1 - 17 of 17  There are a total of 117 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "The burning bridge"
Star rating for The burning bridge
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
Will is forced to overcome his fear of Wargals, the foot soldiers of rebel warlord Morgarath, as Araluen's army prepares to battle Morgarath's forces.

2. Cress

Book cover for "Cress"
Star rating for Cress
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they're plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and prevent her army from invading Earth. Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl trapped on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company.
Book cover for "Crossed"
Star rating for Crossed
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Seventeen-year-old Cassia sacrifices everything and heads to the Outer Provinces in search of Ky, where she is confronted with shocking revelations about Society and the promise of rebellion.
Book cover for "The death cure"
Star rating for The death cure
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
As the third Trial draws to a close, Thomas and some of his cohorts manage to escape from WICKED, their memories having been restored, only to face new dangers as WICKED claims to be trying to protect the human race from the deadly FLARE virus.
Book cover for "The eye of minds"
Star rating for The eye of minds
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
"Michael is a skilled internet gamer in a world of advanced technology. When a cyber-terrorist begins to threaten players, Michael is called upon to seek him and his secrets out"--
Book cover for "The false prince"
Star rating for The false prince
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
In the country of Carthya, a devious nobleman engages four orphans in a brutal competition to be selected to impersonate the king's long-missing son in an effort to avoid a civil war.
Book cover for "The fever code"
Star rating for The fever code
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
Reveals how Thomas and WICKED built the Maze against the backdrop of an apocalyptic world.
Book cover for "The icebound land"
Star rating for The icebound land
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
Will, trust in your friends, we will not let you down. You have been kidnapped by a fearsome wolfship captain, and are trapped on a ship headed to the icebound land of Skandia. Your future looks dark, as you face a life of backbreaking slavery. But you must be strong. Remember your training, and know that your friends will do anything to rescue you, even if they have to defy the King.
Book cover for "Jackaby"
Star rating for Jackaby
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Newly arrived in 1892 New England, Abigail Rook becomes assistant to R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with the ability to see supernatural beings, and she helps him delve into a case of serial murder which, Jackaby is convinced, is due to a nonhuman creature.
Book cover for "The maze runner"
Star rating for The maze runner
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:
Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.
Book cover for "Michael Vey"
Star rating for Michael Vey
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
To stop Hatch from using the Elgen fleet to gain world power, Michael and the rest of the Electroclan must destroy the lead ship, but divisions within the Electroclan threaten the success of their operation.
Book cover for "Michael Vey"
Star rating for Michael Vey
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Michael, Taylor, Ostin, and the rest of the Electroclan head to Taiwan in search of nine-year-old child prodigy Lin Julung, or Jade Dragon, who the Elgen kidnapped for Hatch's army of electric children.

13. Reached

Book cover for "Reached"
Star rating for Reached
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Cassia has been assigned to work for the Rising from within Society, while Ky has been stationed outside its borders. But nothing is as predicted, and all too soon the veil lifts and things shift once again. Will Cassia be able to reconcile the difficulties of challenging a life too confining and a love she cannot live without?
Book cover for "The Rithmatist"
Star rating for The Rithmatist
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
As Wild Chalklings threaten the American Isles and Rithmatists are humanity's only defense, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice. More than anything, Joel wants to be a Rithmatist. Chosen by the Master in a mysterious inception ceremony, Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as Chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity's only defense against the Wild...
Book cover for "Ruin and rising"
Star rating for Ruin and rising
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
"The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne. Alina forges new alliances as she and Mal search for Morozova's last amplifier. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that alters her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields"--
Book cover for "The ruins of Gorlan"
Star rating for The ruins of Gorlan
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
When fifteen-year-old Will is rejected by battleschool, he becomes the reluctant apprentice to the mysterious Ranger Halt, and winds up protecting the kingdom from danger.

17. Winter

Book cover for "Winter"
Star rating for Winter
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
Cinder and her allies are joined in the plot to overthrow Queen Levana by the queen's stepdaughter, Winter, who has long been defying her evil stepmother's wishes by harboring feelings for her personal guard whom she is forbidden from marrying.