Heart of a Champion

Just for Educators

Recommended Literature List

Middle School/Junior High Level

Books that Reinforce Good Character: (F) denotes fiction; NF (non-fiction)

A Caldecott Celebration, by Leonard S. Marcus, Walker (F)
A Day No Pigs Would Die, Robert Newton Peck (F)
A Lovely Tomorrow, Mabel Esther Allan (F)
A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park, Clarion (F)
A Sound of Chariots, Mollie Hunter (F)
Across The Wide And Lonesome Prairie, by Kristiana Gregory, Scholastic
After the Dancing Days, Margaret Rostkowski (F)
All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriot (F)
Angel on the Square, by Gloria Whelan, Harper Collins (F)
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank (NF)
Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery (F)
At The Sign Of The Star, by Katherine Sturtevant, FSG (F)
Awaken the Olympian Within, by John Naber (NF)
Baseball in April, Gary Soto (F)
Black Whiteness, by Robert Burleigh, Atheneum (F)
Bloomability, by Sharon Creech, Harper Collins (F)
Born Free, Joy Adamson (NF)
Bright Freedom's Song, by Gloria Houston, Harcourt (F)
Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis (F)
Catherine, Called Birdie, Karen Cushman (F)
Cezanne Pinto, Mary Stolz (F)
Chinese Cinderella, by Adeline Yen Mah, Delacorte (F)
Chip Hilton Sports Series, by Clair Bee (24 titles) (F)
Destination: Jupiter, by Seymour Simon, Morrow (F)
Devil's Den, by Susan Pfeffer, Walker (F)
Eye Of The Storm, by Stephen Kramer, Putnam (F)
Foster’s War, by Carolyn Reeder, Scholastic (F)
Frightful's Mountain, by Jean George, Dutton (F)
Gentle Annie, Mary Francis Shura (F)
Get Along Little Doggies: The Chisholm Trail Diary of Hallie Lou Wells, by Lisa Waller (F) Rogers, Texas Tech University Press
Hang Tough, Paul Mather, Alfred Slote (F)
Heart of a Champion: Profiles in Character, by Steve Riach, with John Humphrey (NF)
I Can’t Believe I Have To Do This, by Jan Alford, Putnam (F)
I’m Not Who You Think I Am, by Peg Kehret, Dutton (F)
If You Love Me, Patricia St. John (F)
In The Forest With The Elephants, by R. Smith & M. Schmidt, Gulliver Green (F)
Jason’s Gold, Will Hobbs (F)
Jericho, Janet Hickman (F)
Johnny Tremain, Esther Forbes (F)
Lass, by Roland Gebauer, Tommy Nelson (F)
Leon’s Story, Leon Walter Tillage (F)
Let the Balloon Go, Ivan Southall (F)
Light a Single Candle, Beverly Butler (F)
Lily’s Crossing, Patricia Reilly Giff (F)
Littlejim’s Dreams, by Gloria Houston, Harcourt Brace (F)
Lucy’s Wish, by Joan L. Nixon, Delacorte (F)
M.C. Higgins, the Great, Virginia Hamilton (F)5.10

Mama’s Bank Account, Kathryn Forbes (F)
Mary On Horseback, by Rosemary Wells, Dial (F)
Meet the Austins, Madeleine L’Engle (F)
Mei Fuh, by Edith Schaeffer, Houghton (F)
Miranda’s Last Stand, Gloria Whelan (F)
Missing From Haymarket Square, by Harriette Gillem Robinet, Atheneum (F)
Moon Over Tennessee, by Craig Crist-Evans, Houghton (F)
Moon: the Diary of Maria Rosalia DeMilagros, by Sherry Garland, Scholastic (F)
Moonshiner’s Gold, by John Erickson, Viking (F)
My Louisiana Sky, by Kimberly Holt, Henry Holt (F)
Never to Forget, Milton Meltzer (NF)
Number the Stars, Yearling (F)
One-Eyed Cat, Paula Fox (F)
Our Only May Amelia, Jennifer Holm (F)
Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse (F)
Paperboy, by Isabelle Holland, Holiday House (F)
Park’s Quest, Katherine Paterson (F)
Passage To Freedom, by Ken Mochizuki, Lee & Low (F)
Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan (F)
Playing Beatie Row, Ruth Park (F)
Profiles in Character, by Rolfe Carawan (NF)
Purple Mountain Majesties, by Barbara Younger, Dutton (F)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor (F)
Ruthie’s Gift, by Kimberly Bradley, Delacorte (F)
Sacajawea, by Joseph Bruchac, Harcourt (F)
Saving Shiloh, by Phyllis Naylor, Atheneum (F)
Shadow-Catcher, by Betty Levin, Greenwillow (F)
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World, Jennifer Armstrong (F)
Slave Dancer, Paula Fox (F)
Standing in the Light, by Mary Osborne, Scholastic (F)
Stealing Home, by Sharon Robinson (NF)
Takeoffs and Landings, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Simon & Schuster (F)
Tales From Shakespeare, Charles and Mary Lamb (F)
The Adventures Of Midnight Son, by Denise Patrick, Henry Holt (F)
The Arrow Over The Door, by Joseph Bruchac, Dial (F)
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, Karen Cushman (F)
The Barn Burner, by Patricia Willis, Clarion (F)
Friends And Enemies, by Louann Gaeddert, Atheneum (F)
The Color of My Words, Lynn Joseph (F)
The Eagle of the Ninth, Rosemary Sutcliff (F)
The Eagle’s Shadow, by Nora Martin, Scholastic (F)
The Giver, Lois Lowry (F)
The Great Gilley Hopkins, Katherine Paterson (F)
The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom, Bantam (NF)
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien (F)
The Journal Of Wong Ming-Chung, by Laurence Yep, Scholastic (F)
Miles' Song, by Alice McGill, Houghton (F)
The Journey Of English, by Donna Brook, Clarion (F)
The Light in the Forest, Conrad Richter (F)
The Longest Ride, by Denise Patrick, Holt (F)
The Lost Prince, Frances Hodgson Burnett (F)
The Magic Bicycle, John Bibee (F)
The Middle Passage, Tom Feelings (F)
The Music of Dolphins, Karen Hesse (F)
The Night Journey, Kathryn Lasky (F)
The Panama Canal, by Elizabeth Mann, Mikaya (F)
The Rescue, Milton Meltzer (NF)
The Robe, Lloyd C. Douglas (F)
The Secret Road, by Robert Nordan, Holiday House (F)
The Snow Goose, Paul Gallico (F)
The Song of the Molimo, by Jane Cutler, FSG
The Star Fisher, Laurence Yep (F)
The Stone Book, Alan Garner (F)
The Storyteller’s Beads, by Jane Kurtz, Harcourt (F)
The Summer of Swans, Betsy Byars (F)
The Thirteen Clocks, James Thurber (F)
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi (F)
The Turnabout Shop, by Colby Rodowsky, Farrar (F)
The Wanderer, Sharon Creech (F)
The War Within: A Novel of the Civil War, by Carol Matas, Simon & Schuster (F)
The White Mountains, John Christopher (F)
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken (F)
The Yearling, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (F)
They Call Me Coach, by John Wooden (NF)
Three Against The Tide, by D. Ann Love, Holiday House (F)
To Be a Slave, Julius Lester (NF)
Tracker, Gary Paulsen (F)
True Champions, by Mike Towle (NF)
True North: A Novel of the Underground Railroad, Kathryn Lasky (F)
Tuck Everlasting, Scholastic (F)
Turn Of The Century, by Ellen Jackson, Charlesbridge (F)
Twenty and Ten, Puffin (F)
Vienna Prelude, Bodie Thoene (F)
Waiting for Odysseus, Clemence McLaren (F)
Walk Across the Sea, by Susan Fletcher, Atheneum (F)
Walker’s Crossing, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (F)
We Were There, Too: Young People in U.S. History, Phillip M. Hoose (F)
Whalesong Trilogy, Robert Siegel (F)
White Lilacs, Carolyn Meyer (F)
Winning, by C. S. Adler, Houghton (F)
Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Spear (F)
Wolf Shadows, by Mary Casanova, Hyperion (F)
Wrango, by Brian Burks, Harcourt (F)