🪣 Welcome to the Bucket List, where learners discover the top 100 middle-grade books of all time. These books have captured readers' hearts for generations. It's a chance for middle school students to discover classic novels filled with unique worlds, unforgettable characters, and timeless adventures. As their parents and grandparents were before them, middle school learners will be delighted by the top 100 novels on our bucket list! 

🧠 To put this list together, we scoured multiple "best of" lists from organizations, magazines, newspapers, Good Reads, Amazon, homeschool bloggers, colleges, private schools, Lemons-Aid teachers, and our own parents' and learners' requests. We worked to curate a mix of classics, historical fiction, modern favorites, poetry, and even a couple of cookbooks! From Shakespeare and Homer to Rick Riordan and Suzanne Collins, the list of books is eclectic. The idea is for students to explore multiple genres, topics, themes, characters, places, and cultures so that they grow in knowledge. 



CLASS EXPERIENCE: 
Students will learn reading strategies, how to analyze who they are as readers, and how to communicate about literature and life! They will begin to develop their criteria for evaluating the books they read, and they will begin to understand the type of readers they are. To do this, each student takes a turn in talking about the book, and the teacher will probe a bit to get each learner to do deeper thinking. Because it's a discussion class, we encourage students to leave their cameras on, to use the chatbox to expand the discussion and to think about what they want to say before class begins. Learners receive a bookmark and we use this to teach and discuss literary elements such as plot, theme, how authors develop characters, develop a pace, and craft a story. This class support learning used in all middle and high school English classes as students learn to read deeply and discuss analytically. 
 
Feel free to join us for all the books or just the ones you want. Pop in and out of the class as you wish, or transfer to different sections if your schedule changes. Sometimes students don't quite finish the book, but they are still welcome to attend--they can tell their teacher they would like to pass on the discussion and just want to listen; however, we also ask questions that apply to reading in general, and these topics can be discussed whether they read the book or not. 

🎥TEACHER BIOS & INTRO VIDEOS: 
To see teacher introduction videos, go to the Lemons-Aid profile page where you can view the video and also read bios. 
https://outschool.com/teachers/Karen-Lemons?usid=0BAnv5zn&signup=true&authTrigger=follow_teacher&follow=true&utm_campaign=share_leader_link

**Students in Asian time zones** Your Sunday morning classes are U.S. Saturday evening classes.

📆 𝘽𝙊𝙊𝙆 𝙎𝘾𝙃𝙀𝘿𝙐𝙇𝙀: We discuss the book on the date listed, so students should finish the book before class. 

Aug 25-31: Anne of Green Gables by L.H. Montgomery
Sep 1-7:  NO CLASS
Sep 8-14: Around the World In Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Sep 15-21:  NO CLASS
Sep 22-28: Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney
Sep 29-Oct 5:  NO CLASS
Oct 6-12: The Contender by Robert Lipsyte
Oct 13-19:  NO CLASS
Oct 20-26: Gregor the Overlander: Underland Chronicles book 1 by Suzanne Collins
Oct 27-Nov 2:  NO CLASS
Nov 3-9: Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
Nov 10-16:  NO CLASS
Nov 17-23: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Nov 24-30:  NO CLASS
Dec 1-7: NO CLASS
Dec 8-14: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Dec 15-21: NO CLASS
Dec 22-28: NO CLASS
Dec 29-Jan 4: NO CLASS
Jan 5-11: NO CLASS
Jan 12-18: Dragon's Gate by Laurence Yep
Jan 19-25: NO CLASS
Jan 26-Feb 1:  Emma by Jane Austen
Feb 2-8: NO CLASS
Feb 9-15:  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 

**Dates coming soon
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
NO CLASS
The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs by America's Test Kitchen Kids
NO CLASS
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
NO CLASS
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
NO CLASS
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
NO CLASS
War of the Worlds by Jules Verne
NO CLASS
41--The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
        NO CLASS
42--Lord of the Flies by William Golding
        NO CLASS
43--Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif
        NO CLASS
44--Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
        NO CLASS
45--My Antonia by Willa Cather
        NO CLASS
46--My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier
        NO CLASS
47--Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
        NO CLASS
48--Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
        NO CLASS
49--Night by Elie Wiesel
        NO CLASS
50--Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
        NO CLASS
51--Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
        NO CLASS
52--Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
        NO CLASS
53--Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
        NO CLASS
54--Poems by George Herbert
        NO CLASS
55--Pride and Prejudice by  Jane Austen
        NO CLASS
56--Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
        NO CLASS
57--Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
        NO CLASS
58--Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
        NO CLASS
59--Sonnets by William Shakespeare
        NO CLASS
60--Spencer's Mountain by Earl Hammer
        NO CLASS
61--Stalin: Russia's Man of Steel by Albert Marrin
        NO CLASS
62--Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
        NO CLASS
63--The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
        NO CLASS
64--The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
        NO CLASS
65--The Complete Baking Book for Young Chefs by America's Test Kitchen Kids
        NO CLASS
66--White Fang by Jack London
        NO CLASS
67--The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
        NO CLASS
68--Moby Dick by Herman Melville
        NO CLASS
69--The Giver by Lois Lowry
        NO CLASS
70--The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
        NO CLASS
71--The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
        NO CLASS
72--The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
        NO CLASS
73--The Iliad by Homer
        NO CLASS
74--The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
        NO CLASS
75--Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk
        NO CLASS
76--The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
        NO CLASS
77--The Light in the Forest by Condrad Richter
        NO CLASS
78--The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
        NO CLASS
79--The Odyssey by Homer
        NO CLASS
80--The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
        NO CLASS
81--The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
        NO CLASS
82--To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
        NO CLASS
83--The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
        NO CLASS
84--The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria A Trapp
        NO CLASS
85--The Sun and the Star by Rick Riordan
        NO CLASS
86--The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
        NO CLASS
87--The Tempest by Shakespeare
        NO CLASS
88--The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
        NO CLASS
89--The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
        NO CLASS
90--Heidi by Johanna Spyri
        NO CLASS
91--The Wise Woman and Other Stories by George MacDonald
        NO CLASS
92--The Yanks are Coming by Albert Marrin
        NO CLASS
93--This Dreamer by Sara Watterson
        NO CLASS
94--
        NO CLASS
95--
        NO CLASS
96--
        NO CLASS
97--
        NO CLASS
98--
        NO CLASS
99--
        NO CLASS
100--