Expanding the school reading list.

We're fortunate that E's middle school experience has thus far been a rewarding one, but an area where we perceive a weakness is the reading list. So these are the first two books we're adding for the 2009 reading log:

White Sands, Red Menace by Ellen Klages - A sequel to The Green Glass Sea. It is 1946, and Dewey Kerrigan is now living near the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico with the Gordon family. Dewey and her "sister" Suze, share secrets, art, and science as they adjust to high school in an isolated desert town. Then, Dewey's long-lost mother, Rita Gallucci, reappears in their lives.

and

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt - A teenage boy's mishaps and adventures over the course of the 1967-68 school year. Holling Hood is a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher. Holling finds Motivation in the most unexpected places and musters up the courage to embrace his destiny in spite of himself. Here is a helpful bookdweeb post.

Also, if you're seeking books for a middle school age kid whether home schooled or not, this list of eighth grade novels is exceptional.