August 5, 2026

The Most Popular Books In My Middle School Classroom Library This Year

Reading is a part of our daily routine in my middle school classroom. Find out my sixth graders' favorite books across genres and even graphic novels.

My classroom library is the heart of my classroom. My school doesn’t have a school library so the books in my classroom are it for my sixth grade students as far as immediately accessible books. We do independent reading daily in my classroom so I want there to be plenty of books for them to access.

Last year I started taking a closer look at the top checkouts in my classroom library through a report I exported from Booksource  (the library management system I use; it’s free!). While I always have a general sense of what is popular and what hasn’t left the shelf, I liked being able to look at the actual data to make decisions about what books to add or weed from my classroom library.

Read on for the top book checkouts by genre (plus graphic novels) from my classroom library this past school year.

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Fantasy

Like last year, all of my top checkouts came from series in the fantasy section of my classroom library, which makes sense because there are so many good series to choose from! Here's the first book in each series:
The Warriors series and Rick Riordan's books were among my most popular last year as well, and with the new book coming out this year, I wasn't surprised that Wings of Fire was popular. What was a surprise hit was the Twilight series. I had added the first book at a student request two years ago, but added the rest of the series this year when it became unexpectedly popular. 

Science Fiction

I downsized my science fiction section this year to just one shelf because it continues not to see a lot of check outs. Three books that were popular this year (and also all part of series) were:
  1. Deadlands: Hunted by Skye Melki-Wegner 
  2. Black Panther: The Young Prince by Ronald L. Smith
  3. Star Wars: Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown
Black Panther was popular last year as well. Deadlands would be a great series to recommend to students who like the Wings of Fire series as it features a ragtag group that has to learn to work together. I almost weeded out the Star Wars: Jedi Academy series, but then ended up adding to it this year since it was getting checked out.

Romance

I am continuing to build up my romance section of my classroom library as it continues to be popular with (mostly) my female students. I read a lot of romance books last summer to find more that feature middle schoolers as opposed to high schoolers. Four books that were hits this year were:
  1. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
  2. To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
  3. Sunkissed by Kacie West
  4. So, This Is Christmas by Tracy Andreen
Both of the Jenny Han series were popular last year as well. I have double copies of both series because there's so much demand for them.

Action and Adventure

This was a section of my library that wasn't as popular this year as it was in past years. I didn't have as many students who were interested in fiction sports books as I usually do. I did expand the section at the end of the year to add series like Stuart Gibbs's Spy School and James Patterson's Treasure Hunters. The three top check outs from this section were:

Dystopia

Similar to the fantasy section of my classroom library, the dystopia section has so many great series to hook students.⁠ Students’ top dystopia check outs all came from series. Here’s the first book in each:

The Hunger Games and the Legend series were both top check outs last year. And while all of the series that were popular this year have some romance in them, The Selection was a great crossover book for students who were really into romance.

Mysteries & Thrillers

This section of my classroom library is a mix of the supernatural (ghost, werewolves, etc.) and whodunnits (ranging from who stole a painting to who is the murderer). The top five check outs this year were:

  1. Girl, Stolen by April Henry
  2. The Girl I Used to Be by April Henry
  3. The Girl in the Lake by India Hill Brown
  4. One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus
  5. Darkroom by K. R. Alexander
April Henry and K. R. Alexander were both popular authors last year, and if I still had my copy of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder that would have been a frequent check out as well (it bit the dust last year).

Humor

This section of my classroom library is one of the most popular. It is one of the few sections that I allow myself to have more books that actually fit on the shelves because I know once students start checking out books, that won't be a problem. This section is mostly made up of series and students’ top humor check outs all came from series. Here’s the first book in each:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dork Diaries, and The Last Kids on Earth were all top check outs last year. I always have a few students (usually boys) who love to read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books over and over. I push them to switch it up a few times during the year, but when you know what you like, you know what you like.

Realistic Fiction

The realistic fiction section of my classroom library is one of the largest sections, and can be the hardest section for students to find a book they like in. There are so many different authors and topics that books focus on. When I'm spotlighting books from my classroom library by sharing book trailers or doing "featured author Friday" I try to choose books from this section as often as possible.
Pax, Journey Home and the TBH series were both popular last year. Pax, Journey Home is the sequel to the first whole class novel we read as a class. I ordered a second copy of it this year so more students could read it. The TBH series is written entirely in text messages, and so is This is Not A Drill, a book I spotlighted early last year and then made it rounds with students. Forged by Fire was another book I featured during the year; I used the first chapter of it in class to focus on character versus reader's perspectives. Maybe He Just Likes You was a choice during our literature circle unit,  but several students chose to read it after our ended at the recommendation of friends.

Historical Fiction 

Last year was a big year for the historical fiction section of my classroom library. This year not as much. The top three check outs were:
  1. I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 by Lauren Tarshis
  2. The Right Fight by Chris Lynch
  3. Allies by Alan Gratz
Lauren Tarshis and Alan Gratz were popular authors last year as well. The I Survived series constantly had books in students hands and I committed to reading the whole series this school year as well.

Nonfiction

The usual topics of random facts and sports were popular in the non fiction section of my library. The two titles about food were new adds last year as I am trying to build up my nonfiction offerings and the title about cars was a new add this year (that is a topic that is seriously lacking nonfiction books for middle grades). The top five checkouts this year were:

Graphic Novels

Graphic novels continue to be my most frequent checkouts in my classroom library. All genres of my classroom library are mixed within this "format" section. The most popular graphic novel series and stand alone books are below.

Series

I Survived, Dog Man and Baby-Sitters Club were all top checkouts last year as well. I had a lot of historical fiction and nonfiction readers this year, so I added to my Nathan Hale series at the end of the year. 

Stand Alones

Four Eyes and Twins were both top check outs last year as well. Realistic fiction representation was especially popular in stand alone graphic novels.


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