Listed below you will find suggested reading materials for students and their parents:

1)“Not Much, Just Chillin’ : The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers” By: Linda Perlstein        
-In this groundbreaking study, Perlstein chronicles the frightening and fascinating lives of the kids, teachers, and parents she grew to know intimately during a year in Columbia, MD.

2)“The Roller Coaster Years : Raising Your Child Through the Maddening Yet Magical Middle School Years”
By: Chalene C. Giannetti & Margaret Sagarese
- A comprehensive guide for parents of 10-15 year olds.

3)“Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls”
By: Rachel Simmons
- Odd Girl Out begins with the premise that girls are socialized to be sweet with a double bind: they must value friendships; but they must not express the anger that might destroy them. Lacking cultural permission to acknowledge conflict, girls develop what Simmons calls "a hidden culture of silent and indirect aggression."

4)“Queen Bees and Wannabes” By: Rosalind Wiseman
- Wiseman has spent more than a decade listening to thousands of girls talk about the powerful role cliques play in shaping what they wear and say, how they respond to boys, and how they feel about themselves. In this candid, insightful book, she dissects each role in the clique: Queen Bees, Wannabes, Messengers, Bankers, Targets, Torn Bystanders, and more.
    
5)“Real Boys: Rescuing our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood” By: Mary Pipher & William Pollack
- In a lucidly written primer for parents, Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor Pollack dismantles what he terms "the Boy Code", society's image of boys as tough, cool, rambunctious and obsessed with sports, cars and sex. These stereotypes, he argues, thwart creativity and originality in boys. Linking clinical insights to practical suggestions, Pollack advises caregivers how to help boys repair their fragile self-esteem, develop empathy and explore their sensitive sides.

6)“The Middle School Survival Guide: How to Survive from the Day Elementary School Ends until the Second High School Begins” By: Arlene Erlbach
-Grade 6-8-This book offers advice in dealing with changes in the school routine, teachers, families, social lives, sex (a section that is fairly explicit), and issues such as drugs, sexual harassment, and school violence. Pen-and-ink cartoons feature preteens and sometimes parents in a variety of situations. A highlight of the book is the advice given by actual middle-school students.

7) “Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys”
By: Dan Kindlon & Michael Thompson
- Boys suffer from a too-narrow definition of masculinity, the authors assert as they expose and discuss the relationship between vulnerability and developing sexuality, the "culture of cruelty" boys live in, the "tyranny of toughness," the disadvantages of being a boy in elementary school, how boys' emotional lives are squelched, and what we, as a society, can do about all this without turning "boys into girls." "Our premise is that boys will be better off if boys are better understood--and if they are encouraged to become more emotionally literate," the authors assert. As a tool for change, Kindlon and Thompson present the well-developed "What Boys Need," seven points that reach far beyond the ordinary psychobabble checklist and slogan list.