High Interest Book for Low Level Teen Readers

It's difficult to make it through middle school. It's even harder if the odds are stacked against you: you're a "bad" student, you cause trouble in the classroom, and you can barely read, although you've done a great job of pretending you're just not interested. You want to do well, but how would it look if you picked up an easy reader or worse, a picture book (the only type of writing you can almost comprehend)? You're embarrassed. You can't lose face in front of your friends. So you do what you always do. You pick up a novel that you would like to read, and pretend to read. You say loudly, "This book is boring." You throw the book across the room. Everyone laughs. You want to read, but how can you? The interesting books are just too hard.... As a middle school Humanities teacher in Brooklyn, New York, I've seen plenty of students in the situation described above. High-interest, low reading level books for teenagers(referred to as Hi-Lo books) are hard to come by. They're not included in the classroom libraries provided by the city, and they're hard to find in all public libraries. In fact, all of the Hi-Lo books I've come across have been written fairly recently, are not in many school libraries, and therefore are not easily accessible to students. I have spent countless hours in the Teen/Young Adult sections of book stores searching for the perfect books for low level readers in middle school. I search, I buy, I share, and, inevitably, students fight over the books because they are interesting and at their level. While their interest in reading is an amazing stride, I'd love to give those students more options when it comes to choosing their next book. By adding more of these books to the classroom library, they will be able to read and then share their opinions, interpretations, and recommendations with other students. I have found two series of books by Orca Publishing, Currents and Soundings. I've gotten a hold of some of the books and my students love them. It amazes me how much the books appeal to them, almost as if by magic. These books would be extremely beneficial to all my students, increasing interest, comprehension, and most of all, self-esteem.