Book Themes Relating to Social Interactions

Book Recommendations by Theme are listed here in order to help teachers, book club organizers, and other readers find books organized around a common principle, or big idea. Please see the Main Page List of Themes for more categories, as well as Book Lists by Topic

Taking Action to Help Others

Anger is a Gift
Ban This Book
Bernice Buttman, Model Citizen
Chasing Secrets
Code Name Verity
Dog Whisperer: Rescue
Elijah of Buxton
Front Desk
Full Cicada Moon
Incommunicado
In the Shadow of the Sun
Minnie McClary Speaks Her Mind

Ninth Ward
Number the Stars
The One and Only Ivan
Outrun the Moon
Salt to the Sea   
The Summer I Saved the World in 65 Days
Threads
Underground Abductor
The War That Saved My Life
Wishtree
The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Community Relationships

Amina's Voice
Anger is a Gift
Bernice Buttman, Model Citizen
Dead End in Norvelt
A Diamond in the Desert
A Drop of Hope
Everything on a Waffle
Front Desk
Goldfish Boy
Hope Was Here
Incommunicado
Listen, Slowly
Maniac Magee

On the Wings of Heroes
One Crazy Summer
The Paper Cowboy
Paperboy
Rachel Spinelli Punched Me in the Face
Short
A Snicker of Magic
This Side of Home
Wishtree
Woof

Teamwork, Friendship

Anne of Avonlea
Awkward
The Chronicles of Prydain
Charlotte's Web
Chasing Vermeer
Code Name Verity
Crenshaw
Flygirl
Focused 
Hero
Heroes of Olympus
The Homework Strike
I Am Number Four
I Have a Bad Feeling About This
In the Shadow of the Sun
The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Neptune Project
NERDS
The Next Great Paulie Fink    
No Summit Out of Sight
The One and Only Ivan
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
The Secret School
Shakespeare's Secret
Soar
Spin the Golden Light Bulb
The Trials of Apollo
Ultra
Ungifted
The View from Saturday

The Power of Love

See also Topics - Animals

Charlotte's Web
The Fault in Our Stars
Good Dog
Love That Dog
Maybe a Fox

Orbiting Jupiter
The Tale of Despereaux
The Underneath
When You Trap a Tiger
Where the Red Fern Grows

Being a Good Friend

Amina's Voice
Courage for Beginners
Finding Perfect
Forget Me Not
Frankie Sparks, Third Grade Inventor
A Good Kind of Trouble     
A Handful of Stars
Holes
The Hundred Dresses
I Heart Band
If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period
If I Were You
It's Raining Cupcakes
The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl

The One and Only Ivan
Posted
The Pros of Cons
Real Friends
The Red Thread Sisters
Roller Girl
Smile
Stargazing    

Fitting In vs. Standing Out

All's Faire in Middle School
Catherine, Called Birdy
Does My Head Look Big in This?
Eleanor and Park
Ever After High
Extras
Feathers
The First Rule of Punk
The Girl Who Could Fly
The Giver
Ida B
Karma Khullar's Mustache
Losers Take All

Nerd Camp
Outrun the Moon
Posted
Rules
Save Me a Seat
Schooled
A Season of Daring Greatly     
Stargazing    
Stargirl
Uglies
The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B
Upside Down Magic
Warp Speed (Rancho Rosetta series)
We Are Party People
When You Trap a Tiger
The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Isolation vs. Connection

Click
Colin Fischer
Come November
Counting By 7s
Enola Holmes
Family Game Night and Other Catastrophes
Finding Perfect
Fish in a Tree
Goldfish Boy
Hatchet
The Lost Girl
The Magician's Elephant
Maybe a Fox
The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl

OCDaniel
The One and Only Ivan
Out of My Mind
Out of the Dust
Paperboy
Planet Earth is Blue
The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen
Rules
Song for a Whale  
That Thing About Bollywood
The Underneath
We Are Okay
The World Ends in April

Changing Perspectives, Being Open-Minded

All the Broken Pieces
Athlete vs. Mathlete
Awkward
Bamboo People
Because of Mr. Terupt
Blue Jasmine
The Cardturner
Colin Fischer
The Courage Test
A Crooked Kind of Perfect
Drive Me Crazy
Fish in a Tree
Free Thaddeus
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Gracefully Grayson
The Great Wall of Lucy Wu
The Handbook for Dragon Slayers
The Homework Machine
How to Ditch Your Fairy
Ida B
If I Were You
The Last Shot
The Lemonade War
Listen, Slowly
The Magician's Elephant
Minnie McClary Speaks Her Mind

No Talking
One Crazy Summer
One Half from the East
One of Us is Lying
One True Way
Out of My Mind
Outrun the Moon
Piecing Me Together
The Porcupine of Truth
The Red Thread Sisters
Sarah, Plain and Tall
Same Sun Here
Save Me a Seat
Short
The Sign of the Beaver
Sliding Into Home
The Summer I Saved the World in 65 Days
The Swap
Ungifted
We Are All Made of Molecules
Wedgie and Gizmo
Wonder
A Year in the Life of a Total and Complete Genius

Social Mobility, Change of Fortune

Breaking Stalin's Nose
Esperanza Rising
The False Prince
The Goose Girl
How to Steal a Dog
A Little Princess

NERDS
Outrun the Moon
The Player King
Restart
Revolution is Not a Dinner Party
Six Impossible Things
Supergifted (Ungifted, #2)
The War That Saved My Life
The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Selfishness vs. Selflessness, Thinking of Others

Caterpillar Summer    
Chasing Secrets
Chu Ju's House
Falling Over Sideways
It's Raining Cupcakes (series)
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Notes from an Accidental Band Geek
The Paper Cowboy
Peak
The School for Good and Evil
Small Steps
The Trials of Apollo

Popularity, Celebrity, Public Perception

Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood
Amazing Grace
Anger is a Gift
Extras
Grandmaster
Harry Potter
The Hunger Games
If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period
Losers Take All
Maniac Magee

The President's Daughter
Small Steps
Space Case
Supergifted (Ungifted, #2)
The Swap
Tumbling
The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy