[LIT] 8th grade classroom library

[McGivern, Liz]

Hello everyone;

I am a long-time lurker finally getting the courage to post! :) I've enjoyed reading posts and learning from all of you; I am a former high school English teacher who started teaching 8th grade 2 years ago, and I can use all the help I can get. This is a whole different ball game, but I'm loving every minute of it.  

I am a Language Arts teacher, and one of my goals over the summer is to organize & beef up my classroom novels. I organize them into genres right now. Each genre occupies a plastic bin in the class, and the books have a dot that tells to which bin they are to be returned. As you can see, my library is a bit lopsided! 

Short Story	        3%
Adventure	        4%
Historical Fiction	6%
Sports	                8%
Mystery	         	8%
Nonfiction/autobiography13%
SciFi	           	17%
Teen Issues	        43%

Does anyone have any suggestions for authors in my "sparse" genres that would appeal to my 8th graders? Or any organizational tips for me -- should I further divide the "Teen Issues" genre? I know it's not really a genre, so it's hard for me, as a true English major, to justify it :)

Any suggestions are welcome -- I have tough skin, so fire away.

Thanks in advance to those who are more creative and more experienced than I!!

Ms. Liz McGivern
8th grade Language Arts
Hudson Memorial School