Discover new ways to integrate inquiry learning, exciting contemporary literature, and teaching for social responsibility across the curriculum. The authors take us step-by-step through the process of designing an inquiry-based literature unit and then provides 5 full units used in real middle-grade classrooms. Featuring a remarkable range of recommended resources and hundreds of novels from across the literary genres, Caring Hearts & Critical Minds gives teachers a blueprint for creating dynamic units with rigorous lessons about topic kids care about.