middle school aged, fictional read (around 2012-2014 for me), was a summer required read for school, maybe considered a coming-of-age tale of the main character who is working in some sort of cave mining and the struggles they face.

[Katie S.]

Some extras: I recall the book taking place during the winter and there were descriptions of snow. Another book that I recall that I was required to read were The Giver.

[Rouan]

I wonder if it could be Winter of Fire by Sherryl Jordan

Winter of Fire

[Katie S.]

I want to say that the main character was male, Winter of Fire doesn’t seem to ring a bell.

[Chloe]

I can't remember if there was snow in it, but I know Holes by Louis Sachar was a sort of digging-for-treasure coming-of-age that was popular to be assigned in schools.
Idk, maybe reach out to your old school if they know what books they assigned to those grades at the time. Or see if you can get back in touch with your old teachers (they'd probably love that you're still thinking of that book).

[Rainbowheart]

Holes is definitely the sort of book that would be required reading, although I'm not sure there's any snow.

Do you remember what type of mine? Coal mine, gold mine, etc?

[Katie S.]

Rainbowheart wrote: "Holes is definitely the sort of book that would be required reading, although I'm not sure there's any snow.

Do you remember what type of mine? Coal mine, gold mine, etc?"

I believe it was a coal mine! It's not Holes as much as I wish it was since I can just not think of the book I'm referring to.

[Katie S.]

Chloe wrote: "I can't remember if there was snow in it, but I know Holes by Louis Sachar was a sort of digging-for-treasure coming-of-age that was popular to be assigned in schools.
Idk, maybe reach out to your ..."

It's most definitely not Holes but I can see how my description made it seem like. I think it was a coal mine. I'm thinking some kind of tragedy happened in the coal mine but still appropriate for a middle grade read.

[Rainbowheart]

Kit's Wilderness?

[Charlotte]

Not sure of the book, but Goodreads has a list of children’s books about mining, so maybe that would help?

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

[Kris]

Here's the Google Books preview of Kit's Wilderness by David Almond - Rainbowheart's suggestion:

https://books.google.com/books?id=MR9... There are different cover images.

[julia]

Coal Camp Girl?

[Rainbowheart]

The Traitor?

[Amber (Daisymau)]

I read a book with this plot. I just have to see if I can find the title. I seem to remember it takes place in a coal mine. I think the boy was 10-14.

[Kris]

Katie, are you still looking for this book - or did you find it?