Ironically I was just reading with my 3 yo his older brother's Magic Tree House Research Guides and thinking that these would be great to use in the classroom for either history or science lessons. Topics can be introduced through the novel or through the Research Guide. I know for a fact that middle school students love to read them as I can't keep them on the shelf in my reading class and I am working with the reluctant readers.
You can find information on the Research Guides here as well links to the books and extension activities.
Wow, I just wrote an article and put up a blog post on science literature. Great timing! The science department at my school put together this list. Keep in mind that it's designed for high school students. I'm sure you can pull a couple of the titles off for MS though. Here's the link to my post.
I'm working with preservice middle grades teachers and one book I shared with them that would probably be perfect for life science is Phineas Gage: A Gruesome But True Story About Brain Science by John Fleischman. There's also Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature by Brande.
I would be interested in what you end up using in your class and how well the books work with your students.