Grade 7

Alexander, Kwame. Booked

Twelve-year-old Nick loves soccer and hates books, but soon learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams.

Anderson, John David. Ms. Bixby’s Last Day

Ms. Bixby unexpectedly announces that she is very sick and won't be able to finish the school year, and Topher, Brand and Steve come up with a plan to tell her how much she means to them.

Applegate, Katherine. Wishtree

An old red oak tree tells how he and his crow friend, Bongo, help their human neighbors get along after a threat against an immigrant family is carved into the tree's trunk.

Bowling, Dusti. Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

New friends and a mystery help Aden, thirteen, adjust to middle school and life at a dying western theme park in a new state, where her being born armless presents many challenges.

Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. The War That Saved My Life

A young disabled girl and her brother are evacuated from London to the English countryside during World War II, where they find life to be much sweeter away from their abusive mother. Newbery Honor

Burt, Jake. Greetings From Witness Protection

Thirteen-year-old Nikki Demere is an orphan and a kleptomaniac, making her the perfect girl to portray the Trevors' daughter in witness protection.  She soon learns that the biggest threat to her new family's security comes from her own past.

Cameron, W. Bruce. Bailey’s Story: A Dog’s Purpose 

Searching for his purpose over the course of multiple canine lives, Bailey, is reborn as a golden-haired puppy after a tragic death as a stray, and shares a loving bond with young Ethan before he dies again and starts over.

Chari, Sheela. Finding Mighty

Along the train lines north of New York City, twelve-year-old neighbors, Myla and Peter, search for the link between Myla's necklace and the disappearance of Peter's brother, Randall. Thrown into a world of parkour, graffiti, and diamond-smuggling, Myla and Peter encounter a band of thugs who are after the same thing as Randall. Can Myla and Peter find Randall before it's too late, and their shared family secrets threaten to destroy them all?

Dee, Barbara. Maybe He Just Likes You

For seventh grader Mila, it starts with an unwanted hug on the school blacktop. The next day, it's another hug.  She is experiencing harassment and unwanted attention from classmates. This novel explores the subject of #MeToo in middle school.  

Draper, Sharon M. Blended

Isabella’s blended family is more divided than ever in this story about divorce and racial identity from the author of Out of My Mind.

Fitzgerald, Laura Marx. Under the Egg

Her grandfather's dying words lead thirteen-year-old, Theodora Tenpenny, to a valuable, hidden painting she fears may be stolen, but it is her search for answers in her Greenwich Village neighborhood that brings a real treasure.

Flanagan, John. Ranger’s Apprentice

When fifteen-year-old, Will, is rejected by battleschool, he becomes the reluctant apprentice to the mysterious Ranger Halt, and winds up protecting the kingdom from danger. (Series)

Gratz, Alan. Refugee

Although separated by continents and decades, Josef, a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany; Isbel, a Cuban girl trying to escape the riots and unrest plaguing her country in 1994; and Mahmoud, a Syrian boy in 2015 whose homeland is torn apart by violence and destruction, embark on harrowing journeys in search of refuge, discovering shocking connections that tie their stories together.  (One Book, One School - 2018) 

Grisham, John. Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer 

With two attorneys for parents, thirteen-year-old, Theodore Boone, knows more about the law than most lawyers do. But when a high profile murder trial comes to his small town and Theo gets pulled into it, it's up to this amateur attorney to save the day.  (Series)                                                             

Haddix, Margaret Patterson. Uprising 

In 1927, at the urging of twenty-one-year-old Harriet, Mrs. Livingston reluctantly recalls her experiences at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, including miserable working conditions that led to a strike, then the fire that took the lives of her two best friends, when Harriet, the boss's daughter, was only five years old.

Jensen, Cordelia. Every Shiny Thing

Seventh-grader Lauren begins stealing to help children who, like her brother, are on the autism spectrum, and Sierra, in foster care in Lauren's neighborhood, fears she will enable Lauren's lawbreaking. Told half in prose, half in verse.

Levy, Dana Alison. It Wasn't Me

When Theo's photography project is vandalized, the five students nearby all claim it was not them, so Theo's favorite teacher suggests they all spend vacation week together and get to the truth. 

Lockhart, E. We Were Liars

Spending the summers on her family's private island off the coast of Massachusetts with her cousins and a special boy named Gat, teenager Cadence struggles to remember what happened during her fifteenth summer.

Moore, David Barclay. The Stars Beneath Our Feet

Unable to celebrate the holidays in the wake of his older brother's death in a gang-related shooting, Lolly Rachpaul struggles to avoid being forced into a gang himself while constructing a fantastically creative LEGO city at the Harlem community center. 

Polonsky, Amy. Gracefully Grayson 

Grayson, a transgender twelve-year-old, learns to accept her true identity and share it with the world.

Reynolds, Jason. Ghost

Ghost, a naturally talented runner and troublemaker, is recruited for an elite middle school track team. He must stay on track, literally and figuratively, to reach his full potential. (Series) 

Sloan, Holly. Counting by 7’s

Twelve-year-old genius and outsider, Willow Chance, must figure out how to connect with other people and find a surrogate family for herself after her parents are killed in a car accident.

Stead, Rebecca. When You Reach Me

As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1908s television game show, “The $20,000 Pyramid,” a twelve-year-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space. Newbery Winner

Williams-Garcia, Rita. Clayton Byrd Goes Underground

Feeling most alive when he's playing the blues with his grandfather, Clayton, is devastated when his grandfather dies and his mother forbids him from playing music, losing that compels him to run away and join bluesmen on the road.

Wolk, Lauren. Beyond the Bright Sea

Set adrift on the ocean in a small skiff as a newborn, twelve-year-old, Crow, embarks on a quest to find the missing pieces of her history.