7th Grade Reading List: Great Books for Seventh Graders

Supplemental 7th Grade Reading

By 7th grade, your son or daughter is likely reading young adult books with more mature and complex content in addition to being exposed to a variety of other texts. At this stage, your child may also be examining themes, characters, plot and setting. The following list offers suggestions for supplemental reading that include realistic fiction, fantasy, science fiction and nonfiction.

Seventh Grade Book List

1. The Girl Who Threw Butterflies by Mick Cochrane

Eighth grader Molly recently lost her father in a car accident and her mother has become distant. Because she shared a love of baseball with her father, Molly decides to try out for the boys' baseball team. Using the knuckleball her father taught her, she earns a spot as a pitcher. As Molly proves to her skeptics and to herself that she is an asset to the team, she begins come to terms with her father's death.

2. Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies

If your child enjoyed Watership Down, he or she may enjoy this fantasy novel about Rannoch, a red deer born to fulfill a prophecy as a leader and healer. Rannoch's father is killed and his mother is kidnapped by the evil Sgorr, who eventually becomes leader of the herd. Rannoch must escape the herd in order to survive, but he knows that he must soon fulfill his destiny.

3. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Jewish teenager Anne Frank kept this diary as she and her family hid with another family in 'The Secret Annex' in Amsterdam to avoid arrest during the Nazi occupation of Holland. Anne writes of her physical and emotional changes as she also struggles with tense situations, romantic feelings, food rationing, boredom and the constant fear of being discovered. Her diary proves that hope, humor and faith can still exist amidst evil and chaos.

4. Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements

Clements has authored several books for young adult readers, including the bestselling Frindle, but your 7th grader may especially identify with the theme of invisibility in this novel. In Things Not Seen, Bobby discovers one morning that he has became invisible. His parents want to keep his condition a secret to avoid publicity, opting instead to report Bobby as a runaway. Feeling isolated, Bobby meets and befriends Alicia, a blind girl, who helps him cope with his problems.

5. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

This bestselling trilogy includes The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay and may appeal to science fiction fans. The futuristic novels are set in Panem, a nation established in the former North America. Panem was once a flourishing Capitol supported by the surrounding 13 districts, until a rebellion occurred and the 13th district was destroyed. Now, one boy and one girl from each of the remaining districts are selected by an annual lottery to fight to the death in a televised event known as the Hunger Games. The trilogy follows 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who replaces her sister in the Hunger Games, as she defies the Capitol and fights for her survival.