BESTbooks
Welcome to Amy’s Bookshelf! Here, teachers will find carefully curated book lists for each grade level from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Moving forward, new lists filled with book recommendations will be published weekly. Sometimes, these lists will be organized around a specific theme, like a holiday or seasonal event. Other times, they will feature rockstar books – books practically guaranteed to get your students reading.
Before jumping into reading recommendations, a few words about how books are selected.
First, it is so important that teachers prioritize reading interest over reading level. Students will often choose to read well above or below their reading level if they are particularly interested in a book or topic. Teachers only hurt students by limiting them to a specific selection of titles grouped according to an arbitrary number or level. Think of the books on these lists as starting places for you and your students, but if a student wants to read up (or down), that is a-ok.
Also, please note that these lists lean heavily toward modern selections as opposed to the classics many teachers are familiar with. A true renaissance is happening in children’s literature today, and the books coming out are truly exciting. One of the factors that makes this such an exciting time for kid lit is how diverse the selections are in terms of genre, characters and subject matter. These lists will feature fiction and nonfiction selection as well as graphic novels, novels written in verse, and more.
Any book list or classroom library worth its salt includes books featuring LGBTQIA+ characters, racially diverse characters, characters with disabilities, characters in the foster care system, characters from a wide variety of socioeconomic and religious backgrounds, and so on. Importantly, the diversity of the characters doesn’t always need to be the focus of the literature – in other words, a book featuring a black character or gay character doesn’t need to be about those individuals exploring their blackness or their gayness; those characters can have kid problems that apply to all children regardless of their race or sexual orientation. Similarly, students should be encouraged to read stories featuring people of diversity all year long – not just during a month set aside to celebrate a specific heritage.
One final note: today’s children’s literature does not shy away from frank discussions of gender, race, sex, sexuality, abuse, mental illness, and more – nor should it. I will not censor books from these lists based on these controversial areas. What books you recommend will depend on the specific district you work in and your clientele. I encourage you and your students to read widely without fear.
Seventh Grade
Seventh grade is a time of growing pains for many students, a time of growing up and sometimes growing apart from friends. It’s a time of forging one’s own path and finding your own way in the world. Middle grade fiction, especially novels, tends to reflect this transition time in children’s lives.
1. Sisters
by Raina Telgemeier
Get it HERE.
In this graphic novel sequel to Smile, Raina can’t wait to be a big sister, until her little sister is actually born and she realizes that babies aren’t a lot of fun. Over the years, they learn to stick together and stand up for each other.
2. I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark
by Debbie Levy and illustrated by Elizabeth Baddeley
Get it HERE.
Another picture book biography, this time about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This particular biography tells Gindburg’s story through her many famous dissents.
3. The Giver by Lois Lowry
Get it HERE.
On the day Life Assignments are given out, 12-year-old Jonas is selected as his community’s next Receiver of Memory in this famous dystopian story. This is a must read. Author Lois Lowry has written three companion novels to The Giver.
4. The Fourteenth Goldfish
by Jennifer L. Holm
Get it HERE.
Ellie likes her life and hates change. One day, a new kid shows up in school, and he reminds Ellie an awful lot of her grandfather…her grandfather who has always been obsessed with immortality.
5. A Snicker of Magic
by Natalie Lloyd
Get it HERE.
Felicity and her family move to the town of Midnight Gulch for her mother’s new job, but Felicity doesn’t trust that it will last long. Her mother is cursed with a wandering heart, after all. But Felicity soon learns that Midnight Gulch was once a magical place until a curse drove away all the magic. She starts to think that, if she can get the magic to return, maybe her mother will finally settle down, too.
6. The Invention of Hugo Cabret
by Brian Selznick
Get it HERE.
Don’t let students be intimidated by the 500+ pages in this book, Hugo Cabret is a wonder. It’s
7. A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
Get it HERE.
The Sudanese water crisis is told through two perspectives – that of Nya, a Sudanese girl in 2008 who walks two hours to retrieve water, and Salva, in 1985, who becomes one of the lost boys of Sudan. This is based on a true story and is extremely powerful.
8. Inside Out and Back Again
by Thanhha Lai
Get it HERE.
Hà loves her home in Vietnam, but when the Vietnam War reaches Saigon, her family boards a ship headed for the United States. Hà tells her story in verse, and it is based on the author’s childhood.
9. The Girl Who Drank the Moon
by Kelly Barnhill
Get it HERE.
The witch in the forest, Xan, is kind, but the people of the Protectorate don’t know this. They leave her an offering each year – an offering of a child. Xan takes the children and places them with adoptive families in a neighboring town. One year, Xan decides to keep a child and raise her as her own. This child is Luna, and as Luna turns 13, her magic starts to unfold while a man from the Protectorate is on a mission to kill the witch and free his people.
10. Echo
by Pam Munoz Ryan
Get it HERE.
Echo is very impressive middle grade magical realism. This is the story of three children who are connected by a magic harmonica in the World War II era. It’s hard to put down.
11. Amal Unbound
by Aisha Saeed
Get it HERE.
A young Pakastani girl, Amal, is forced into indentured servitude by her village’s corrupt landlord. Amal is determined to make sure her dreams aren’t dashed in the process.
12. Playing Atari With Saddam Hussein by Jennifer Roy with Ali Fadhil
Get it HERE.
Ali Fadhil is 11 years old in 1991 when Saddam Hussein goes to war with the United States. Ali’s father is a medic and is sent to war. The family spends the duration of the war trying to survive.
13. 14 Hollow Road
by Jenn Bishop
Get it HERE.
Maddie’s sixth grade dance is abruptly ended when a tornado races through her town, destroying her family’s home and the home of her crush, Avery. A neighbor opens their home to both Maddie and Avery’s families, and suddenly, Maddie is spending the summer living with the boy she likes.
14. All’s Faire in Middle School
by Victoria Jamieson
Get it HERE.
Imogene, or Impy, has been homeschooled by her two parents who work at a renaissance fair. She is convinced she has what it takes to be brave like a knight, and her noble quest is enrolling in public school, just in time to try to survive middle school.
15. Death on the River of Doubt: Teddy Roosevelt’s Amazon Adventure by Samantha Seiple
Get it HERE.
Theodore Roosevelt and his two sons were given the opportunity to map an uncharted river in the Amazon jungle in 1913. They faced many dangers, and this is a really engaging account of that journey.
16. A Dog in the Cave: The Wolves Who Made Us Human by Kay Frydenborg
Get it HERE.
This is a really unique nonfiction book for the middle school set. Most middle grade nonfiction is encyclopedic in nature, whereas this is a novel-length science text telling the story of man’s domestication of wolves, and the ways that those early canines influenced our evolution, too.
17. American Pharoah: Triple Crown Champion by Shelley Fraser Mickle
Get it HERE.
This is the life story of American Pharoah, the horse that won the Triple Crown in 2015. The story goes into great detail about the horse himself as well as the trainers, breeders, and jockey who were a part of his team.
18. Well, That Was Awkward by Rachel Vail
Get it HERE.
Gracie likes A.J., but A.J. likes her best friend Sienna. So Gracie plays Horatio for Sienna, writing texts to A.J. for her, all the while assuring herself that she’s just fine with the arrangement.
19. Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life
by Wendy Mass
Get it HERE.
Right before Jeremy’s thirteenth birthday, a mysterious box arrives in the mail. A letter proclaims that this box holds the meaning of life for Jeremy but the key is missing. Jeremy sets off with his best friend to find the key and open the box.
20. Hello Universe
by Erin Entrada Kelly
Get it HERE.
Chet Bullins pulls a prank gone wrong and shy Virgil Salinas ends up at the bottom of a well with his pet guinea pig. When three other kids, Valencia, Gen, and Kaori, realize Virgil is missing, they set out to find him.
21. Dead End in Norvelt
by Jack Gantos
Get it HERE.
Jack Gantos is grounded for life. His mom assigns him to a local neighbor to help type obituaries for the iconic people in his town. A mystery begins to unfold as Jack notices some unusual details in the obituaries that start painting a bigger picture of intrigue.
22. The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle
by Janet Fox
Get it HERE.
Kat and her brother are sent to a Scottish moor to escape the bombing of London. They wind up at Rookskill Castle and are quite convinced the castle is haunted – or worse.
23. Under the Mesquite
by Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Get it HERE.
Lupita’s Mami is diagnosed with cancer, and Lupita abandons her adolescent worries to do everything she can to save Mami’s life. This includes babysitting her seven younger siblings. This is a gorgeous coming-of-age story written in verse.
24. All the Broken Pieces
by Ann E. Burg
Get it HERE.
Matt Pin was airlifted from his war-torn home in Vietnam and adopted by a family in the United States. This novel in verse is a story of healing as Matt faces fears, uncertainty, and prejudice in his new home.
25. Inkheart
by Cornelia Funke
Get it HERE.
Meggie’s father reads her a bedtime story and accidentally releases a villian into the real world. Meggie must stop him. This is the first in a trilogy.
26. Trudy’s Big Swim: How Gertrude Ederle Swam the English Channel and Took the World
by Storm written by Sue Macy and illustrated by Matt Collins
Get it HERE.
Yet another incredible picture book biography, this one about Gertrude Ederle who became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Really excellent back matter gives more biographical information than the story itself.
27. Wolf Hollow
by Lauren Wolk
Get it HERE.
Annabelle recognizes a bully as soon as Betty Glengarry moves to town. Betty’s bullying soon makes reclusive neighbor Toby, a friend of Annabelle’s, a target. She determines she will put a stop to Betty.
28. The Golden Compass
by Philip Pullman
Get it HERE.
Orphan Lyra Belacqua lives a happy life among the scholars of Jordan College until one day her uncle, Lord Asriel visits the college along with Mrs. Coulter. Both adults seem to hold the key to the epidemic of children who have been disappearing lately. This is the first in a bestselling trilogy that warns about the corrupting power of religion (and is thus controversial and often challenged).
29. Among the Hidden
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Get it HERE.
This dystopian novel imagines a world where parents are only allowed two children. Luke is a third, a shadow child, and he lives his life in hiding. This is the first book in the Shadow Children series.
30. She Loves You: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah by Ann Hood
Get it HERE.
Trudy Mixer is 12 years old and life is pretty rough. Her beloved Beatles fan club is down to three of the least popular kids in the school. Trudy sets out to see The Beatles when they come to Boston, quite the feat for a middle schooler living in Rhode Island.
31. The Length of a String
by Elissa Brent Weissman
Get it HERE.
Imani, who is adopted, decides she is finally ready to find her birth parents. Her search turns inward when her great-grandmother passes away and Imani finds her diary, which details her fleeing from the Nazi regime.
32. Marabel and the Book of Fate
by Tracy Barrett
Get it HERE.
Princess Marabel has lived in the shadow of her twin brother, Marco, her whole life. But on their thirteenth birthday, Marco is kidnapped and Marabel has a chance to save the day.
33. Squirrel Power: Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 1
by North Henderson
Get it HERE.
Doreen Green is a friend of Tony Stark, and like most of Stark’s friends, she has a superhero alter ego as Squirrel Girl. She is a college student by day and crime-fighting superhero at night. This is the first of five volumes.
34. The Inventors at No. 8 by A.M. Morgen
Get it HERE.
George is an orphan, and when he finds out that his family heirloom, a map to the Star of Victory, has been stolen, it’s the last straw. He sets out, along with Ada Lovelace, to get the map back.
35. Rising Above: Inspiring Women in Sports
by Gregory Zuckerman with Gabriel and Elijah Zuckerman
Get it HERE.
The women profiled in this nonfiction book are household names – Simone Biles, Venus and Serena Williams, and so many more. This is a collection of biographies of women athletes who overcame tremendous obstacles to rise to the top in their sports.
36. The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden
Get it HERE.
This book tackles difficult issues like the gun debate and domestic violence through the eyes of Zoey. Zoey, her siblings, and her mom live with Lenny in the most comfortable home they’ve ever known. When Zoey is asked to join the debate team, she starts noticing things through different eyes and finds a voice to speak up.
37. Wish
by Barbara O’Connor
Get it HERE.
Charlie does not know what it means to have a “put together” family. She is sent to live in the Blue Ridge Mountains with her aunt and uncle. Here, she meets a stray dog christened Wishbone and meets Howard, who becomes her close friend. This book deals heavily with the theme of abandoned children, making it a read that is at time difficult.
38. Posted
by John David Anderson
Get it HERE.
Cell phones are banned from Branton Middle School, so the kids must resort to leaving old-fashioned notes for each other in the form of sticky notes left around the school. This book looks at the power of words to hurt and to heal.
39. One Shadow on the Wall
by Leah Henderson
Get it HERE.
Mor made a promise to his father on his father’s death bed – to keep his sisters safe and keep the family together. Yet, try as he might, the pressures of these promises seem to great for an 11 year old. This novel’s back drop is modern-day Senegal.
40. Amina’s Voice
by Hena Kahn
Get it HERE.
Amina, a Pakistani-American girl, faces all the usual pressures of middle school. Her best friend starts talking about changing her name to something more American and Amina starts grappling with her identity. Meanwhile, a neighborhood mosque is vandalized in a hate crime.
41. Wild Bird
by Wendelin Van Draanen
Get it HERE.
Wren is enrolled in a survivalist wilderness therapy class after her parents don’t know how to handle her anymore. She arrives at camp bitter and angry, but during her eight-week stay in the wild, she finds redemption.
42. The Cat Ate My Gymsuit
by Paula Danziger
Get it HERE.
Marcy finds her life pretty boring. School is stupid. Her dad verbally abuses her and her mother. But when Ms. Finney becomes Marcy’s English teacher and actually treats her like a person, Marcy checks back into life.
43. Ninth Ward
by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Get it HERE.
Ninth Ward is about a 12-yera-old girl who lives through Hurricane Katrina with her family and friends in New Orleans. It does a nice job contextualizing and explaining the natural disaster to children.
44. See You in the Cosmos
by Jack Cheng
Get it HERE.
Alex’s hero is astronomer Carl Sagan. Sagan launched his Golden Record into space and Alex dreams of doing the same with an iPod containing his podcast.
45. The Friendship Experiment
by Erin Teagan
Get it HERE.
Madeline Little wants to be a scientist, and she doesn’t have time for the fun and games of other kids her age. She doesn’t want to start middle school, she just wants to run experiments in her father’s lab.
46. Front Desk
by Kelly Yang
Get it HERE.
Mia’s family lives in a motel. Her parents, immigrants themselves, secretly hide away other immigrants in empty motel rooms, putting the whole family at risk. On top of that, Mia dreams of being a writer, though her first language isn’t English and her mother suggests she sticks to math. She’s in for a tough year!
47. Forever or a Long, Long Time
by Caela Carter
Get it HERE.
Siblings Flora and Julian don’t trust the foster care system that has shuttled them from home to home, and they certainly don’t trust their adoptive parents. With the help of their new mom, the two siblings research their past so they can learn to trust again.
48. Navigating Early
by Clare Vanderpool
Get it HERE.
Jack and Early are friends at a boys’ boarding school in Maine. During a school break, they set out to hike the Appalachian Trail searching for a black bear. This story is their odyssey, as they meet new friends (and enemies) and learn about themselves in the process.
49. York by Laura Ruby
Get it HERE.
In this alternate history, the Morningstar Twins helped build New York City into the city it is today. The twins disappeared, leaving the Old York Cipher behind them, a puzzle constructed by the architects that no one has been able to solve – until, that is, three modern-day kids band together to see if they can crack the code.
50. Denis Ever After
by Tony Abbott
Get it HERE.
Denis died seven years ago and has been stuck in limbo ever since, because his twin brother Matt cannot let him go. Denis goes back to help Matt uncover the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death so that he and his family can be at peace.
Other book lists from Amy’s bookshelf you’ll love:
- 50 Must-Read Books for Kindergarteners
- 50 Must-Read Books For First Graders
- 50 Must-Read Books for Second Graders
- 50 Must-Read Books For Third Graders
- 50 Must-Read Books for Fourth Graders
- 50 Must-Read Books For Fifth Graders
- 50 Must-Read Books For Sixth Graders
