AMS Summer Reading List: Grade 7

Looking for to give your middle schooler a good read this summer? Look no further.

The Amherst Middle School library has a suggestd reading list that is sure to include a great book to capture your child's imagination. There is also plenty of great nonfiction (NF) and graphic novels (GN) to comb through.

Got a suggestion for a great book? Let everybody know in the comments below! Also, if your student has already read one of these books, tell us what they thought.

Great Summer Reads For 7th Graders

NF) Bradley, James Flags of Our Fathers: Heroes of Iwo Jima

James Bradley tells the story of his father’s, and other men’s, experience at the Battle of Iwo Jima, Japan, 1945.

Bruchac, Joseph Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two

After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay is recruited by the Marines to become a Code Talker. He sent messages during WW II in the Navajo language of his people.

Capestine, Ying Chang: Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party

Starting in 1972 when she is nine years old, Ling, the daughter of two doctors, struggles to make sense of the communists' Cultural Revolution, which empties stores of food, homes of appliances deemed "bourgeois," and people of laughter until 1976.

Feinstein, John Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery

Stevie and Susan Carol win a sports writing contest and have a chance to cover the NCAA Final Four games. When these teenage journalists discover a scheme to fix the games, they go undercover to stop the plot. You might also like Vanishing Act and other sports novels by the same author.

NF) Finlayson, Reggie: Nelson Mandela

Describes the South African childhood, political activities, imprisonment, family, and presidency of Nelson Mandela.

GN) Hale, Shannon: Rapunzel’s Revenge and Calamity Jack

Each of these is inspired by the well-known tales: Rapunzel and Jack and the Beanstalk --!

Heinlein, Robert A.: Have Space Suit -- Will Travel

A high school senior wins a space suit in a soap jingle contest, takes a last walk wearing "Oscar" before cashing him in for college tuition, and suddenly finds himself on a space odyssey.

House, Silas and NeelaVaswani: Same Sun Here

A twelve-year-old Indian immigrant in New York City and a Kentucky coal miner's son become pen pals, and eventually best friends, through a series of revealing letters exploring such topics as environmental activism immigration, and racism.

Kadohata, Cynthia: Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam

A young soldier in Vietnam bonds with his bomb-sniffing dog.

Klages, Ellen The Green Glass Sea

It is 1943, and Dewey Kerrigan is traveling west on a train to live with her scientist father--but no one will tell her exactly where he is. When she reaches Los Alamos, New Mexico, she learns why: he's working on a top-secret government program. Available as an AMS library e-book.

Lupica, Mike: Million-Dollar Throw

Eighth-grade star quarterback Nate Brodie’s family is feeling the stress of the troubled economy, and Nate is frantic because his best friend Abby is going blind, so when he gets a chance to win a million dollars if he can complete a pass during the halftime of a New England Patriot’s game, he is nearly overwhelmed by the pressure to succeed. Try other sports novel by this author. The Batboy is available as an AMS library e-book.

Mass, Wendy: Every Soul a Star

Ally, Bree, and Jack meet at the one place the Great Eclipse can be seen in totality, each carrying the burden of different personal problems, which become dim when compared to the task they embark upon and the friendship they find.

Morpurgo, Michael: An Elephant in the Garden

During World War II Lizzie and Karl save an elephant in the Dresden zoo but must take her with them as they flee bombs falling on the German city. The author of this book also wrote War Horse.

NF) O’Grady, Scott: Basher Five-Two: The True Story of F-16 Fighter Pilot... (J 92 O’GR)

O’Grady describes how he survived for six days hidden in the brush after his F-16 plane was shot down over Bosnia. He thinks ants are tasty!

Park, Linda Sue: When My Name Was Keoko

With national pride and occasional fear, a brother and sister face the increasingly oppressive occupation of Korea by Japan during World War II. The author of A Single Shard (Newbery Medal). Available as an AMS library e-book.

Peacock, Shane: Eye of the Crow

In this book you’ll find that even in his early teen years Sherlock Holmes was obsessed with solving crimes. If you like this one, you may be interested in author Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes’s Mysteries – about Sherlock’s crime-solving little sister.

Preller, James: Bystander

Thirteen-year-old Eric discovers there are consequences to not standing by and watching as the bully at his new school hurts people, but although school officials are aware of the problem, Eric may be the one with a solution.

Riordan, Rick: The Red Pyramid

Egyptologist Dr. Julius Kane accidentally unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes the doctor to oblivion and forces his two children to embark on a dangerous journey, bringing them closer to the truth about their family and its links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs. Next read The Throne of Fire and The Serpent’s Shadow (pub. 5/12).

NF) Rose, Simon: Aung San Suu Kyi

Learn about this remarkable woman from Burma, or by the current government called Myanmar. She is a symbol of Burmese resistance. There are other books by various authors about Aung San Suu Kyi.

Smith, Roland: Elephant Run

Nick endures servitude, beatings, and more after his British father's plantation in Burma is invaded by the Japanese in 1941, and when his father and others are taken prisoner and Nick is stranded with his friend Mya, they plan a daring escape on elephants, risking their lives to save Nick's father and Mya's brother from a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Check out many other titles by this author.

GN) Tan, Shaun: The Arrival

Practice your visual literacy here. In this wordless graphic novel, a man leaves his homeland and sets off for a new country, where he must build a new life for himself and his family.

Tarshis, Lauren: Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree

A quirky and utterly logical seventh-grade girl named Emma-Jean Lazarus discovers some interesting results when she gets involved in the messy everyday problems of her peers. Available as an AMS library e-book.

Whelan, Gloria: Chu Ju’s House

In order to save her baby sister, fourteen-year-old Chu Ju leaves her rural home in modern China and earns food and shelter by working on a sampan, tending silk worms, and planting rice seedlings, while wondering if she will ever see her family again. You’ll enjoy other titles by this author!

Wilkinson, Carole: Dragon Keeper

An orphan slave girl becomes a Dragon Keeper when she heroically comes to the aid of an aging dragon and both go on a dangerous journey across China to protect a mysterious stone vital to the dragon's legacy. Next read Garden of the Purple Dragon and Dragon Moon and others.

Zenatti, Valerie A Bottle in the Gaza Sea

Seventeen-year-old Tal Levine of Jerusalem, despondent over the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict, puts her hopes for peace in a bottle and asks her brother, a military nurse in the Gaza Strip, to toss it into the sea, leading ultimately to friendship and understanding between her and an "enemy.