Grades 6–8, 2022–23

Seventh-grader Tom Bender has a life-changing experience when Jessica, a transferring student joins his class. Despite Jessica's arresting appearance, having been badly burned in a car fire, Tom begins a tentative friendship with her.

This novel is a fictionalized account of the life of Juan de Pareja, the half-African slave of famed painter Diego Velázquez in 17th century Spain.

In 1935, twelve-year-old Moose moves to Alcatraz Island with his parents and his autistic sister Natalie. With a little help from his new friend Piper, Moose learns to adapt to life at the notorious prison.

A city built to save humanity now faces dark times.

While in hiding with her family in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, 13-year-old Anne Frank kept a diary of her experiences. Published after Anne's death in a Nazi concentration camp, the diary remains a powerful testament to the everyday horrors of the Holocaust.

Twelve-year-old Nory Ryan's family are poor tenant farmers on Ireland's west coast. When a potato blight sweeps through the village threatening their survival, Nory has to summon the inner strength and ingenuity to keep the family alive.

After Justin Morgan brings home a small colt named Little Bubb, his student Joel Goss trains the horse to become a world-famous breeding stallion.

In this engrossing work of nonfiction, Laura Hillenbrand recounts how three men teamed up to turn an unlikely racehorse into an American racing icon.

In this novel, a dedicated teacher and new friendships help Ally understand and come to terms with her dyslexia — and to realize that there's no shame in being different.

In this memoir, Francisco Jiménez details his family's experiences as Mexican immigrants in the United states during the 1950s and 1960s.

Kira-Kira tells the unforgettable story of sisters Katie and Lynn Takeshima. After their Japanese-American family moves to Georgia in the 1950s to build a new life, Katie and Lynn find hope through their unique way of seeing the world. But when Lynn develops lymphoma, Katie must help keep her family from falling apart while remembering everything her sister taught her.

After an accident leaves him with amnesia, Chase must figure out who he was — and who he wants to be.

Following the death of her uncle, sixteen-year-old Hattie Brooks travels to Montana to prove she can take care of her inherited land while dealing with anti-German sentiment during World War I.

This novel is a fictionalized biography of Nathaniel Bowditch, a mathematical genius who begins work as an indentured servant on a ship before becoming a captain and celebrated navigator.

In this action-packed adventure story, a domesticated dog must shed his civilized ways to become a proper sled dog during the Yukon Gold Rush.

A young baseball player tries to hide his complicated family situation in order to make it to the Little League World Series.

After committing a violent crime, Cole Matthews is given a choice: jail time or isolation on a remote Alaskan island. Clinging to life after a savage bear attack, Cole wonders if he still has a chance at redemption.

A horse named Joey fights on the battlefield during World War I — but longs to reunite with the boy who raised him.

Due to her father’s injury, 18-year-old Bright Dawn takes his place in the Iditarod, the annual dogsled race in Alaska. Below zero weather, hungry wolf packs, exhaustion, and a thinning sled dog pack test all her wits throughout this grueling, 1,179 mile trek.

In this novel, a boy with facial anomalies tries to navigate the sometimes treacherous world of public school.

Jess and Leslie spend their free time playing in the fantasy land of Terabithia; but when tragedy strikes, one of them will have to learn to cope with loss in the real world.

The author invites the young reader into the grueling experience of training for and running the Alaskan Iditarod dogsled race. It is a study in preparation, training, perseverance, learning from hardship and failure, teamwork, commitment, humility, and how to finish.

Twelve-year-old Torak and his wolf cub companion must defeat the demon-bear of the Forest to fulfill an oath to his father and to save his present world. Torak and Wolf face many dangers but also make friends that help them along the way.

Teenager Russell Culver's dreams of no more school and leaving his tiny farming town seem to be within reach when the schoolhouse teacher dies right before the school year begins! To his surprise, however, his older sister, Tansy, becomes the new teacher…and gradually life begins to change.

Twelve-year-old Summer and her Uncle Ob must overcome their grief and find their place in the world again following the unexpected death of Aunt May. Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part One, Part Two

While the Vietnam War roils America, seventh grader Holling Hoodhood contends with Shakespeare, a demanding father, a school bully, and more. Learn these words from Schmidt's funny and heartwarming coming-of-age story.

In this engaging blend of science and history, Steve Sheinkin traces the development of the atomic bomb.

Holland native Corrie ten Boom had an unremarkable life until Nazi Germany invaded her family's world during World War II. Corrie became a Resistance heroine and survived Hitler's concentration camps in her true life story of faith triumphing over evil.

In the early 1900s, a young boy leaves China to join his father in San Francisco, where they work to build a flying machine.

During a Passover Seder, 12-year-old Hannah is mysteriously transported from 1980s New York to Poland during World War II. When Hannah is forced into a concentration camp, her survival depends on understanding the depraved arithmetic the Nazis use to keep track of their prisoners.