Looking for a 7th grade Lit list

[purplejackmama]

I am looking for a 7th grade lit list for my son, who is not a "reader." I see some of these list and they are simply just too challenging for him.  I want depth, and richness without overwhelming him.  So far this year he has read, The Bronze Bow and The Golden Goblet.

 

I feel like this is an overwhelming struggle in my homeschool.  Trying to balance challenging my students without sending them running for the hills.

 

Love to hear your suggestions.  

[Tanaqui]

Both those books are set pretty well in the past. Are you looking for more books of that ilk, or is that just a coincidence?

[Lori D.]

What kinds of works does he enjoy -- either reading himself, or hearing as read-alouds/audio books?

And, what are your goals for literature this year?

 

Do you want to start doing some very gentle/beginning discussion, learning about some literary elements, and take a step or two closer towards a more formal Literature study for when he's in high school? If so, then a mix of high quality young adult fiction, some not-hard-to-read classic short stories, and then maybe two more difficult-to-read classics that you do aloud together "popcorn style" ("you read a page, I read a page") could be a gentle mix.

 

I'd also suggest doing Figuratively Speaking aloud together -- 1 or 2 literary elements a week, read about them, and then practice looking for them in whatever literature you're reading.

 

If DS has a specific genre he really enjoys, then work within that and bring him along slowly, gently, by learning some literary elements, and beginning to discuss some works together. Maybe use excerpts from literature guides for a few works for ideas of questions, interesting things to point out, etc. Check out these guides from Garlic Press: Discovering Literature series, or the free online guides from Glencoe Literature Library (Call of the Wild; Hatchet; Island of the Blue Dolphins; Number the Stars; Sounder; Tuck Everlasting; A Wrinkle in Time)

 

If DS has no real interests in specific genres or types of books, then maybe together pick 2 books from each group below, and see how you get along; if he finds a genre he likes, then come back and post, and we'll help you put together a Lit. list. :)

 

Another idea is to do a movie/lit. combo -- pick 4 books (one per quarter) that have film versions, and read, then watch, and discuss/compare. Ideas: Holes, The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe, The Wizard of Oz, Hugo, The Giver, The Hobbit, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Percy Jackson: Lightning Thief -- or even something like The Martian, Ender's Game, Divergent, or The Maze Runner.

 

Whatever you decide, make sure it's not an overwhelming list -- maybe only "discuss" or "do literature" with 4 books (one per quarter), and other books on the list are just for reading or just for fun. And do be sure to include works that are just for fun to try and gently encourage the idea that reading can be enjoyable. :) What does he not mind reading now? Is there a series that would be fun to do together as a a family?

 

BEST of luck in your Literature adventures! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

realistic

The Toothpaste Millionaire (Merrill)

The Pushcart War (Merrill)

The Wednesday Wars (Schmidt)

Maniac Magee (Spinnelli)

 

survival

My Side of the Mountain (George)

The Cay (Taylor)

 

humorous

The Phantom Tollbooth (Juster)

The 13 Clocks (Thurber)

By the Great Horn Spoon (Fleischman)

The Whipping Boy (Fleischman)

Holes (Sacher)

 

sci-fi / speculative fiction

A Wrinkle in Time (L'Engle)

The Giver (Lowry)

Below The Root (Snyder)

Enchantress From the Stars (Engdahl)

Tuck Everlasting (Babbitt)

 

fantasy / fairy tale / myth

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien)

The Rumpelstiltskin Problem (Velde) -- collection of 6 fun re-tellings of the fairytale; great for a study on point of view

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (Riordan)

 

 

historical fiction/adventure

The Shakespeare Stealer (Blackwood)

The Great Brain (Fitzgerald) -- this would be a great one to do first, and then follow up with Tom Sawyer, to compare/contrast

The Master Puppeteer (Paterson)

Sounder (Armstrong)

Island of the Blue Dolphins (O'Dell)

Call it Courage (Sperry)

The Great Wheel (Lawson)

 

mystery

The Westing Game (Raskin)

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Konigsberg)

The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars (Newman) -- a great one to do as a follow-up to the Sherlock Holmes short stories below

 

very gentle classic short stories

The Monkey's Paw (Jacobs)

Rikki Tikki Tavi (Kipling)

The Open Window (Saki)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Thurber)

Story Without an End (Twain)

The Red-Headed League (Doyle)

A Scandal in Bohemia (Doyle)

The Lady or the Tiger (Stocken) -- the famous first "you decide" story ending

The Most Dangerous Game (Connell)

 Lamb to the Slaughter (Dahl)

There Will Come Soft Rains (Bradbury)

A Sound of Thunder (Bradbury)

 

very gentle first classics:

The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway)

Call of the Wild -- or -- White Fang (London)

Murder on the Orient Express (Christie)

 

ideas for classics do together aloud:

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll)

Around the World in Eighty Days (Verne) 

Ivanhoe (Scott)

The Hobbit (Tolkien) 

Tanglewood Tales; Wonder Book (Hawthorne)

Howard Pyle books (Robin Hood, King Arthur…)

 

[Holly]

I like to schedule a variety: biography, mystery, realistic book, fantasy, adventure, etc.  Heart of Dakota's literature program is set up this way and I'm sure you could find lots of ideas on their website.  My DD isn't a fan of historical fiction, so I try to find some other books for her.  If I let her pick them, she'd pick all fantasy books.  We try to meet somewhere in the middle.  lol  

 

This year, my DC have been reading about 4 chapters a week from a historical fiction or biography book (related to our history time period) and about 3 chapters from their literature book (we use ELTL).  They also read on their own, but they get to pick these.

[Farrar]

I think Lori has great suggestions. My kids are also not advanced readers. Here's what we do...

 

2-3 required books a year. I look for books that are shorter but award-winning and well-written, that cover meaty topics. This year, for example, we're doing A Wrinkle in Time and The Giver. Last year for fifth grade, we read Island of the Blue Dolphins and Bridge to Terabithia. All these books clock in well under 300 pages in most editions.

 

We read one short story a month. These are sometimes by classic authors, so, for example, our last short story was by O. Henry. These can be harder and darker sometimes because they're short. Of course, we also read funny or lighter stories too, but I choose these to challenge my kids a little for the most part. The biggest hits have been "All Summer in a Day" by Bradbury and the short stories from The Daydreamer by Ian McEwan (these are sooooo good - more people should read them!).

 

I require an hour of reading every day. At least half of that time must be for a book new to you that is not a graphic novel. If they want to read GN's (and I say this as someone who loves graphic novels... we even had a graphic novel short story as one of our stories!) they can, just only for half that time. It has encouraged them to read more. I strew interesting books. They often pick up things that I think are worthy of assigning (like, one of my boys loved Mockingbird and just finished Counting by 7's). But they also read a lot of junk. That's okay.

[purplejackmama]

This is EXACTLY the info I was looking for. Thank you all so much!

[Lori D.]

Just want to add that my very long-winded post  :tongue_smilie: was all about if your goal was using 7th grade to slowly start moving towards a more formal Literature study for high school.  So if that's NOT the goal, ignore my post. ;)

 

It is perfectly fine if your goal for 7th grade is to just encourage reading -- that might be exactly where your student is and needs. If that's the goal, then Holly and Farrar have some great suggestions for encouraging reading (ETA: as well as gently moving towards a more formal Literature study).  :)

 

BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D.

[Farrar]

Well, for us, I feel like the short story *is* how we're moving toward doing more formal literary analysis (though my boys are just in 6th) while balancing that with the need to just encourage reading for kids who aren't fast readers or real book lovers. I mean, my kids like books, but when the OP said it was a struggle... that's what I'm trying to avoid. So I think that lets us practice those skills with classic authors while building up the love of books and encouraging more reading.

[ScoutTN]

I think Lori has great suggestions. My kids are also not advanced readers. Here's what we do...

 

2-3 required books a year. I look for books that are shorter but award-winning and well-written, that cover meaty topics. This year, for example, we're doing A Wrinkle in Time and The Giver. Last year for fifth grade, we read Island of the Blue Dolphins and Bridge to Terabithia. All these books clock in well under 300 pages in most editions.

 

We read one short story a month. These are sometimes by classic authors, so, for example, our last short story was by O. Henry. These can be harder and darker sometimes because they're short. Of course, we also read funny or lighter stories too, but I choose these to challenge my kids a little for the most part. The biggest hits have been "All Summer in a Day" by Bradbury and the short stories from The Daydreamer by Ian McEwan (these are sooooo good - more people should read them!).

 

I require an hour of reading every day. At least half of that time must be for a book new to you that is not a graphic novel. If they want to read GN's (and I say this as someone who loves graphic novels... we even had a graphic novel short story as one of our stories!) they can, just only for half that time. It has encouraged them to read more. I strew interesting books. They often pick up things that I think are worthy of assigning (like, one of my boys loved Mockingbird and just finished Counting by 7's). But they also read a lot of junk. That's okay.

I love this. Saving this post because I can totally see me using a very similar approach with Ds in a few years.