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mskelly
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I'm trying to create a list of possible titles for my seventh grader to choose from for his literature studies.  We are doing a year of World Geography and I was trying to match titles with regions.  I think I have a good selection for him for every area EXCEPT the USA! I'm not looking for historical fiction, I feel we have read plenty of those.  Maybe something that reflects the current culture of our country and that is appropriate for 7th grade. 

Any suggestions?

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I'm doing something very similar for my rising 7th grader this year. I have the added requirement of nothing too depressing (because the last two years of American history just about did us in!). I also kind of felt that we'd read enough books about America over the years. So I'm going to have him read "Williwaw" by Tom Bodet (about a couple of kids living in Alaska), and together we'll read "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech (road trip across the middle of America, includes Native American). 

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On 7/7/2019 at 2:12 PM, mskelly said:

I'm trying to create a list of possible titles for my seventh grader to choose from for his literature studies.  We are doing a year of World Geography and I was trying to match titles with regions.  I think I have a good selection for him for every area EXCEPT the USA! I'm not looking for historical fiction, I feel we have read plenty of those.  Maybe something that reflects the current culture of our country and that is appropriate for 7th grade. 

Any suggestions?

What Geography are you doing?

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Chapter books that we've enjoyed that show American culture and sites:

  • Stuart Little by E. B. White 
  • The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden 
  • Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  • Brooklyn Bridge by Lynn Curlee 
  • The Brooklyn Bridge by Elizabeth Mann
  • My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George 
  • Dr. Beaumont and the Man With the Hole In His Stomach by Sam and Beryl Epstein (great for both history and science)
  • Children of the Longhouse by Joseph Bruchac
  • Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry
  • Rascal by Sterling North (C, Y, YA)
  • Inside Out & Back Again by Thanha Lai 
  • The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (with a warning that there will be death and loss in the book)
  • The Story of My Life (Unabridged) by Helen Keller 
  • Flying With the Eagle, Racing with the Bear by Joseph Bruchac 
  • Indian Shoes by Cynthia Leitich Smith 
  • Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty Birney 
  • Black Gold by Marguerite Henry 
  • Dewey the Library Cat: A True Story by Vicki Myron 
  • Indian Boyhood by Charles Eastman (this is the original book upon which the picture book version was based) 
  • Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry
  • Hoover Dam by Elizabeth Mann 
  • Little Britches by Ralph Moody 
  • Man of the Family by Ralph Moody 

 

I have also found that there are many great, more advanced picture books for that age. For the USA, besides history (which you've already got covered), I like to include books about Native American culture as well as folk tales.  Here are some of the ones about the USA that we've enjoyed:

  • The Blue Hill Meadows by Cynthia Rylant
  • Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds by Cynthia Rylant 
  • When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
  • Muskrat Will be Swimming by Cheryl Savageau
  • Rainbow Crow: A Lenape Tale by Nancy Van Laan 
  • When the Shadbush Blooms by Carla Messinger and Susan Katz 
  • Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey
  • Island Boy by Barbara Cooney
  • Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney 
  • The Star Maiden by Barbara Esbensen
  • From the Land of the White Birch by Shirley Neitzel 
  • The Legend of the Lady Slipper: An Ojibwe Tale by Lise Lunge-Larsen
  • The Story of Light by Susan Roth 
  • Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing by James Rumford
  • The Opossum's Tale by Deborah Duvall 
  • Dancing Drum by Terri Cohlene 
  • Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom by Tim TIngle
  • Iktomi and the Berries by Paul Goble 
  • Indian Boyhood : The True Story of a Sioux Upbringing by Charles Eastman, edited and adapted by Michael Oren Fitzgerald 

 

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