# Recommend Young Adult books for my 7th graders **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388 "2003-09-28T23:40:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/21 "2003-09-29T08:24:09Z")
“The Singing Tree” and its sequel. “Rascal” by Sterling North. “The Last Unicorn” by Peter Beagle ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/22 "2003-09-29T08:56:36Z")
> [@](#): > > It disproves **Marley23** ’s theory about books billed as “young adult” novels, as it is neither didactic nor whiny, and it is far from boring crap. The comment - though it’s certainly rooted in how I feel - was intentionally overstated for humor purposes. I’m sure there are good books out there like this, I just didn’t happen to read them when I was that age. For example, I remember some of the books **Marlitharn** mentions (_The Egypt Game_ and especially _Black and Blue Magic_), but I never thought of them as young adult books, as I’m sure I read them a few years before I left elemenetary school. ---
**Author:** ![Suzene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Suzene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suzene)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/23 "2003-09-29T09:17:38Z")
“Ratha’s Creature” by Clare Bell. Suzene ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/24 "2003-09-29T09:57:06Z")
You might want to look at some of Sheryl Jordan’s books, especially ‘Winter of Fire’ and ‘Rocco’. Some of Jacqueline Wilson’s books for older kids, like ‘The Illustrated Mum’ might be good. How old are seventh graders? About twelve? try ‘Feed’ by M. T. Anderson, or ‘Northen Lights’ by Phillip Pullman. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/25 "2003-09-29T11:11:57Z")
_Goosebumps_ and _Fear Street_ are not that bad. They can lead the kids towards more serious (but creepy) stuff. When I was a seventh grader, I preferred reading the _Fear Street_ series, it had a slightly more mature intended audience. And people died gory deaths more frequently than in _Goosebumps_. 😉 And what’s wrong with reading them every now and then? I was reading other serious books at the same time I was reading the RL Stine books, there’s nothing wrong with having a varied taste. I’m not lashing out in anger or anything, I’m just saying that for a 7th year old, reading RL Stine books is not bad (as long as it is not the only thing they are reading). ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/26 "2003-09-29T11:24:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Avalonian \* > \*\*I see nobody’s yet mentioned Susan Cooper’s “Dark is Rising” series, which is a fantastic fantasy series for young adults. The five books in it are (in order) _Over Sea Under Stone_, _The Dark is Rising_, _Greenwitch_, _The Grey King_, and _Silver on the Tree_. _The Grey King_ won the Newbery (for good reason; it’s the best of the series, which is all excellent). > > It disproves **Marley23** ’s theory about books billed as “young adult” novels, as it is neither didactic nor whiny, and it is far from boring crap. The language of the books, by the way, is simply gorgeous. > \*\* I read these over the summer for a paper in the YA class I took. I _hated_ them, and I generally enjoy YA fantasy a lot. My opinion is that the characters have no depth, it’s just a series of actions. I couldn’t care about what anyone did in the books, and generally thought they were ‘boring crap’. BUT I have friends who love them, so I can see them being an option - as long as they aren’t required! But I definitely agree with _Coraline_! ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/27 "2003-09-29T11:51:21Z")
I read a lot of Diana Wynne Jones, even though most of her books are marketed to youngsters. They’re excellent fantasy books, and generally written with kids as the main characters. After reading Jones, I was pretty disappointed in the Harry Potter books, as I’ve seen it done so much better. When I was in that age range, I believe that I was devouring every Andre Norton book I could find in the library, and buying the ones I could find at the bookstore. I believe that’s also the age when I first read the _Earthsea_ trilogy by Ursula K. LeGuin. Be cautious about assigning other LeGuin books, however, as most of them are most decidedly written for adults. Another idea…how about requiring your kids to come up with their own lists of recommendations? Don’t require book reports, just tell them to write down a list of at least three books that they’ve enjoyed. Collect the lists, delete the obvious inappropriate ones (see _Story of O_ above) write out a master copy of the list WITHOUT saying who recommended what, copy it, and pass it out to your students. While you might get kids faking reads by talking to other kids, I bet that overall you’ll have your students trying out new books. This will take some work on your part, but you’ve already asked us for suggestions, so I think that you’re not looking to slack off here. What about magazines? Could they read a couple of magazines for their requirement? Again, this could be asked about in class. I’m sure that at least some of the kids read magazines. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/28 "2003-09-29T12:04:06Z")
An author I love to recommend whenever I get a chance to: William Sleator. The book I’d use: _House of Stairs._ Also any of the John Bellairs books dealing with Lewis Barnavelt, though I’m not sure if they’re too easy for the age group. ---
**Author:** ![Nanook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nanook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanook)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/29 "2003-09-29T12:40:41Z")
Goosebumps is gruesome trash and thoroughly inappropriate for children. ---
**Author:** ![80sHairMetalMaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/8/ed655f/32.png) [@80sHairMetalMaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/80sHairMetalMaven)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/30 "2003-09-29T13:15:06Z")
I’ve read the first Artemis Fowl book and it’s very, very good. I’d reccomend it to the kids. Also the Redwall Series (_Redwall_, _Matthias_, _Martin the Warrior_, among others) is a good one for young adults…full of adventure, love, friendship…all the stuff that makes up a great novel. 🙂 MetalMaven ---
**Author:** ![toque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9e8a1a/32.png) [@toque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toque)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/31 "2003-09-29T13:20:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LifeOnWry \* > \*\*ACK! **toque** , I found a copy of that last year under my own seventh-grader’s pillow. I SOOOO do not want to talk about it. (And no, I have not been able to find out how it was obtained.) \*\* LOL. I didn’t read it until 9th grade, and I _still_ didn’t get it. Seriously, you might want to look at Roald Dahl’s autobiography **Boy** , they’re hopefully already familiar with his children’s books, and he’s a wonderful writer. ---
**Author:** ![Calliope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Calliope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calliope)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/32 "2003-09-29T13:26:33Z")
My 12-year-old dearly loved the _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy. She’s read them about 16 times! She also liked _Number the Stars, Little Women, Troy,_ and most recently she really enjoyed David Clement-Davies’ books _Fire Bringer_ and _The Sight_. ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/33 "2003-09-29T14:00:54Z")
There is an excellent site called “Reading Rants” that is run by a middle school librarian: [http://tln.lib.mi.us/~amutch/jen/](http://tln.lib.mi.us/~amutch/jen/) Depending on what kind of community you’re in, you may want to evaluate some of the titles for appropriateness. I would second the recommedation for Susan Cooper’s “The Dark Is Rising” books…interesting that Lsura doesn’t like them! My only objection to them is that there are some attitudes towards gender roles that are a bit outdated (the books were written in the 70s). Another GREAT fantasy series is Diane Duane’s “Young Wizards”. Order of books: So You Want to Be A Wizard, Deep Wizardry, High Wizardry, A Wizard Abroad, The Wizard’s Dilemma, A Wizard Alone and (hey! this one’s new!) The Wizard’s Holiday. The series features Nita, Kit, and Dairine (Nita’s younger sister) as modern-day wizards who have wild adventures and deal with typical teen problems along the way. The author has a terrific sense of humor and there are a wide range of topics within the books (for example, Deep Wizardry deals with undersea life and High Wizardry has a lot of outer-space stuff; two of the later books deal with autism and death of a loved one). The characters are fairly unconventional and the series is not really your typical sci-fi/fantasy premise. I believe someone asked about Eva Ibbotson and the “Artemis Fowl” series–both of them are popular at the moment (I think the Ibbotson series is a re-issue from an earlier era) and are good reading–not trashy or anything like that. To veer away from fantasy a bit, Scott O’Dell is great. _Island of the Blue Dolphins_ is often mentioned but IMO _Streams to the River, River to the Sea_ is just as good. It’s the fictionalized biography of Sacajawea, the Native American woman who helped guide Lewis and Clark on their journey west. Other recommendations: Richard Peck: _A Year Down Yonder_ and _A Long Way from Chicago_ Madeleine L’Engle Phyllis Reynolds Naylor—Great books, but the “Alice” series has sparked controversy in some places due to the discussion of sexuality in later books. Also, most of the books that receive the Newbery Medal are good for this age group. ALA used to have the complete list on its website, but I found this list elsewhere: [http://loganberrybooks.com/newbery.html](http://loganberrybooks.com/newbery.html) Let us know if you’re looking for books in a specific area—YA is kind of my thing. ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/34 "2003-09-29T14:08:39Z")
There is an excellent site called “Reading Rants” that is run by a middle school librarian: [http://tln.lib.mi.us/~amutch/jen/](http://tln.lib.mi.us/~amutch/jen/) Depending on what kind of community you’re in, you may want to evaluate some of the titles for appropriateness. I would second the recommedation for Susan Cooper’s “The Dark Is Rising” books…interesting that Lsura doesn’t like them! My only objection to them is that there are some attitudes towards gender roles that are a bit outdated (the books were written in the 70s). Another GREAT fantasy series is Diane Duane’s “Young Wizards”. Order of books: So You Want to Be A Wizard, Deep Wizardry, High Wizardry, A Wizard Abroad, The Wizard’s Dilemma, A Wizard Alone and (hey! this one’s new!) The Wizard’s Holiday. The series features Nita, Kit, and Dairine (Nita’s younger sister) as modern-day wizards who have wild adventures and deal with typical teen problems along the way. The author has a terrific sense of humor and there are a wide range of topics within the books (for example, Deep Wizardry deals with undersea life and High Wizardry has a lot of outer-space stuff; two of the later books deal with autism and death of a loved one). The characters are fairly unconventional and the series is not really your typical sci-fi/fantasy premise. I believe someone asked about Eva Ibbotson and the “Artemis Fowl” series–both of them are popular at the moment (I think the Ibbotson series is a re-issue from an earlier era) and are good reading–not trashy or anything like that. To veer away from fantasy a bit, Scott O’Dell is great. _Island of the Blue Dolphins_ is often mentioned but IMO _Streams to the River, River to the Sea_ is just as good. It’s the fictionalized biography of Sacajawea, the Native American woman who helped guide Lewis and Clark on their journey west. Other recommendations: Richard Peck: _A Year Down Yonder_ and _A Long Way from Chicago_ Madeleine L’Engle Phyllis Reynolds Naylor—Great books, but the “Alice” series has sparked controversy in some places due to the discussion of sexuality in later books. Also, most of the books that receive the Newbery Medal are good for this age group. ALA used to have the complete list on its website, but I found this list elsewhere: [http://loganberrybooks.com/newbery.html](http://loganberrybooks.com/newbery.html) Let us know if you’re looking for books in a specific area—YA is kind of my thing. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/35 "2003-09-29T14:37:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by booklover \* > **Another GREAT fantasy series is Diane Duane’s “Young Wizards”. Order of books: So You Want to Be A Wizard, Deep Wizardry, High Wizardry, A Wizard Abroad, The Wizard’s Dilemma, A Wizard Alone and (hey! this one’s new!) The Wizard’s Holiday. The series features Nita, Kit, and Dairine (Nita’s younger sister) as modern-day wizards who have wild adventures and deal with typical teen problems along the way. The author has a terrific sense of humor and there are a wide range of topics within the books (for example, Deep Wizardry deals with undersea life and High Wizardry has a lot of outer-space stuff; two of the later books deal with autism and death of a loved one). The characters are fairly unconventional and the series is not really your typical sci-fi/fantasy premise.** I can’t believe I forgot about these - I read the first one about a year ago, and I’m ready for the next one to come out in October (I believe it’s called _A Wizard’s Holiday_). Diana Wynne Jones is another fantastic one that I forgot - I think _Dark Lord of Derkholm_ and _Year of the Griffin_ are two of my favorites. > [@](#): > > \*\*To veer away from fantasy a bit, Scott O’Dell is great. _Island of the Blue Dolphins_ is often mentioned but IMO _Streams to the River, River to the Sea_ is just as good. It’s the fictionalized biography of Sacajawea, the Native American woman who helped guide Lewis and Clark on their journey west. \*\* Scott O’Dell also has one titled _The Road to Damietta_ that it seems not many have read - it’s about a young teen in love with Francis Bernadone - later known as Francis of Assisi. It’s one that I figure people either love or hate. I like it. ---
**Author:** ![Harli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c0e974/32.png) [@Harli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harli)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/36 "2003-09-29T14:58:01Z")
When I was in 7th grade I discovered V.C. Andrews. Don’t have them read that. I also discovered Anne Rice at that time. Probably best not to have them read her either. One book that I do remember reading in grade 7 was a book called _Bridge to Terabithia_. A websearch turned up the author’s name, [Katherine Paterson](http://www.terabithia.com/index.html). I remember enjoying this book a great deal, but do not remember a huge amount about it. I do recall that the main characters were a boy and a girl, and the girl referred to her parents by their first name and the boy found this odd. I seem to think the main themes in this book included individuality, self-seeking, and true friendship. I highly recommend it. Actually, I might track down a copy myself and read it again. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/37 "2003-09-29T15:19:31Z")
Just a couple of titles to add. _The Westing Game_, by Ellen Raskin _Danny the Champion of the World_, by Roald Dahl _The Golden Goblet_, by Eloise Jarvis McGraw ---
**Author:** ![Catsmeow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Catsmeow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catsmeow)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/38 "2003-09-29T15:45:10Z")
I have to agree with pretty much everything on this list. I _love_ reading YA. However, you may want add: **Beauty** by Robin McKinley. A fabu retelling of Beauty and the Beast. She also has another retelling of the same story, from a different viewpoint, called **Rose Daughter**. Um, her **Spindle’s End** is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty and is pretty good. The **Anne of Green Gables** books are good for that age group as are the **Little Women** books. ( **Little Women, Little Men and Jo’s Boys.** ) Did anyone mention **Where the Red Fern Grows**? Great book for guys of that age. I don’t know a boy who has read it and not really really liked it. Hmm. I’m sure there’s more but, everyone pretty much has said what I was thinking. Cats~ ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/39 "2003-09-29T16:16:06Z")
_Bridge to Terabithia_ is awesome and sad and wonderful and…well, it’s just terrific. Other books by Katherine Paterson are quite good as well, notably \* Jacob Have I loved\*. _Where the Red Fern Grows_–ech, spare me. Yeah, I’m a girl, not a boy, but I hated it—bored me to tears. Oh yeah—Mildred Taylor’s great too. _Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry_ is the one that comes to mind; she wrote a few others about the same family featured in “Roll”. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388/40 "2003-09-29T18:51:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rubystreak \* > \*\* > > Anyone heard of Eve Ibbotson or something like that? Any good? How about Artemis Fowl? I’ve seen quite a few of these books amongst my students’ choices and am wondering if they are worthwhile. > > \*\* Eva Ibbotson is another fave around here. I have not personally read these, but I keep finding them all over the house. From what I can gather from my daughter’s descriptions, they’re a cross between Harry Potter magic and Piers Anthony wordplay. Don’t dismiss To Kill a Mockingbird for its length - 7th graders are the perfect age to be exposed to its story of racism, and to the concept of a book without an obvious happy ending. With all the character eduation that’s taking place in middle schools, this may be a very nice way to make it a little more personal for kids. FWIW, I think the Goosebumps books are way too young for this age group. They were all the rage here when K and her pals were in 4th grade. The big horror books for older kids are the Christopher Pike ones, although I’ve read a few of them in my opinion, they’re crap. K is into vampire stuff nowadays, and has been begging for Anne Rice (not a chance) but has been able to find more age-appropriate vampire stuff in a series that escapes me, but the first title in the series is Demon In My View. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-young-adult-books-for-my-7th-graders/204388.md?page=3)