Seventh Grade Reading List

Core

1. The Bible · Anonymous · grades K–12Continued close reading of Scripture.
2. Legends of Charlemagne · Thomas Bulfinch · grades 6–12The legends of Charlemagne and his paladins.
3. The Sword in the Stone · T. H. White · grades 6–8T. H. White's comic story of Arthur's boyhood education.
4. The Song of Hiawatha · Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · grades 6–8Longfellow's long narrative poem, good for studying meter.
5. Johnny Tremain · Esther Forbes · grades 6–8A Boston apprentice in the years before the Revolution.
6. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch · Jean Lee Latham · grades 6–8The true story of a self-taught navigator and mathematician.
7. The Black Arrow · Robert Louis Stevenson · grades 6–8Stevenson's adventure set in the Wars of the Roses.
8. Kidnapped · Robert Louis Stevenson · grades 6–8Stevenson's Scottish adventure of loyalty and courage.
9. The Prince and the Pauper · Mark Twain · grades 6–8Twain's tale of mistaken identity in Tudor England.
10. The Comedy of Errors · William Shakespeare · grades 6–8A short, funny Shakespeare play of twins and confusion.
11. The Hiding Place · Corrie ten Boom · grades 7–12Corrie ten Boom's account of faith and forgiveness in the Holocaust.

Stretch

For strong readers or extra time.

• The Travels of Marco Polo · Marco Polo (with Rustichello da Pisa) · grades 7–12The medieval traveler's account of the East.
• The Three Musketeers · Alexandre Dumas · grades 7–12Dumas's swashbuckling tale of friendship.
• The Practice of the Presence of God · Brother Lawrence · grades 7–12Brother Lawrence's short conversations and letters on prayer.
• The Lord of the Rings · J. R. R. Tolkien · grades 6–12Tolkien's epic, for strong readers ready for a long book.