Crawford Middle School’s

Summer Reading List

7^th Grade

Please select two books from the list below to read during summer break.  Be prepared for an assessment activity when school begins in the fall.  .  If you have already taken an AR quiz on any of these books, you will not be able to use the AR quiz as your assessment.

Call of the Wild by Jack London

Buck, a dog that has been forced into the harsh life of a sled dog, befriends a man seeking his fortune in the Klondike gold fields, and must ultimately decide whether to stay with his master or obey his instinct to join the wolves.

A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck 

A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression, to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.

The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman

In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.

So B It by Sarah Weeks

After spending her life with her mentally retarded mother and agoraphobic neighbor, twelve-year-old Heidi sets out from Reno, Nevada, to New York to find out who she is.

 Witness by Karen Hesse

A series of poems express the views of various people in a small Vermont town, including a young black girl and a young Jewish girl, during the early 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan is trying to infiltrate the town.

Call it Courage by Armstrong Sperry

Based on a Polynesian legend, this is the story of a youth who overcomes his fear of the sea and proves his courage to himself and his tribe.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to share in an adventure from which he may never return.

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father Mo, a bookbinder, can "read" fictional characters to life when an evil ruler named Capricorn, freed from the novel "Inkheart" years earlier, tries to force Mo to release an immortal monster from the story.

Slam! by Walter Deann Myers.  Sixteen-year-old "Slam" Harris is counting on his noteworthy basketball talents to get him out of the inner city and give him a chance to succeed in life, but his coach sees things differently.

Bad Boy: A Memoir by Walter Dean Myers. (6.5 B.L.) This superb memoir begins simply with an account of Myers's family history and his boyhood. Vivid detail makes the  Harlem of the '40s come alive, from the music and children's games to the everyday struggle for survival. As Myers grows older, however, his story also grows in complexity.     Soon readers are caught up in his turbulent adolescence and his slow, painful development as a writer.

Buddha Boy – Kathe Koja. No one in the rich, suburban high school likes the weird new kid who looks like a Buddhist monk and begs at lunch. One kid is drawn to the stranger and defends him against vicious school bullies.

Downriver by Will Hobbs. A group of troubled teenagers are brought together in an   outward bound adventure whitewater rafting down the Grand Canyon.

      Heat -Mike Lupica. Pitching prodigy Michael Arroyo is on the run from social services after

      being banned from playing Little League baseball because rival coaches doubt he is only twelve

      years old and he has no parents to offer them proof.

Magyk by Angie Sage. Fantasy fans will find a good jolt of action, mystery and humor in

      this magyk-filled adventure. Infants switched at birth, spell casting, Brownies, boggarts,

      dastardly villains and wizards add lively scenery and action             throughout.

The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer. A tale set in A.D. 793, full of surprising twists and

      turns combining history, humor and Norse mythology to create adventure and action for

      the reader.

Travel Team by Mike Lupica. This exciting sports fiction book is about a seventh-

grader, Danny, who is cut from his basketball team. Danny and his father start their own

basketball team.

White Fang by Jack London.  London tells the story of a wolf-dog who endures great cruelty before he comes to know human kindness.

Code Orange by Caroline Cooney.  While conducting research for a school paper on smallpox, Mitty

finds an envelope containing 100-year-old smallpox scabs and fears that he has infected himself and all of

New York City.

City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. The year is 241.  Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a

Messenger and finds part of an ancient message she feels sure will help save her decaying city.

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) by Rick Riordan.   After learning that he is  

the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea, twelve-year-old Percy is sent to a summer camp for

demigods like himself, and joins his new friends on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.

Note: Book descriptions have been taken from a variety of sources including Amazon.com, “The School Library Journal”, Titlewave, and the jackets of the books themselves.