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Great Books for Seventh and Eighth GradeBenicia Public Library
Historical FictionBefore We Were Free by Julia Alvarez 167 pages
- In the early 1960s in the Dominican Republic, twelve-year-old Anita learns that her family is involved in the underground movement to end the bloody rule of the dictator, General Trujillo. Check our catalogue
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson 316 pages
- After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War. Check our catalogue
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko 228 pages
- A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister. Check our catalogue
The Diamond of Drury Lane: A Cat Royal Adventure by Julia Golding 424 pages
- Catherine "Cat" Royal, an orphan who lives at the Drury Lane Theater in 1790s London, tries to find the "diamond" supposedly hidden in the theater, which unmasks a treasonous political cartoonist and involves her in the street gangs of Covent Garden and the world of nobility. Check our catalogue
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse 227 pages
- In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression. Check our catalogue
The Circuit: Stories From the Life of a Migrant Child by Francisco Jiménez 134 pages
- Having come from Mexico to California as a four-year-old, Francisco spends his time working on the migrant farm or at school while he struggles to live with his poverty. Check our catalogue
Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue by Julius Lester 177 pages
- Emma has taken care of the Butler children since Sarah and Frances's mother, Fanny, left. Emma wants to raise the girls to have good hearts, as a rift over slavery has ripped the Butler household apart. Now, to pay off debts, Pierce Butler wants to cash in his slave "assets", possibly including Emma. Check our catalogue
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt 264 pages
- During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in. Check our catalogue
Letters from Wolfie by Patti Sherlock 228 pages
- Certain that he is doing the right thing by donating his dog, Wolfie, to the Army's scout program in Vietnam, thirteen-year-old Mark begins to have second thoughts when the Army refuses to say when and if Wolfie will ever return. Check our catalogue
FantasyArtemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer 277 pages
- When a twelve-year-old evil genius tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll. Check our catalogue
A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz 256 pages
- Follows Hansel and Gretel as they walk out of their own story and into eight more tales, encountering such wicked creatures as witches, along with kindly strangers and other helpful folk. Check our catalogue
Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones 270 pages
- When a teacher at an English boarding school finds a note on his desk accusing someone in the class of being a witch, magical things begin to happen and an Inquisitor is summoned. Check our catalogue
Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy 392 pages
- This book was retitled Sceptre of the Ancients in paperback. When twelve-year-old Stephanie inherits her weird uncle's estate, she must join forces with Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton magician, to save the world from the Faceless Ones. Check our catalogue
Savvy by Ingrid Law 342 pages
- Recounts the adventures of Mibs Beaumont, whose thirteenth birthday has revealed her "savvy"--a magical power unique to each member of her family--just as her father is injured in a terrible accident. Check our catalogue
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull 359 pages
- When Kendra and Seth go to stay at their grandparents' estate, they discover that it is a sanctuary for magical creatures and that a battle between good and evil is looming. Check our catalogue
The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman 399 pages
- Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North. Check our catalogue
The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott 375 pages
- While working at pleasant but mundane summer jobs in San Francisco, fifteen-year-old twins, Sophie and Josh, suddenly find themselves caught up in the deadly, centuries-old struggle between rival alchemists, Nicholas Flamel and John Dee, over the possession of an ancient and powerful book holding the secret formulas for alchemy and everlasting life. Check our catalogue
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner 219 pages
- Gen flaunts his ingenuity as a thief and relishes the adventures which takes him to a remote temple of the gods where he will attempt to steal a precious stone. There are three sequels: The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, and A Conspiracy of Kings. Check our catalogue
Science Fiction Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements 251 pages
- When fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes up and finds himself invisible, he and his parents and his new blind friend Alicia try to find out what caused his condition and how to reverse it. Check our catalogue
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer 380 pages
- In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patrón, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States. Check our catalogue
Eager by Helen Fox 280 pages
- Eager is a special kind of robot who learns through his experiences, but will he be able to help determine why the new BDC4 robots are acting so strangely? Check our catalogue
Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix 153 pages
- In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm, until another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong. Check our catalogue
Walker of Time by H. H. Vick 205 pages
- A fifteen-year-old Hopi boy and his freckled companion travel back 800 years to the world of the Sinagua culture, a group of people beset by drought and illness and in need of a leader. Check our catalogue
The Giver by Lois Lowry 180 pages
- Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives. Companion books are Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son. Check our catalogue
Hidden Talents by David Lubar 213 pages
- When thirteen-year-old Martin arrives at an alternative school for misfits and problem students, he falls in with a group of boys with psychic powers and discovers something surprising about himself. Check our catalogue
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson 422 pages
- After the mutant Erasers abduct the youngest member of their group, the "birdkids," who are the result of genetic experimentation, take off in pursuit and find themselves struggling to understand their own origins and purpose. Check our catalogue
Realistic Fiction The Boyfriend Rules of Good Behavior by Catherine Bateson 181 pages
- Millie and her artist mother move away from their best friends to a new town, where her mother gets a proper job and a boyfriend, and Millie learns to cope with all the changes. Check our catalogue
Tangerine by Edward Bloor 312 pages
- Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight. Check our catalogue
Pieces of Georgia by Jennifer Bryant 166 pages
- In journal entries to her mother, a gifted artist who died suddenly, thirteen-year-old Georgia McCoy reveals how her life changes after she receives an anonymous gift membership to a nearby art museum. Check our catalogue
Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot 238 pages
- Fourteen-year-old Mia, who is trying to lead a normal life as a teenage girl in New York City, is shocked to learn that her father is the Prince of Genovia, a small European principality, and that she is a princess and the heir to the throne. Check our catalogue
I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter 284 pages
- As a sophomore at a secret spy school and the daughter of a former CIA operative, Cammie is sheltered from "normal teenage life" until she meets a local boy while on a class surveillance mission. Check our catalogue
If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer Choldenko 216 pages
- Kirsten and Walk, seventh-graders at an elite private school, alternate telling how race, wealth, weight, and other issues shape their relationships as they and other misfits stand up to a mean but influential classmate, even as they are uncovering a long-kept secret about themselves. Check our catalogue
Crush by Ellen Conford 138 pages
- A series of nine romantic short stories covering the lives of B.J. and other students at Cutter's Forge High as they plan for the Valentine's Day Sweetheart Stomp. Check our catalogue
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney 184 pages
- A photograph of a missing girl on a milk carton leads Janie on a search for her real identity. Check our catalogue
Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce 247 pages
- After their mother dies, two brothers find a huge amount of money which they must spend quickly before England switches to the new European currency, but they disagree on what to do with it. Check our catalogue
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech 280 pages
- After her mother leaves home suddenly, thirteen-year-old Sal and her grandparents take a car trip retracing her mother's route. Sal tells the story of her friend Phoebe, whose mother also left. Check our catalogue
Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake 171 pages
- Thirteen-year-old Maleeka, uncomfortable because her skin is extremely dark, meets a new teacher with a birthmark on her face and makes some discoveries about how to love who she is and what she looks like. Check our catalogue
Keeper of the Night by Kimberly Willis Holt 318 pages
- On the island of Guam, thirteen-year-old Isabel and her family cope with the suicide of Isabel's mother. Check our catalogue
Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff by Jennifer Holm 117 pages
Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsburg 261 pages
- When he is wrongly accused of injuring his baby half-sister, thirteen-year-old Branwell loses his power of speech. Only his friend Connor is able to uncover the truth about what really happened. Check our catalogue
Heat by Mike Lupica 220 pages
- 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. Check our catalogue
Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick 169 pages
- At the beginning of eighth grade, learning-disabled Max and his new friend Freak, whose birth defect has affected his body but not his brilliant mind, find that when they combine forces they make a powerful team. Check our catalogue
So Hard to Say by Alex Sanchez 230 pages
- Thirteen-year-old Xio, a Mexican-American girl, and Frederick, who has just moved to California from Wisconsin, quickly become close friends, but when Xio starts thinking of Frederick as her boyfriend, he must confront his feelings of confusion and face the fear that he might be gay. Check our catalogue
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli 186 pages
- In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever. Check our catalogue
Flipped by Wendelin van Draanen 212 pages
- In alternating chapters, two teenagers describe how their feelings about themselves, each other, and their families have changed over the years. Check our catalogue
Mystery Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery by Peter Abrahams 375 pages
- Like her idol Sherlock Holmes, eighth grader Ingrid Levin-Hill uses her intellect to solve a murder case in her hometown of Echo Falls. Check our catalogue
Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator by Jennifer Allison 321 pages
- During the summer before ninth grade, intrepid Gilda Joyce invites herself to the San Francisco mansion of distant cousin Lester Splinter and his thirteen-year-old daughter, where she uses her purported psychic abilities and detective skills to solve the mystery of the mansion's boarded-up tower. Check our catalogue
The Dark Stairs: A Herculeah Jones Mystery by Betsy Cromer Byars 130 pages
- The intrepid Herculeah Jones helps her mother, a private investigator, solve a puzzling and frightening case. Check our catalogue
Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach 250 pages
- Named after a character in a Shakespeare play, misfit sixth-grader Hero becomes interested in exploring this unusual connection because of a valuable diamond supposedly hidden in her new house, an intriguing neighbor, and the unexpected attention of the most popular boy in school. Check our catalogue
Horror The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder by John Bellairs 153 pages
- In 1951, while visiting a distant cousin in the English countryside, thirteen-year-old Lewis Barnavelt accidentally unleashes demonic forces and summons the ghost of an evil wizard bent on killing the Barnavelt family. Check our catalogue
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman 312 pages
- After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own. Check our catalogue
Horowitz Horror by Anthony Horowitz 217 pages
- Nine horror stories set in England focus on everyday items that have sinister qualities. Check our catalogue
Scary Stories by Barry Moser 184 pages
- A collection of stories, filled with suspense and horror features contributions from such authors as Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and H.P. Lovecraft, as well as such modern masters as Stephen King and Ray Bradbury. Check our catalogue
Darkness Creeping: Twenty Twisted Tales by Neal Shusterman 291 pages
- Imagine being trapped forever in someone else’s nightmare, with no means of escape. Or caught on one of the most terrifying roller coasters of all time, when suddenly the tracks ahead just disappear. You’ll find these and more within these tales. Check our catalogue
Adventure The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester 329 pages
- When home schooled farm girl Piper McCloud reveals her ability to fly, she is quickly taken to a secret government facility to be trained with other exceptional children, but she soon realizes that something is very wrong and begins working with brilliant and wealthy Conrad to escape. Check our catalogue
Night of the Howling Dogs by Graham Salisbury 191 pages
- In 1975, eleven Boy Scouts, their leaders, and some new friends camping at Halape, Hawaii, find their survival skills put to the test when a massive earthquake strikes, followed by a tsunami. Check our catalogue
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli 184 pages
- After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee's life becomes legendary, as he accomplishes athletic and other feats which awe his contemporaries. Check our catalogue
Graphic Novels Laika by Nick Abadzis 205 pages
- This is the journey of Laika, the abandoned puppy destined to become Earth's first space traveler. With the blending of fact and fiction, this story intertwines three compelling lives. Along with Laika, there is Korolev, a driven engineer at the top of the Soviet space program and Yelena, the lab technician responsible for Laika's health and life. Check our catalogue
Houdini: the Handcuff King by Jason Lutes & Nick Bertozzi 81 pages Call Number: X741.5 LUTES 81 p.
- Offers a portrait of the legendary escape artist in graphic novel format, and reveals the secret behind his most amazing trick. Check our catalogue
Queen Bee by Chynna Clugston 111 pages
- Haley is smart, funny, nice, and determined to be super-popular in her new middle-school. Check our catalogue
Tellos: Reluctant Heroes by Todd Dezago & Mike Wieringo 156 pages
- A group of adventurers must battle against the evil Malesus, who wants what one of them has: an amulet that unleashes a genie. Check our catalogue
The Arrival by Shaun Tan 121 pages
- In this wordless graphic novel, a man leaves his homeland and sets off for a new country, where he must build a new life for himself and his family. Check our catalogue
Robot Dreams by Sara Varon 205 pages
- The enduring friendship between a dog and a robot is portrayed in this wordless graphic novel. Check our catalogue
Non-fiction Encyclopedia Horrifica: The Terrifying Truth About Vampires, Ghosts, Monsters and More by Joshua Gee 129 pages
- Joshua Gee has collected a wealth of true information about untrue entities: vampires, werewolves, merpeople, ghosts and much more. Check our catalogue
How Angel Peterson Got His Name by Gary Paulsen 111 pages
- Author Gary Paulsen relates tales from his youth in a small town in northwestern Minnesota in the late 1940s and early 1950s, such as skiing behind a souped-up car and imitating daredevil Evel Knievel. Check our catalogue
Phineas Gage: A Gruesome But True Story About Brain Science by John Fleischman. 86 pages
- An in-depth look at the accident that forever changed Phineas Gage and gave the medical world new insight into how the brain works. Check our catalogue
The Race to Save the Lord God Bird by Phillip Hoose 196 pages
- Learn about the majestic ivorybilled woodpecker that reigned for thousands of years over the dark emerald forests that once carpeted the bottomlands of America's broad southern rivers. Check our catalogue
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy 165 pages
- In August, 1793, yellow fever came to Philadelphia and started a horrific epidemic. Learn about the possible causes and cures of this disease through firsthand accounts. Check our catalogue
Recycle This Book: 100 Top Children’s Book Authors Tell You How to Go Green edited by Dan Gutman 267 pages
- Essays from Caroline B. Cooney, Bruce Coville, and other children's book authors are compiled in this guide to understanding the environment, the benefits of recycling, and the importance of "going green." Check our catalogue
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