GRADE 7 SUGGESTIONS

 GRADE 7 SUGGESTIONS

• Maybe He Just Likes You
  by Barbara Dee
  When boys in her class start touching seventh-grader Mila and making her feel uncomfortable, she does not want to tell her friends or mother until she reaches her breaking point.
  
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Everything I Know About You
by Barbara Dee
Misfit Tally is forced to room with queen bee Ava on the seventh grade's extended field trip to Washington, D.C., and discovers several surprising things about her roommate, including the possibility of an eating disorder"--Provided by publisher.

Violets are Blue
by Barbara Dee
Wren, who is learning special effects makeup, is thrilled to be makeup artist for her new school's production of Wicked, but her parents' divorce is seriously affecting her mother.

The Shape of Thunder by Jasmine Warga
Estranged from the best friend whose brother killed her sister in a school shooting, a grieving Cora receives a message on her twelfth birthday from her friend, asking for her help with creating a time portal to prevent the tragedy.

• Upstander (companion to Bystander) by James Preller
  "Mary O'Malley is tired of keeping secrets. Secrets like her older brother, Jonny's, drug use . . . When two girls Mary thought were her friends decide to slam another girl online, Mary tries to look the other way. Then the girls turn on Mary, and suddenly, she doesn't have a safety zone. Her brother is out of control, her family's energies are all spent on him. There is only one person she can turn to"--Provided by publisher.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Blood Mountain by James Preller
Combine a strenuous hike in an unfamiliar wilderness park, lost kids, a dangerous hermit, a rogue mountain lion, a faithful dog, and a savvy female ranger and you have the gist of Preller’s exciting thriller. Grace, 14, and Carter, 11, have agreed to a day hike up Blood Mountain with their father, though their dog, Sitka, is the only one who seems excited at the prospect. The siblings soon leave their slow, out-of-shape father behind, zipping up to the breathtaking outlook. What they don’t realize is that their father has had a heart attack and collapsed, and a PTSD-plagued Marine, who resides on the mountain, is stalking them. Lost, hungry, and alone, Grace and Carter encounter dangers from the wilderness and the Marine. Sectioned into six parts of a day each, this tale of survival is relayed in short chapters that cycle through the various characters’ perspectives. Preller combines brave characters with vivid descriptions of the perilous mountain, grasping readers’ emotions in the same way as Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet series. (Booklist)

Summer of Brave by Amy Noelle Parks
Lilla and her friends Vivi and Knox make a fun Summer Wish every year. This year, however, Vivi's wish for the summer is for Knox and Lilla to be brave. More specifically, she wishes that Lilla would tell the truth, even when it makes people unhappy. Lilla has been hiding her true feelings for too long now, and the thought of opening up to her parents about her reactions to their divorce and living arrangement, their dreams for her in high school, and even to her own best friends is scary. 

This book would pair nicely with Barbara Dee's Maybe He Just Likes You-both make the topic of sexual harassment accessible and empowering for middle schoolers. VERDICT A first purchase for middle grade collections as well as book clubs for this age range.-Kate Olson, Southern Bluffs Elem. Sch., La Crosse, WI © Copyright 2021. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.