7th grade booktalks
2019-2020
January 27, 2020: learning history through a story
Sweep: the story of a girl and her monster by Jonathan Auxier
- F AUX. historical fiction + fantasy
- Jonathan Auxier tells about his book.
The Journey of Little Charlie by Christopher Paul Curtis
- F CUR.
- Little Charlie is the son of poor, white sharecroppers in the pre-Civil War era. When tragedy leaves him without a family, he is forced to go with the plantation overseer to capture and bring home a runaway enslaved family.
- Little Charlie has a good heart, but he is also racist and ignorant. This story is one that helps us see how Little Charlie, and all of us, can grow and change.
- Christopher Paul Curtis shares about the book.
Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix
- F HAD.
- 1910, New York. Conditions for children were not the same as they are now--many children worked long hours in factories in terrible conditions.
- Three girls--Bella, from Italy, Yetta, from Russia, and Jane, from New York--lives' intersect at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, a place where many immigrants work.
- The three girls have very different perspectives. Yetta is part of a group that starts a strike at the factory, protesting the conditions in which the workers must survive. Bella is a strikebreaker, a person who is employed by the factory in place of those on strike, because she wants to send money hom. Jane is part of the elite class who doesn't really know or understand what the workers are going through.
- When disaster strikes the factory, the lives of the girls are changed forever.
Tulsa Burning by Anna Myers
- F MYE.
- 1921. Wekiwa, Oklahoma.
- Nobe Chase has lost everything important to him: his father, his home, and his dog. To make matters worse, he has to move with his mother to live with Sheriff Leonard, an uncompassionate man. Nobe's feelings of hate and revenge begin to build.
- While living with the Leonards, Nobe begins working as a dishwasher at a cafe with a new cook, Lester Cotton. He also begins to develop a friendship with Lester's son, Isaac.
- Even though Nobe has a lot of hate inside, he realizes just how destructive it can be when he learns that Isaac has been seriously injured during a riot fueled by face.
- Nobe is determined to save Isaac, and he does, but when he finds out Isaac's involvement in the riot, can he save him again?
Happy reading!
October 14, 2019: more than one side to a story
Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart
- realistic fiction. F GEP
- Donna tells us about her book.
Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly
- realistic fiction (fantasy). F KEL
- Erin tells us about her book.
- Four kids, Virgil, Valencia, Kaori, and Chet, aren't friends until a prank gone wrong brings them together. In one day, a rescue is performed, a bully is put in his place, and friendship blooms.
Schooled by Gordon Korman
- realistic fiction. F KOR
- Cap (short for Capricorn) is not what you'd call a typical middle school kid. He and his grandmother, Rain, live on a farm commune. He doesn't attend school, doesn't watch TV, and doesn't talk on the phone (because they don't have those things).
- When Rain is injured in an accident and is forced to go to the hospital, Cap has to go live with a social worker from the nearby school. He attends middle school for the first time and realizes he has a lot to learn about how middle school works. Can he teach the middle schoolers there a few things too?
Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass
- realistic fiction. F MAS
- Moon Shadow Campground, normally a quiet and isolated place, has suddenly become a gathering spot as thousands of people have come to watch a rare total eclipse of the sun. It is also where three kids are about to have their lives changed:
- Ally, whose home is the Moon Shadow Campground. She is proud of her quiet life and doesn't want it to change.
- Bree, who is a future homecoming queen, is most popular of all that are popular and proud of that. Bree is not interested in her time spent at the campground.
- Jack, who is a little awkward and self-conscious, comes to the campground for the eclipse. He has a requirement to fulfill so he's there to fulfill it.
- In the midst of an awe-inspiring event, and an event none of them are expecting, these three strangers turn into friends.
George vs. George: The American Revolution As Seen From Both Sides by Rosalyn Schanzer
- narrative nonfiction. 973.3 SCH
- During the American Revolution, there were two enemies, both named George.
- George Washington was the man who helped to free the American colonies from British control, and King George III was the man who lost them.
- Was King George a "Royal Brute" as the American Patriots called him? Or was he "the father of the people" as others called him? Was George Washington a "scurrilous traitor" as the British faithful called him? Or should we remember him as the "father of his country?"
- This is the story of these two men and the conflict they were a part of, and an example that shows there is always more than one side to tell.
Others you shouldn't forget...
Happy reading!
September 9, 2019: novels in verse
Beanball by Gene Fehler
- Sports fiction. F FEH
- book trailer
- Luke "Wizard" Wallace is the star player for Oak Grove, and it's the last inning between them and their arch-rivals Compton.
- Luke steps to the plate and is hit by a wild pitch. It shatters his skull, destroys his vision in his left eye, and changes his life.
- This is the story, told from 28 different perspectives, of what happens next.
Hidden by Helen Frost
- Realistic fiction. F FRO
- Many years ago, Darra Monson's father stole a minivan. He didn't know that Wren Abbott was in the back. The hours and days after that events change both Darra and Wren's lives, and they are both left with questions only the other can answer.
- Now, Darra is headed to summer camp, and realizes she knows someone there--Wren. They both have to figure out how they're going to relate to each other, and whether they're willing to reveal the stories they've kept to themselves for so long.
- There's even a "hidden" message that tells more of the story!
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
- Historical fiction. F HES
- Set in the 1930s in Oklahoma, when the entire midwest was enduring the American Dust Bowl, this story is told by Billie Jo.
- Fourteen years old, Billie Jo and her family have endured a LOT. (Warning: this book is sad!) But the book also highlights her strength in dealing with the hard times.
- This is a story of dust, poverty, tragedy, despair, AND spirit, hope, and forgiveness.
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
- Historical fiction. F LAI
- book trailer
- Based on the author's own experiences as an immigrant child, this book follows Ha' as she goes from her familiar home of Saigon to a very unfamiliar world of Alabama. She must deal with the new-ness by believing in the strength of her family.
Breakout by Kate Messner
- Realistic fiction. F MES
- Nora Tucker is excited about her upcoming summer vacation and all that it will bring. Everything changes, though, when two inmates break out of her town's maximum security prison.
- Doors are locked, helicopters fly over the woods, and police patrol the school grounds. Everyone is on edge, and fear brings out the worst in people Nora thought she knew well.
- Not exactly a novel in verse...this story is told through letters, poems, text messages, news stories, and comics.