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Reading levels and needs

Top 20 books for a 7th grader who is behind or reluctant

A seventh grader who is behind needs books that respect their age. These are graphic memoirs, verse novels, and short, real-world stories with low reading demand but older subjects.

Chosen from award lists, school and library reading lists, and reviews, and each title and author checked against Open Library, Oct 2026. Checked 2026-10-25. Nobody paid to be here. The buy links are plain search links, not affiliate links, so Peabody earns nothing from them.

  1. Maus I: A Survivor's Tale

    Art Spiegelman · Ages 13-17

    A son interviews his father about surviving Auschwitz, with mice as Jews and cats as Nazis. The first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer.

    Watch for: Holocaust violence and suicide; one of the most challenged books.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  2. Persepolis

    Marjane Satrapi · Ages 13-17

    The author's black-and-white graphic memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

    Watch for: Torture, executions, and some sexual references; has been challenged.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  3. They Called Us Enemy

    George Takei · Ages 12-16

    Takei remembers being held in Japanese American incarceration camps as a child. A graphic memoir.

    Watch for: Racism, family separation, and war.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  4. Dragon Hoops

    Gene Luen Yang · Ages 12-16

    Yang follows a Bishop O'Dowd high school basketball team to a state title while questioning his own life. A graphic nonfiction hybrid.

    Watch for: Some adult themes and language.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  5. Pashmina

    Nidhi Chanani · Ages 10-14

    Priyanka finds a magic shawl that shows her India and the secrets her mother kept. A graphic novel.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  6. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

    Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi · Ages 12-16

    A remix of Kendi's history of racist ideas for young readers, told like a conversation. A quicker read than its length suggests.

    Watch for: Racism, slavery, and violence; some find the framing political.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  7. Ghost Boys

    Jewell Parker Rhodes · Ages 10-14

    Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer and watches from the afterlife. Meets Emmett Till's ghost.

    Watch for: A child's death by police; heavy and clear.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  8. Out of the Dust

    Karen Hesse · Ages 10-14

    Billie Jo narrates the Dust Bowl in free verse after a horrible accident. A Newbery winner.

    Watch for: A fire kills a mother; an injury; grief.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  9. Locomotion

    Jacqueline Woodson · Ages 9-13

    Lonnie writes poems in foster care, missing his sister. A short verse novel with an honest voice.

    Watch for: Parents' death in a fire; foster care.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  10. Punching the Air

    Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam · Ages 13-17

    Amal, a Black teen wrongly imprisoned, finds his voice in poems. Co-written by one of the Exonerated Five.

    Watch for: Prison and racism; for older readers.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  11. Home of the Brave

    Katherine Applegate · Ages 9-13

    Kek, a refugee from Sudan, starts school in Minnesota in short, free-verse lines.

    Watch for: A brief mention of his family being killed.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  12. The Maze Runner

    James Dashner · Ages 12-16

    Thomas wakes in a glade of boys with no memory, ringed by a deadly maze. Fast and puzzling.

    Watch for: Violence and deaths of teens; the series has a bleak turn. Recent controversy surrounds the author.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  13. Orbiting Jupiter

    Gary D. Schmidt · Ages 12-15

    A foster boy, a teen father at 13, comes to live on a Maine farm. Short, plain, and moving.

    Watch for: Child abuse, teen parenthood, and a death.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  14. Monster

    Walter Dean Myers · Ages 12-16

    Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon is on trial for murder, and writes it as a film script. Printz and Coretta Scott King honor winner and a quick read.

    Watch for: Felony murder trial, prison, and violence.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  15. Coraline

    Neil Gaiman · Ages 9-13

    Coraline finds a door to a world with a second, button-eyed mother. Short and truly creepy.

    Watch for: Scary imagery.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  16. Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

    Kwame Mbalia · Ages 9-13

    After a loss, Tristan lands in a land of African American folk heroes like John Henry. A Rick Riordan Presents fantasy.

    Watch for: Grief and fantasy fighting.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  17. A Long Walk to Water

    Linda Sue Park · Ages 10-14

    Two stories in alternating chapters: Salva, a Lost Boy of Sudan in 1985, and Nya, who walks for water in 2008. Under 125 pages.

    Watch for: War, deaths of children, and animal attacks.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  18. The Outsiders

    S.E. Hinton · Ages 12-16

    Greasers and Socs in 1960s Oklahoma, told by 14-year-old Ponyboy. Written by a teenager and still the book that hooks reluctant readers.

    Watch for: Gang violence, deaths, underage smoking and drinking.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  19. Holes

    Louis Sachar · Ages 9-13

    Stanley Yelnats is sent to dig holes at a juvenile camp in the desert, and three timelines click together. Short chapters, dry humor, a real mystery.

    Watch for: Some bullying and a death in a backstory.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  20. The Skin I'm In

    Sharon G. Flake · Ages 12-16

    Maleeka, a dark-skinned seventh grader, is bullied about her skin and clothes and finds a teacher who believes in her.

    Watch for: Bullying and a teacher who is scarred.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

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