7th Grade Reading Circle Books: Heroism, Beating the Odds, and Taking a Stand

Adapted for young readers by Gregory Mone, this is the remarkable story of the University of Washington's 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, defeating elite rivals first from eastern and British universities before challenging the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic Games in Berlin, 1936.

Follows Peekay, a white British boy in South Africa during World War II, between the ages of five and eleven, as he survives an abusive boarding school and goes on to succeed in life and the boxing ring, with help from a chicken, a boxer, a pianist, black African prisoners, and many others.

Growing up in Alaska in the 1970s isn't like growing up anywhere else: Don't think life is going to be easy. Know your place. And never talk about yourself. Four vivid voices tell intertwining stories of hardship, tragedy, wild luck, and salvation.

When fourteen-year-old Peak Marcello’s long-lost father presents the opportunity for them to summit Everest together, Peak doesn’t even consider saying no - even though he suspects there are a few strings attached. And if he makes it to the top before his birthday, he’ll be the youngest person ever to stand above 29,000 feet. It’s not a bad turn of events for a guy who’s been stuck in New York City with only skyscrapers to (illegally) scale. Here, in Peak’s own words, is the exhilarating, gut-wrenching story of what happened on that climb to the top of the world - a climb that changed everything.

Starr Carter is a teen between two worlds: her school, which is rich, fancy, and white; and her neighborhood, which is poor and black. She navigates this differing terrain every day of her life until her worlds collide when she witnesses the fatal police shooting of her best friend, Khalil, an unarmed black teen. Khalil's death goes viral, and Starr is caught in the middle between the protesters in the street and her friends at school. With the eyes of the world on her, Starr has to decide: Will she say what happened that night? Will it matter?

In the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, ten-year-old Sasha idolizes his father, a devoted Communist, but when police take his father away and leave Sasha homeless, he is forced to examine his own perceptions, values, and beliefs. Newbery Honor Book.