Illinois 7th grade reading list

Books with an Illinois citation for 7th grade include Holes, Maniac Magee and The Giver. This list has 736 total books, 35 of them with an Illinois-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 410L to 1300L.

Top Illinois 7th grade pick: Holes by Louis Sachar — on 1 Illinois list

Get it on Amazon →

Affiliate link: as an Amazon Associate, ReadingList earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Try it on audio — free. Kids who struggle with the print versions often finish the assigned books by listening.

Listen free on Audiblestarts instantly

New members only · many assigned titles are included with the membership. As an Amazon Associate, ReadingList earns from qualifying purchases and membership trials at no extra cost to you.

Total books736Lexile410L–1300LSourceIllinois Learning Standards✓ sources cited per book

Most-assigned on state lists: across every US state’s official reading and award lists, the Middle (6–8) titles appearing in the most states are The Giver (20 states), The Hunger Games (14 states), and Ground Zero (8 states). From our 2026 study of 13,258 source-cited assignments (as of 2026-07-13).

Our pick to start — most-cited for Illinois 7th grade

These are the 30 titles named in Illinois’s own curriculum documents for this grade — everything below is the wider national list. Read against the Common Core Appendix A complexity band; reading level is not thematic maturity, and several sit below the band because they are assigned for discussion.

  1. Holes

    Louis Sachar

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 3 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers fate vs choice, friendship and justice. At 660L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  2. Maniac Magee

    Jerry Spinelli

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 3 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers race, homelessness and family. At 820L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  3. The Giver

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 3 national references, taught from grade 6 to 8. Covers conformity vs individuality, memory, utopia and dystopia. At 760L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  4. Smile

    Raina Telgemeier

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers growing up, friendship and self-acceptance. At 410L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  5. The Crossover

    Kwame Alexander

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers family, brotherhood and basketball. At 750L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  6. Eragon

    Christopher Paolini

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers dragons, destiny and courage.

    Get it on Amazon

  7. Frindle

    Andrew Clements

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers creativity, language and thought, intelligence. At 830L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  8. Ghost

    Jason Reynolds

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers running, family violence and mentorship. At 730L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  9. Number the Stars

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers courage, friendship and Holocaust. At 670L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  10. Refugee

    Alan Gratz

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 5 to 9. Covers refugees, survival and family. At 800L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  11. The Dollhouse Murders

    Betty Ren Wright

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers mystery, family and ghosts.

    Get it on Amazon

  12. The Hunger Games

    Suzanne Collins

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers authoritarianism, survival, media and spectacle. At 810L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  13. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)

    Rick Riordan

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers Greek mythology, neurodivergence (dyslexia, ADHD) and friendship. At 740L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  14. Wait Till Helen Comes

    Mary Downing Hahn

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers ghosts, family and jealousy.

    Get it on Amazon

  15. When Stars Are Scattered

    Victoria Jamieson

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers refugees, family and hope.

    Get it on Amazon

  16. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers facial difference, kindness and bullying. At 790L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  17. A Night Divided

    Jennifer A. Nielsen

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers courage, freedom and family.

    Get it on Amazon

  18. All the Lovely Bad Ones

    Mary Downing Hahn

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers ghosts, family and mystery.

    Get it on Amazon

  19. Alone

    Megan E. Freeman

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6.

    Get it on Amazon

  20. Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie

    Jordan Sonnenblick

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers family, illness and music.

    Get it on Amazon

  21. Ella Enchanted

    Gail Carson Levine

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers courage, fairy-tale and independence.

    Get it on Amazon

  22. Fever 1793

    Laurie Halse Anderson

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 2 to 8. Covers yellow fever, epidemics and survival.

    Get it on Amazon

  23. Flight #116 Is Down!

    Caroline B. Cooney

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers aeronautics, fiction, airplanes, juvenile literature and airplanes, fiction.

    Get it on Amazon

  24. Front Desk

    Kelly Yang

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers immigration, family and race. At 640L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  25. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

    J.K. Rowling

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers friendship, courage and good vs evil. At 880L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  26. Hoot

    Carl Hiaasen

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers environmentalism, friendship and activism. At 760L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  27. Legend

    Marie Lu

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers dystopia, justice and loyalty.

    Get it on Amazon

  28. Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25

    Richard Paul Evans

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers powers, friendship and courage.

    Get it on Amazon

  29. Mick Harte Was Here

    Barbara Park

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers grief, family and safety.

    Get it on Amazon

  30. Parachute Kids

    Betty C. Tang

    Cited in 1 Illinois curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers immigration, family and resilience.

    Get it on Amazon

35 books cited for Illinois 7th grade

Assignments tied directly to Illinois’s Illinois Learning Standards with a Illinois-specific citation.

Show all 35 titles

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

701 additional grade-appropriate books for 7th grade readers

The 736-book total above includes 35 titles with direct Illinois citation; these 701 additional titles cover 7th grade in the broader canon. They don't have an Illinois-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

Show all 701 titles

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Know a parent or teacher who needs this? Share it:FacebookPinterest

Teacher or librarian? Print this list as a checklist — free to photocopy for your class or library (details).

Other Illinois grades

6th grade · 8th grade · 5th grade · 9th grade

Reading lists by grade (all states)

6th grade · 8th grade · 5th grade · 9th grade

Same 7th grade in other states

California · Texas · Florida · New York · Pennsylvania · Ohio

Browse 7th grade reading by theme

About the Illinois 7th grade reading list

This list combines books cited in Illinois Learning Standards with books from national sources that list titles for 7th grade: the Common Core State Standards (ELA), plus awards such as the Andre Norton Award for Middle Grade & Young Adult Fiction, the Newbery Medal and the Golden Kite Award. ReadingList currently tracks 736 titles for 7th grade in Illinois, of which 35 carry a direct Illinois citation and 701 are grade-appropriate titles whose reading level overlaps 7th grade. Across the list, Lexile measures span 410L–1300L.

7th grade sits in the 6-8 grade band, where students are middle-grade readers. At this stage the emphasis is on analyzing theme, character, and author's craft across full-length novels and their first classics. Assigned reading skews toward full-length novels, plays, memoir, and frequently-challenged contemporary titles, with text complexity that, per Common Core’s Appendix A reading bands, typically falls around roughly 700L to 1010L. Measured against that 925–1185L range, of the 64 titles here with a Lexile score 10 are grade-level, 53 are more accessible (often assigned for theme over challenge), and 1 is a stretch text that may need scaffolding. Because readers in a single 7th grade classroom can span several hundred Lexile points, this list is best read as a starting point rather than a fixed requirement.

Illinois’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Illinois Learning Standards (isbe.net). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 7th grade list below blends Illinois-specific assignments with widely taught national titles. Every title links to its primary source on the book’s detail page, so you can confirm exactly where and why it is assigned.

How to use this list:match a title to your child’s most recent Lexile or guided-reading level rather than to the grade alone. Teachers building a 7th grade unit can pair a Illinois-cited core text with a grade-appropriate companion novel; parents previewing summer or supplemental reading can check each book’s content notes and challenge history before assigning it.

Common questions

What books do 7th grade students read in Illinois?
Books with an Illinois-specific citation for 7th grade include Holes, Maniac Magee, The Giver, Smile and The Crossover. Individual schools and districts choose their own titles, so check with your child's teacher for the exact list.
How many books are assigned to 7th grade students in Illinois?
This list has 736 books for 7th grade students in Illinois. 35 of them have an Illinois-specific citation; the other 701 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 7th grade reading in Illinois?
Lexile measures across the 7th grade Illinois reading list range from 410L to 1300L. Books without a published Lexile (poetry, drama, picture books) are not included in this range.
Where does this reading list come from?
Illinois-specific entries reference Illinois Learning Standards (published at www.isbe.net). The other books come from national sources that list books for 7th grade: the Common Core State Standards (ELA), plus awards such as the Andre Norton Award for Middle Grade & Young Adult Fiction, the Newbery Medal and the Golden Kite Award. Each book's page links the primary source for every listing.

Reading guides for parents

▸Embed this list on your site

Copy + paste this snippet into any school newsletter, classroom blog, library site, or homeschool resource page. The embed shows the top 12 titles and links back to the full list. Updates automatically when ReadingList’s data changes.

<iframe src="https://readinglist.school/embed/grade/7" width="100%" height="540" style="border:1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.1);border-radius:6px;max-width:640px" loading="lazy" title="7th grade reading list — ReadingList.school"></iframe>

Preview: /embed/grade/7 · License: CC BY 4.0 (please credit “ReadingList.school”).

Was this page helpful?

Browse by another angle

State-specific entries sourced from www.isbe.net. National references cited on each book’s detail page.

Find ReadingList in your Google results more often: