Maryland 7th grade reading list

Books with a Maryland citation for 7th grade include Holes, The Giver and The Crossover. This list has 767 total books, 59 of them with a Maryland-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 360L to 1300L.

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

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Total books767Lexile360L–1300LSourceMaryland College & Career Ready 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 Maryland 7th grade

These are the 30 titles named in Maryland’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 Maryland 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.

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  2. The Giver

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Maryland 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.

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  3. The Crossover

    Kwame Alexander

    Cited in 1 Maryland 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.

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  4. Frindle

    Andrew Clements

    Cited in 1 Maryland 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.

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  5. Out of My Mind

    Sharon M. Draper

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers disability, inclusion and intelligence. At 700L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  6. Roller Girl

    Victoria Jamieson

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers friendship, perseverance and growing up. At 440L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  7. Schooled

    Gordon Korman

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers middle school students, teenage boys and home schooling.

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  8. Stepping on the Cracks

    Mary Downing Hahn

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7.

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  9. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 1 Maryland 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.

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  10. A Night Divided

    Jennifer A. Nielsen

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

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  11. A Tale Dark and Grimm

    Adam Gidwitz

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers fairy tales, courage and siblings.

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  12. All the Impossible Things

    Lindsay Lackey

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8.

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  13. All's Faire in Middle School

    Victoria Jamieson

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers renaissance fairs, middle schools and schools.

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  14. Allergic

    Megan Wagner Lloyd

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers new york times reviewed and comic books, strips, etc..

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  15. Allies

    Alan Gratz

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 9. Covers war, courage and sacrifice.

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  16. Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity

    Dave Roman

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8.

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  17. Attack of the Black Rectangles

    A. S. King

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8. Covers middle grade and censorship.

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  18. Best Friends

    Shannon Hale

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8.

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  19. Crush

    Svetlana Chmakova

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers middle schools, graphic novels and comic books, strips.

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  20. Define "Normal"

    Julie Anne Peters

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 9 to 12. Covers peer counseling, friendship in fiction, parent and child in fiction.

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  21. Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey

    Margaret Peterson Haddix

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers child abuse, diaries, fathers and daughters.

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  22. Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie

    Jordan Sonnenblick

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

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  23. Eerie Tales from the School of Screams

    Graham Annable

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8.

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  24. Ella Enchanted

    Gail Carson Levine

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

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  25. Front Desk

    Kelly Yang

    Cited in 1 Maryland 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.

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  26. Ghost Boys

    Jewell Parker Rhodes

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers race, justice and family. At 360L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  27. Ghosts

    Raina Telgemeier

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6.

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  28. Heir Apparent

    Vivian Vande Velde

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8. Covers virtual reality, realidad virtual and novela juvenil.

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  29. Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy

    Faith Erin Hicks

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 9 to 12. Covers graphic novels, romance and lgbti.

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  30. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

    Ally Carter

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8. Covers man-woman relationships, nyt:series_books=2010-07-11 and spies.

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59 books cited for Maryland 7th grade

Assignments tied directly to Maryland’s Maryland College & Career Ready Standards with a Maryland-specific citation.

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708 additional grade-appropriate books for 7th grade readers

The 767-book total above includes 59 titles with direct Maryland citation; these 708 additional titles cover 7th grade in the broader canon. They don't have a Maryland-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

Show all 708 titles

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Other Maryland 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 · Illinois

Browse 7th grade reading by theme

About the Maryland 7th grade reading list

This list combines books cited in Maryland College & Career Ready 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 767 titles for 7th grade in Maryland, of which 59 carry a direct Maryland citation and 708 are grade-appropriate titles whose reading level overlaps 7th grade. Across the list, Lexile measures span 360L–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.

Maryland’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Maryland College & Career Ready Standards (marylandpublicschools.org). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 7th grade list below blends Maryland-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 Maryland-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 Maryland?
Books with a Maryland-specific citation for 7th grade include Holes, The Giver, The Crossover, Frindle and Out of My Mind. 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 Maryland?
This list has 767 books for 7th grade students in Maryland. 59 of them have a Maryland-specific citation; the other 708 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 7th grade reading in Maryland?
Lexile measures across the 7th grade Maryland reading list range from 360L to 1300L. Books without a published Lexile (poetry, drama, picture books) are not included in this range.
Where does this reading list come from?
Maryland-specific entries reference Maryland College & Career Ready Standards (published at marylandpublicschools.org). 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

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