Pennsylvania 7th grade reading list

Books with a Pennsylvania citation for 7th grade include Bud, Not Buddy; Holes and Maniac Magee. This list has 739 total books, 34 of them with a Pennsylvania-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 410L to 1300L.

Top Pennsylvania 7th grade pick: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis — on 1 Pennsylvania list

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Total books739Lexile410L–1300LSourcePA Core 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 Pennsylvania 7th grade

These are the 30 titles named in Pennsylvania’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. Bud, Not Buddy

    Christopher Paul Curtis

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document and 3 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers family, identity and perseverance. At 950L it falls inside the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  2. Holes

    Louis Sachar

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania 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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  3. Maniac Magee

    Jerry Spinelli

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania 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.

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  4. New Kid

    Jerry Craft

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document and 3 national references, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers race and identity, code-switching, middle school adjustment.

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  5. The Giver

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania 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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  6. Eragon

    Christopher Paolini

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

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  7. Fish in a Tree

    Lynda Mullaly Hunt

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers disability, friendship and school. At 550L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  8. Out of My Mind

    Sharon M. Draper

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania 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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  9. Refugee

    Alan Gratz

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania 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.

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  10. Shiloh

    Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers animal welfare, morality and family. At 890L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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

    Rick Riordan

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania 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.

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  12. When Stars Are Scattered

    Victoria Jamieson

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

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  13. Among the Hidden

    Margaret Peterson Haddix

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers freedom, identity and resistance.

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  14. Awkward

    Svetlana Chmakova

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers basic reader, middle schools and comics & graphic novels.

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  15. Black Brother, Black Brother

    Jewell Parker Rhodes

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers racism, identity and justice.

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  16. Chomp

    Carl Hiaasen

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8. Covers television, reality television programs and missing persons.

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  17. Crash

    Jerry Spinelli

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers conduct of life, family life and friendship.

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  18. Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie

    Jordan Sonnenblick

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

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  19. Found

    Margaret Peterson Haddix

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

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  20. Gregor the Overlander

    Suzanne Collins

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers family, courage and destiny.

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  21. Ground Zero

    Alan Gratz

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

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  22. Heart of a Champion

    Carl Deuker

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8. Covers baseball, friendship and baseball, fiction.

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  23. Hoot

    Carl Hiaasen

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania 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.

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  24. Invisible

    Christina Diaz Gonzalez

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

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  25. Parachute Kids

    Betty C. Tang

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

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  26. Peter and the Starcatchers

    Dave Barry

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers characters in literature, humorous stories and magic.

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  27. Prisoner B-3087

    Alan Gratz

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers jews, history and holocaust, jewish (1939-1945).

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  28. Spying on Miss Müller

    Eve Bunting

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8. Covers world war, 1939-1945, fathers and daughters, boarding schools.

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  29. The Fourteenth Goldfish

    Jennifer L. Holm

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers scientists, aging and grandfathers.

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  30. The Name of This Book Is Secret

    Pseudonymous Bosch

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8. Covers secrets, new york times bestseller and nyt:series_books=2011-09-10.

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34 books cited for Pennsylvania 7th grade

Assignments tied directly to Pennsylvania’s PA Core Standards with a Pennsylvania-specific citation.

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705 additional grade-appropriate books for 7th grade readers

The 739-book total above includes 34 titles with direct Pennsylvania citation; these 705 additional titles cover 7th grade in the broader canon. They don't have a Pennsylvania-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

Show all 705 titles

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Other Pennsylvania 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 · Illinois · Ohio

Browse 7th grade reading by theme

About the Pennsylvania 7th grade reading list

This list combines books cited in PA Core 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 739 titles for 7th grade in Pennsylvania, of which 34 carry a direct Pennsylvania citation and 705 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 62 titles here with a Lexile score 10 are grade-level, 51 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.

Pennsylvania’s English Language Arts requirements are set by PA Core Standards (education.pa.gov). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 7th grade list below blends Pennsylvania-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 Pennsylvania-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 Pennsylvania?
Books with a Pennsylvania-specific citation for 7th grade include Bud, Not Buddy; Holes; Maniac Magee; New Kid and The Giver. 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 Pennsylvania?
This list has 739 books for 7th grade students in Pennsylvania. 34 of them have a Pennsylvania-specific citation; the other 705 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 7th grade reading in Pennsylvania?
Lexile measures across the 7th grade Pennsylvania 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?
Pennsylvania-specific entries reference PA Core Standards (published at www.education.pa.gov). 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.

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State-specific entries sourced from www.education.pa.gov. National references cited on each book’s detail page.

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