Instructions
For incoming 7th graders, students are required to read two books before the end of summer. One of those two books must be chosen from the required book list below, and the second book should be chosen from the additional book list. Learn more about Libri Aestivi guidelines and requirements.
Book Report Form
Download the book report form, and print out a copy for each of the books read. Book report forms are specific to each grade level and are not interchangeable. Both book reports are required to be submitted on the first day of school, and will result in a literature completion grade.
Required Book
Blood on the River: James Town 1607
by Elisa Lynn Carbone
Traveling to the New World in 1606 as the page to Captain John Smith, twelve-year-old orphan Samuel Collier settles in the new colony of James Town, where he must quickly learn to distinguish between friend and foe.
ISBN 978-0-14-240932-9
Choose 1 additional Book
Chains
by Laurie Halse Anderson
After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War. ISBN 978-1-41690-586-8
Fever
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick mother, learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793. ISBN 978-0-689-84891-9
Tuck Everlasting
by Natalie Babbitt
The Tuck family is confronted with an agonizing situation when they discover that a ten-year-old girl and a malicious stranger now share their secret about a spring whose water prevents one from ever growing any older. ISBN 978-1-25005-929-1
The Incredible Journey
by Sheila Every Burnford
A Siamese cat, an old bull terrier, and a young Labrador retriever travel together 250 miles through the Canadian wilderness to find their family. ISBN 978-0-440-41324-0
Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll
Read Alice In Wonderland Only. On a boat trip with Reverend and his daughters, one of whom was named Alice, Carroll invented a story about a bored little girl who goes looking for adventure. ISBN 978-1-4209-5130-1
My Brother Sam is Dead
by James Lincoln Collier
Recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family during the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral in a Tory town. ISBN 978-0-439-78360-6
The Ransom of Mercy Carter
by Caroline B. Cooney
In 1704, in the English settlement of Deerfield, Massachusetts, eleven-year-old Mercy and her family and neighbors are captured by Mohawk Indians and their French allies, and forced to march through bitter cold to French Canada, where some adapt to new lives and some still hope to be ransomed. ISBN 978-0-385-74046-3
My Side of the Mountain
by Jean Craighead
A young boy relates his adventures during the year he spends living alone in the Catskill Mountains, including his struggle for survival, his dependence on nature, his animal friends, and his ultimate realization that he needs human companionship. ISBN 978-0-14-131242-2
Incident at Hawk’s Hill
by Allan W. Eckert
A shy, lonely six-year-old wanders into the Canadian prairie and spends a summer under the protection of a badger. ISBN 978-0-316-20948-9
Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison
by Lois Lenski
A fictional retelling of the experiences of twelve-year-old Mary Jemison, who after being captured by a Shawnee war party during the French and Indian War, is rescued and subsequently adopted by two Seneca sisters with whom she ultimately chooses to stay. ISBN 978-0-06-446162-7
Woods Runner
by Gary Paulsen
From his 1776 Pennsylvania homestead, thirteen-year-old Samuel, who is a highly-skilled woodsman, sets out toward New York City to rescue his parents from the band of British soldiers and Native Americans who kidnapped them after slaughtering most of their community. Includes historical notes. ISBN 978-0-375-85908-3
Black Beauty
by Anne Sewell
A horse in nineteenth-century England recounts his experiences with both good and bad masters. ISBN 978-1-53621-124-5
Around the World in 80 Days
by Jules Verne
Jules Verne’s classic novel featuring Phileas Fogg, a wealthy gentleman who makes a bet that he can travel around the world in just eighty days. ISBN 978-1-42874-432-5
