7th Grade

7-1 Literary Texts—Characters With Character

L=Lexile
RL=Reading level Stories (Read Aloud/ Introduction to the Middle Ages)

• Favorite Medieval Tales (Mary Pope Osborne)

Stories

• Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village (Laura Amy Schlitz) (RL 5.6)
• The World of King Arthur and His Court: People, Places, Legend, and Lore (Kevin Crossley-Holland)
• Anna of Byzantium (Tracy Barrett) (L 910)
• Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess (Richard Platt and Chris Riddell) (L 1010)
• The Seeing Stone (Arthur Trilogy, Book One) (Kevin Crossley-Holland) (L 640)
• Crispin: The Cross of Lead (Avi) (easier to read) (L 780)
• Adam of the Road (Elizabeth Janet Gray) (easier to read) (L 1030)
• The Midwife’s Apprentice (Karen Cushman) (easier to read) (L 1240)

Medieval Korea

• A Single Shard (Linda Sue Park) (L 920)

Medieval Africa (Read Aloud)

• Sundiata: Lion King of Mali (David Wisniewski) (L 820)
• Traveling Man: The Journey of Ibn Battuta 1325-1354 (James Rumford)

Mali (L 650)

• Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali (Djibril Tamsir Niane)

Riddles

• Old English Riddles: From the Exeter Book (Michael Alexander)

Informational Texts Informational Text
Medieval Europe

• Cathedral: the Story of Its Construction (David Macaulay) (E) (L 1120)
• The Medieval World (Philip Steele) (RL 5.2)
• Manners and Customs in the Middle Ages (Marsha Groves) (RL 7.3)
• Joan of Arc (Diane Stanley) (L 980)
• Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (Mark Twain) (RL adult)
• Outrageous Women of the Middle Ages (Vicki Leon) (RL 7.4)
• The Horrible, Miserable Middle Ages: The Disgusting Details About Life During Medieval Times (Fact Finders: Disgusting History series) (Kathy Allen)(L 850)
• The Middle Ages: An Illustrated History (Oxford Illustrated Histories) (Barbara Hanawalt) (L 1180)
• How Would You Survive in the Middle Ages (Fiona MacDonald and David Salariya) (L 910)

Medieval Africa

• The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa (Patricia and Fredrick McKissack) (RL 6.9)

Art, Music, and Media Music

• Gregorian chants and madrigals

Art

• Arms and Armor from The Walters Art Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Byzantine Art: Frescos and mosaics inside domed churches
• Islamic Art: Caucasus textiles
• Gothic Art & Architecture: Notre Dame; Westminster Abbey
• Illuminated Manuscripts: “Hunt of the Unicorn Annunciation” (ca. 1500)

7-2 Literary Texts–Perseverance Stories

• The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg (Rodman Philbrick) (L 950)
• The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed (Heather Vogel Frederick) (L 1020)
• Jesse (Gary Soto) (L 900)
• Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy (Gary Schmidt) (L 1000)
• I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade (Diane Lee Wilson) (L 1010)
• Treasure Island(Robert Louis Stevenson) (L 1100)
• Ties That Bind, Ties That Break (Lensey Namioka) (L 830)
• The Miracle Worker (and Related Readings) (William Gibson) (RL 7.1)

Poems

• “Oranges” (Gary Soto) (E)

Plays

• The Miracle Worker: A Play (William Gibson)

Informational Texts Biographies

• Dare to Dream!: 25 Extraordinary Lives (Sandra McLeod Humphrey) (RL 6.4)
• African American Firsts: Famous Little-Known and Unsung Triumphs of Blacks in America (Joan Potter) (RL adult)
• The World At Her Fingertips: The Story Of Helen Keller (Joan Dash) (RL 7.9)
• The Struggle to be Strong: True Stories by Teens About Overcoming Tough Times (Al Desetta) (L 830)
• Geronimo (Joseph Bruchac) (L 900)
• The Civil Rights Movement in America (Elaine Landau) (L 1080)
• Dare to Dream: Coretta Scott King and the Civil Rights Movement (Angela Shelf Medearis) (L 890 RL 6.3)

Photobiographies

• Inventing the Future: A Photobiography of Thomas Alva Edison (Marfe Ferguson Delano) (L 1140 RL 7.9)
• Helen Keller: A Photographic Story of a Life (Leslie Garrett) (L 890 RL 7.3)
• Helen’s Eyes: A Photobiography of Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller’s Teacher (Marfe Ferguson Delano) (L 1030)

Graphical Autobiography

• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Marjane Satrapi) (L 380)

Art, Music, and Media Media

• The Miracle Worker (1962)

7-3 Literary Texts—Determination in Life and in Literature Plays

• The Diary of Anne Frank: A Play (Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett) (E) (L 481)
• 101 Monologues for Middle School Actors: Including Duologues and Triologues (Rebecca Young)

Memoir

• A Friend Called Anne: One Girl’s Story of War, Peace and a Unique Friendship with Anne Frank (Jacqueline van Maarsen)(L1040)

Stories
General

• I Am David (Anne Holm) (L 910)

Comparisons to The Diary of Anne Frank

• Z for Zachariah (Robert C. O’Brien) (L 820)
• Milkweed (Jerry Spinelli) (L510)
• The Devil’s Arithmetic (Jane Yolen) (L730)

Poems

• War and the Pity of War (Neil Philip) (L1520)

Informational Texts Biographies (includes other possible comparisons to The Diary of Anne Frank)

• Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank) (L1080)
• Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary: A Photographic Remembrance (Ruud van der Rol and Rian Verhoeven) (L1030)
• The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins: A World War II Soldier, Normandy, France, 1944 (Walter Dean Myers)
• Night (Elie Wiesel) (L590)
• Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Wartime Sarajevo (Zlata Filipovic) (L640)
• I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing Up in the Holocaust (Livia Bitton-Jackson) (L720)

Informational Text
World War II

• A History of US: War, Peace, and All that Jazz (Joy Hakim) (E) (L860)
• Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II’s Greatest Rescue Mission (Hampton Sides) (advanced) (L1197)
• True Stories of D-Day (True Adventure Stories) (Henry Brook)
• Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference (Joanne Oppenheim) (L1040)
• Hiroshima (John Hersey) (L1190)
• Fighting For Honor: Japanese Americans and World War II (Michael L. Cooper) (L1040)
• Never to Forget: The Jews of the Holocaust (Milton Meltzer) (L1120)
• Six Million Paper Clips: The Making of a Children’s Holocaust Memorial (Peter W. Schroeder and Dagmar Schroeder-Hildebrand)

Atomic Structure/Atomic Bomb

• Atomic Structure and Chemical Reactions: Middle Grades and High School (Nevin Katz)
• The Making of the Atomic Bomb (Richard Rhodes)

Speeches

• “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: Address to Parliament on May 13th, 1940” (Winston Churchill) (E)
• “Declaration of War on Japan” (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

Art, Music, and Media Media

• The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) (Screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett)
• Anne Frank, the Whole Story (2001)
• Paper Clips (HBO documentary) (2004)
• Bataan Rescue: The Most Daring Rescue Mission of World War II (PBS documentary) (2005)

7-4 Literary Texts—Survival in the Wild Poems

• “The Song of Wandering Aengus” (William Butler Yeats) (E)

Stories
General

• The Call of the Wild (Jack London) (L1110)
• Woodsong (Gary Paulsen) (L1090)
• Far North (Will Hobbs) (L820)
• Incident at Hawk’s Hill (Allan W. Eckert) (L1200)
• Black Hearts in Battersea (Joan Aiken) (L 900)

Comparisons to The Call of the Wild

• Touching Spirit Bear (Ben Mikaelsen) (L670)
• The Higher Power of Lucky (Susan Patron) (L1010)
• Call it Courage (Armstrong Sperry)(L830)
• Hatchet (Gary Paulsen) (L1020)
• Other Will Hobbs survival tales, such as Beardance (L890)

Graphic Novel

• The Call of the Wild (Puffin Graphics, Jack London)

Informational Texts Biographies

• Jack London: A Biography (Daniel Dyer) (L1060)
• Guts (Gary Paulsen) (L1230 NC)
• Will Hobbs (My Favorite Writer Series) (Megan Lappi)

Informational Text

• Into the Ice: The Story of Arctic Exploration (Lynn Curlee)

Art, Music, and Media Media

• Call of the Wild (2009)
• The Call of the Wild: Dog of the Yukon (1997)
• A Cry in the Wild (1990) (movie based on Hatchet)

·
7-5 Literary Texts—Science or Fiction? Stories
“Classic” Science Fiction

• • A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle) (E) (L740)
  • Dune (Frank Herbert) (L800)
  • //The War of the Worlds// (H.G. Wells) (L1020)
  • //The Invisible Man// (H.G. Wells) (L980)
  • I, Robot (Isaac Asimov) (L820)
  • //Journey to the Center of the Earth// (Enriched Classics) (Jules Verne) [link is to audio book]

“Modern” Science Fiction (L1040)

• • The Ear, the Eye and the Arm (Nancy Farmer) (L660)
  • My Favorite Science Fiction Story (Martin H. Greenberg) (L940)
  • Eva (Peter Dickinson) (L1010)
  • The House of the Scorpion (Nancy Farmer)(L660)
  • Fly by Night (Frances Hardinge) (L1080)
  • George’s Cosmic Treasure Hunt (Lucy and Stephen Hawking)

Easier to Read (but excellent) (L940)

• • Among the Hidden (Shadow Children series, #1) (Margaret Peterson Haddix) (L800)
  • George’s Secret Key to the Universe (Lucy and Stephen Hawking)

Challenging to Read (L850)

• • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) (L1000)
  • Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card) (L780)
  • The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (Arthur C. Clarke)

Audiobooks

• • A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle)

Informational Texts Informational Text
General

• • “Elementary Particles” from the New Book of Popular Science (E)
  • “Space Probe” from Astronomy & Space: From the Big Bang to the Big Crunch (Phillis Engelbert) (E)
  • Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream (Tanya Lee Stone)

Robots (Related to I, Robot)

• • Robo World: The Story of Robot Designer Cynthia Breazeal (Women’s Adventures in Science series) (Jordan D. Brown)

Planets/Stars (L1040)

• • Beyond Jupiter: The Story of Planetary Astronomer Heidi Hammel (Women’s Adventures in Science series) (Fred Bortz) (L1030)
  • Summer Stargazing: A Practical Guide for Recreational Astronomers (Terence Dickinson)
  • Stephen Hawking: Cosmologist Who Gets a Big Bang Out of the Universe (Mike Venezia)
  • Stars & Planets (Carole Stott) (L1000)
  • The Physics of Star Trek (Lawrence M. Krauss) (advanced) (RL 9.0)

Art, Music, and Media Music

• • Gustav Holst, The Planets (1914-16)

Media

• • War of the Worlds (The Mercury Theater on Air, October 30, 1938) (This is Orson Welles’s radio broadcast of War of the Worlds)

7-6 Literary Texts—Literature Reflects Life: Making Sense of Our World Stories
General

• Home of the Brave (Katherine Applegate) (RL 4.3)
• A Girl Named Disaster (Nancy Farmer) (L730)

Fantasy

• The Dark is Rising (Susan Cooper) (E) (L920)
• The Grey King (Susan Cooper) (L930)
• Peter Pan in Scarlet (Geraldine McCaughrean)

Classics (L930)

• //The Prince and the Pauper// (Mark Twain) (L1160)
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories of the Supernatural (Robert Louis Stevenson)

Comedy/Tragedy (L1040)

• Cyrano (Geraldine McCaughrean) (L830)
• //Cyrano de Bergerac// (Edmond Rostand)

Comedy (L830)

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw (Jeff Kinney) (L970)
• Letters from a Nut (Ted L. Nancy)

Short Stories

• Woman Hollering Creek: And Other Stories (Sandra Cisneros) (EA)
• Best Shorts: Favorite Stories for Sharing (Avi)
• Little Worlds: A Collection of Short Stories for the Middle School (Peter Guthrie)
• American Dragons: Twenty-Five Asian American Voices (Lawrence Yep) (EA)

Poems

• I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You: Paired Poems by Men & Women (Naomi Shihab Nye and Paul B. Janeczko)

Informational Texts
None for this unit