Historical Fiction Books for 7th Graders

1960, Cuba. Cousins Victoria and Jackie love living in their island country with their large family. When when Fidel Castro’s communist government takes hold, things change swiftly, leading Victoria’s father to relocate his family to Miami, leaving Jackie and her family behind. As Victoria adapts to life in the US, Jackie and her family struggle in Cuba—until the family decides to send Jackie over to the States with Operation Peter Pan. But will Jackie ever see her family again? Both girls band together to bring the rest of their family to America. Farewell Cuba Mi Isla is a moving, authentic book chronicling the impact of Fidel Castro’s communist regime in Cuba.

It’s 1998 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In the middle of the Sri Lankan Civil War, Kavi is dealing with her own personal upheavals. Her mother has remarried her father’s best friend after his death and is expecting a new baby. Meanwhile, Kavi is getting sent to the city on a scholarship to an elite private school. There, she starts telling lies about a life of wealth and grandeur– small at first, then bigger and bigger — to fit in with the rich kids until she begins to lose herself. I Am Kavi is a touching verse novel about a young girl adapting to changes in her world and finding her voice amidst the Sri Lankan civil war.

It’s 2020, and Matthew is sick of being inside with the pandemic raging outside. While reluctantly helping his great-grandmother sort through her belongings, he finds a picture of two girls. As she shares her experience during the Ukrainian famine, the story alternates between three narrators: Matthew, Helena, and Mila. A powerful, unforgettable account of historical events.

Thirteen-year-old Ava lives in 80s California and loves to catch a wave with her best friend, Phoenix, whom she’s beginning to crush on. Her mom is a single mother and her dad lives in Iran with his new family and rarely contacts them. Ava likes to write poetry and sing (she’s getting to sing in the school choir soon) but her mom who’s a doctor wants Ava to consider that career path. She persuades her to volunteer at the hospital but Ava would rather be surfing or engaging in her other hobbies. She gets even more upset when she breaks her leg while volunteering. Amidst all the drama, Phoenix’s lymphoma returns aggressively and he doesn’t want to pursue treatment anymore. Can Ava convince him to keep trying? Wave by Diana Farid is a lyrical, captivating, and heartwrenching middle grade verse novel about first crushes, surfing, and the grief of losing a friend.

Yusuf Azeem is not a hero like his dad who talked down a gun man in their small-town A-Z Dollar Store. But his dad’s heroism doesn’t prevent him from getting worsening hateful notes in his locker telling him to “Go Home.” Yusuf and his friend Danial had expected that this would be their year — their entry into middle school and a chance to compete in a robotics contest. However, when some of the townspeople, including a group called the Patriot Sons try to stop the construction of their town’s mosque and begin to target Yusuf and other Muslims in the community, they are forced to take a stand. This is a poignant look at the impact of 9/11 on Muslim communities in America.

This book is such a joy! Esperanza and her mama are forced to flee their large home (read mansion) in Mexico after a tragedy. They work as farmhands in California during the Great Depression. During this time, Esperanza has to adjust from being the daughter of a wealthy landowner to being a peasant. Pam Muñoz Ryan covers many themes, from racial and class prejudice to the importance of family and empathy. I also enjoyed the use of Spanish and the historical context of the novel. I’m so excited to teach this book! From a middle-grade standpoint, the vocabulary is excellent, and the story will certainly generate a curiosity for history and empathy for others.

This is a heartbreaking middle grade book about a girl’s experience during the partition of India. Nisha is caught between her Hindu-Indian and Muslim-Indian sides. She’s also dealing with the loss of her mother. So, when her country starts to split in two, her search for identity becomes even more meaningful. There’s a reason why this one is a Newbery Honor book.

How to Find What You’re Not Looking For follows 12-year-old Ariel whose life is upturned when her big sister (the best of them all), Leah, elopes with her Indian-American boyfriend after the Loving vs. Virginia ruling. Ariel’s parents are upset. Ariel is struggling to write well at school, and she can’t stop thinking about her sister and everything happening in the world. This is a poignant, moving, and brilliantly written middle grade novel about family, identity, and love.

The year is 1983 and 13-year-old Reha is caught between two cultures: her Indian family and community at home; and the all-American experience at school and with her white “school best friend.” But it’s not all rosy. Her mother doesn’t approve of Reha acting more American than Indian. She makes all of Reha’s clothes herself, and is upset when Reha says she would like to go to the school dance. Reha is understandably frustrated at her mother’s lack of understanding, but she’s about to have more problems. Her mom is diagnosed with leukemia and Reha’s life is turned upside down. Between school, family issues, and navigating her affection for a boy in her neighborhood, Reha has her plate full. Red, White, and Whole is a heartwarming and heartbreaking verse novel about mothers and daughters, the eighties, and straddling two cultures.

Shirli Berman has her eyes set on a role in her school’s play. It’s 2002, just after the Twin Towers and the death of Shirli’s grandmother (Bubie). Even though she doesn’t eventually score her desired role, she ends up playing another one of the key roles anyway. To add to it, her stage husband is Ben Morgan, the most popular boy in school. At the same time, Shirli is also learning about her family’s history from her grandfather (Zayde) who has been silent on the matter his entire adult life. When she’s in the attic looking for costumes and props for the play, she stumbles on some of her grandfather’s personal items that raise many questions in her mind about his past and may explain some of his present behavior, like why he doesn’t let anyone sing in the house, for example. Broken Strings is a strong middle-grade release about the pain of the past and how it can affect future generations.

This is a great past/present timeline story following Imani, a Black girl adopted as a baby by a Jewish family. Now, Imani is curious about her biological parents since no one around her lets her forget that she looks different from her other family members. She discovers her great-grandmother Anna’s diary, and we follow both Imani and Anna throughout the book. Anna as she escapes Luxembourg and arrives NYC, hoping for her parents and siblings to follow eventually and Imani as she prepares for her Bat Mitzvah. This was lovely on audio and was full of surprising plot twists as Anna and Imani’s lives intersected.

The Long Ride by Marina Budhos is the story of three mixed-race girls in the 1970’s. Francesca, Jamila, and Josie are chosen to be part of a trial desegregated school experience. All three girls live in a mostly white Queens neighborhood and have parents who’ve worked hard to get them into great schools in mostly white neighborhoods. Naturally, the parents worry about switching their daughters’ schools to one in a “bad” (read, mostly Black) neighborhood. This is an exploration of what it means to be mixed-race and American. 

Siblings Cash, Fitch, and Bird move through the daily trials of pre-teen life in the 1980’s. Fitch and Bird are twins who are now in the same grade as their older brother, Cash — because Cash was held back in the seventh grade. All three siblings share a science teacher, Ms. Salonga, who builds lessons around the Challenger launch, with Bird becoming the most invested. Bird is eagerly anticipating the Challenger launch and is a huge fan of Judith Resnik — the Challenger’s Mission Specialist. This novel follows the siblings until the ill-fated launch day, which changes their relationship forever. This character-driven slice-of-life novel shows how different families can be, addresses the struggles of navigating sibling relationships, and highlights what difference an enthusiastic teacher can make.

The Magical Imperfect is a middle grade verse novel about a boy named Etan. Etan develops selective mutism after his mom has to go to a treatment facility for a mental disorder in 1980’s San Francisco. Around that time, mini-earthquakes are frequent and Etan tries to keep up his daily schedule, which is basically school and then time with his grandfather. Sometimes, he helps an older shopkeeper in the neighborhood walk her dog and run errands. It is while he is on one of those errands that he meets Malia, a Filipina-American girl with severe eczema. Etan and Malia become fast friends and he gets a closer look at how debilitating her eczema is. This is an incredibly moving verse novel about friendship, family, body image, and community.

This middle-grade historical tale set in 1939 is all about 12-year-old Cato, who wants to play in the Negro Baseball League as his late father did. Although this book deals with tough issues like racism and racial violence, the writing in this book is absolutely arresting, which makes it hard to put down. It’s also on the shorter side and explores other vital themes like family, grief, and baseball. Hand to kids passionate about racial equity, baseball, and books about friendship and community.

Raj and Iqbal are two best friends, one Hindu and one Muslim, who lived in Singh just before India’s partition. After the country’s independence, Raj and his family are forced to flee, encountering many hardships along the way as they struggle to resettle in Bombay. Raj is not great at math and prefers to be in the kitchen (the place of the women, according to his father), much to his father’s chagrin. But that love for food ends up saving them as his mom starts using food as a source of income. There’s plenty of sibling strife as Raj feels far from his older brother and, at times, jealous of his little sister Maya, who goes missing during the partition. While The Night Diary is more introspective, this book truly digs deep into what really happened to families during this time of grand migration and is a must-read for anyone who wants to learn about that time period. It is unflinching, beautifully written, and doesn’t shy away from hard events. 

This historical mystery combines the literary prowess of author Ruta Sepetys with Steve Sheinkin’s narrative skills as we follow two siblings during WWII in England trying to find their missing mother and help the British army defeat the Nazis. With two teenage protagonists, this one straddles the line between middle grade and YA, although the content is more middle grade than YA. It is gripping, hard to put down, and brilliantly plotted. Hand to fans of fast-paced mysteries, whether or not they love historical fiction.

This historical graphic novel also has a past and present timeline. In the 1960s, we follow trailblazing female Indy 500 racecar driver Janet Guthrie as she breaks barriers to the sport, and in 2019, car girl, 12-year-old Alex, works to restore her grandfather’s Jaguar. As both Alex and Janet explore and fight for their love of cars, they must navigate sexism in the auto industry and even from family members. This book–especially Janet’s story–is thrilling and fresh, sure to appeal to fans of car racing and cars in general. It also has a powerful overarching message, especially for girls interested in traditionally male-dominated industries, that they can do anything they put their minds to.

The first book in Kwame Alexander’s latest series about the journey of a family from Africa to America is a Roots retelling for the new generation. Kofi Offin lives in Upper Kwanta with his parents and siblings, warned regularly not to prowl the streets or go swimming (a pastime of his) at night. Caught up in his daily routines and preparing to contest against his cousin in a swimming match, Kofi’s life suddenly takes a scary turn when he is abducted and sold as a slave. This book has an awfully SLOW start but picks up just around the halfway mark — I hope the verse format keeps readers going (I loved the audiobook). The second half of this book is gripping and compelling, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. It’s a brilliant and necessary ode to storytelling, a beautiful look at the history of many African Americans, and a truly heartwarming celebration of African culture.

12-year-old Alex has done something very bad and has been sentenced by a judge to community service at a senior home where he meets 107-year-old Josef/Josey, who has stopped speaking and is waiting to die. But in a strange turn of events, Josey begins speaking to Alex and telling him the story of his life. Josey’s story helps Alex rise to the occasion of his own life. This is a beautifully told story about surviving WWII and recovering from a bad decision. Readers should know that (assumed) homophobia plays a crucial role in this story.