At the end of every school year, I ask my 7th graders to make a Top Ten books list — their favorite books of the school year, ranked in order. I use these to make a Team Favorites list that the kids use as a starting place for their own summer reading plans. Many kids listed series rather than individual titles, so series are listed separately here. Planned series for which only one title is out now are listed on the stand-alone books list. As for our ranking system, a book gets five points for each #1 ranking, three for a #2 rank, two for a #3, and one point for an appearance in the top ten. All of the books listed below appeared on multiple top ten lists.
And do note…these are favorite books the student read this year; many also have favorites, especially in the MG genre, that don’t appear on this list because most kids have already read them by the time they get to me.
Ready? Here’s the list, starting with stand-alone titles.(All links are to IndieBound. Please support local booksellers when you can!)
Favorite Books
Cracker: The Best Dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata
Raider’s Night by Robert Lipsyte
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin
Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall by Wendy Mass
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Million Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica
Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Mermaid’s Mirror by L.K. Madigan
I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder
The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet by Erin Dionne
Where the Truth Lies by Jessica Warman
How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O’Connor
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones
Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
Sean Griswold’s Head by Lindsey Leavitt
The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf by Jennifer L. Holm
The Summer of Moonlight Secrets by Danette Haworth
The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork
Favorite Series
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Maze Runner/Scorch Trials by James Dashner
A Child Called It,The Lost Boy, etc. by Dave Pelzer
Need, Captivate, Entice by Carrie Jones
Life As We Knew It, Dead & the Gone, This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Twilight, New Moon, etc. by Stephenie Meyer
Chronicles of Vladimir Todd (8th Grade Bites, etc.) by Heather Brewer
Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Dork Diaries by Rachel Russell
Percy Jackson & the Olympians by Rick Riordan
Shiver, Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
Shadow Children (Among the Hidden, etc.) by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Gallagher Girls (Cross My Heart & Hope to Spy, etc.) by Ally Carter
That’s our list… Now it’s your turn. What were your Top Ten Books of the 2010-2011 school year? We’d love to see your lists in the comments!
Hi Kate,
Lisa was always overjoyed by feedback from teen readers,and to be on a list with these fine authors would make her very proud, indeed.
Sincerely, Neil Wolfson
Portland, Oregon
Thanks, Neil~ I’ve been thinking about you and your son so much.
I smile every time I see MERMAID’S MIRROR or FLASH BURNOUT in a kid’s hands (which is often) – and I always take a minute to tell them about her, too. I think they hold the book a little closer, knowing what a special person she was.
From our 4th Grade Classroom in Battle Creek, MI (no particular order)
1. The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
2. Amulet Series
3. Number the Stars
4. Mr. Popper’s Penguins
5. The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z
6. Fig Pudding
7. Big Nate
8. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
9. Hatchet
10. Smile
Love these – and I’m adding the ones I haven’t read yet to my To-Read list – thanks to your class!
I am duly honored to discover that I share the same favorite books with a group of 7th graders. Love you all! And thanks for sharing, Kate.
Thanks! I share many of their favorite books, too!
I love this list. I’m going to share it with my grade 7’s and then we will make our own next week. We still have 2 weeks left of school- so this will be great to think over. We are reading Divergent right now and I think that will make the top list for sure!
Oh, please stop back and share your students’ favorites, too!
Great idea! Thank you for sharing. I tried it with my kids. It fit perfect on Author Celebration Day – a day that the kids shared their own short stories. Here is Room 103’s favorites:
• Mockingbird, by Kathryn Erskine
• Flipped, by Wendelin Van Draanen
• The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z., by Kate Messner 🙂
• Weasel, by Cynthia DeFelice
• Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps, by Andrea Warren
• The Green Glass Sea, by Ellen Klages
• Touch Blue, by Cynthia Lord
• Stranded, by Ben Mikaelsen
• Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly
• So B. It, by Sarah Weeks
Honorable Mention:
• Heartbeat, by Sharon Creech
• Shooting Kabul, by N.H. Senzai
• A Long Way from Chicago, by Richard Peck
• Under the Same Sky, by Cynthia DeFelice
Series:
• Warriors, by Erin Hunter
• Adventurers Wanted, by Mark Forman
• Eragon, by Christopher Paolini
*I really enjoyed Shooting Kabul, by N.H. Senzai – I passed it on to many students!
Great list! (And I’m not just saying that because my Gianna Z. is there, I swear!) Thanks for sharing!