AAPLD'S Timeless Reads for Grades 7-8

The Algonquin Area Public Library provides a list of Timeless Reads for Grades 7-8.

1719

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe J/DEF

During one of his adventurous voyages in the 1600s, a man becomes the sole survivor of a shipwreck and lives for nearly thirty years on a deserted island.

1812

The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm J/398.2 GRI

A world of fantasy , hope and good fortune where the princess meets and marries the right prince (even if he was once a frog), and where the cruel witch, the arrogant wife and the greedy wolf get their come-uppance.

1820

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving J/IRV

A superstitious schoolmaster, in love with a wealthy farmer’s daughter, has a terrifying encounter with a headless horseman.

1843

A Christmas Carol: In Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas by Charles Dickens J/DIC

A miser learns the true meaning of Christmas when three ghostly visitors review his past and foretell his future.

1865

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll J/CAR

A little girl falls down a rabbit hole and discovers a world of nonsensical and amusing characters.

1867

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens J/DIC

Story of a workhouse orphan who is captured and thrust into a den of thieves and villains, but comes at last to his rightful heritage.

1868

Little Women by Louise May Alcott J/ALC

Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the March sisters as they come of age.

1870

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne J/VER

Retells the adventures of a French professor and his two companions as they sail above and below the world’s oceans as prisoners on the fabulous electric submarine of the deranged Captain Nemo.

1872

Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll J/CAR

In this sequel to Alice in Wonderland, Alice goes through the mirror to find a strange world where curious adventures await her.

1873

Around the World in Eight Days by Jules Verne J/VER

Accompanied by his faithful valet, Passepartout, the imperturbable and resourceful Philieas Fogg has vowed to make his way across the globe in a mere eighty days.  A breathless series of triumphs, mishaps, and near-misses ensues as the daring duo make use of nearly every form of transportation then known to bring them closer to their goal.

1876

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain J/TWA

The adventures and pranks of a mischievous boy growing up in a Mississippi River town in the early nineteenth century.

1884

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain J/TWA

The adventures of a boy and a runaway slave as they travel down the Mississippi River on a raft.

1892

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle J/DOY

Presents several tales of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes.

1903

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller J/921 KEL

Describes how a woman left blind and deaf from a childhood illness overcame her handicaps to become a noted writer and humanitarian.

1935

National Velvet by Enid Bagnold J/BAG

Fourteen-year-old Velvet Brown, determined to turn the unruly horse she wins in a raffle into a champion, learns that she needs more than hard work and dedication to achieve her goal of riding her horse in the Grand National steeplechase.

1937

The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien J/TOL

Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return.

1938

The Yearling by Marjorie Kinman Rawlings J/RAW

A young boy living in the Florida backwoods is forced to decide the fate of a fawn he has lovingly raised as a pet.

1942

Mythology by Edith Hamilton J/292 HAM

A presentation of the Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology basic to world literature.

1943

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery J/SAI

An aviator whose plane is forced down in the Sahara Desert encounters a little prince from a small planet who relates his adventures in seeking the secret of what is important in life.

1946

Hiroshima by John Hersey J/940.542 HER

On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb destroyed the city of Hiroshima, Japan.  John Hersey reveals what happened that day, told through the memories of six survivors.

1951

Rootabaga Stories by Carl Sandburg J/SAN

A selection of tales from Rootabaga Country peopled with such characters as the Potato Face Blind Man, the Blue Wind Boy, and many others.

1952

Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank J/940.5318/FRA

Traces the life of the Jewish girl who hid with seven other people in an attic for two years in Nazi-occupied Holland, and chronicled her day-to-day life in a diary which was discovered after her death in a German concentration camp.

1954

The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien J/TOL

Tells of the fateful power of the One ring.  All the members of the fellowship, hobbits, elves, dwarves, humans, and wizards, are plunged into a clash between good and evil.

1957

The Silver Branch by Rosmary Sutcliff J/SUT

A young Roman army medical officer, sent to Britain during the period of waning Roman rule, befriends a kinsman with whom he shares an adventure of intrigue, exile, and underground activity with the Lost Ninth Legion.

1961

An Incredible Journey by Shelia Every Burnford J/BUR

A Siamese cat, an old bull terrier, and a young Labrador retriever travel together 250 miles through the Canadian wilderness to find their family.

1968

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin J/LEG

A boy grows to manhood while attempting to subdue the evil he unleashed on the world as an apprentice to the Master Wizard.

1973

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper J/COO

On his 11th birthday Will Stanton discovers that he is the last of the Old Ones, destined to seek the six magical Signs that will enable them to triumph over the evil forces of the Dark.

1974

Watership Down by Richard Adams J/ADA

Chronicles the adventures of a group of rabbits searching for a safe place to establish a new warren where thy can live in peace.

1984

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley J/MCK

Aerin, with the guidance of the wizard Luthe and the help of the blue sword, wins the birthright due her as the daughter of the Damarian king and a witchwoman of the mysterious, demon-haunted North.