20 Exceptional Nonfiction Books for 7th Graders

Teenage and adult readers alike will be blown away by this compelling book, which tells the story of a landmark case in which a group of young people, all under the age of 21 when the case was filed, sued the government for the right to a sustainable environment. Environmental activists and law professors alike were fascinated by the creative interpretations of the Constitution and how one woman and her small Oregon non-profit organization moved through the legal process, battling the twin behemoths of the government and big business to push their ideas through. Readers will be intrigued by the personal stories as well as the legal explanations that read like a suspenseful mystery. This very recent case will have readers scrambling to look up the continuing legal saga long after the last page of this book has been turned. 

If your seventh grader was just wowed by the recent Paris Olympics and Paralympics, they will be equally fascinated by this biography of disability rights activist Judy Heumann. Told in a matter-of-fact, first-person voice, this biography tells her story of becoming paralyzed at 5 after a bout of childhood polio. With frankness and a dry sense of humor, Heumann describes the challenges and discrimination she faced as a child and later as a teenager, which inspired her to fight for the rights of people with disabilities. Teenagers will read this and see the world with a renewed appreciation of the architecture that allows all people to live as they want. 

For middle schoolers who are starting to think critically about the world around them and trying to figure out their place in it, this book is an eye-opening and revelatory glimpse into its harsh realities through the lens of one crusading individual, Bryan Stevenson. In this young adult adaptation of the adult bestseller, this collage of true stories about Stevenson’s fight for social justice, readers will learn about the myriad ways in which the tireless lawyers of the Equal Justice Initiative, the organization that Stevenson founded, are trying to find justice for those wrongfully imprisoned.  

If readers want to put a name and a face, and even better, a hilarious voice, to the reality of what it means to be an undocumented immigrant, they need to read this book. Sara Saedi writes this wry, funny, and compelling memoir of what it meant to be a teenager in the 1990s, but also what it means to be an Iranian immigrant without papers. Told in a highly accessible voice, that teenagers will immediately relate to, Saedi connects with the everyday struggles of an American childhood (friendship drama! Crushes! Acne!) and yet places it in context with the complicated political backdrop of US-Iranian relations.  

Even non-Math fans will enjoy these funny, fascinating tales of how mathematical discoveries were made, but often through mistakes. Told with great humor and accessible language, these stories help highlight the many quiet ways math makes our world work behind the scenes. Whether it is the code that helps build (and sometimes breaks) the internet or the fascinating history of how the weight load of bridges is calculated, these facts are entertaining and educational.

The title of this book might be long, but it reflects the richness of the stories in this endlessly interesting book that details the history of science through its building blocks. For middle schoolers who love to order their world, learning about the history behind each element, from the more famous Mercury to the lesser-known tellurium, the author’s personal anecdotes and jovial, breezy way of talking his way through the periodic table make this an entertaining and erudite dialogue of a book. 

For advanced seventh-grade readers who love animals, this is a lyrical, poetic nonfiction book for them! Written by Sara Dykman, this book traces her journey on a bicycle as she plans and executes an epic bicycle journey to follow the monarch butterflies from their colonies in Mexico all the way up north to Ottawa. Canada. For readers who are looking for a slower-paced, leisurely view with frequent detours into the scientific explanations of the life cycle and ecosystems of monarch butterflies, this is the book for them. The author revels in the details of both biography and geography. 

Middle schoolers absolutely love learning about World War 2 – and who doesn’t love spycraft and codebreaking? The story of Bletchley and Britain’s codebreakers who helped turn the tide of war has been the subject of numerous movies and adult books. Candace Fleming, one of the stellar middle grade nonfiction authors, bends her talented pen to this story for younger readers. Fleming’s narrative nonfiction brings history to life – weaving the biographical details of complex, real-life characters into the larger fabric of history. The story of the lesser-known women behind Bletchley is crucial for young women interested in STEM to be inspired by these real-life heroes. 

A highly visual history of the North American continent, told through the lens of America’s indigenous people. Readers who tend to pore over gorgeously illustrated atlases or are the type to read other encyclopedia-style nonfiction will find this a necessary addition to their bookshelves. This book is an amalgamation of a detailed picture book or a typical textbook – each page presenting full-color pictures and illustrations to match. This genre-bending book is a useful touchpoint for larger conversations about history, anthropology, and the important history of Native Americans.

Steve Sheinkin, middle-grade nonfiction author extraordinaire, is adding to the recent rush of books featuring the Cold War and nuclear bomb era. His latest book reads like a fast-paced nonfiction adventure – critiquing the complicated history of the US and the Soviet Union through a kaleidoscopic cast of lesser-known but multifaceted historical characters, from a bumbling would-be spy, an idealistic American pilot, to a principled Russian submarine commander. Sheinkin also draws the curtain to reveal some of the complex decision-making that went on behind the scenes of key political moments, such as JFK’s actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis or the flight of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and its pivotal role in the space race. A highly recommended read for teenagers who love learning about spies, war and its crucial impact on our world. 

No present-day list of middle-grade nonfiction books would be complete without this book! One of the most acclaimed middle grade books of 2023, this cinematic narrative unfurls like a James Bond movie – albeit a time-travelling one. Author Nicholas Day sets the scene with the unlikely creation of the Mona Lisa painting itself, who she was, and how she came to be painted. Fast-forward to 1911, when the theft itself was committed inside the Louvre. Zooming back in time again to the time of Leonardo Da Vinci and how the famous painter created his most enigmatic work. The cherry on top of this delicious book is the quirky, charming illustrations by Brett Helquist scattered throughout each chapter. Younger readers will recognize the artwork from his work on the popular A Series of Unfortunate Events.

This book, written by the highly acclaimed and popular author, David Grann, has been adapted for young readers but contains difficult, if important, subject matter. The systematic murder of many members of the Native American Osage tribe is a neglected but important piece of history that we should all know about. In this book, Grann presents this history like a murder mystery, which indeed it is. In the early twentieth century, oil was discovered in the rocky deposits of the Osage Reservation. In order to get oil, prospectors had to pay Osage tribal members an annual fee to dig and pipe this liquid gold. As tribal members grew rich and their lifestyle became luxurious, green-eyed news stories drew attention to the rich coffers of the Osage. Greed, deceit and death begin an unfortunate march in Grann’s retelling of the discovery of the murders and the role of the government in capturing these murderers, that needed the long reach to bring at least some of these killers to justice. 

For the readers who claim they only love fiction and want big, immersive stories, this memoir will pull a reader in with his mesmerizing prose. Eddie Chuculate is a Native American of Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee descent who shares his coming-of-age story as an Indian kid growing up in rural Oklahoma. Adult readers will enjoy the nostalgic descriptions of 1970s and 1980s life, and younger teen readers will appreciate the trials of childhood from a kid’s perspective. The invigorating writing style and short chapters keep this book moving at a fast pace and provide an important glimpse into contemporary Native American life off the reservation. 

Readers who yearn all year for the honeyed glow of summer camp and its camaraderie, natural setting, and the intensity of life experienced by groups of teenagers living together in close quarters will love this graphic nonfiction memoir! This book is about the author, Maggie Thrash, who shares her experience as a fifteen-year-old going to an all-girls summer camp deep in the heart of Kentucky. The wry, confiding, and relatable voice of Maggie, who is telling both the story of a Southern all-girls camp, complete with myriad characters and unique cultural touches, as well as her own journey of budding sexuality, is compelling and authentic. Readers will both nod in sympathetic recognition of their own similar experiences or be glued to the page to discover a tight-knit community unlike their own. 

This memoir tells the amazing story of Emma Carey, a young Australian college student who became a paraplegic due to a terrible skydiving accident in Europe. The author, who first became famous for her story through her beautiful, life-affirming posts on social media, finally tells the full experience in the written word. Interlaced with introspective thoughts on the impact her accident had on her psyche and outlook, her voice is both authentic and earnest, which can at times feel naive and idealistic for older readers, but also ring very true for her young audience. The audiobook version is read by Carey herself, for those who want the fully immersive experience!

For readers with artistic souls, looking through this brilliant pastiche of a book will introduce them to the burgeoning repertoire of this talented author/illustrator, Jonell Joshua. She has illustrated the series Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Real Life Tales of Black Girl Magic and has had her work featured in the film Selah and the Spades. Young artists will feel like they are flipping through a diary or portfolio of an artist finding herself and tracing her life’s journey and roots. Jonell’s collage of photographs, bold colors and defined lines, reminiscent of comic book illustrations has a throughline connecting all her work – that of her family and their joys and struggles. She shares her childhood memories growing up in both Georgia and New Jersey, and how they kept going despite her mother’s struggles with mental illness. 

Rex Ogle burst onto the young adult nonfiction scene with his searing and vulnerable book about his middle school experience and the realities of life with childhood hunger and poverty, Free Lunch. In this followup, Ogle eloquently, with his trademark raw and staccato rhythm, describes his high school experience, and being the recipient of physical abuse by his stepfather. Familiar characters, such as Ogle’s highly passionate, unpredictable mother, his violent, emotional stepfather, continue to appear in his writing, those relationships taking on darker and deeper shades as Ogle grows older. Hand this book to readers who are ready to see, in clear and cruel detail, the difficulties of the world, but how the glimmers of hope, grit, and determination can help teenagers persevere. 

Graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang turns his pen to nonfiction in this powerful, inspiring narrative about his high school’s basketball team. Yang, who is a high school teacher, becomes inspired by the meteoric, potentially historic run of the men’s varsity basketball team. When he decides to interview them, he realizes that each player, as well as the team’s history itself, has a fascinating personal story that might even be bigger than just one basketball season.

The 2023 YALSA winner for nonfiction, this book will finally tell the story of that iconic image – that of Olympic runner Tommie Smith, who raised his hand in a black-gloved fist while standing at the podium to protest discrimination against African Americans. Written for young readers in a dark comic book style, readers, both young and old, won’t be able to stop turning pages as they learn about Smith’s childhood, upbringing, and how he eventually became a poster child for politics in sports and the importance of a platform for social justice. 

Readers who are looking for a lyrical and moving paean to the power of basketball to motivate whole communities have to look no further than this book. Written by a journalist who spent time immersed in life on the Navajo reservation, Michael Powell gets deep into the minds and hearts of a group of high school basketball players at Chinle High School, as well as their coach, Raul Mendoza. Told with a sensitive ear for the nuances of reservation life and a deep appreciation for the brutally beautiful landscape that is both sacred and challenging for the young Native American stewards that live on it.