Books for Grades 6-7 | Payson Library

1) All in a drop: how Antony van Leeuwenhoek discovered an invisible world

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This chapter book biography shows how a self-taught scientist was the first to observe the microbial life in and around us. By building his own microscope, Antony van Leeuwenhoek advanced humanities understanding of the oft-invisible world around us.

2) The playbook: 52 rules to aim, shoot, and score in this game called life

Author

Alexander, Kwame

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

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"You gotta know the rules to play the game. Ball is life. Take it to the hoop. Soar. What can we imagine for our lives? What if we were the star players, moving and grooving through the game of life? What if we had our own rules of the game to help us get what we want, what we aspire to, what will enrich our lives? Illustrated with photographs by Thai Neave, The Playbook is intended to provide inspiration on the court of life. Each rule containswisdom...

3) Twelve Days in May: Freedom Ride 1961

Author

Brimner, Larry Dane

Formats:

eBook, Kindle

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Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award Winner
“An engaging and accessible account” for young readers about the Freedom Riders who led the landmark 1961 protests against segregation on buses (School Library Journal)

On May 4, 1961, a group of thirteen black and white civil rights activists launched the Freedom Ride, aiming to challenge the practice of segregation on buses and at bus terminal

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4) The boys in the boat: the true story of an American team's epic journey to win gold at the 1936 Olympics

Author

Brown, Daniel James

Formats:

Book, Audio Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

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"Out of the depths of the Great Depression comes the astonishing tale of nine working-class boys from the American West who at the 1936 Olympics showed the world what true grit really meant. With rowers who were the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington's eight-oar crew was never expected to defeat the elite East Coast teams, yet they did, going on to shock the world by challenging the German boat rowing for...

5) Never Caught, the story of Ona Judge: George and Martha Washington's courageous slave who dared to run away

Author

Dunbar, Erica Armstrong

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"A National Book Award Finalist for Non-Fiction, Never Caught is the eye-opening narrative of Ona Judge, George and Martha Washington's runaway slave, who risked everything for freedom. Now in a Young Readers Edition"--

6) Amelia lost: the life and disappearance of Amelia Earhart

Author

Fleming, Candace

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

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A riveting look at the life, disappearance, and search for legendary aviatrix, Amelia Earhart.

7) The family Romanov: murder, rebellion & the fall of Imperial Russia

Author

Fleming, Candace

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

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From the acclaimed author of Amelia Lost and The Lincolns comes a heartrending narrative nonfiction page-turner--and a perfect resource for meeting Common Core standards. When Russia's last tsar, Nicholas II, inherited the throne in 1894, he was unprepared to do so. With their four daughters (including Anastasia) and only son, a hemophiliac, Nicholas and his reclusive wife, Alexandra, buried their heads in the sand, living a life of opulence as World...

8) We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement That Defied Adolf Hitler

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"Among the wealth of good Holocaust literature available, Freedman's volume stands out for its focus and concision, effectively placing the White Rose in its historical context, telling the story of Nazi Germany without losing the focus on the White Rose, and doing so in just over 100 pages." (Kirkus starred review)

In his signature eloquent prose, backed up by thorough research, Newbery medalist and nonfiction master Russell

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9) Claudette Colvin: twice toward justice

Author

Hoose, Phillip M

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Presents an account of fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin, an African-American girl who refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks, and covers her role in a crucial civil rights case.

10) The boy who harnessed the wind

Author

Kamkwamba, William

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

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Now a Netflix film starring and directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, this is a gripping memoir of survival and perseverance about the heroic young inventor who brought electricity to his Malawian village.
When a terrible drought struck William Kamkwamba's tiny village in Malawi, his family lost all of the season's crops, leaving them with nothing to eat and nothing to sell. William began to explore science books in his village library, looking...

11) This is your brain on stereotypes: how science is tackling unconscious bias

Author

Kyi, Tanya Lloyd

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Publisher Annotation: An essential overview of the science behind stereotypes: from why our brains form them to how recognizing them can help us be less biased.

12) The boy on the wooden box: how the impossible became possible... on Schindler's list : a memoir

Author

Leyson, Leon

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

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Leon Leyson describes growing up in Poland, being forced from home to ghetto to concentration camps by the Nazis, and being saved by Oskar Schindler.

13) Who gives a poop?: surprising science from one end to the other

Author

Montgomery, Heather L

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"The author explores various scientific and medical applications of poop."--

14) Tooth & claw: the dinosaur wars

Author

Noyes, Deborah

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"Tells the story of the feverish race between two ... competitive scientists--Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh--to uncover [dinosaur] fossils in the newly opened Wild West. Between them, they discovered dozens of major dinosaur species and established the new discipline of paleontology in America. But their bitter thirty-year rivalry--a 'war' waged on wild plains and mountains, in tabloid newsprint, and in Congress--dramatically wrecked...

15) How we got to the moon: the people, technology, and daring feats of science behind humanity's greatest adventure

Author

Rocco, John

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

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"Everyone knows of Neil Armstrong's famous first steps on the moon. But what did it really take to get us there? The Moon landing is one of the most ambitious, thrilling, and dangerous ventures in human history. This exquisitely researched and illustrated book tells the stories of the 400,000 unsung heroes--the engineers, mathematicians, seamstresses, welders, and factory workers--and their innovations and life-changing technological leaps forward...

16) Bomb: the race to build and steal the world's most dangerous weapon

Author

Sheinkin, Steve

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

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Perfect for middle grade readers and history enthusiasts, New York Times bestselling author Steve Sheinkin presents the fascinating and frightening true story of the creation behind the most destructive force that birthed the arms race and the Cold War in Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon.
A Newbery Honor book
A National Book Awards finalist...

17) Born to fly: the first women's air race across America

Author

Sheinkin, Steve

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Book, eAudiobook

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"National Book Award finalist Steve Sheinkin tells the story of the 1929 Women's Air Derby, the first official all-female air race in the U.S."--

18) All thirteen: the incredible cave rescue of the Thai boys' soccer team

Author

Soontornvat, Christina

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Book, Audio Book, eBook, Kindle

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On June 23, 2018, twelve young players of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach enter a cave in northern Thailand seeking an afternoon's adventure. But when they turn to leave, rising floodwaters block their path out. The boys are trapped! Before long, news of the missing team spreads, launching a seventeen-day rescue operation involving thousands of rescuers from around the globe. As the world sits vigil, people begin to wonder: how long can...

19) Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream

Author

Stone, Tanya Lee

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They had the right stuff. They defied the prejudices of the time. And they blazed a trail for generations of women to follow.
What does it take to be an astronaut? Excellence at flying, courage, intelligence, resistance to stress, top physical shape — any checklist would include these. But when America created NASA in 1958, there was another unspoken rule: you had to be a man. Here is the tale of thirteen women who proved that they

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20) Chasing Lincoln's Killer

Author

Swanson, James L

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NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author James Swanson delivers a riveting account of the chase for Abraham Lincoln's assassin.

Based on rare archival material, obscure trial manuscripts, and interviews with relatives of the conspirators and the manhunters, CHASING LINCOLN'S KILLER is a fast-paced thriller about the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth: a wild twelve-day chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland,

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