6th Grade Summer Reading Choices

Gifted Hands - *Required• Dr. Benjamin Carson received

worldwide attention and recognition in 1987 when he successfully separated conjoined twins. This accomplishment is just one of many in Ben Carson’s life that has allowed him to be one of the top neurosurgeons in the country. Gifted Hands is a story that demonstrates how trust in God and perseverance can help one overcome any obstacle and lead to great success.

• This story is great for anyone who wants to be inspired and wants to know one man’s secrets for success.

Crash• Crash Coogan, a seventh-grade

football star, has been an aggressive person from the time he was very young; sometimes, he is too aggressive. He enjoys his rough, macho behavior until he meets an unusual neighbor who forces him to think about his life and his way of treating others.

• This book is for a reader who enjoys sport-related stories. It is a lively, fun read.

Fever 1793• Matilda “Mattie” Cook lives above

her family’s coffee shop with her mother and grandfather in 1793 Philadelphia. One day, an employer doesn’t show up to work, and the reason is soon discovered. A mass epidemic strikes, and Mattie and her family must find a way to survive in a city turned frantic with disease.

• Good for readers who like books with/about: history, diseases/epidemics

Have A Hot Time, Hades!• Think you know the real story behind the

Greek myths? Think again. Most people only know what Zeus wants them to. But the truth is, Zeus is a total myth-o-maniac. Hades, King of the Underworld, is here to set the record straight on how he ended up as Ruler of the Underworld and Zeus became King of the Gods.

• If you enjoy Greek mythology and humor, this is a book for you! McMullan presents a playful take on fractured Greek myths in this novel!

Heat• Twelve-year old Michael’s family has escaped

from Cuba, but they harbor a huge secret that could change their lives if discovered. Michael hopes to lead his team to the Little League World Series, but someone wonders how a twelve-year-old boy could possibly throw with as much power as Michael Arroyo throws. With no way to prove his age, Michael’s secret world is blown wide open, and he discovers that family can come from the most unexpected sources.

Recommended if you like baseball and rooting for the underdog.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

• When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toy seller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized. This graphic novel is thick, but the captivating story makes it a quick read!

• Good for readers who like books with/about: history, mystery, engineering

Night of the Purple Moon• Abby, 13, is looking forward to watching

the moon turn purple, unaware that bacteria from a passing comet will soon kill off older teens and adults. She must help her brother and baby sister survive in this new world, but all the while she has a ticking time bomb inside of her--adolescence.

• Recommended for girls who like science

fiction.

Running Out of Time• Jessie lives with her family in the frontier village of

Clifton, Indiana, in 1840 -- or so she believes. When diphtheria strikes the village and the children of Clifton start dying, Jessie's mother reveals a shocking secret -- it's actually 1996, and they are living in a reconstructed village that serves as a tourist site. In the world outside, medicine exists that can cure the dreaded disease, and Jessie's mother is sending her on a dangerous mission to bring back help. But beyond the walls of Clifton, Jessie discovers a world even more alien and threatening than she could have imagined, and soon she finds her own life in jeopardy. Can she get help before the children of Clifton, and Jessie herself, run out of time?

• If you like to read books set in dystopia, check this one out! Instead of a dystopian future, this is a somewhat dystopian past.

A Single Shard• Tree-ear is an orphan boy in a 12th-

century Korean potters’ village. For a long time he is content living with Crane-man under a bridge barely surviving on scraps of food. All that changes when he sees master potter Min making his beautiful pottery. Little does Tree-ear know that this is the start of a difficult and dangerous journey that will change his life forever.

• If you enjoy stories filled with true meaning, sayings, and traditional cultural arts, you will certainly be entertained with the story of A Single Shard.

Tangerine• Paul Fisher sees the world from behind thick

glasses, but he’s not so blind that he can’t see there are some very unusual things about his family’s new home in Tangerine County, Florida and his football–star brother. With the help of his new soccer teammates, Paul begins to discover what lies beneath the surface of his strange new hometown and he also gains the courage to face up to some secrets his family has been keeping from him for far too long.

• Recommended for anyone who likes soccer

and karma.

A View From Saturday• After a tense series of competitions, the

Epiphany Middle School has made it all the way to the final round of the New York State Academic Bowl. Their team: a group of misfit sixth-graders from Epiphany Middle School. Their opponents: eighth-grade all-stars whom we can practically see as big, mean, and smart. Each of the four Epiphany team members gets to tell part of the story—and each story explains why that particular team member can answer that question.

• This book is for a reader who enjoys a thought-provoking tale. This story offers a refreshing take on competition and friendship.

The Watson Go to Birmingham – 1963

• Enter the hilarious world of ten-year-old Kenny and his family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan. There's Momma, Dad, little sister Joetta, and brother Byron, who's thirteen and an "official juvenile delinquent." When Momma and Dad decide it's time for a visit to Grandma, Dad comes home with the amazing Ultra-Glide, and the Watsons set out on a trip like no other. They're heading South to Birmingham, Alabama, toward one of the darkest moments in America's history.

• This is a book full of adventure, comedy, and tragedy. This book is based on the life of a black family in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement. The book is narrated by one of the young family members, Kenny.

Wonder• School can be difficult for anyone, but ten-year-

old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school full of taunting and fearful classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.

• Good for readers who like books with/about: humor, friendship, stories about an underdog

Words by Heart• Hoping to make her Papa proud of

her and to make her white classmates notice her "Magic Mind," not her black skin, Lena vows to win her school’s Bible-quoting contest. But winning does not bring Lena what she expected.

• If you like the beauty of bible verses along with social justice, this book will touch you.

7th Grade Summer Reading Choices

A Long Walk to Water - *Required• Begins as two stories, told in alternating

sections, about two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she must make two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way.

• Based on a true story.

The Age of Miracles• Something has happened to the rotation of

the earth. The days and nights are growing longer and longer, gravity is affected, the birds, the tides, human behavior are thrown into disarray. In a world of danger and loss, Julia faces surprising developments in herself and her personal world—divisions widening between her parents, strange behavior by her friends, the vulnerability of first love, a sense of isolation, and a rebellious new strength.

• Science fiction

Bell Prater’s Boy• Everyone in Coal Station, Virginia, has a

theory about what happened to Gypsy’s Aunt Belle Prater, and when her cousin Woodrow, Aunt Belle's son, moves next door, Gypsy is puzzled by Woodrow's calm acceptance of his mother's disappearance, especially since she herself has never gotten over her father's death.

• If you like humor, endearing characters,

and unexpected endings, this book is for you.

Guts• Guess what: Gary Paulsen was being kind

to Brian. In Guts, Gary tells the real stories behind the Brian books, the stories of the adventures that inspired him to write Brian Robeson's story: working as an emergency volunteer; the death that inspired the pilot's death in Hatchet; plane crashes he has seen and near-misses of his own. He describes how he made his own bows and arrows, and takes readers on his first hunting trips, showing the wonder and solace of nature along with his hilarious mishaps and mistakes

• If you enjoy nonfiction adventure stories, this is the book for you!

I Am MalalaWhen the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, and tried to disband schools for girls, Malala refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. But she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Non fiction that is almost unbelievable, you will believe in the power of one person's voice to inspire change in the world.

Izzy Willy-Nilly• Fifteen-year-old Izzy has it all -- a loving

family, terrific friends, a place on the cheerleading squad. But her world crumbles when a date with a senior ends in a car crash and she loses her right leg. Suddenly nothing is the same. Her friends don't seem to know how to act around her. Her family doesn’t seem to understand how much she's hurting. Then Rosamunde extends an offer of friendship. Rosamunde isn't the kind of girl Izzy would have been friends with in her old life. But Rosamunde may be the only person who can help Izzy face her new one.

• A must-read for all teens girls.

Journey to Jo’Burg/Chain of Fire• Mma lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa, far

from her children, Naledi and younger brother, Tiro. When their baby sister suddenly becomes very sick, Naledi and Tiro know that they must journey to find Mma and bring her back. It isn't until they reach the city that they come to understand the dangers of their country and the painful struggle for freedom and dignity that is taking place all around them

• The South African government is forcing Naledi and the other villagers to move to a new location: a "homeland" of iron huts and barren soil. No one is willing to resist. No one except Naledi's friend Taolo, whose family has often spoken out against Apartheid. Taolo gives Naledi the strength to fight as she organizes an anti-removal march through the village. But the right of free expression is not a liberty granted to the young protesters, and the police instigate a reign of terror on the villagers.

• The real struggle of Apartheid is brought to life in this historical fiction.

Music of Dolphins • This story by Karen Hesse is sure

to keep you intrigued and at the edge of your seat. Researchers find and rescue an adolescent girl from sea. After they find her, they learn she has been raised by dolphins and they try to re-adapt her to life with humans.

• This story is for you if you enjoy stories that are sorrowful and mysterious, but also inspiring and enchanting.

Night of the Twisters • Join Dan and his friend on what

was just supposed to be an enjoyable bike ride. During their bike ride, the weather takes a turn for the worse. Luckily, everyone survives the storm and tornadoes, but the town has been demolished. The boys are faced with now having to deal with the after-math of the storm.

• This book will take you on an adventure. It is realistic as it is based on a 1980 tornado.

No More Dead Dogs• Nobody understands Wallace Wallace. This

reluctant school football hero has been suspended from the team for writing an unfavorable book report of Old Shep, My Pal. But Wallace won't tell a lie — he hated every minute of the book! Why does the dog in every classic novel have to croak at the end?

• After refusing to do a rewrite, his English teacher, who happens to be directing the school play Old Shep, My Pal, forces him go to the rehearsals as punishment. Although Wallace doesn't change his mind, he does end up changing the play into a rock-and-roll rendition, complete with Rollerblades and a moped!

• There is never a dull moment with NO MORE DEAD DOGS in your hands. This book is recommended for anyone ages that likes a good laugh and a great book.

Out of My Mind• Eleven-year-old Melody has a

photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school - but no one knows it. Most people - her teachers and doctors included - don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can't, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write.

• This is a moving story written for all readers! Readers will come to know a brilliant mind and a brave spirit who will change forever how they look at anyone with a disability.

The Red-Scarf Girl• It's 1966, and twelve-year-old Ji-li Jiang has

everything a girl could want: brains, friends, and a bright future in Communist China. But it's also the year that China's leader, Mao Ze-dong, launches the Cultural Revolution—and Ji-li's world begins to fall apart. Over the next few years, people who were once her friends and neighbors turn on her and her family, forcing them to live in constant terror of arrest. When Ji-li's father is finally imprisoned, she faces the most difficult dilemma of her life.

• A personal and painful memoir that will make you appreciate democracy.

Shipwrecked! The true adventures of a Japanese Boy• The fascinating life story of

Manjiro, a boy from Nakahama who was rescued from death by an American whaling crew and in 1843 became the first Japanese person to enter the United States

• This is a nonfiction adventure story! This book also includes maps, photographs, and artwork.

Storm Runners • This book by Roland Smith sure

is a nail-biter! Chase Masters’ is a 14 year old who lives by the motto, “Always be prepared” and rightfully so. After some awful, life-changing events, Chase and his dad decide to hit the road and chase storms. After settling in Florida, Chase and his father experience a hurricane and Chase ends up in a fight for survival.

• This book is for you if you enjoy stories that will keep you on the edge of your seat and are filled with action and adventure. Will you survive?

Scratch 2.0 Programming for Teens,2nd edition• You'll learn the basics in a fast, friendly way and be sharing

your creations online before you know it. Focused on the fundamentals and using the free Scratch programming language, you will learn how to develop interactive stories, games, animations, and other programs on the web, in your computer's browser, using graphic, customizable code blocks. It emphasizes the design and development of programming logic. You'll learn important programming concepts without getting bogged down in complicated details. And the basic principles you learn here will build a foundation from which you can move on to other, more complex, programming languages (like Microsoft Visual Basic, Java, and C++), if you decide to go deeper into software development.

• Recommended by Mrs. Engbert

Z for Zachariah• Ann Burden is sixteen years old and completely

alone. The world as she once knew it is gone, ravaged by a nuclear war that has taken everyone from her. For the past year, she has lived in a remote valley with no evidence of any other survivors.

But the smoke from a distant campfire shatters Ann's solitude. Someone else is still alive and making his way toward the valley. Who is this man? What does he want? Can he be trusted? Both excited and terrified, Ann soon realizes there may be worse things than being the last person on Earth.

• Science fiction

8th Grade Summer Reading

Choices

The River Between Us - *Required• It’s 1861. Civil war is imminent and Tilly Pruitt's

brother, Noah, is eager to go and fight on the side of the North. With her father long gone, Tilly, her sister, and their mother struggle to make ends meet and hold the family together. Then one night a mysterious girl arrives on a steamboat bound for St. Louis. Delphine is unlike anyone the small river town has ever seen. Mrs. Pruitt agrees to take Delphine and her dark, silent traveling companion in as boarders. No one in town knows what to make of the two strangers, and so the rumors fly. Is Delphine's companion a slave? Could they be spies for the South? Are the Pruitts traitors?

Bomb• In December of 1938, a chemist in a German

laboratory made a shocking discovery: When placed next to radioactive material, a Uranium atom split in two. That simple discovery launched a scientific race that spanned 3 continents. In Great Britain and the United States, Soviet spies worked their way into the scientific community; in Norway, a commando force slipped behind enemy lines to attack German heavy-water manufacturing; and deep in the desert, one brilliant group of scientists was hidden away at a remote site at Los Alamos. This is the story of the plotting, the risk-taking, the deceit, and genius that created the world's most formidable weapon. This is the story of the atomic bomb

• If you like history that reads like a fictional spy story, this is for you.

I Am the Cheese• Imagine discovering that your whole life has been

fiction, your identity altered, and a new family history created. Suddenly nothing is as it once seemed; you can trust no one, maybe not even yourself. It is exactly this revelation that turns 14-year-old Adam Farmer's life upside-down. As he tries to ascertain who he really is, Adam encounters a past, present, and future too horrible to contemplate. Suspense builds as the fragments of the story are assembled--a missing father, government corruption, espionage--until the shocking conclusion shatters the fragile mosaic.

• Looking for something different? Take this “bike trip” with Adam.

Fanatic: Ten Things All Sports Fans Should Do Before They Die• If you had to pick the top ten iconic sporting

events, what would they be? Jim Gorant asked himself this question, and the answer resulted in a yearlong journey into the heart of sports. From the Kentucky Derby to the Super Bowl, from a day game at Wrigley Field to a fortnight at Wimbledon, from the NCAA Final Four to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, Gorant takes us along for the ride, evoking the best (and sometimes the worst) sports has to offer. He enters the inner sanctum of NASCAR, witnesses Jack Nicklaus teeing off for the last time at the Masters, and takes part in one of college football's biggest rivalries -- Ohio State versus Michigan.

• Not just for sports fans! Entertaining nonfiction.

Lyddie• When Lyddie and her younger

brother are hired out as servants to help pay off their family farm's debts, Lyddie is determined to find a way to reunite her family once again. Hearing about all the money a girl can make working in the textile mills in Lowell, Massachusetts, she makes her way there, only to find that her dreams of returning home may never come true. Impoverished Vermont farm girl Lyddie Worthen is determined to gain her independence by becoming a factory worker in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the 1840s

• Good for readers who like books with/about: history, dreams and hope

Scratch 2.0 Programming for Teens,2nd edition• You'll learn the basics in a fast, friendly way and be

sharing your creations online before you know it. Focused on the fundamentals and using the free Scratch programming language, you will learn how to develop interactive stories, games, animations, and other programs on the web, in your computer's browser, using graphic, customizable code blocks. It emphasizes the design and development of programming logic. You'll learn important programming concepts without getting bogged down in complicated details. And the basic principles you learn here will build a foundation from which you can move on to other, more complex, programming languages (like Microsoft Visual Basic, Java, and C++), if you decide to go deeper into software development.

• Recommended by Mrs. Engbert.

The Runner• It was the 1960s, the time of the

Vietnam War. "Bullet" Tillerman, the school track star, had to decide if he would go to fight or stay on the family farm. Bullet's father, who had already driven Bullet's older brother and sister out of the house, made impossible demands on him. Meanwhile, at school, a black student joined the track team, forcing Bullet to question his own prejudices. But nothing would keep him from running. Nothing.

Nothing But The Truth• In this thought-provoking

examination of freedom, patriotism, and respect, ninth-grader Philip Malloy is kept from joining the track team by his failing grades in English class. Convinced that the teacher just doesn't like him, Philip concocts a plan to get transferred out of her class. Breaking the school's policy of silence during the national anthem, he hums along, and ends up in a crisis at the center of the nation's attention.

Journey to Topaz• The attack on Pearl Harbor by

Japanese planes in 1941 is what drew America into World War II. Shortly after this attack, something that would be unheard of today began to happen. West Coast Japanese Americans were being rounded up and relocated to prison camps. This book focuses on Yuki, a young Japanese girl, and her experiences during this trying time. Her story (based on the author’s own experiences) tells of the consequences of prejudice and the capacities of the human spirit to thrive even in the face of such tough obstacles.

• Good for readers who like books with/about: history, dreams and hope

The Wave• The Wave is based on a true incident

that occurred in a high school history class in Palo Alto, California, in 1969. The powerful forces of group pressure that pervaded many historic movements such as Nazism are recreated in the classroom when history teacher Burt Ross introduces a "new" system to his students. And before long "The Wave," with its rules of "strength through discipline, community, and action, " sweeps from the classroom through the entire school. And as most of the students join the movement, Laurie Saunders and David Collins recognize the frightening momentum of "The Wave" and realize they must stop it before it's too late.

Farewell to Manzanar• Jeanne Wakatsuki was seven years

old in 1942 when her family was uprooted from their home and sent to live at Manzanar internment camp--with 10,000 other Japanese Americans. Farewell to Manzanar is the true story of one spirited Japanese-American family's attempt to survive the indignities of forced detention . . . and of a native-born American child who discovered what it was like to grow up behind barbed wire in the United States.

• Good for readers who like books with/about: history, dreams and hope

Lily’s Crossing• By the summer of 1944,

World War II has changed almost everyone's life. There's no one else Lily's age in her small town of Rockaway until Albert comes, a refugee from Hungary, a boy with a secret sewn into his coat. A friendship quickly forms, secrets are shared, and lies are told, and Lily has told a lie that may cost Albert his life.

• Good for readers who like books with/about: WWII, friendship, secrets

Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science• Phineas, a railroad construction foreman, was

blasting rock near Cavendish, Vermont, in 1848 when a thirteen-pound iron rod was shot through his brain. Miraculously, he survived to live another eleven years and become a textbook case in brain science. Read his tale, and learn how the brain works.

• Good for readers who like books with/about: science, brains, history