did you know that research has documented that children ... · bringing the past to life -...

White Plains Middle School

*Mature content P a g e | 1

May 2013 Dear WPMS Students and Parents,

Did you know that research has documented that children lose two to three months of reading skills while on break if they do not read? The purpose of Project Summer Read is to encourage our students to enjoy literature and to continue developing their independent reading skills, while at the same time preventing what is known as “summer slide.” Our library media specialists, teachers, and WPMS students themselves have recommended the plethora of titles, authors, and series on this list. Please note that this list is a starting point. Of course, other books selected by the student with guidance from a parent/guardian and/or librarian are also acceptable. About Lexiles This past school year, every WPMS student took the SRI – Scholastic Reading Inventory – an assessment that helps teachers figure out approximately where students are at in terms of reading ability. A student should be able to read and understand books in a Lexile range of approximately 100 points below to 50 points above the designated score. “A Lexile text measure is based on two strong predictors of how difficult a text is to comprehend: word frequency and sentence length.” (For more on Lexiles, visit www.lexile.com) It is important to note, though, that the Lexile measure does not address the content or quality of the book. The Lexile measure is a good starting point in the book-selection process, as knowing a child’s Lexile range can help to locate books that he/she might enjoy reading. However, Lexiles are not the be all and end all! Student interest and motivation for reading books that are age appropriate are critical factors to consider as book choices are made. Remember that nothing replaces conversation with the middle schooler, his/her teachers, friends, librarians, and book store professionals in making great reading choices. Suggestions

Read at least four books this summer. Read a little every day! This includes newspapers and magazines too. Enjoy what you read. If you’re 30 pages into a book, and you don’t like it, feel free to try a

different title. JUST READ Respectfully, WPMS Middle School ELA teachers and Media Specialists Graphics http://www.maryvale.wnyric.org/photos/8106/3summer_reading_sun.png Microsoft Office library

http://www.lexile.com/

http://www.maryvale.wnyric.org/photos/8106/3summer_reading_sun.png



Bringing the Past to Life - Historical Fiction

Lexile First Last Title Annotation

600 Joseph Bruchac

Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War II

After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.

690 Eve Bunting SOS Titantic

With high hopes, Pegeen and her two brothers leave Ireland to begin a new life in New York by sailing on a fabulous new ship… the Titanic.

740 Richard Peck River Between Us

During the early days of the Civil War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young ladies who have fled New Orleans to come north to Illinois.

750 Rita Williams-Garcia

One Crazy Summer

In the summer of 1968, after traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.

780 Laurie Halse

Anderson Chains After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War.

840 Gary L Blackwood

The Shakespeare Stealer

A young orphan boy is ordered by his master to infiltrate Shakespeare’s acting troupe in order to steal the script of Hamlet, but he discovers instead the meaning of friendship and loyalty.

990 Gary Schmidt Wednesday Wars

Seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood, stuck in Mrs. Baker's classroom during the 1967 school year while his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, learns much of value about the world in which he lives from the study of the plays of William Shakespeare.

Fantasy/Sci Fi/Dystopia

670 Kate DiCamilo The Tale of Despereaux

The adventures of Desperaux Tilling, a small mouse of unusual talents, the princess that he loves, the servant girl who longs to be a princess, and a devious rat determined to bring them all to ruin

740 Maggie Stiefvater Shiver

In all the years she has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house, Grace has been particularly drawn to an unusual yellow-eyed wolf who, in his turn, has been watching her with increasing intensity.

1060 Garth Nix Sabriel

Sabriel, daughter of the necromancer Abhorsen, must journey into the mysterious and magical Old Kingdom to rescue her father from the Land of the Dead.

1070 Ingrid Law Savvy

Recounts the adventures of Mibs Beaumont, whose thirteenth birthday has revealed her "savvy"--a magical power unique to each member of her family--just as her father is injured in a terrible accident.



Get Serious About a Series!

Lexile First Name Last Name Series Title

First Title in Series

1000-1370

Lemony Snicket A Series of Unfortunate Events

The Bad Beginning is the first title in this series.

330-500

Lincoln Peirce Big Nate In a Class by Himself is the first title in this series.

400-500

Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew Notebooks

The Slumber Party Secret is the first title in this series.

430-750

Various Choose Your Own Adventure

The Abominable Snowman is the first title in this series.

550-730

Various The 39 Clues The Maze of Bones is the first title in this series.

560-880

Donald J Sobol Encyclopedia Brown

Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective is the first title in this series.

590-660

DJ MacHale Pendragon Merchant of Death is the first title in this series.

610-780

Henry Winkler Hank Zipzer Niagara Falls, or Does It? is the first title in this series. Inspired by the true life experiences of Henry Winkler, this series is about Hank Zipzer, the world's greatest underachiever!

660-890

Wendelin VanDraanen Sammy Keyes Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief is the first title in this series.

680-760

Jeanne DuPrau The Books of Ember

The City of Ember is the first title in this series. Built as an underground refuge for the human race, the city of Ember begins to deteriorate as its lights start to flicker. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she’s sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon must decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever.

700-840

Kathryn Lasky Guardians of Ga’Hoole

The Capture is the first title in this series.

710-750

Margaret Peterson

Haddix The Missing Found! is the first title in this series.

770-890

Rachel Renee

Russell Dork Diaries Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life is the first title in this series.

950-1120

Jim Benton Dear Dumb Diary Let's Pretend This Never Happened is the first title in this series.

On the Battlefield

650 Walter Dean

Myers Fallen Angels * Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem high school, enlists in the Army in the summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year on active duty in Vietnam.

780 Walter Dean

Myers Sunrise Over Fallujah

Robin Perry, from Harlem, is sent to Iraq in 2003 as a member of the Civilian Affairs Battalion, and his time there profoundly changes him.

Also see Jim Eldridge under “Kid Recs” for more On the Battlefield titles.



Nonfiction

550 Greg Abbey

Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown & Colonial Maryland

Reports on the work of forensic scientists who are excavating grave sites in James Fort, in Jamestown, Virginia, to understand who lived in the Chesapeake Bay area in the 1600s and 1700s; and uncovers the lives of a teenage boy, a ship's captain, a colonial officer, an African slave girl, and others.

920 Jim Murphy The Boys' War

Includes diary entries, personal letters, and archival photographs to describe the experiences of boys, sixteen years old or younger, who fought in the Civil War.

940 Andrea Pinkney Let it Shine

Presents profiles of ten African-American women whose efforts on behalf of racial justice and freedom have influenced the course of history.

980 Tayna Lee Stone

Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream

Profiles thirteen women who challenged social norms and government policies to prove they could be exceptional astronauts.

990 Steve Sheinkin The Notorious Benedict Arnold

Most people know that Benedict Arnold was America’s first, most notorious traitor. Few know that he was also one of its greatest war heroes. This accessible biography introduces young readers to the real Arnold: reckless, heroic, and driven. Packed with first-person accounts, astonishing battle scenes, and surprising twists, this is a gripping and true adventure tale.

1130 Jim Murphy American Plague

Provides an account of the yellow fever epidemic that swept through Philadelphia in 1793, discussing the chaos that erupted when people began evacuating in droves, leaving the city without government, goods, or services, and examining efforts by physicians, the Free African Society, and others to cure and care for the sick.

Spooky, Eerie, Creepy, Mysterious

750 Joan Lowry

Nixon Secret, Silent Screams

Although everyone believes Barry committed suicide, Marti is determined to prove her friend was murdered despite the danger involved.

1040 Phyllis Naylor Jade Green When orphan Judith Sparrow is sent to live with her uncle in his haunted house, strange and mysterious things begin to happen when Judith disobeys her uncle’s “green” rule.



Realistic Fiction

510 Eve Bunting Blackwater When a boy and girl are drowned in the Blackwater River, thirteen-year-old Brodie must decide whether to confess that he may have caused the accident.

630 Katherine Erskine Mockingbird

Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger's Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father.

670 Sharon Flake The Skin I'm In

Thirteen-year-old Maleeka, uncomfortable because her skin is extremely dark, meets a new teacher with a birthmark on her face and makes some discoveries about how to love who she is and what she looks like.

690 Jenny Lombard Drita My Homegirl

When ten-year-old Drita and her family move to New York from Kosovo, she is teased about not speaking English, but after a popular student named Maxine is forced to learn about Kosovo as a punishment for teasing Drita, the two girls bond and Drita is no longer teased.

710 N.A. Nelson Bringing the Boy Home

As two Takunami youths approach their thirteenth birthdays, Luka reaches the culmination of his mother's training for the tribe's manhood test while Tirio, raised in Miami, Florida, by his adoptive mother, feels called to begin preparations to prove himself during his upcoming visit to the Amazon rain forest where he was born.

750 Nancy Osa Cuba, 15 Violet Paz, a Chicago high school student, reluctantly prepares for her upcoming "quince", a Spanish nickname for the celebration of a Hispanic girl's fifteenth birthday.

750 Laura Resau What the Moon Saw

Fourteen-year-old Clara Luna spends the summer with her grandparents in the tiny, remote village of Yucuyoo, Mexico, learning about her grandmother's life as a healer, her father's decision to leave home for the United States, and her own place in the world.

760 Roland Smith Peak A fourteen-year-old boy attempts to be the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.

800 Laura Resau Red Glass

Sixteen-year-old Sophie has been frail and delicate since her premature birth, but discovers her true strength during a journey through Mexico, where the six-year-old orphan her family hopes to adopt was born, and to Guatemala, where her would-be boyfriend hopes to find his mother and plans to remain.

1020 Brian James Thief * The arrival of a new foster boy named Dune prompts Elizabeth to attempt to escape from the clutches of Sandra, a women who takes in foster kids and makes them steal for her.



Withstanding the Test of Time - The Classics

570 Agatha Christie And Then There Were None

Considered the best mystery novel ever written by many readers, And Then There Were None is the story of 10 strangers, each lured to Indian Island by a mysterious host. Once his guests have arrived, the host accuses each person of murder. Unable to leave the island, the guests begin to share their darkest secrets--until they begin to die.

750 Mark Twain

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The adventures of a mischievous young boy and his friends growing up in a Mississippi River town in the nineteenth century.

770 William Golding Lord of the Flies*

This classic tale about a group of English schoolboys who are plane-wrecked on a deserted island is just as chilling and relevant today as when it was first published in 1954. At first, the stranded boys cooperate, attempting to gather food, make shelters, and maintain signal fires. Soon rules are being ignored or challenged outright. Golding's gripping novel explores the boundary between human reason and animal instinct, all on the brutal playing field of adolescent competition. --Jennifer Hubert

800 Brian Jacques Redwall This epic animal fantasy moves the reader through a series of adventures filled with villains, heroes, mysteries, and riddles. This is a classic tale of good versus evil.

810 Betty Smith A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A young girl from an impoverished family comes of age in Brooklyn at the turn of the twentieth-century.

840 Esther Forbes Johnny Tremain

Johnny Tremain, apprentice silversmith, takes on the cause of freedom as a message carrier for the Sons of Liberty in pre-Revolution Boston.

870 Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird*

Scout Finch, the young daughter of a local attorney in the Deep South during the 1930s, tells of her father's defense of an African-American man charged with the rape of a white girl.

910 Daniel Keyes Flowers for Algernon

After being mentally retarded for all of his thirty-two years, Charlie Gordon undergoes an operation designed to change his life.

1070 Robert Louis

Stevenson Treasure Island

While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, Jim Hawkins and his innkeeper mother find a treasure map that leads to a pirate's fortune.

1080 Ann Frank Diary of a Young Girl

The Diary of a Young Girl is the record of two years in the life of a remarkable Jewish girl whose triumphant humanity in the face of unfathomable deprivation and fear has made the book one of the most enduring documents of our time.

1300 Louisa May Alcott Little Women Chronicles the humorous and sentimental fortunes of the four March sisters--Meg, Jo, Amy, and Beth--as they grow into young ladies in nineteenth-century New England.

N/A Arthur Laurents West Side Story

They came together through love but violence threatened to tear them apart. Maria was young and innocent and had never known love—until Tony. And he, who had been seeking something beyond the savagery of the streets, discovered it with her.



Kid “Recs”

580 Loretta Ellsworth In a Heartbeat

Told in their separate voices, Eagan, who has died in a figure-skating accident, becomes a heart donor for Amelia, who then begins taking on some aspects of Eagan's personality.

610 Gordon Korman No More Dead Dogs

Eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace is sentenced to detention attending rehearsals of the school play where, in spite of himself, he becomes wrapped up in the production and begins to suggest changes that improve not only the play but his life as well.

630 Eleanor Coerr Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

Hospitalized with the dreaded atom bomb disease, leukemia, a child in Hiroshima races against time to fold one thousand paper cranes to verify the legend that by doing so a sick person will become healthy.

650 Darren Shan Cirque du Freak series

Two boys who are best friends visit an illegal freak show, where an encounter with a vampire and a deadly spider forces them to make life-changing choices.

660 Christine Morton-Shaw The Hunt for the Seventh

When his father starts a new job at Minerva Hall as gardener, twelve-year-old Jim discovers an ancient curse that needs to be unraveled before disaster happens.

680 Ally Condie Matched series

Cassia has always had complete trust in the Society to make decisions for her, but when she is being paired with her ideal mate, a second face flashes on the screen, and Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility as she tries to decide which man she truly loves.

680 Dan Gutman The Homework Machine

Four fifth-grade students--a geek, a class clown, a teacher's pet, and a slacker--as well as their teacher and mothers, each relate events surrounding a computer programmed to complete homework assignments.

684 James Buckley, Jr

Soccer Superstars (Boys Rock! series)

This book is a brief look at the competition and top players from the soccer world.

700 Kate DiCamilo

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Edward Tulane, a cold-hearted and proud toy rabbit, loves only himself until he is separated from the little girl who adores him and travels across the country, acquiring new owners and listening to their hopes, dreams, and histories.

700 Paul Langan The Bully*

After Darrell Mercer and his mother move from Philadelphia to California in the middle of the school year, the ninth-grader quickly becomes a target for the freshman class bully, Tyray Hobbs. This title is number five of the Bluford High series.

700 James Patterson

Middle School The Worst Years of My Life

When Rafe Kane enters middle school, he teams up with his best friend, "Leo the Silent," to create a game to make school more fun by trying to break every rule in the school's code of conduct.

700 Lore Pittacus I am Number Four (Lorien Legacies #1)

In rural Ohio, friendships and a beautiful girl prove distracting to a fifteen-year-old who has hidden on Earth for ten years waiting to develop the Legacies, or powers, he will need to rejoin the other six surviving Garde members and fight the Mogadorians who destroyed their planet, Lorien.

700 Veronica Roth Divergent (#1 of trilogy)

In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she



discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

700 Anne Schraff Someone to Love Me*

When Cindy Gibson starts dating Bobby Wallace, he appears to be everything that Cindy is looking for, until he starts behaving strangely and Cindy finds herself in the worst trouble of her life. This is book four of the Bluford High series.

720 Dav Pilkey Captain Underpants series

When George and Harold hypnotize their principal into thinking that he is the superhero Captain Underpants, he leads them to the lair of the nefarious Dr. Diaper, where they must defeat his evil robot henchmen.

720 Wendelin VanDraanen Flipped In alternating chapters, two teenagers describe how their feelings about themselves, each other, and their families have changed over the years.

730 Patrick Ness A Monster Calls

Thirteen-year-old Conor awakens one night to find a monster outside his bedroom window, but not the one from the recurring nightmare that began when his mother became ill--an ancient, wild creature that wants him to face truth and loss

740 Madeleine L'Engle A Wrinkle in Time

A classic. Meg and Charles Wallace set out with their friend Calvin in a search for their father. His top secret job as a physicist for the government has taken him away and the children search through time and space to find him.

740 Wendelin VanDraanen Runaway

After running away from her fifth foster home, Holly, a twelve-year-old orphan, travels across the country, keeping a journal of her experiences and struggle to survive.

750 S.E. Hinton The Outsiders

Three brothers struggle to stay together after their parents' death, as they search for an identity among the conflicting values of their adolescent society in which they find themselves "outsiders."

750 Ann M Martin A Corner of the Universe

The summer that Hattie turns twelve, she meets the childlike uncle she never knew and becomes friends with a girl who works at the carnival that comes to Hattie's small town.

750 Marjorie Kinnan

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

760 Jim Eldridge Black Ops series

Book 1: Jungle Kill, Book 2: Death in the Desert, Book 3: Urban Assassin. When former Special Forces officer Mitch is offered a dangerous undercover mission, he must trust his five new teammates as they rescue a West African freedom fighter.

760 Carl Hiaasen Hoot

Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy's attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site.

760 Lois Lowry The Giver

Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives. Gathering Blue and Messenger are companion novels in this trilogy.

760 Sara Shepard Pretty Little Liars (Book 1 of series)

Book 1: When one of their tightly-knit group mysteriously disappears, four high school girls find their friendship difficult to maintain when they begin receiving taunting messages from someone who seems to know everything about their past and present secrets.

770 Maureen Johnson Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes

When seventeen-year-old Ginny receives a packet of mysterious envelopes from her favorite aunt, she leaves New Jersey to criss-cross Europe on a sort of scavenger hunt that transforms her life.



770 Kathryn Lasky Ashes

In 1932 Berlin, thirteen-year-old Gaby Schramm witnesses the beginning of Hitler's rise to power, as soldiers become ubiquitous, her beloved literature teacher starts wearing a jewelled swastika pin, and the family's dear friend, Albert Einstein, leaves the country while Gaby's parents secretly bury his books and papers in their small yard.

780 Julie Kagawa Iron Fey series (The Iron King #1)

(First book in series) When her half-brother is kidnapped, Meghan Chase, who has recently learned that she is the daughter of the summer faery king, must journey into a strange world she never imagined to face an unknown enemy and save those she loves.

790 Lisi Harrison The Clique series

(First book in series) Wealthy Massie is determined to exclude middle class Claire, the daughter of her father's old friend, from her seventh-grade clique at a very exclusive private school in Westchester, New York, but after Massie steals her only friend, Claire strikes back.

810 Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games trilogy

In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.

840 Trenton Lee

Stewart

The Mysterious Benedict Society (Book 1)

After passing a series of mind-bending tests, four children are selected for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules.

850 Dave Pelzer A Child Called "It"*

Dave's bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When his mother allowed him the luxury of food, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps that even the dogs refused to eat. The outside world knew nothing of his living nightmare. He had nothing or no one to turn to, but his dreams kept him alive--dreams of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son.

860 Sara Weeks So.B.It

After spending her life with her mentally retarded mother and agoraphobic neighbor, twelve-year-old Heidi sets out from Reno, Nevada, to New York to find out who she is.

910 Mike Lupica Summer Ball

Thirteen-year-old Danny must prove himself all over again for a disapproving coach and against new rivals at a summer basketball camp.

930 Brenda Haugen

Frederick Douglass: Slave, Writer, Abolitionist

A biography profiling the life of Frederick Douglass, his escape from slavery, his career as an author and orator, and his quest for justice. Includes source notes and timeline.

1040 Allan Zullo

War Heroes: Voices from Iraq (Ten True Tales series)

All ten persons featured in this book earned medals for bravery, yet all said they were just doing the job they were trained to do. Still, when you read the gripping accounts of their gutsy actions, you'll see that they displayed an intense boldness that spurred them to reach far beyond their personal limits.

1080 John Boyne The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Bored and lonely after his family moves from Berlin to a place called "Out-With" in 1942, Bruno, the son of a Nazi officer, befriends a boy in striped pajamas who lives behind a wire fence.



1090 Allan Zullo

Battle Heroes: Voices from Afghanistan (Ten True Tales series)

The heroes spotlighted in Battle Heroes: Voices from Afghanistan represent some of the tens of thousands of American troops who, with steadfast boldness, have been battling a ruthless enemy in knee-deep snow of rugged mountains, in scorching temperatures of sand-blasted desert plains, and in deadly close combat of militant-occupied villages. You'll read ten gripping stories of bravery.

310-400

Kazu Kibuishi Amulet series

(First book in series) After the tragic death of their father, Emily and Navin move with their mother to the home of her deceased great-grandfather, but the strange house proves to be dangerous. Before long, a sinister creature lures the kids' mom through a door in the basement. Em and Navin, desperate not to lose her, follow her into an underground world inhabited by demons, robots, and talking animals....

360-450

Jeff Smith Bone series

(First book in series) The adventure starts when cousins Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone are run out of Boneville and later get separated and lost in the wilderness, meeting monsters and making friends as they attempt to return home.

590-740

Rick Riordan Percy Jackson and the Olympians

The Lightning Thief is the first book in the series. After learning that he is the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea, twelve-year-old Percy is sent to a summer camp for demigods like himself, and joins his new friends on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.

610-750

Various Bluford High * Lost and Found is the first title in this series.

660-770

James Patterson Maximum Ride

The Angel Experiment is the first title in this series. After the mutant Erasers abduct the youngest member of their group, the "birdkids," who are the result of genetic experimentation, take off in pursuit and find themselves struggling to understand their own origins and purpose.

700-800

Franklin W

Dixon The Hardy Boys series

Even though these books were written quite some time ago, they still appeal to kids today.

760-900

Lloyd Alexander

Prydain Chronicles (The Book of Three)

Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper to a famous oracular sow, sets out on a hazardous mission to save Prydain from the forces of evil.

770-820

Heather Brewer The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series

Eighth Grade Bites (First book in series) For thirteen years, Vlad, aided by his aunt and best friend, has kept secret that he is half-vampire, but when his missing teacher is replaced by a sinister substitute, he learns that there is more to being a vampire, and to his parents' deaths, than he could have guessed.

770-890

Scott Westerfield Uglies series Uglies is the first title in this series.

775-850

Margaret Peterson

Haddix The Shadow Children series

Among the Hidden is the first title in this series. Luke’s parents hide him away so that the population police will not know that he exists. It is a lonely life for Luke, who wishes he could go outside and play, like his brothers do, and also go to school, to leave the house and go anywhere. When the land behind Luke’s farm is developed into a neighborhood, Luke is shocked to meet another child like him, Jen. She tells him all about other "shadow children" who live hidden away from the rest of society. When Jen organizes a big rally to support the hidden children, will Luke risk his life by going to it?



800-920

John Flanagan Ranger's Apprentice series

The Ruins of Gorlan is the first title of this series. Follow the adventures of Will, an orphan who is taken as an apprentice Ranger, as he strives to keep the Kingdom of Araluen safe from invaders, traitors, and threats. He is joined on his adventures by his mentor Halt and his best friend Horace.

880-1030

JK Rowling Harry Potter series

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is the first title in this series.

910-1010

Jeff Kinney Diary of a Wimpy Kid series

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is the first title in this series.

n/a Robert Rigby Glory Days (Goal! Series, Book 3) *

Santiago Munez returns to England and is selected for the World Cup Squad, but then an injury threatens his dream of playing in the World Cup finals.

C.S. Lewis The Chronicles of Narnia

The Magician's Nephew is the first title in this classic series.

Teacher “Faves”

780 Mal Peet Keeper

In an interview with a young journalist, World Cup hero, El Gato, describes his youth in the Brazilian rain forest and the events, experiences, and people that helped make him a great goalkeeper and renowned soccer star.

590 Jerry Spinelli Stargirl

In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever.

660 Louis Sachar Holes

As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

670 Lois Lowry Number the Stars

In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.

670 Walter Dean

Myers Monster*

While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.

690 Laurie Halse

Anderson Speak* A traumatic event in the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year of high school.

700 Henry Winterfeld Detectives in Togas

In an effort to save a boy wrongly accused, a group of young friends living in ancient Rome search for the culprit who scrawled graffiti on the temple wall.

700 E.L. Konigsburg

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Claudia and her brother run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she sees a statue so beautiful, she must identify its sculptor. To find out, she must visit the statue's former owner, the elderly Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

720 Tom Angleberger Darth Paper Strikes Back

After several Origami Yoda-related incidences, Dwight is suspended for being a troublemaker and Yoda asks Tommy and Kellen to save Dwight by creating a case file that proves Dwight is an asset to Ralph McQuarrie Middle School.

730 Markus Zusak The Book Thief *

Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the



Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.

750 Michael Northrop Trapped The day the blizzard started, no one knew that it was going to keep snowing for a week. That for those in its path, it would become not just a matter of keeping warm, but of staying alive.

760 Tom Angleberger Strange Case of Origami Yoda

Sixth-grader Tommy and his friends describe their interactions with a paper finger puppet of Yoda, worn by their weird classmate Dwight, as they try to figure out whether or not the puppet can really predict the future. Includes instructions for making Origami Yoda.

760 Andrew Clements The School Story

After twelve-year-old Natalie writes a wonderful novella, her friend Zoe helps her devise a scheme to get it accepted at the publishing house where Natalie's mother works as an editor.

770 James Lincoln and Christopher

Collier My Brother Sam is Dead

Recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family during the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral.

780 Cornelia Funke Inkheart

Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service.

820 Neil Gaiman The Graveyard Book

Nobody Owens is a normal boy, except that he has been raised by ghosts and other denizens of the graveyard.

830 Sharon Draper Out of My Mind

Considered by many to be mentally retarded, a brilliant, impatient fifth-grader with cerebral palsy discovers a technological device that will allow her to speak for the first time.

840 Maggie Stiefvater

The Scorpio Races

Nineteen-year-old returning champion Sean Kendrick competes against Puck Connolly, the first girl ever to ride in the annual Scorpio Races, both trying to keep hold of their dangerous water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.

880 Francisco Jimenez The Circuit Offers a look at a migrant family, detailing their daily life and the struggles they endured to build an existence on the small opportunities they were given.

930 Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass

Accompanied by her shape-shifting daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North,

940 Jordan Sonnenblick Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie

The life of eighth-grader Steven Alper, already complicated by his friendship with two girls and a prodigious talent for drumming, is turned upside down when his five-year-old brother Jeffrey is diagnosed with leukemia.

960 Bethany Hamilton Soul Surfer

They say Bethany Hamilton has saltwater in her veins. How else could one explain the passion that drives her to surf? How else could one explain that nothing—not even the loss of her arm—could come between her and the waves?

980 Cynthia Rylant Missing May

After the death of the beloved aunt who has raised her, twelve-year-old Summer and her uncle Ob leave their West Virginia trailer in search of the strength to go on living.

1000 Rodman Philbrick Freak, the Mighty

At the beginning of eighth grade, learning disabled Max and his new friend Freak, whose birth defect has affected his body but not his brilliant mind, find that when they combine forces they make a powerful team.

1000 Norton Juster The Phantom A bored young boy, Milo, drives his small electric car through a



Tollbooth toy tollbooth and finds himself in the Land Beyond. A journey through a land where Milo learns the importance of words and numbers provides a cure for his boredom.

1010 Zilpha Keatly

Snyder The Egypt Game

An interracial group of children, entranced with the study of ancient Egypt, play their own Egypt game, are visited by a secret oracle, become involved in a murder, and befriend the antique dealer-professor before they move on to new interests.

1090 Richard Llewellyn How Green Was My Valley

How Green Was My Valley is Richard Llewellyn's bestselling -- and timeless -- classic and the basis of a beloved film. As Huw Morgan is about to leave home forever, he reminisces about the golden days of his youth when South Wales still prospered, when coal dust had not yet blackened the valley. Drawn simply and lovingly, with a crisp Welsh humor, Llewellyn's characters fight, love, laugh and cry, creating an indelible portrait of a people. -amazon.com

1260 Pete Nelson

Left for Dead

Recalls the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis at the end of World War II, the navy cover-up and unfair court martial of the ship's captain, and how a young boy helped the survivors set the record straight fifty-five years later.

630-710 Suzanne Collins

The Underland Chronicles

Gregor the Overlander is the first title in this first series by the author of The Hunger Games.

770-840 Greg Taylor

Killer Pizza series

While working as summer employees in a local pizza parlor, three teenagers are recruited by an underground organization of monster hunters.

N/A

Zilpha Keatly

Snyder The Changeling

Part of Zilpha K. Snyder's magic as a writer is her ability to create young characters who face real tragedies and traumas and yet somehow overcome what seem to be the insurmountable odds of surviving adolescence. Facing my own crises as I approached Junior High, I found her books at once inspiring and reassuring. -Fritz R. Ward, via Amazon.com

Favorite Authors

Some Selected Titles

Avi Murder at Midnight (590), The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (740)

Andrew Clements Things Not Seen (740)

Roald Dahl The Witches (740), Boy (1090)

Sharon Draper Double Dutch (760), Romiette and Julio (610)

Lois Duncan Ransom (750), Down a Dark Hall (750)

Gordon Korman Schooled (740), Swindle (710)

Lois Lowry Gossamer (660)

Mike Lupica Two Minute Drill (880), Heat (940)

Walter Dean Myers Bad Boy (970), Slam (750)

Lauren Myracle Bliss (640), ttyl (N/A)

Gary Paulsen My Life in Dog Years (1150), Guts (950)

Pam Munoz Ryan Esperenza Rising (750), Becoming Naomi Leon (830)

Gary Soto Petty Crimes (800), Baseball in April (830), Buried Onions (850)

Unless otherwise notes, the annotations are from NoveList K-8.

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