2012 Grade 5 Summer Readingfor students entering Grade 5

HKIS Upper Primary

K= available on Kindle

2012 Grade 5 Summer Readingfor students entering Grade 5

HKIS Upper Primary

K= available on Kindle

2012 Grade 5 Summer Readingfor students entering Grade 5

HKIS Upper Primary

K= available on Kindle

2012 Grade 5 Summer Readingfor students entering Grade 5

HKIS Upper Primary

K= available on Kindle

Applegate, Katherine. The One and Only Ivan. Harper, 2012. When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived for years in a down-and-out circus-themed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant that has been added to the mall, he decides that he must find her a better life.

Barrow, Randi. Saving Zasha. Scholastic Press 2011. In 1945 Russia, those who own German shepherds are considered traitors, but thirteen-year-old Mikhail and his family are determined to keep the dog a dying man brought them, while his classmate Katia strives to learn his secret.

Barshaw, Ruth McNally. Ellie McDoodle: Most Valuable Player. Bloomsbury, 2012. While Ellie loves the Journey of the Mind club, she struggles to keep from failing miserably on her soccer team, but when both groups have tournaments the same day, she musters her team spirit and tries to succeed at both. Series

Boyce, Frank Cottrell. The Unforgotten Coat. Candlewick Press, 2011. Julie recalls her sixth year classmates Chingis and Nergui, two Mongolian brothers, their strange polaroid photographs, sketchy descriptions of Mongolia, and their very real fear of demons in this offbeat, haunting story.

Colfer, Eoin. Half Moon Investigations. Hyperion, 2007. Fletcher Moon--who suffers the nickname "Half Moon" because of his small stature--helps solve crimes for classmates and others in his Irish town, but things start to go wrong when he is asked to find a reportedly stolen lock of a pop star's hair and ends up an arson suspect. K

Collins, Suzanne. Gregor the Overlander. Scholastic, 2004. When eleven-year-old Gregor and his two-year-old sister are pulled into a strange underground world, they trigger an epic battle involving humans, bats, rats, cockroaches, and spiders while on a quest foretold by ancient prophecy. K

Conner, Leslie. Crunch. Katherine Tegen Books, 2010. The oldest Mariss brother, Dewey, attempts to be the "embodiment of responsibility" as he juggles the management of the family's bicycle repair business while sharing the household and farm duties with his siblings after a sudden energy crisis strands their parents far from home. K

Deutsh, Barry. Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword. Amulet, 2010. Eleven-year-old Mirka Herschberg dreams of fighting dragons and spends her days honing her skills, even though there are no dragons in her Orthodox Jewish community, but when she accepts a challenge from a mysterious witch, Mirka just might win her dragon-fighting sword after all.

Doder, Joshua. A Dog Called Grk. Random House, 2005. A British schoolboy finds adventure when he travels to a dangerous foreign country to return a small dog to its rightful owner. Series

Dubois, Michael. The Not-For-Parents Travel Book. Lonely Planet, 2011. Shares facts and information about every country in the world, discussing elephants that play polo in Thailand, Australia's deadliest shark, the origins of reggae music in Jamaica, and other topics.

Easton, Kelly. The Outlandish Adventures of Liberty Aimes. Yearling, 2011. Libby Aimes escapes her prison-like home by using a strange concoction then tries to make her way to the boarding school of her dreams, aided by various people and animals. K

Ferris, Jean. Once Upon a Marigold. Harcourt, 2002. A young man with a mysterious past and a penchant for inventing things leaves the troll who raised him, meets an unhappy princess he has loved from afar, and discovers a plot against her and her father. Series K

Ganeri, Anita. Wild Animals. Scholastic, 2008. Presented in large full-color format, this title explains how to survive when animals get horrible: how to cope with a killer croc, why you shouldn't turn your back on a tiger and what to do if a shark bumps into you.

Harkrader, Lisa. The Adventures of Beanboy. Houghton Mifflin, 2012. Wheaton, Kansas, seventh-grader Tucker MacBean loves comic books, so when his favorite comic has a contest to create a sidekick, he is hopeful that he can win, thereby fixing his struggling family.

Holm, Jennifer L. The Trouble with May Amelia. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2011. May Amelia is always in trouble but never nmore than when she translates an offer from a con man for her father. A companion to My Only May Amelia. K

Horowitz, Anthony. Stormbreaker. Philomel, 2000. Series. After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6. K

Ibbotson, Eva. The Star of Kazan. Dutton Children’s, 2004. Annika, a twelve-year-old foundling in late nineteenth-century Vienna, inherits a trunk of costume jewelry, and soon afterwards a woman claiming to be her aristocratic mother arrives and takes her to live in a strangely decrepit mansion in Germany. K

Krishnaswami, Uma. The Grand Plan to Fix Everything. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2011. Eleven-year-old Dini loves movies, and so when she learns that her family is moving to India for two years, her devastation over leaving her best friend in Maryland is tempered by the possibility of meeting her favorite actress, Dolly Singh. K

Jacques, Brian. Redwall. Philomel, 1986. When the peaceful life of ancient Redwall Abbey is shattered by the arrival of the evil rat Cluny and his villainous hordes, Matthias, a young mouse, determines to find the legendary sword of Martin the Warrior which, he is convinced, will help Redwall's inhabitants destroy the enemy. Series K

Johnson, Peter. The Amazing Adventures of John Smith, Jr. aka Houdini. Harper, 2012. Thirteen-year-old John "Houdini" Smith tries to write a book about what is happening in his life, from his parents' worries about money and his brother in Iraq, to his new understandings of people while he and his friends rake lawns in their neighborhood. K

Lai, Thanhha. Inside Out & Back Again. Harper, 2011. Hà and her family flee war-torn Vietnam for the American South. In spare, vivid verse, she chronicles her struggle to find her place in a new world. (2012 Newbery Book) K

Levine, Gail Carson. A Tale of Two Castles. Harper, 2011. Twelve-year-old Elodie journeys to Two Castles in hopes of studying acting but instead becomes apprentice to a dragon, who teaches her to be observant and use reasoning, thus helping her to uncover who is poisoning the king. K

Margolis, Leslie. Vanishing Acts. Bloomsbury, 2012. Life is confusing for seventh-grader Maggie, who must track down a missing person and find out who is behind a string of dog eggings at the local dog run, while also dealing with issues involving her brother and two of her friends. Series K

Meloy, Colin. WIldwood. Balzer + Bray, 2011. Prue's life shifts from ordinary to extraordinary when her baby brother is kidnapped by a murder of crows and she must embark into the Impassable Wilderness with her friend Curtis in tow, where the pair will encounter warring creatures, peaceful mystics, and other powerful figures.

Napoli, Donna Jo. Treasury of Greek Mythology: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes & Monsters. National Geographic Society, 2011. From the chaos that spawned Gaia to the horrors of the Trojan War, this is a comprehensive and lavishly illustrated compendium of Greek mythology. K

Newman, John. Mimi. Candlewick, 2011. Mimi is determined not to give up on anyone or anything, but since Mammy died, her father never smiles, her sister Sally is in a bad mood, brother Conor keeps to himself, and even Sparkler the dog does not want to go for walks.

Paulson, Gary. Masters of Disaster. Yearling, 2010. Twelve-year-old Henry Mosely, having decided his life is boring, ropes his friends Riley and Reed into a series of hair-raising adventures, including trying to break world records, visiting a haunted house, and solving a century-old murder. K

Sage, Angie. Darke. Katherine Tegen, 2011. In the latest addition to this popular Septimus Heap series, the apprentice must enter the Darke to save the Castle and the Wizard Tower from destruction, but he needs the help of many to battle the spreading Darkenesse. Series K

Santat, Dan. Sidekicks. A.A. Levine, 2011. Captain Amazing tries to hire a new sidekick when he feels he is getting too old to be a reliable superhero, but his pets have different ideas.

Schroeder, Alan. Ben Franklin: His Wit and Wisdom from A-Z. Holiday House, 2011. An illustrated overview of Benjamin Franklin's inventions, wisdom, and accomplishments.

Selznick, Brian. Wonderstruck. Scholastic, 2011. Two parallel stories set 50 years apart converge in this textual and visual story of adventurous Ben and Rose as it explores topics of deafness, silence, wolves, and museums. (2012 Schneider Family Award Book)

Shang, Wendy Wan-Long. The Great Wall of Lucy Wu. Scholastic, 2011. Aspiring basketball star and interior designer Lucy Wu is excited about finally having her own bedroom, until she learns that her great-aunt is coming to visit and Lucy will have to share a room with her for several months, shattering her plans for a perfect sixth-grade year.

Smith, Anne Warren. Bittersweet Summer. Albert Whitman & Co., 2012. Nine-year-old Katie and her four-year-old brother, Tyler, have an emotional summer during which their father considers moving them to Portland and they are surprised by a visit from their mother, a country singer.

Smith, Roland. The Surge. Scholastic, 2011. Friends Chase, Nicole, and Rashawn survive Hurricane Emily and make their way to Nicole's family farm, the winter home of the Rossi Brothers Circus, only to find the circus lions and an unpredictable leopard have escaped their cages while the flood waters rise. Series K

Snyder, Laurel. Penny Dreadful. Random House, 2010. When her father suddenly quits his job, the almost-ten-year-old, friendless Penny and her neglectful parents leave their privileged life in the city for a ramshackle property in the eccentric town of Thrush Junction, Tennessee. K

Starr, Caroline Rose. May B. Schwartz & Wade, 2012. When a failed wheat crop nearly bankrupts the Betterly family, twelve-year-old May's father pulls her from school and hires her out to a couple new to the Kansas frontier. K

Sundem, Garth. Real Kids, Real Stories, Real Change. Free Spirit Pub, 2010. Contains thirty true stories of children around the world who used their hearts, heads, and courage to do extraordinary things. K

Witherspoon, Jack. Twist it Up: More than 60 Delicious Recipes from an Inspiring Young Chef. Chronicle Books, 2011. A collection of recipes from eleven-year-old chef Jack Witherspoon accompanied by color photographs and including helpful hints, information on kitchen equipment, and a table of equivalents. K