Summer Reading

Grade-Level Required Books

• Each student is required to read the required book for his/her grade.

• This book counts toward your minimum of 3 books for the summer.

Gifted Hands by Carson/Murphey, not Lewis *• 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 is required of all incoming 6th graders.*

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park *• 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.

* This is required of all incoming 7th graders.

The River Between Us by Richard Peck*• 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?

* This is required of all incoming 8th graders.

6-8 Grade Booklist

• You must read at least one of the books on this list.

• Please don’t choose a book you have already read! There are so many good titles!

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 know. 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

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.

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 Gypsy has never gotten over her own 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Sugar Changed the World

• Sugar was the substance that drove the bloody slave trade and caused the loss of countless lives, but it also planted the seeds of revolution that led to freedom in the American colonies, Haiti, and France. With songs, oral histories, maps, and over 80 archival illustrations, here is the story of how one product allows us to see the grand currents of world history in new ways.

Breaking Stalin’s Nose• Sasha Zaichik has known the laws of the Soviet

Young Pioneers since the age of six:The Young Pioneer is devoted to Comrade Stalin, the Communist Party, and Communism.A Young Pioneer is a reliable comrade and always acts according to conscience.But now that it is finally time to join the Young Pioneers, the day Sasha has awaited for so long, everything seems to go awry. He breaks a classmate's glasses with a snowball. He accidentally damages a bust of Stalin in the school hallway. And worst of all, his father, the best Communist he knows, was arrested just last night.

This moving story of a ten-year-old boy's world shattering is masterful in its simplicity, powerful in its message, and heartbreaking in its plausibility.• Recommended by Mrs. Cucuzzella

Racing in the Rain: My Life as a Dog*Do you love dogs? Have you ever wondered what your dog is thinking?Meet one funny dog—Enzo, the lovable mutt who tells this story. Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: most dogs love to chase cars, but Enzo longs to race them. He learns about racing and the world around him by watching TV and by listening to the words of his owner, Denny, an up-and-coming race car driver, and Denny’s daughter, Zoë, his constant companion. Applying the rules of racing to his world, Enzo takes on his family's challenges and emerges a hero. In the end, Enzo holds in his heart the dream that Denny will go on to be a racing champion with his daughter by his side. For theirs is an extraordinary friendship—one that reminds us all to celebrate the triumph of the human (and canine) spirit. *This is a special adaptation for young people of the acclaimed New York Times bestselling adult novel The Art of Racing in the Rain.

That was Then, This is Now• Ever since Mark's parents died, he has been living

with Bryon. The boys are more like brothers than mere friends. They've been inseparable--until recently. Something seems to be changing between them, and Bryon can't figure it out. Is it Cathy, Bryon's new girlfriend? Is Mark jealous? Bryon is also tired of the street fighting, but Mark seems unable to quit. And where is Mark getting all of that money? Bryon struggles over whether to protect his best friend or whether to follow his own beliefs about right and wrong. The ending will surprise readers, challenging them to puzzle over Bryon's dilemma in their own hearts.

• You don’t want to miss this one!