Summer Reading List: Grades 3-8 Social Justice

Each student entering grades 3-8 in Fall 2017 is asked to choose and read at least one book from the appropriate grade level, and be ready to discuss it in class when school

begins. These books are similar to last year's, so please read a different selection for this summer.

Third Grade Odd Weird & Little by Patrick Jennings

Readers will find this charming, funny novel from the beloved Patrick Jennings an absolute hoot! When the new kid joins his class, Woodrow agrees with his schoolmates -Toulouse is really weird. He's short - Kindergarten short - dresses in a suit like a grandpa, has huge eyes, and barely says a word. But Woodrow isn't exactly Mr. Popularity. The frequent

target of the class bully himself, he figures that maybe all Toulouse needs is a chance. And when the two are put together in gym to play volleyball, they make quite the team. Toulouse can serve, set, and spike like a pro. He really knows how to fly around the court. But when the attention and teasing switch back to Woodrow, he learns that the new kid is great at something else: being a friend. Full of heart and laughs, Odd, Weird, and Little is another winner from the author of the Guinea Dog series. Mr. Lincoln’s Way by Patricia Polacco

Mr. Lincoln is the coolest principal ever! He knows how to do everything, from jumping rope to leading nature walks. Everyone loves him. . . except for Eugene Esterhause. "Mean Gene" hates everyone who's different. He's a bully, a bad student, and he calls people awful, racist names. But Mr. Lincoln knows that Eugene isn't really bad - he's just repeating things he's

heard at home. Can the principal find a way to get through to "Mean Gene" and show him that the differences between people are what make them special? Who Was Helen Keller? by Gare Thompson

Tells Helen Keller's life story, describing her loss of her sight and hearing in childhood, her learning of language skills with the help of Annie Sullivan, her work to earn her college degree, her fame, and her efforts to help others with disabilities.

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Who Was Jackie Robinson? by Gail Herman

A biography of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American player in major league baseball when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, discussing his family, college and military years, athletic abilities, career in the Negro Leagues, move to the majors, and activism on behalf of African-Americans.

Sonia Sotomayor: a judge grows in the Bronx by Jonah Winter

The inspiring and timely story of Sonia Sotomayor, who rose up from a childhood of poverty and prejudice to become the first Latino to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. Before she took her seat in our nation's highest court, she was just a little girl in the South Bronx. Justice Sotomayor didn't have a lot growing up, but she had what she needed - her

mother's love, a will to learn, and her own determination. With bravery she became the person she wanted to be. With hard work she succeeded. With little sunlight and only a modest plot from which to grow, Justice Sotomayor bloomed for the whole world to see. Fourth Grade El Deafo by Cece Bell

A 2015 Newbery Honor Book. Going to school and making new friends can be tough. But going to school and making new friends while wearing a bulky hearing aid strapped to your chest? That requires superpowers! In this funny, poignant graphic novel memoir, author/illustrator Cece Bell chronicles her hearing loss at a young age and her subsequent experiences with the Phonic

Ear, a very powerful--and very awkward--hearing aid. The Phonic Ear gives Cece the ability to hear--sometimes things she shouldn't--but also isolates her from her classmates. She really just wants to fit in and find a true friend, someone who appreciates her as she is. After some trouble, she is finally able to harness the power of the Phonic Ear and become "El Deafo, Listener for All." And more importantly, declare a place for herself in the world and find the friend she's longed for.

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Women Who Changed the World: 50 Amazing Americans by Laurie Calkhoven

In Women Who Changed the World, you'll meet 50 of the most influential and inspirational American women who had a lasting impact on our nation and the world. Starting with some of America's "Founding Mothers" like Pocahontas and Abigail Adams, and continuing up to the present day with game changers like Hillary Clinton, Oprah, and Misty Copeland, the book

features a unique and diverse cast from all walks of life. Bully by Patricia Polacco

Lyla finds a great friend in Jamie on her first day of school, but when Lyla joins the cheerleading squad and a clique of popular girls invites her to join them, Jamie is left behind. Lyla knows bullying when she sees it though and when she sees her new friends viciously teasing classmates on Facebook, including Jamie, she realizes that she doesn't want to be friends with such

people and is smart enough to leave the clique. These girls don't take kindly to anyone rejecting them or their ideas though and they are soon out for revenge. If America were a village: a book about the people of the United States by David Smith

America, with all its diversity, is not easily defined. David J. Smith's If America Were a Village takes a snapshot - past, present and future - to help define America for children. Using the same successful metaphor of the international bestseller If the World Were a Village, the book shrinks down America to a village of 100. This helps children easily understand American

ethnic origins, religions, family profiles, occupations, wealth, belongings and more. The expansive illustrations imagine America as a classic, vibrant small town. Fifth Grade & Sixth Grade Watsons go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

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 Byron gets to be too much trouble, they head South to Birmingham to visit Grandma, the one person who

can shape him up. And they happen to be in Birmingham when Grandma's church is blown up.

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A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

A Long Walk to Water 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 makes 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. Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

As the Revolutionary War begins, 13-year-old Isabel wages her own fight - for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who

know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom. The Misadventures of Family Fletcher by Dana Alison Levy

Two dads, four sons, one dog, one cat, one imaginary cheetah. That’s the family Fletcher. The chapters are alternately narrated by the brothers, who each has his own problem to work through. Twelve-year-old Sam is an athlete but toying with acting; fourth-grader Eli thought he wanted to go to a strict academic school, but it’s not working out; Jax, also in fourth grade, has to interview the grumpy neighbor for a project on veterans; and Kinder-

gartner Frog can’t get anyone to believe his school pal isn’t imaginary. An interview in a local paper explains how this family became one. Seventh Grade & Eighth Grade The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis

Conscious of the strict limitations imposed by the Taliban rulers of Kabul, Afghanistan, on women's freedom and behavior, eleven-year-old Parvana disguises herself as a boy in order to earn money so that her family can survive after her father's arrest.

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One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

In this Newbery Honor novel, New York Times bestselling author Williams-Garcia tells the story of three sisters who travel to Oakland, CA, in 1968 to meet the mother who abandoned them. Eleven-year-old Delphine has had to be like a mother to her two younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, ever since their mother, Cecile, left them seven years ago for a radical new life in California.

But when the sisters arrive from Brooklyn to spend the summer with their mother, Cecile is nothing like they imagined. While the girls hope to go to Disneyland and meet Tinker Bell, their mother sends them to a day camp run by the Black Panthers. Unexpectedly, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern learn much about their family, their country, and themselves during one truly crazy summer. Stella by Starlight by Sharon Draper

Stella lives in the segregated South - in Bumblebee, North Carolina, to be exact. Some stores she can go into. Some stores she can't. Some folks are right pleasant. Others are a lot less so. To Stella, it sort of evens out, and heck, the Klan hasn't bothered them for years. But one late night, later than she should ever be up, much less wandering around outside, Stella and her

little brother see something they're never supposed to see, something that is the first flicker of change to come, unwelcome change by any stretch of the imagination. As Stella's community - her world - is upended, she decides to fight fire with fire. And she learns that ashes don't necessarily signify an end. March Trilogy by John Lewis

Presents in graphic novel format events from the life of Georgia congressman John Lewis, focusing on his youth in rural Alabama, his meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., and the birth of the Nashville Student Movement.