Required Books for Summer 2016

All Middle School students are required to read three books in total over the summer. Every student in Grades 5-7 must read one required title and two additional books she selects from her grade’s section of the Middle School Summer List. All Grade 8 students must read two required titles and one additional book she selects from the section on the Middle School Summer Reading List for Incoming Grades 7 and 8. Students will receive an assignment or assessment based on their required reading when English classes begin in the Fall. Students will also be required to prepare a Book Review Bookmark for each of the novels read of the summer.

The required titles are listed below:

Incoming Grade 5

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Incoming Grade 6

What the Moon Saw by Laura Resau

Incoming Grade 7

I Am Malala (Young Readers Edition) by Malala Yousafzai

Incoming Grade 8

Warriors Don’t Cry (Unabridged Edition) by Melba Pattillo Beals

Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel­Fattah

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Middle School Summer Reading 2016

Book Review Bookmark Guidelines

All Middle School students will be required to write a book review for each of the three books read over the summer. Book review bookmarks will be displayed in the books and around the library throughout the school year to encourage fellow students to check out your book selections.

Using the attached bookmark template, you will include three descriptive words, genre descriptions, or read­alikes to capture the attention of the review reader. In the body of review, give two to three opinions about the novel and short examples using brief quotations or scenes from the novel to support your opinion. Include supporting details explaining why you would (or would not) recommend this novel and for what audience you think the novel is written. Finally, conclude the review with a rating ­

5 Stars: I loved this book and want to tell everyone about it! (This doesn't mean it was your

favorite book ever, but it might make your top ten list)

4 Stars: I liked it and would recommend it to the right friend.

3 Stars: It was pretty good and I’m glad I read it.

2 Stars: It was an ok book but I probably wouldn’t read it again.

1 Star: I didn’t like this book at all. (It’s ok not to like a book, but remember that there’s always

someone who WILL like the book.)

Use the following tips to help craft an engaging and effective book review that will entice your fellow

students to read your book selections ­

Describe the book ­ What genre does it fit into? Does the book belong to a series? How long is

the book? Is it an easy or a challenging read?

How does the book compare to other books on the same topic or in the same genre?

Who are the characters? What makes them interesting? What conflicts do they face?

Is the book set in the past, present or future? Is it set in the world we know or is it a fantastical

world?

Why do you think other readers would enjoy it? Why did you enjoy it (if you did) or why didn't

you (if you didn't).

What ages or types of readers do you think would like the book?

How does it compare with other books that are in the same genre or by the same author?

Does the book engage your emotions? If a book made you laugh or cry or think about it for days,

be sure to include that.

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Middle School Summer Reading 2016

Did the book feel complete, or did it feel as though key elements were left out?

How does the book compare to other books like it you've read?

When reviewing a book of nonfiction, you will want to consider these questions:

What was the author's purpose in writing the book? Did the author accomplish that purpose?

What do you think is the book's greatest value? What makes it special or worthwhile?

If the book is a biography or autobiography, how sympathetic is the subject?

Are there extra features that add to the enjoyment of the book, such as maps, indexes, glossaries,

or other materials?

Make sure you include a conclusion to the review — don't leave it hanging. The conclusion can be just

one sentence (Overall, this book is a terrific choice for those who…).

Most importantly, be honest, be opinionated, be thoughtful, but DON’T give away the ending!

Happy reading,

Ms. Wolf

Director of Library Services

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Middle School Summer Reading 2016

_____________________________________

by: __________________________________

Read this book if you like ­

1 2 3 4 5

Reviewed by:

_____________________________________

by: __________________________________

Read this book if you like ­

1 2 3 4 5

Reviewed by:

_____________________________________

by: __________________________________

Read this book if you like ­

1 2 3 4 5

Reviewed by:

Recommended Reading for Incoming Grades 5 & 6

Realistic Fiction

Burg, Ann E. Serafina’s Promise. In a poor village outside of Port­au­Prince, Haiti, Serafina works hard to help her family, but dreams of going to school and to be a doctor­­then the earthquake hits and Serafina must summon all her courage to find her father and still get medicine for her sick baby brother.

Chmakova, Svetlana. Awkward. After shunning Jaime, the school nerd, on her first day at a new middle school, Penelope Torres tries to blend in with her new friends in the art club, until the art club goes to war with the science club, of which Jaime is a member.

Gregg, Esther. The Princess and the Foal. Princess Haya of Jordan, whose mother died when she was three, raises an orphaned Arabian foal named Bree, which helps her cope with both her grief and a nasty governess. Inspired by true events.

Hiranandani, Veera. The Whole Story of Half a Girl. When Sonia's father loses his job and she must move from her small, supportive private school to a public middle school, the half­Jewish half­Indian sixth­grader experiences culture shock as she tries to navigate the school's unfamiliar social scene, and more turmoil after her father is diagnosed with clinical depression.

Hunt, Lynda Mullaly. Fish In A Tree. Ally's greatest fear is that everyone will find out she is as dumb as they think she is because she still doesn't know how to read. If you like this, try Hunt’s other novel, One for the Murphys.

Kadohata, Cynthia. The Thing About Luck. Just when 12­year­old Summer thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong in a year of bad luck, an emergency takes her parents to Japan, leaving Summer to care for her little brother while helping her grandmother cook and do laundry for harvest workers.

Lai, Thanhha. Listen Slowly. A California girl born and raised, Mai can't wait to spend her vacation at the beach. Instead, she has to travel to Vietnam with her grandmother who is looking for the truth about what happened to her husband in the Vietnam War. To survive her trip, Mai must find a balance between her two completely different worlds.

Pennypacker, Sara. Pax. After being forced to give up his pet fox Pax, a young boy decides to leave home and get his best friend back.

Philbrick, Rodman. Zane and the Hurricane. Zane Dupree and his dog, Bandit, fly from New Hampshire to New Orleans to visit his great­grandmother for the first time. Then Hurricane Katrina strikes. During the evacuation, Bandy runs off; Zane goes after him and is separated from Miss Trissy and trapped by the floodwaters.

Pinkney, Andrea Davis. The Red Pencil. After her tribal village is attacked by militants, Amira, a young Sudanese girl, must flee to safety at a refugee camp, where she finds hope and the chance to pursue an education in the form of a single red pencil and the friendship and encouragement of a wise elder.

Rundell, Katherine. Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms. Wilhelmina Silver's world is golden. Living half­wild on an African farm with her horse, her monkey, and her best friend, every day is beautiful. But when her home is sold and Will is sent away to boarding school in England, the world becomes impossibly difficult. Lions and hyenas are nothing compared to packs of vicious schoolgirls.

Sloan, Holly Goldberg. Counting by 7s. Twelve­year­old genius and outsider Willow Chance must figure out how to connect with other people and find a surrogate family for herself after her parents are killed in a car accident.

Stead, Rebecca. Liar and Spy. Seventh­grader Georges adjusts to moving from a house to an apartment, his father's efforts to start a new business, his mother's extra shifts as a nurse, being picked on at school, and Safer, a boy who wants his help spying on another resident of their building.

Stone, Phoebe. The Boy on Cinnamon Street. Since a tragedy she cannot remember, thirteen­year­old Louise has changed her name, given up gymnastics, moved in with her grandparents, and locked her feelings inside but through her friends and notes from a secret admirer she begins to find herself again.

Urban, Linda. The Center of Everything. Ruby Pepperdine has always done what she’s supposed to, but on the day her beloved grandmother dies, Ruby didn’t listen to her and now she’s lost the center of everything. On her 12th birthday, Ruby makes a special wish that everything will be the way it's supposed to be again.

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Middle School Summer Reading 2016

Recommended Reading Grades 5 & 6 ­ pg. 2

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Appelt, Kathi and Alison McGhee. Maybe A Fox. When her sister Sylvie goes missing on a snowy morning and is never seen again, Jules refuses to believe she is gone forever, meanwhile, in the shadow world, a shadow fox is born. Alexander, William. Goblin Secrets. Hoping to find his lost brother, Rownie escapes the home of the witch Graba and joins goblins who perform in Zombay, a city where humans are forbidden to wear masks and act in plays. National Book Award Winner. Armstrong, Kelley. Loki’s Wolves. In modern day South Dakota, 13­year­old Matt, a descendant of the Norse god Thor, and Fen and Laurie, descendants of Loki, the trickster god, must fight for the world’s survival against monsters in an apocalyptic battle. Already read it? Read Odin’s Ravens, instead. Beasley, Cassie. Circus Mirandus. When he realizes that his grandfather's stories of an enchanted circus are true, Micah Tuttle sets out to find the mysterious Circus Mirandus­­and to use its magic to save his grandfather's life. Blackwood, Sage. Jinx. A boy named Jinx, who can see people’s emotions in colorful clouds around their heads, encounters magic and danger when he leaves the path in the deep, dark forest known as the Urwald after meeting the wizard Simon Magnus. Already read it? Read the sequel, Jinx’s Magic, instead. Blakemore, Megan. The Water Castle. After their father’s stroke, Ephraim and his family move into an inherited mansion in Maine. Ephraim and his siblings, Mallory and Will, uncover a mystery involving hidden passageways, family rivalries, and healing waters. Colfer, Chris. The Wishing Spell. Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, twins Alex and Conner leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face­to­face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about. Already read it? Read any of the Land of Stories tales. Catmull, Katherine. Summer and Bird. In the world of Down, young sisters Summer and Bird are separated and go in very different directions as they seek their missing parents, try to vanquish the evil Puppeteer, lead the talking birds back to their Green Home, and discover the identity of the true bird queen.

Connolly, MarcyKate. Monstrous. Kymera, who has a raven's wings, a snake's tail, and a cat's eyes and claws, loves the father who brought her back to life after a wizard killed her, but she begins to question his motives, especially after she connects with a boy in the town from which she is rescuing sick girls. Dowell, Frances O’Roark. Falling In. Middle­schooler Isabelle Bean follows a mouse's squeak into a closet and falls into a parallel universe where the children believe she is the witch they have feared for years, finally come to devour them. Graff, Lisa. A Tangle of Knots. Destiny leads 11­year­old Cady to a peanut butter factory, a family of children searching for their own Talents, and a Talent Thief who will alter her life forever. Holm, Jennifer. The Fourteenth Goldfish. Ellie's scientist grandfather has discovered a way to reverse aging, and consequently has turned into a teenager­­which makes for complicated relationships when he moves in with Ellie and her mother, his daughter Jinks, Catherine. How to Catch a Bogle. Birdie McAdam, a ten­year­old orphan, is tougher than she looks. She's proud of her job as apprentice to Alfred the Bogler, a man who catches monsters for a living. Birdie lures the bogles out of their lairs with her sweet songs, and Alfred kills them before they kill her. Already read it? Read the sequel, A Plague of Bogles, instead. Ursu, Anne. The Real Boy. Misfit orphan Oscar is content to be his magician master's menial "hand." Then Master Caleb disappears, and children in the magically protected City suddenly begin to sicken. Together with his new friend Callie, a healer's apprentice, Oscar must find both cause and cure. Yolen, Jane. The Hostage Prince. Prince Aspen and apprentice midwife Snail become unlikely companions during their escape from the Unseelie kingdom. The duo, a royal and a commoner, must overcome their antipathy toward each other and work together to survive a journey through royal courts and mystical woods. Already read it? Read the sequel, The Last Changeling, instead.

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Middle School Summer Reading 2016

Recommended Reading Grades 5 & 6 ­ pg. 3

Historical Fiction

Avi. Catch You Later, Traitor. Raised in Charleston, West Virginia, at the turn of the twentieth century by her grandfather and aunt on off­putting tales of family members she has never met, twelve­year­old Delana is shocked when, after Aunt Tilley dies, she learns the truth about her parents and some of her other relatives. Choldenko, Gennifer. Al Capone Does My Homework. It is1936 in this final volume of the award­winning Alcatraz trilogy and 13­year­old Moose Flanagan faces new challenges when his father is promoted to Associate Warden and a fire breaks out in the family’s apartment. If you haven’t already read them, start with Al Capone Does My Shirts and Al Capone Shines My Shoes, first. Curtis, Christopher Paul. The Madman of Piney Woods. Set in 1901, thirteen­year­old African Canadian boy Benji Alston befriends Irish Canadian boy Alvin "Red" Stockard. The two boys have both encountered a strange, frightening hermit in the woods and begin to discover similarities in their family histories. Dagg, Carole Estby. Sweet Home Alaska. In 1934, eleven­year­old Terpsichore's father signs up for President Roosevelt's Palmer Colony project, uprooting the family from Wisconsin to become pioneers in Alaska, where Terpsichore refuses to let rough conditions and first impressions get in the way of her grand adventure. Dowell, Frances O’Roark. Anybody Shining. In a series of letters to her cousin, twelve­year­old Arie Mae relates her life in a mountain valley of North Carolina in the 1920s when she befriends a boy visiting from Baltimore named Tom who walks with a limp but loves to explore. Draper, Sharon M. Stella by Starlight. In 1932, when a burning cross set by the Ku Klux Klan causes panic and fear in2 Bumblebee, North Carolina, fifth­grader Stella must face prejudice and find the strength to demand change in her segregated town. Ehrlich, Esther. Nest. On Cape Cod in 1972, eleven­year­old Naomi, known as Chirp for her love of birds, gets help from neighbor Joey as she struggles to cope with her mother's multiple sclerosis and its effect on her father and sister. Lai, Thanhha. Inside Out and Back Again. Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life­changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama. Newbery Honor. National Book Award Winner.

Levine, Kristin. The Lions of Little Rock. Marlee develops a strong friendship with Liz, the new girl, but when Liz suddenly stops attending school and Marlee hears a rumor that her friend is actually an African American girl passing herself off as white, the two girls must decide whether their friendship is worth taking on integration and the dangers it could bring to their families. MacColl, Michaela. Promise the Night. In Beryl’s view, she should have been born to the Nandi tribe in east Africa, preferably as a boy. She grows up on her father’s horse farm in Kenya. Headstrong and fearless, she’d prefer to track animals, wrestle, and spear targets than learn to be a proper English lady. Always seeking adventure, Beryl Markham makes history flying an airplane. Parry, Rosanne. Written in Stone. In the early 1920s, thirteen­year­old Pearl, a member of the Makah Native American tribe in the Pacific Northwest, loses her father in a whale hunt. While dealing with her grief and finding her way in the world, Pearl helps when her tribe’s livelihood and traditional ways are threatened. Scattergood, Augusta. Glory Be. Gloriana faces her twelfth birthday in 1964, but while she struggles to understand the shift in her relationships with her sister­­who is about to enter high school­­and her best friend, Frankie, Gloriana witnesses tempers rise in a debate over a segregated public pool. Timberlake, Amy. One Came Home. In 1871 Wisconsin, thirteen­year­old Georgia sets out to find her sister Agatha, presumed dead when remains are found wearing the dress she was last seen in, and before the end of the year gains fame as a sharpshooter and foiler of counterfeiters. Vanderpool, Clare. Moon Over Manifest. Twelve­year­old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past. Newbery Medal. Williams­Garcia, Rita. One Crazy Summer. In the summer of 1968, Delphine and her two sisters travel from Brooklyn to Oakland, CA, to spend a month with the mother they barely know. National Book Award Finalist. Newbery Honor. Scott O’Dell and Coretta Scott King Winner. Already read it? Follow the Gaither sisters in P. S. Be Eleven and Gone Crazy in Alabama.

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Middle School Summer Reading 2016

Recommended Reading Grades 5 & 6 ­ pg. 4

Mystery, Suspense, and Adventure

Appelt, Kathi. The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp. Twelve­year­old Chap Brayburn, ancient Sugar Man, and Swamp Scouts Bingo and J’miah (raccoon brothers) try to save Bayou Tourterelle from feral pigs Clydine and Buzzie, greedy Sunny Boy Beaucoup, and world­class alligator wrestler, would­be land developer Jaeger Stitch. Auxier, Jonathan. The Night Gardener. Irish orphans Molly, fourteen, and Kip, ten, travel to England to work as servants in a crumbling manor house where nothing is quite what it seems to be, and soon the siblings are confronted by a mysterious stranger and secrets of the cursed house. Bell, Juliet. Kepler’s Dream. While her mother undergoes radical cancer treatment, eleven­year­old Ella stays with her father’s mother in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she learns about grammar and family history, and helps investigate the theft of an extremely rare book from her grandmother’s library. Black, Holly. Doll Bones. Zach, Alice, and Poppy, friends from a Pennsylvania middle school who have long enjoyed acting out imaginary adventures with dolls and action figures, embark on a real­life quest to Ohio to bury a doll made from the ashes of a dead girl. Newbery Honor. Child, Lauren. Ruby Redfort Look Into My Eyes. Skilled code­cracker and detective Ruby Redfort and her sidekick butler Hitch work for a secret crime­fighting organization called Spectrum, and Ruby remains calm as they face evil villains. DiCamillo, Kate. Flora and Ulysses. A girl named Flora and a squirrel named Ulysses, whose life was saved by Flora after he was involved in an incident with a vacuum cleaner, team up to use Ulysses’ superpowers to conquer villains and protect the weak. Newbury Medal. Foley, Lizzie K. Remarkable. Ten­year­old Jane Doe, the only student average enough to be excluded from the town of Remarkable's School for the Remarkably Gifted, is joined at her public school by the trouble­making Grimlet twins, who lead her on a series of adventures involving an out­of­control science fair project, a pirate captain with a mutinous crew, a lonely dentist, and a new bell tower that endangers Remarkable's most beloved inhabitant­­a skittish lake monster named Lucky.

Grabenstein, Chris. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. Kyle wins a coveted spot to be one of the first 12 kids inside the new library, funded by famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello, for an overnight of fun, food, and lots and lots of games. But when morning comes, the doors remain locked. Kyle and the other kids compete to solve every clue and every secret puzzle to win Mr. Lemoncello’s contest and, more importantly, find the hidden escape route. Already read it? Read the sequel, Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics. Kittscher, Kristen. The Wig in the Window. When their game of neighborhood spying takes a dark turn one night, pre­teen sleuths Sophie Young and Grace Yang find themselves caught in a dangerous cat­and­mouse game with their bizarre guidance counselor, who may be hiding something sinister. Messner, Kate. Capture the Flag. When the original Star Spangled Banner is stolen, seventh­graders Anne, Jose, and Henry, all descendants of the Silver Jaguar Society, pursue suspects on airport carts and through baggage handling tunnels while stranded at a Washington, D.C., airport during a snowstorm. Milford, Kate. Greenglass House. At Greenglass House, a smuggler's inn, twelve­year­old Milo, the innkeepers' adopted son, plans to spend his winter holidays relaxing, but soon guests are arriving with strange stories about the house that send Milo and Meddy, the cook's daughter, on an adventure. Poblocki, Dan. The Ghost of Graylock. Staying with their aunts over the summer, Neil Cady, his sister Bree, and their new friends Wesley and Eric, set out to explore Graylock Hall, an abandoned psychiatric hospital which is supposed to be haunted by the ghost of Nurse Janet. Rundell, Katherine. Rooftoppers. When authorities threaten to take Sophie, twelve, from Charles who has been her guardian since she was one and both survived a shipwreck, the pair goes to Paris to try to find Sophie’s mother, and they are aided by Matteo and his band of “rooftoppers.” Turnage, Sheila. Three Times Lucky. Washed ashore as a baby in tiny Tupelo Landing, North Carolina, Mo LoBeau, now eleven, and her best friend Dale turn detective when the amnesiac Colonel, owner of a cafe and co­parent of Mo with his cook, Miss Lana, seems implicated in a murder. Newbery Honor. Already read it? Choose The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, instead.

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Middle School Summer Reading 2016

Recommended Reading Grades 5 & 6 ­ pg. 5

Classics

Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women. The story of the four March sisters Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, and their trials growing into young ladies in nineteenth­century New England. Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. A young girl tumbles down a rabbit hole, encountering many trials and tribulations as well as eccentric characters like the Mad Hatter, the Chesire Cat, Tweedledee, Tweedledum, and the Queen of Hearts. London, Jack. The Call of the Wild. Buck, who is half St. Bernard and half Scotch sheperd, is abducted and taken to the Klondike where he reverts to the wild and becomes a leader of a pack of wolves.

Montgomery, Lucy M. Anne of Green Gables. Anne, an eleven­year­old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle­aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her. Paterson, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia. The life of a ten­year­old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm. Saint­Exupery, Antoine de. The Little Prince. An aviator whose plane is forced down in the Sahara Desert encounters a little prince from a small planet who relates his adventures in seeking the secret of what is important in life.

Biography and Nonfiction

Burns, Loree Griffin. The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honeybee Catastrophe. Discusses the strange disappearance of honey bees from hives around the world beginning in 2006 and examines scientists’ efforts to discover the cause of colony collapse. Gonzales, Doreen. The Secret of the Manhattan Project. Imagine keeping a secret among 100,000 people, hiding three entire cities from prying eyes, and putting the most famous scientists in the world in one place that few people know about. This scenario is part of real history – the secret development of the first atomic bomb. Jackson, Donna M. Every Body’s Talking: What We Say Without Words. Learn what and how much you are “saying” even when you don’t say a word as well as how and why gestures and facial expressions are interpreted in different ways by different cultures. Kurlansky, Mark. The World Without Fish. A master storyteller describes what is happening to fish, the oceans, and the environment in the early twenty­first century, explaining how commonly­consumed fish, such as tuna, cod, and salmon, are disappearing and what kids can do about it.

Macy, Sue. Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way). Combines text with vintage photographs, advertisements, cartoons, and songs to examine how women have used bicycles throughout history to improve their lives. YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults. Nelson, Kadir. Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. Examines the history of the United States, focusing on events that influenced African­Americans and how they advanced liberty and justice in America. Coretta Scott King Award. O’Connell, Caitlin and Donna M. Jackson. The Elephant Scientist. Photographs and text recount Caitlin O'Connell's experiences observing African elephants in their natural habitat, describing her discoveries about elephant communication. Sibert Informational Book Honor. Sheinkin, Steve. Lincoln’s Grave Robbers. True crime story: In 1876, a group of Chicago counterfeiters conspired to steal President Lincoln’s corpse from its grave near Springfield, Illinois, and hold it for ransom: $200,000 and the release of their leader, counterfeiter Benjamin Boyd.

Source of book synopses: Titlewave, Follett Library Resources, <http://www.flr.follett.com>.

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Middle School Summer Reading 2016

Recommended Reading for Incoming Grades 7 & 8

Realistic Fiction

Bajaj, Varsha. Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood. Abby Spencer yearns to meet her father, but she never imagined he would be a huge film star­­in Bollywood! Now she's traveling to Mumbai to get to know him where she struggles with culture clash and the pressures of being the daughter of India’s most famous celebrity. Crossan, Sarah. The Weight of Water. Kasienka and her mother have immigrated to Coventry, England from Poland, searching for Kasienka's father, but everyone is unfriendly except for an African neighbor and a boy Kasienka meets at the swimming pool, which is her only refuge from an alien society. Dowell, Frances O’Roark. Ten Miles Past Normal. To fourteen­year­old Janie, living with “modern­hippy’ parents on a goat farm means she won’t have a normal high school life. Freshman year, she joins Jam Band, falls in “like” with a boy named Monster, and gets arrested doing a school project on civil rights workers. Ellis, Sarah. Outside In. Lynn’s life is full – choir practice, school, shopping, and dealing with her unreliable, impulsive mother – when one day at the bus stop she is saved from choking by a mysterious girl named Blossom whose life off the grid with her unconventional family in a bunker beneath a city reservoir raises the issues of materialism, friendship, and betrayal. Kinsella, Sophie. Finding Audrey. Fourteen­year­old Audrey is making slow but steady progress dealing with her anxiety disorder when Linus comes into the picture and her recovery gains momentum. Lamana, Julie T. Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere. At the end of August 2005, Armani is looking forward to her birthday party in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, where she and her extended family live, but Hurricane Katrina arrives, bringing destruction and tragedy in its wake. Matson, Morgan. Second Chance Summer. After Taylor Edwards' family gets devastating news, they decide to spend one last summer all together at their lake house in the Pocono Mountains where they get to know each other again and bond, and Taylor encounters her past friends and crush.

Mills, Claudia. Zero Tolerance. Seventh­grade honor student Sierra Shepard faces expulsion after accidentally bringing a paring knife to school, violating the school's zero­tolerance policy. Patterson, Valerie O. Operation Oleander. Ninth­grader Jess and her friends establish Operation Oleander to collect school supplies for a girls’ orphanage in Kabul, Afghanistan, where two of their parents are deployed, but when disaster strikes and many blame the Operation Oleander, Jess must find a way to go on. Phillips,Gin. The Hidden Summer. When twelve­year­old Nell and her best friend, Lydia, are forbidden to see each other, they hatch a plan to spend their summer days in an abandoned miniature golf course, where they soon find others in search of a home. Restrepo, Bettina. Illegal. Nora, a fifteen­year­old Mexican girl, faces the challenges of being an illegal immigrant in Texas when she and her mother cross the border in search of Nora's father. Rivers, Karen. Finding Ruby Starling. Using an Internet image search, New Yorker Ruth Quayle finds pictures of Ruby, a girl in London who looks just like her. She repeatedly e­mails Ruby who is wondering if Ruth is a stalker. Through e­mails, letters, blogs, and Tumblr posts, the girls slowly unravel the mystery. Singer, Nicky. Under Shifting Glass. Jess is grieving for her beloved aunt, and when she finds a mysterious flask hidden in a antique bureau that belonged to Aunt Edie on the same day that her conjoined twin brothers are born, she begins to believe that the flask is magic and that their survival depends on it. Strasser, Todd. No Place. When Dan and his parents can no longer pay their mortgage, they end up homeless and living in a local tent city. It's a bad situation, and it only gets worse when the leader of the tent city is brutally beaten. Who is trying to shut down the tent city, and why? Stead, Rebecca. Goodbye Stranger. As Bridge makes her way through seventh grade on Manhattan's Upper West Side with her best friends, curvacious Em, crusader Tab, and a curious new friend, she finds the answers she has been seeking.

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Middle School Summer Reading 2016

Recommended Reading Grades 7 & 8 ­ pg. 2

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Aveyard, Victoria. The Red Queen. In a world divided by blood, seventeen­year­old Mare, a Red, discovers she has an ability of her own. To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. But Mare risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. Already read it? Read The Glass Sword, instead. Bardugo, Leigh. Shadow and Bone. Orphaned by the Border Wars, Alina Starkov is taken from obscurity and her only friend, Mal, to become the protege of the mysterious Darkling, who trains her to join the magical elite in the belief that she is the Sun Summoner, who can destroy the monsters of the Fold. Already read it? Read Siege and Storm or Ruin and Rising, instead Cameron, Sharon. Rook. In the Sunken City that was once Paris the guillotine rules again, while Sophia Bellamy from the Commonwealth across the Channel Sea tries to rescue as many of the revolution's victims as she can smuggle out, and some prisoners disappear from their cells, with a red­tipped rook feather left in their place­­but who is the mysterious Red Rook and where does Sophia's wealthy fiancé, René Hasard, fit in? Davies, Linda. The Longbow Girl. Sixteen­year­old expert archer Merry Owen is desperate to save her family's farm in Wales, in the shadow of the Black Castle, and when she finds a buried chest containing an ancient and hopefully valuable Welsh text, she hopes it will be the key to a fortune­­and so it is, but not in the way she expected, for it sends her and her friend James de Courcy into past. Donnelly, Jennifer. Deep Blue. Sixteen­year­old Serafina, heir to the throne of a vast underwater mermaid matriarchy in the Mediterranean Sea, uncovers an ancient evil and searches for five other mermaid heroines who are scattered across the six seas, to save their hidden world. Fisher, Catherine. The Obsidian Mirror. When his father disappears while experimenting with a black mirror that is a portal to both the past and the future, Jake encounters obstacles when he tries to use the mirror to find his father. Already read it? Choose the next one in the trilogy, The Slanted Worlds. Grove, S. E. The Glass Sentence. In 1891, in a world transformed by 1799's Great Disruption­­when all of the continents were flung into different time periods­­thirteen­year­old Sophia Tims and her friend Theo go in search of Sophia's uncle, Shadrack Elli, Boston's foremost cartologer, who has been kidnapped.

Hale, Shannon. Dangerous. When aspiring astronaut Maisie Danger Brown, who was born without a right hand, and the other space camp students get the opportunity to do something amazing in space, Maisie must prove how dangerous she can be and how far she is willing to go to protect everything she has ever loved. Lowry, Lois. Son. Unlike the other Birthmothers in her utopian community, teenaged Claire forms an attachment to her baby, feeling a great loss when he is taken to the Nurturing Center to be adopted by a family unit. Companion to The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Messenger. McNeal, Tom. Far Far Away. Jeremy Johnson Johnson lives a woebegone life ­­ abandoned by his mother; the sole caretaker of his bedridden, depressed father. But Jeremy has the rare ability to hear ghosts, and that's how Jacob Grimm, of the famous Brothers, becomes Jeremy's mentor and guardian. Meyer, Marissa. Cinder. Cinder, a gifted mechanic and a cyborg with a mysterious past, is blamed by her stepmother for her stepsister's illness while a deadly plague decimates the population of New Beijing, but when Cinder's life gets intertwined with Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle. Already read it? Choose Scarlet or Cress instead. Schwab, Victoria. The Archived. When an otherworldly library called the Archive is compromised from within, sixteen­year­old Mackenzie Bishop must prevent violent, ghost­like Histories from escaping into the world. Already read it? Choose the sequel, The Unbound, instead. Stevenson, Noelle. Nimona. Lord Ballister Blackheart seeks to bring down the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics with the aid of his new shapeshifting sidekick, Nimona. Vande Velde, Vivian. Deadly Pink. Fourteen­year­old Grace must find a way to get her brilliant, gorgeous older sister, a game­designer for the shadowy Rasmussen Corporation, out of a virtual reality RPG (role playing game)­­before it is too late. Zinn, Bridget. Poison. When sixteen­year­old Kyra, a potions master, tries to save her kingdom by murdering the princess, who is also her best friend, the poisoned dart misses its mark and Kyra becomes a fugitive, pursued by the King's army and her ex­boyfriend Hal.

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Middle School Summer Reading 2016

Recommended Reading Grades 7 & 8 ­ pg. 3

Historical Fiction

Barnaby, Hannah Rodgers. Wonder Show. Portia Remini, having escaped from McGreavy’s Home for Wayward Girls, joins Mosco’s Traveling Wonder Show and searches for answers about the disappearance of her father, while hoping the Mister does not find her. Morris Debut YA Award Finalist. Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. Jefferson’s Sons: A Founding Father’s Secret Children. A fictionalized look at the last twenty years of Thomas Jefferson's life at Monticello through the eyes of three of his slaves, including two who were his sons by his slave, Sally Hemings. Chapman, Fern Schumer. Is It Night or Day? Twelve­year­old Edith is sent from her home in Germany in 1938 to live with her aunt and uncle in Chicago and escape Nazi persecution, but as she struggles to assimilate into American society, Edith worries about her parents and mourns the loss of everything she has known. Dagg, Carole Estby. The Year We Were Famous. In 1896, desperate to save her family’s farm from foreclosure––and to show that women can make a difference––Clara, 17, tells how she and Ma walk nearly 4,000 miles across the U.S., from Spokane, WA, to New York City, in seven months for a reward of $10,000. Fletcher, Susan. Falcon in the Glass. In Venice in 1487, Renzo strives to become a glassmaker's apprentice to support his mother and sister, but his efforts are complicated by the mysterious homeless children, thought to be witches, whom he secretly shelters in the glassmaker's shop. Gansworth, Eric L. If I Ever Get Out of Here. In upstate New York in the 1970s, Lewis Blake’s smarts make him the only kid from the impoverished Tuscarora Reservation tracked with the brainiacs at their mostly white junior high, but fitting in is hard. A friendship with George, a newly arrived “air force kid” who also loves music, helps Lewis cope with loneliness and bullying. Kindl, Patrice. Keeping the Castle. In order to support her family and maintain their ancient castle in a small Yorkshire town in late 19th century England, seventeen­year­old Althea bears the burden of finding a wealthy suitor who can remedy their financial problems. Lee, Stacey. Under A Painted Sky. In 1845, Sammy, a Chinese American girl, and Annamae, an African American slave girl, disguise themselves as boys and travel on the Oregon Trail to California from Missouri.

Manzano, Sonia. The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano. It is 1969 in Spanish Harlem, and 14­year­old Evelyn Serrano is trying hard to break free from her conservative Puerto Rican surroundings, but when her activist grandmother comes to stay and the neighborhood protests start, things get a lot more complicated­­and dangerous. Master, Irfan. A Beautiful Lie. In the days leading up to the partition of India in 1947, thirteen­year­old Bilal devises an elaborate scheme to keep his dying father from hearing the news about the country’s division as tensions rise. Pearsall, Shelley. Jump into the Sky. In 1945, 13­year­old Levi is sent from Chicago to find the father he has not seen in three years, first to segregated North Carolina, and finally to Oregon, where he learns that his father's unit, the all­Black 555th paratrooper battalion, will never see combat but does have a mission. Preus, Margi. West of the Moon. In nineteenth­century Norway, 14­year­old Astri is determined to go to America to find her widowed father. But first she must escape the brutish goat herder to whom her greedy aunt and uncle have sold her, free the other young captive he's been hiding, rescue her little sister Greta, flee across the countryside, and journey across the ocean. Ross, Elizabeth. Belle Epoque. Sixteen­year­old Maude Pichon, a plain, impoverished girl in Belle Epoque Paris, is hired by Countess Dubern to make her headstrong daughter, Isabelle, look more beautiful by comparison but soon Maude is enmeshed in a tangle of love, friendship, and deception. Morris Debut YA Award Finalist. Sepetys, Ruta. Salt to the Sea. As World War II draws to a close, refugees try to escape the war's final dangers, only to find themselves aboard a ship with a target on its hull. Also read Between Shades of Grey. Schlitz, Laura Amy. The Hired Girl. Fourteen­year­old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a new, better life for herself­­because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm girl could only dream of­­a woman with a future. Wiles, Deborah. Revolution. It's 1964 in Greenwood, Mississippi, and Sunny's town is being “invaded” by people from up north who are coming to help people register to vote. Her personal life feels invaded too, as a new stepmother, brother, and sister are crowding into her life, giving her little room to breathe.

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart

Middle School Summer Reading 2016

Recommended Reading Grades 7 & 8 ­ pg. 4

Mystery, Suspense, and Adventure

Berry, Julie. The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place. Seven very proper Victorian young ladies conspire to hide a murder from the authorities at their boarding school. Dionne, Erin. Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking. Instead of spending a carefree summer exploring downtown Boston with best friend Ollie, thirteen­year­old Moxie must solve a famous art heist in order to protect those she loves from her ailing grandfather's gangster past. Includes facts about the actual 1990 Gardner Museum art theft, a real case the FBI has been investigating ever since. Doyle, Arthur Conan. A Study in Scarlet. When Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are called to a sinister house, they discover the body of a man whose face is filled with horror. Yet there are no signs of a struggle, just some letters written on the wall in blood. The police are baffled, but the brilliant Holmes uses his powers of deduction to trace the mystery through the damp, murky streets of London and back to the sun­scorched plains of America. Gleason, Colleen. The Clockwork Scarab. In alternate Victorian London, two smart, strong young women, Mina Holmes (Sherlock's niece) and Evaline Stoker (Bram's teenage sister), team up to investigate a missing society girl and a series of murders, starting with one clue, an Egyptian scarab. Johnson, Maureen. The Name of the Star. Rory, of Boueuxlieu, Louisiana, is spending a year at a London boarding school when she witnesses a murder by a Jack the Ripper copycat and becomes involved with the very unusual investigation. Edgar Award Nominee. Already read it? Choose The Madness Underneath or The Shadow Cabinet, instead.

MacColl, Michaela. Always Emily. Young Emily and Charlotte Bronte, as opposite as sisters can be, investigate a possible connection between a series of local burglaries and rumors that a neighbor's death may not have been accidental. Already read it? Read the companion, The Revelation of Louisa May. Nielsen, Jennifer. The False Prince. In the country of Carthya, a devious nobleman engages four orphans in a brutal competition to be selected to impersonate the king's long­missing son in an effort to avoid a civil war. Already read it? Choose The Runaway King, the sequel, instead. Paul, Naomi. Code Name Komiko. Sixteen year old Lina, a dutiful daughter destined for a career as a concert violinist, leads a secret double life as a cyber hacker investigating corruption, and when she becomes involved in the investigation of murdered girl she finds her life in danger. Rosoff, Meg. Picture Me Gone. Twelve­year­old Mila has an exceptional talent for reading a room—sensing hidden facts and unspoken emotions from clues that others overlook. So when her father's best friend, Matthew, goes missing from his upstate New York home, Mila and her beloved father travel from London to find him. Sedgwick, Marcus. She Is Not Invisible. Laurenth, a smart, determined British sixteen­year­old, who is blind, and her seven­year­old brother, Benjamin, travel from London to New York on their own to find their best­selling writer father, who is missing, using clues from his notebook.

Genre Mash­Up

Arntson, Steven. The Wrap­Up List. In this modern­day suburban town, one percent of all fatalities occur in a peculiar way. Deaths—eight­foot­tall, silver­gray creatures—send a letter to whomever is chosen for a departure, telling them to wrap up their lives. What are 16­year­old Gabriela’s last wishes and can she figure out her Death’s weakness to earn a Pardon? Maguire, Gregory. Egg and Spoon. Impoverished Russian country girl Elena Rudina and the aristocratic Ekatrina meet and set in motion an escapade that includes mistaken identity, a monk locked in a tower, a prince traveling incognito, and the witch Baba Yaga.

Riggs, Ransom. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Jacob, having traveled to a remote island after a family tragedy, discovers an abandoned orphanage. He learns the children who lived there may have been dangerous and quarantined and may also still be alive. Already read it? Read the sequels, Hollow City or Library of Souls, instead. Tripp, Ben. The Accidental Highwayman. In eighteenth­century England, young Christopher "Kit" Bristol unwittingly takes on the task of his dead master, notorious highwayman Whistling Jack, who pledged a fairy he would rescue feisty Princess Morgana from an arranged marriage with King George III.

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Middle School Summer Reading 2016

Recommended Reading Grades 7 & 8 ­ pg. 5

Classics

Adams, Richard. Watership Down. A group of hardy Berkshire rabbits share many adventures together as they search for a safe place to establish a new warren after the destruction of their community. Cather, Willa. My Antonia. A successful lawyer remembers his boyhood in Nebraska and his friendship with an immigrant Bohemian girl. Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Relates the adventures of a young Englishman who gives his life during the French Revolution to save the husband of the woman he loves. Du Maurier, Daphne. Rebecca. The second Mrs. Maxim de Winter finds it difficult and frightening to live in the shadow of her predecessor, a situation that is exacerbated by her husband’s moodiness, and the presence of their sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers. Greene, Bette. Summer of My German Soldier. When German prisoners of war are brought to her Arkansas town during World War II, twelve­year­old Patty, a Jewish girl, befriends one of them and must deal with the consequences of that friendship.

Mitchell, Margaret. Gone With the Wind. This epic novel follows the romance between spoiled Scarlett O’Hara and sly Rhett Butler, depicting life in the Antebellum South through the time of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Potok, Chaim. The Chosen. Recounts the story of Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders­­one an orthodox Jew, the other the son of a Hasidic rabbi­­and the course of their friendship as they grow up in Brooklyn. Smith, Betty. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Young Francie Nolan, having inherited both her father's romantic and her mother's practical nature, struggles to survive and thrive growing up in the slums of Brooklyn in the early twentieth century. Twain, Mark. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Nineteenth­century mechanic Hank Morgan suffers a blow to the head and wakes up in King Arthur's Court where he tries to introduce modern technology and political ideas to the inhabitants.

Biography and Nonfiction

Blumenthal, Karen. Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different. Critically acclaimed author Blumenthal chronicles the life and accomplishments of Apple mogul Steve Jobs, discussing his ideas, and describing how he has influenced life in the twenty­first century. Farrell, Mary Clark. Pure Grit: How American Nurses Survived Battle and Prison Camp in the Pacific. In the early 1940s, a group of 101 American nurses in the Philippines unexpectedly found themselves in an active battle zone, treating wounded soldiers, and were themselves captured as prisoners of war. Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The original essays examine this work from several perspectives. One essay discusses the historical events that surround Angelou's life: the civil rights, black power, and black arts movements. Another essay discusses the struggle for black identity throu.

Jackson, Donna M. Every Body’s Talking: What We Say Without Words. Learn what and how much you are “saying” even when you don’t say a word as well as how and why gestures and facial expressions are interpreted in different ways by different cultures. McCully, Emily Arnold. Ida Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business­­and Won! A biography of Ida M. Tarbell, a journalist who made history by writing a series of articles detailing the shady business practices of John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Trust. Schanzer, Rosalyn. Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem. An illustrated history of the witch hunts that took place in colonial­era Salem, Massachusetts, featuring primary source accounts, and describing the victims, accused witches, corrupt officials, and impact of events on society. Sibert International Book Honor.

Source of book synopses: Titlewave, Follett Library Resources, <http://www.flr.follett.com>.

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Middle School Summer Reading 2016