ASSIGNMENT FOR MIDDLE
SCHOOL
GRADE 6 - 8
Please
select a book from the list to read during summer break. The books on the Summer Reading List are
arranged in descending order; beginning with the most challenging.
Come to class
the first day of school prepared to write a persuasive, in-class essay about
this book. You will have up to 60
minutes to plan, write, and proofread your response to the writing prompt
below. This essay will be used as your
first writing sample for the new school year.
The PA Domain Scoring Rubric will be used to grade the assignment. You can find a copy of the rubric on the
district website.
Writing Prompt
Persuade your peers to
either read or not read the novel you completed for summer reading.
As you read
the book during the summer, think about the prompt. You will need to give specific examples from the text to support
why you recommend or do not recommend this book to others. One way to keep track of your thoughts is to
use post-it notes. If you are signing
the book out from a library, take notes on paper. If the book belongs to you, leave the notes in the book. Bring your book and your notes with you when
you return to school.
All titles
can be found in local bookstores or at the Wissahickon Valley Public
Library. It is important for you to
secure a book in early summer to guarantee completing the reading on time. Our purpose is to encourage meaningful
reading during the summer months. The
complete list offers many opportunities to read additional books if you
wish. Enjoy!
Incoming 6th
Graders
DRUMS, GIRLS, AND DANGEROUS PIE
Jordan Sonnenblick
When his younger brother is diagnosed with leukemia,
thirteen-year-old Steven tries to deal with his complicated emotions, his school
life, and his desire to support his family.
THE HERO AND THE CROWN
Robin McKinley
Aerin, with the guidance of the wizard, Luthe, and the help
of the blue sword, wins the birthright due her as the daughter of the Damarian king
and a witch woman of the mysterious, demon-haunted North.
TOUCHING SPIRIT BEAR
Ben Mikaelsen
After his anger erupts into violence, fifteen-year-old Cole,
in order to avoid going to prison, agrees to participate in a sentencing
alternative based on the Native American Circle Justice, and he is sent to a
remote Alaskan Island where an encounter with a huge Spirit Bear changes his
life.
ROSA PARKS: MY STORY
Rosa Parks
Rosa Park’s life story reveals the deliberate choices she
made that earned her the title “Mother to a Movement.”
AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS
Gennifer Choldenko
A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island
in 1935 when guards’ families were housed there and has to contend with his
extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.
FEVER, 1973
Laurie Halse Anderson
Sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick
mother, learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is forced to cope
with the horrors of the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793.
CODE ORANGE
Caroline Cooney
While conducting research for a school paper on smallpox,
Mitty finds an envelope containing 100-year-old smallpox scabs and fears that
he has infected himself and all of New York City.
GOSSAMER
Lois Lowry
While learning to bestow dreams, a
young dream giver tries to save an eight-year-old boy from the effects of both
his abusive past and the nightmares inflicted on him by the frightening
Sinisteeds.
JACKIE AND ME
Dan Gutman
With his ability to travel through time by using baseball
cards, Joe goes back to 1947 to meet Jackie Robinson, turning into a black boy
in the process.
FLASH FIRE
Caroline Cooney
As fire sweeps through a canyon near Los Angeles, teenagers
Danna and Hall Press and other children, whose parents are not around, must
work together to save themselves.
SKELLIG
David Almond
Unhappy about his baby sister’s illness and the chaos of
moving into a dilapidated old house, Michael retreats to the garage and finds a
mysterious stranger, who is something like a bird and something like an angel.
BONE 2, THE GREAT COW RACE
Jeff Smith
Phoney Bone rigs the Spring Fair’s Annual Great Cow Race by
putting Smiley in a bovine disguise and convincing everyone to bet their
livestock on the Mystery Cow, and Fone Bone finds himself in a one-cousin
battle with the rat creatures.
Books on tape can be obtained from www.recordedbooks.com and www.booksource.com.
Prospective 7th
Graders
THE
WAR OF THE WORLDS – H. G. Wells
As life on Mars becomes impossible,
Martians and their terrifying machines invade the earth.
The author tells the story of her painful childhood in China where she lived until the age of fourteen with her father, stepmother, and siblings, all of whom considered her bad luck because her mother died shortly after giving birth to her.
NIGHT
HOOPS – Carl Deuker
While trying to prove that he is good enough to play on his high school's varsity basketball team, Nick must also deal with his parents' divorce and erratic behavior of a troubled classmate, who lives across the street.
CASTAWAYS
OF THE FLYING DUTCHMAN – Brian Jacques
In 1620, a boy and his dog are rescued from the doomed ship, Flying Dutchman, by an angel, who guides them in traveling the world eternally helping those in great need.
THINGS NOT SEEN –
Andrew Clements
Fifteen-year-old Bobby has an unusual problem: his body has become invisible. His father (a physicist) and mother agree that no one outside the family can know about his situation. Two scientists team up to search for a rational explanation for Bobby’s condition, which becomes more urgent when Bobby’s school alerts the State Department of Children and Family Services because no one has seen Bobby for a month.
THE GRADUATION OF JAKE MOON –
Barbara Park
Jake is required to take care of his
grandfather (a confused old man) an hour a day -- a job that becomes more
onerous. He is embarrassed by Skelly’s
increasingly erratic behavior and becomes alienated from his friends. His relationships with his wealthy aunt and
cousin are also strained because Jake feels that they are buying their way out
of care giving.
A thirteen-year-old Haitian girl
describes, over the course of five months, her life in Haiti and then in New
York as she, her mother, and her brother join her father, who left Haiti years
before. Celiane loves the mountain
village of Beau Jour. The only hole in
her life is that left by her father, who sends a cassette tape addressing each
family member in turn, but from whom she feels increasingly estranged by time
and distance. When the bus she and her
mother are riding in gets blown up in pre-election violence (the year is 2000,
and Jean-Bertrand Aristide is running for re-election), the effort to reunite
with her father moves into high gear.
Her Tante Rose pulls some diplomatic strings, and suddenly they are all
together in New York.
THE SUPERNATURALIST – Eoin Colfer
In futuristic Satellite City,
fourteen-year-old Cosmo Hill escapes from an abusive orphanage and teams up
with three other people who share his unusual ability to see supernatural
creatures, and together, they determine the nature and purpose of the swarming
blue Parasites that are invisible to most humans.
WITHIN
REACH: MY EVEREST STORY –
Mark
Pfetzer & Jack Galvin
The
author describes how he spent his teenage years climbing mountains in the United
States, South America, Africa, and Asia, with an emphasis on his two
expeditions up Mount Everest.
THE
WISH – Gail Carson Levine
Wilma, granted her wish to be the
most popular girl in school, forgets that she will graduate from eighth grade
in three weeks and her popularity will vanish.
Books on tape can be obtained from www.recordedbooks.com and www.booksource.com.
Prospective 8th
Graders
THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES – Sue Monk Kidd
This is the story of 14-year-old Lily Owens in 1964. Lily's mother died when she was young, and her dad, T. Ray, does not treat her like a real person. One day, Lily finds a possession that belonged to her mother. On the back, it says, "Tiburon, SC." Lily then escapes to Tiburon with her nanny, Rosaleen, and meets three sisters who keep bees. As Lily uncovers details about her mother, she discovers the mother that she never had.
CARDS ON THE TABLE – Agatha Christie
Four sleuths, including Poirot, are invited to play bridge with four specially invited guests, each of whom had gotten away with murder. The host of the party is dead before the game is barely started.
THE OUTSIDERS – S. E. Hinton
Rivalry between rich and poor
gangs in the 1960’s Oklahoma leads to the deaths of three teenagers and intense
soul-searching for one of the youths involved, a sensitive fourteen-year-old
writer named Ponyboy.
SHAKESPEARE BATS CLEANUP – Ronald Koertge
Laid up with mono, Kevin
reluctantly sets aside his baseball glove and picks up a pen “to see what’s
what poetry-wise.” In a narrative
composed of first-person poems, the fourteen-year-old experiments with a
variety of literary forms – including haiku, couplets, sonnets, free verse, and
even a pantoum – as he muses on playing baseball, his grief over his mother’s
death, and his chaotic and confusing history with girls.
LOOKING FOR RED – Angela Johnson
Michaela’s brother, Red,
disappeared three months ago, and “Mike” and Red’s two close friends are
adrift. The three know that Red can’t
come back, and they alone know the full story – circumstances too painful to
confide or even remember. “Mike’s”
spare present-tense account aches with the tension between the simple events
she narrates and the overwhelming pain running beneath her story.
FAKE ID – Walter Sorrells
Chass has just six days to
find out why her mother disappeared.
The authorities in High Hopes, AL, want to put the teen in foster
care. Several threatening men seem to
want her dead. Chass knows little about
her mother and their past; she isn’t even sure of her real name. All she
knows for certain is that they have been on the run for as long as she can
remember, moving from town to town and adopting new aliases in each place. Sorrells weaves an entertaining tale with a
sympathetic heroine. Several subplots
add interest to the story. Chass’
unlikely alliance with the bad-girl daughter of the town sheriff is also
intriguing.
Unable to find work as an engineer, Mr. Braithwaite accepts a teaching post in London's East End slums. To reach his sullen, rebellious students, he throws away his textbooks and endeavors to reach them as human beings -- and as the adults they're going to become.
MATILDA BONE - Karen Cushman
In the medical community of a
Fourteenth-Century English village, thirteen-year-old Matilda is apprenticed to
a bonesetter. Orphaned at the age of
six, Matilda became the ward of the man her father had worked for and was
tutored by his manor priest. When she
is sent to live with Red Peg the Bonesetter, Matilda begins to mature and
develop relationships with the interesting and hard-working residents of this
medical community.
THE SKIN I’M IN – Sharon Flake
Thirteen-year-old Maleeka, uncomfortable because her skin is extremely dark, meets a new teacher with a birthmark on her face and makes some discoveries about how to love who she is and what she looks like.
Sixteen-year-old “Slam” Harris is counting on his noteworthy basketball talents to get him out of the inner city and give him a chance to succeed in life, but his coach sees things differently.
Books on tape can be obtained from www.recordedbooks.com and www.booksource.com.