Summer Reading 2017
Optional Menu
Dear Students, Parents, Guardians, and Readers:
Our Middle School Summer Reading theme for 2017 is simply to choose a book you enjoy. A recent three-year study by Dominican University’s Graduate School of Library and Information Studies confirmed what many teachers have long suspected: Students who take part in their summer reading program significantly improve their reading skills. In fact, the study found that kids who participated in these programs were 52 Lexile points ahead of their peers who did not. Summer reading programs are also an antidote for learning loss. So instead of losing knowledge and skills during the summer months, kids who attend reading programs actually show gains (School Library Journal, 2017).
Therefore, in addition to the required texts we’ve assigned, we’d like to encourage students to discover and devour other books over their vacation! We have put together a menu of options for students based off of the grade level anchor texts and summer reading texts. Happy reading!
Sincerely,
Chelsea Middle School Literacy Teachers
Grades 5 and 6:
Anchor Texts
If you liked... / Then try....The Breadwinner / Mud City, Parvana’s Journey
Wonder / Out of My Mind, Counting by 7s
Bud, Not Buddy / The Mighty Miss Malone, Elijah of Buxton
Esperanza Rising / The Tia Lola series
Number the Stars / When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
The Watsons Go to Birmingham / The Mighty Miss Malone, Elijah of Buxton, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry
The House on Mango Street /
Prietita and the Ghost Woman/Prietita y la llorona, When I Was Puerto Rican/Cuando Era Puertoriquena, Before We Were Free
Home of the Brave / Inside Out and Back AgainSummer Reading Texts:
If you liked... / Then try....Counting by Sevens / Out of My Mind, Freak the Mighty, A Mango-Shaped Space
The Graveyard Book / John Bellairs novels (i.e. The Curse of the Blue Figurine), Coraline
How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous / How they Choked: Failures, Flops, and Flaws of the Awfully Famous, Poop Happened!: A History of the World from the Bottom Up
100 Most Disgusting Things on the Planet
Bugged: How Insects Changed History, Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales series