Mrs. Maryann Newman, Reading
Suggested Books & Authors
For Summer Reading, 2016
Grades 6-8
REALISTIC FICTION
Creech, Sharon
Absolutely Normal Chaos
Thirteen-year-old Mary Lou grows up quickly during the summer while learning about romance, homesickness, death, and her cousin’s search for his biological father.
Draper, Sharon
Out of My Mind
Considered by many to have a cognitive disability, a brilliant, impatient fifth-grader with cerebral palsy is trapped inside her body, determined to make a mark in the world in spite of her physical limitations.
Erskine, Kathryn
Mockingbird
Ten year old Caitlin, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at
Home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father.
Green, Tim
Unstoppable
If anyone understands the phrase “tough luck”, it’s Harrison. As a foster kid in a cruel home, he knows his dream of one day playing for the NFL is a long shot. Then Harrison’s luck seems to change. He is brought into a new home with kind, loving parents-his new dad is even a football coach. Harrison’s big build and his incredible determination quickly make him a star running back on the junior high school team. In no time, he’s practically unstoppable. But Harrison’s good luck can’t last forever.
Harrington, Karen
Sure Signs of Crazy
Twelve-year old Sarah writes letters to her hero, To Kill a Mockingbird’s Atticus
Finch, for help understanding her mentally ill mother, her first real crush, and life in her small Texas town, all in the course of one momentous summer.
Lupica, Mike
Million Dollar Throw
Eighth-grade star quarterback Nate Brodie’s family is feeling the stress of the troubled economy, and Nate is frantic because his best friend Abby is going blind, so when he gets a chance to win a million dollars if he can complete a pass during the halftime of a New England Patriot’s game, he is nearly overwhelmed by the pressure to succeed.
Mass, Wendy
A Mango-Shaped Space
Afraid that she is crazy, thirteen-year old Mia, who sees a special color with every letter, number, and sound, keeps this a secret until she becomes overwhelmed by school, changing relationships, and the death of her beloved cat, Mango.
Schmidt, Gary
Okay for Now
Fourteen-year-old Doug Swieteck faces many challenges, including an abusive father, a brother traumatized by Vietnam, suspicious teachers and police officers, and isolation, but when he meets a girl known as Lil Spicer; he develops a close relationship with her and finds a safe place at the local library.
Schmidt, Gary D.
The Wednesday Wars
Seventh-grader HollingHoodhood, stuck in Mrs. Baker’s classroom during the 1967 school year while his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, learns
Much of value about the world in which he lives from the study of the plays of William Shakespeare.
Stead, Rebecca
Liar & Spy
Seventh-grader Georges moves into a Brooklyn apartment building and meets Safer a twelve year old self appointed spy. Georges becomes Safer’s first spy recruit. His assignment….tracking the mysterious Mr. X, who lives in the apartment upstairs. But as Safer becomes more demanding, Georges starts to wonder: How far is too far to go for your only friend?
Van Draanen, Wendelin
The Running Dream
When a school bus accident leaves sixteen-year-old Jessica an amputee, she returns to school with a prosthetic limb and her track team finds a wonderful way to help rekindle her dream of running again.
Vernick, Audrey
Screaming at the Ump
Twelve-year old Casey lives with his father and grandfather at their family-run umpire school, and as he deals with middle school and his mother’s unwelcome return, he stumbles on a sensational story that has him questioning his dream of becoming a journalist.
Weeks, Sarah
So B. It
Although she lives an unconventional lifestyle with her mentally disabled mother and their doting neighbor, Bernadette, Heidi has a lucky streak that has a way of pointing her in the right direction. When a mysterious word in her mother’s vocabulary begins to haunt her. Heidi’s thirst for the truth leads her on a cross-country journey in search of the secrets of her past.
HISTORICAL FICTION
Avi
City of Orphans
In 1893 New York, thirteen-year-old Maks, a newsboy, teams up with Willa ,a homeless girl, to clear his older sister, Emma, from charges that she stole from the brand new Waldorf Hotel, where she works.
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell
The Boy Who Dared
In October 1942, seventeen-year-old Helmuthhubener, imprisoned for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets, recalls his past life and how he came to dedicate himself to bring the truth about Hitler and the war to German people.
Blackwood, Gary L.
Curiosity
In 1835, when his father’s put in a Philadelphia debtor’s prison, 12-year-old-chess prodigy Rufus Goodspeed is relieved to be recruited to secretly operate a chess-playing automaton named The Turk, but soon questions the fate of his predecessors and his own safety.
Donnelly, Jennifer
A Northern Light
In 1906, sixteen-year-old-Mattie, determined to attend college and be a writer against the wishes of her father and fiancee, takes a job at a summer inn where she discovers the truth about the death of a guest. Based on a true story.
Elliot, L.M.
Under a War-Torn Sky
When Henry Forrester is shot down during a bombing run over France, the World War II pilot finds himself trapped behind enemy lines. In constant danger of discovery by German soldiers, Henry begins a remarkable journey to freedom.
Gantos, Jack
Dead End in Norvelt
In the historic town of Norvelt,Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.
Gratz, Alan
Prisoner B-3087
Survive. At any cost.10 concentration camps.10 different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly. It’s something no one could imagine surviving. Bit it is what YanekGruener has to face.
Hopkinson, Deborah
The great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel
Eel, an orphan, and his best friend Florrie must help Dr. John Snow prove that cholera is spread through water, and not poisonous air, when an epidemic sweeps across their London neighborhood in 1854>
Kelly, Jacqueline
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
In central Texas in 1899, eleven-year-old Callie Vee Tate is instructed to be a lady by her mother, learns about love from the older three of her six brothers, and studies the natural work with her grandfather, the latter of which leads to an important discovery.
Klages, Ellen
The Green Glass Sea
In 1943, eleven-year-old Dewey Kerrigan lives with her scientist father in Los Alamos, New Mexico, as he works on a top secret government program and befriends an aspiring artist who is a misfit just like her.
Lai, Thanhha
Inside Out & Back Again
Inspired by the author’s childhood experience of fleeing Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon and immigrating to Alabama, this coming-of-age debut novel told in verse has been celebrated for its touching child’s-eye view of family and immigration.
Levine, Kristen
The Lions of Little Rock
In 1958 Little Rock, Arkansas, painfully shy twelve-year-old Marlee see her city and family divided over school integration, but her friendship with Liz, a new student,helps her find her voice and fight against racism.
Timberlake, Amy
One Came Home
In 1871 Wisconsin, thirteen-year-old 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
Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with and old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past.
ADVENTURE/SCIENCE FICTION/MYSTERY
Child, Lauren
Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes
Ruby Redfort is a genius code-cracker, a daring detective, and a gadget-laden special agent who just happens to be a 13-year-old-girl. She and her slick side-kick butler, Hitch, foil crimes and get into loads of scrapes with evil villains, but they’re always ice-cool in a crisis.
Chainani, Soman
The School for Good and Evil
Best friends Sophie and Agatha discover what it is to be a student at the fabled School for Good and Evil where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. When the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods they find their destinies reversed.
Cody, Matthew
Powerless
Daniel Corrigan and his parents have just moved to Noble’s Green, Pennsylvania, when Daniel ( who’s a big fan of Sherlock Holmes and therefore a careful observer) notices something odd about his neighbor Mollie and her friends. While they may look like ordinary kids, all of them have super-human abilities that they use to keep the town safe.
Columbus, Chris
House of Secrets
Cordelia, Brendan and Eleanor Walker, aged fifteen to eight, must rely on a mysterious book to face the Wind Witch and her father, the Storm King, who have kidnapped Dr. and Mrs. Walker and brought them to a world of magic.
Condie, Ally
Matched (Any book in the series)
All her life, Cassia has never had a choice. The Society dictates everything: when and how to play, where to work, where to live, what to eat and wear, when to die, and most importantly to Cassia as she turns 17,who to marry. When she is matched with her best friend Xader, things couldn’t be more perfect. By why did her neighbor Ky’s face show up on her match disk as well?
Gaiman, Neil
The Graveyard Book
Nobody Owens is a normal boy, except that he has been raised by ghosts and other denizens of the graveyard. The threat of the evasive Jack hunting for Nobody adds to the suspense of the story.
Lu, Marie
Legend (Any book in the series)
In a dark future, when North America has split into two warring nations, fifteen-year-olds Day, a famous criminal, and prodigy June, the brilliant soldier hired to capture him, discover that they have a common enemy.
Pfeffer, Marybeth
Life as We Knew It (Any book in the series)
Through journal entries,sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family’s struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon,causing worldwide tsunamis,earthquakes,and volcanic eruptions.
Riggs, Ransom
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Any book in the series)
A mysterious island.An abandoned orphanage, A strange collection of very curious photographs. An unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience.
Riordan, Rick
The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero- Book 1 (Any book in the series)
Jason, Piper, and Leo, three students from school for “bad kids”, find themselves at Camp Half-Blood, where they learn that they are demigods and begin a quest to free Hera, who has been imprisoned by Mother Earth herself.
Riordan, Rick
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, Book 1 the Sword of Summer (Any book in series)
Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers. One day, he is tracked down by a man he’s never met.
GRAPHIC NOVEL
Brown, Don
Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans
Hurricane Katrina’s monstrous winds and surging water overwhelmed the protective levees around low-lying New Orleans, Louisiana. The riveting tale of this historic storm and the drowning of an American city is one of selflessness, heroism and courage-and also of incompetence, racism and criminality.
Faulkner, Matt
Gaijin: American Prisoner of War
With a white mother and a Japanese father, Koji Miyamoto quickly realizes that his home in San Francisco is no longer a welcoming one after Pearl Harbor is attacked. And once he’s sent to an internment camp, he learns that being half white at the camp is just as difficult as being half Japanese.
Gownley,Jimmy
The Dumbest Idea Ever!
What if the dumbest idea ever turned your life upside down? Jimmy was popular, at the top of his class, and the leading scorer on his basketball team. But all that changed when chicken pox forced him to miss the championship game.
Kibuishi, Kazu
Amulet: The Stonekeeper’s Curse
After the tragic death of their father, Emily and Navin move with their mother to the home of her deceased great-grandfather, but the strange house proves to be dangerous. Before long, a sinister creature lures the kids’ mom through a door in the basement. Em and Navin, desperate not to lose her, follow her into an underground world inhabited by demons,robots,and talking animals. Eventually, they enlist the help of a small mechanical rabbit named Miskit. Together with Miskit, they face the most terrifying monster of all, and Em finally has the chance to save someone she loves.
NONFICTION
Bragg, Georgia
How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous
Over the course of history men and women have lived and died. How They Croaked relays all the gory details of how nineteen world figures gave up the ghost.
Bryant, Howard
Legends: The Best Players, Games, and Teams in Baseball (or football version)
This is no traditional almanac of mundane statistics, but rather a storyteller’s journey through baseball’s storied game. There are a slew of Top Ten lists and also a Timeline of the 40 Most Important Moments in Baseball History.
Evans, Bill
It’s Raining Fish & Spiders
Bill Evans (ABC News Weatherman) discusses all things weather, addressing myths and facts about weather and covering such topics as tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning and more.
Fleming, Candace
Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart
In alternating chapters, Fleming deftly moves readers back and forth between Amelia’s life and the exhaustive search for her and her missing plane.
Hoose, Phillip
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler
At the outset of World War II, Denmark did not resist German occupation. Deeply ashamed of his nation’s leaders, fifteen year old Knud Pedersen resolved with his brother and a handful of schoolmates to take action against the Nazis if the adults would not.
Morgan, Alex
Breakaway
As a talented and successful female athlete, Alex Morgan is a role model to thousands of girls who want to be their best, not just in soccer, but in other sports and in life. The story of her path to success, from playing in the 2011 Women’s World Cup, to winning gold in the 2012 London Olympics.
Myers, Walter Dean
The Greatest: Muhammed Ali
An illustrated biography of boxing great Muhammad Ali that addresses his politics, his fight against Parkinson’s disease, and boxing’s dangers.
Schanzer, Rosalyn
Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem
The riveting true story of the victims, accused witches, crooked officials, and mass hysteria that turned a mysterious illness affecting two children into a witch hunt that took over a dozen people’s lives and ruined hundreds more.
Swanson, James
Chasing Lincoln’s Killer
This fast-paced thriller recounts the twelve-day pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth, covering the chase through Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, with a discussion of Abraham Lincoln as a father, husband, and friend that examines the impact of his death on those close to him.