Spring Branch ISD 7th Grade Summer Reading – 2009

A Mango-Shaped Space
Wendy Mass
Mia, 13, has always seen colors in sounds, numbers, and letters, a fact she has kept secret since the day she discovered other people don't have this ability. Then she discovers that she has a rare condition called synesthesia. From then on, she leads a kind of double life. She eagerly attends research gatherings with other synesthetes and devours information about the condition, but continues to struggle at school. Her gradual abandonment of her frustrating school life in favor of the compelling world of fellow synesthetes and the unique things only they can experience seems quite logical. Finally, and rather abruptly, her extreme guilt at her beloved cat Mango's illness brings her back down to earth and she begins to work on some of the relationships she let crumble. / The Schwa Was Here
Neal Shusterman

When Anthony "Antsy" Bonano and his friends meet Calvin Schwa, they are impressed and puzzled by his ability to appear and disappear before their very eyes. Antsy concocts a moneymaking scheme based on the Schwa's invisibility that seems promising until he and his friends overreach and are caught by the town's legendary mean millionaire, Mr. Crawley. Their resulting community service project cements and ultimately challenges friendships.
Buried Onions
Gary Soto

Life is a struggle for 19-year-old Eddie as he survives one day at a time in Fresno, California. He lives in a rough neighborhood plagued by drive-bys, drugs, and desperate people. After his cousin Jesus is killed, Eddie's aunt pressures him to avenge her son's death. Eddie drops out of City College and works odd jobs, all the while pondering this, the latest of the senseless killings that have become a fact of life within the community. A run of bad luck adds to his frustration as he is caught up in the violence he hates. / Estrella’s Quinceaeñra
Malin Alegria
Estrella is mortified when plans begin for her quinceañera. She envisions a large, tacky celebration and a gaudy, fufu rufu gown. Even worse, her damas are bitter childhood friends who accuse Estrella of abandoning them since she won a scholarship to a private school in the ritziest neighborhood in San Jose. Then Estrella falls for Speedy, a former grade-school classmate who is also Mexican American, and she feels increasingly conflicted as she moves between her wealthy school friends and the "one big crazy family" of her barrio.
Stormbreaker
Anthony Horowitz

Alex Rider's world is turned upside down when he discovers that his uncle has been murdered. He discovers that his uncle was really a spy for the British Secret Service. The Secret Service blackmails Alex into becoming a spy. After two short weeks of training, Alex is equipped with several special toys and sent to complete his uncle's last assignment, to discover the secret that Herod Sayle is hiding. Alex discovers a strange world of secrets and villains including an ex-circus knife catcher and a hit man. / Hidden Talents
David Lubar
Edgeview Alternative School represents the end of the line for Martin Anderson. At 13, he's been kicked out of every school in his district, and feels more than a little skeptical about making a new start in this lonely, gray place. Still, he begins to establish tentative friendships with his pyromaniac roommate. They band together to form some small wall of protection against the school's most disturbed bully. Soon, Martin suspects that his friends are far more than ordinary misfits, and he confronts them with his theories about their psychic powers. His excitement in his discovery turns to disappointment when they turn against him out of fear of being labeled freaks. Fortunately, a class science experiment finally gives Martin the evidence he needs to persuade his friends of their talents. He coaches them as they learn to control their powers and leads them as they face their greatest challenge: a battle with Bloodbath thatwill decide the fate of the school.
The Bully
Paul Langan
Darrell has to deal with a new home, a new school, and a new bully named Tyray. Tyray forces Darrell to pay him every Friday. Tyray has threatened Darrell that if he doesn't pay he would hurt Darrell..... bad! Everywhere Darrell goes Tyray follows Darrell to bully him. Darrell also tries to help his little cousin when he faces a bully in his own family! / The Shadow Club
Neal Shusterman
Best friends Jared and Cheryl know well how it feels to be second best. Cheryl's only talent is for singing and she is consistently upstaged by her small, cute, cousin Rebecca; Jared, a runner, can never quite beat Austin Pace--who never stops rubbing it in. When Jared and Cheryl begin playing a game of imaginary revenges, they find that it only feeds their resentment--and the Shadow Club is born, a group of seven second-best kids who can help each other with small revenges because no one would ever suspect them. At first the practical jokes are fun (and very funny). But then a second round of pranks begin: vicious, even dangerous pranks--and it's no longer the Shadow Club who's doing them. Someone is on to the Shadow Club; someone knows their secrets. And as their tension and fear of discovery grows, the "good" kids discover just how far terror and rage can take them...

The Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can’t to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. Being away at boarding school is only getting worse. Percy’s mom decides its time that he knew the truth about where he came from. She sends Percy to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods (half human, half god), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends, Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods. / The Looking Glass Wars
Frank Beddor
When her parents, the king and queen of Wonderland, are killed by her Aunt Redd, Alyss Heart escapes by jumping into the Pool of Tears. Her jump takes her to Victorian Oxford, where she emerges from a puddle, lives as a street urchin, and is eventually adopted by Reverend and Mrs. Liddell. Unable to make anyone believe her fantastic story, she finally confides in Charles Dodgson, who says he will write a book about her. When she discovers that Alice's Adventures Underground is full of make-believe, and not her story or her real name, she sadly resigns herself to life as a Victorian girl of privilege. Meanwhile, back in Wonderland, the Alyssians form a resistance movement and attempt to overthrow Redd. For years, Hatter Madigan searches the world for Alyss so she can return to Wonderland as Queen. In the end, the Alyssians prevail, but only after much graphic bloodshed and many brutal battles.
Milkweed
Jerry Spinelli
In Warsaw in 1939, a boy wanders the streets and survives by stealing what food he can. He knows nothing of his background: Befriended by a band of orphaned Jewish boys, he begins to share their sleeping quarters. He understands very little of what is happening. When the Nazi "Jackboots" march into the town, he greets them happily, and hopes he can join their ranks someday. Soon he is forced to move to the ghettos with his adopted family. His skills are used to smuggle food into the starving ghetto, but soon he understands that the trains that have come to take his friends away are not going whereeveryone thinks they will.

I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You
Ally Carter
Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it's really a school for spies. Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl.Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real "pavement artist"-but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her? / Heaven Looks a Lot Like The Mall
Wendy Maas
When 16-year-old Tessa suffers a shocking accident in gym class, she finds herself in heaven (or what she thinks is heaven), which happens to bear a striking resemblance to her hometown mall. In the tradition of It's a Wonderful Life and The Christmas Carol, Tessa starts reliving her life up until that moment. She sees some things she'd rather forget, learns some things about herself she'd rather not know, and ultimately must find the answer to one burning question--if only she knew what the question was.