2011-2012 Summer Reading List - Middle School
English 7/8
- Teacher,
Nicole Greaves
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201112SummerReading78.pdf
Here is our first assignment for the 2011-2012 school year: Read Tangerine by Edward Bloor and select and read a book from the following list.
Make sure you finish the books before the beginning of the school year. Early in the semester, you will be tested on Tangerine and you will also complete a project based on the second book.
This year's theme in the middle school is “Adaptation,” and the required reading was selected based on this theme. As you read Tangerine, think about how this theme is presented in this book.
Required Book
All middle school students must read this book
Tangerine
by Edward Bloor
Though legally blind, Paul Fisher can see what others cannot. He can see that his parents' constant praise of his brother, Erik, the football star, is to cover up something that is terribly wrong. But no one listens to Paul—until his family moves to Tangerine. In this Florida town, weird is normal: Lightning strikes at the same time every day, a sinkhole swallows a local school, and Paul the geek finds himself adopted into the toughest group around—the soccer team at his middle school. Maybe this new start in Tangerine will help Paul finally see the truth about his past—and will give him the courage to face up to his terrifying older brother. (Source: houghtonmifflinbooks.com)
Choices for Second Book
* More accessible reading level
** More of a reach for the 7th and 8th grade reader
No asterisk means that the book is written for the middle years
A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials
by Ann Rinaldi
Susanna desperately wants to join the circle of girls who meet every week at the parsonage. What she doesn't realize is that the leader of the group, the malicious Ann Putnam, is about to set off a torrent of false accusations leading to the imprisonment and execution of countless of innocent people. When Susanna puts the pieces together, she faces a painful choice. She can keep quiet and let the witch-hunt panic continue, or she can “break charity” with the group—and risk having her family named as witches. (Source: book jacket)
* Al Capone Does My Shirts
by Gennifer Choldenko
Murderers, mob bosses, and convicts . . . these guys are not your average neighbors. Not unless you live on Alcatraz. It's 1935 and twelve-year-old Moose Flanagan and his family have just moved to the infamous island that's home to criminals like notorious escapee Roy Gardner, Machine Gun Kelly, and of course, Al Capone. Now Moose has to try to fit in at his new school, avoid getting caught up in one of the warden's daughter's countless plots, and keep an eye on his sister Natalie, who's not like other kids. All Moose wants to do is protect Natalie, live up to his parents' expectations, and stay out of trouble. But on Alcatraz, trouble is never very far away. (Source: book jacket)
* Among the Hidden
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Born third at a time when having more than two children per family is illegal and subject to seizure and punishment by the Population Police, Luke has spent all of his 12 years in hiding. His parents disobeyed once by having him and are determined not to do anything unlawful again. At first, the woods around his family's farm are thick enough to conceal him when he plays and works outdoors, but when the government develops some of that land for housing, his world narrows to just the attic. Gazing through an air vent at new homes, he spies a child's face at a window after the family of four has already left for the day. Is it possible that he is not the only hidden child? (Source: excerpted from School Library Journal on amazon.com, Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA)
* * Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires... The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning...along with the houses in which they were hidden. Guy Montag enjoyed his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by flames...never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid. Then he met a professor who told him of a future in which people could think...and Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do! (Source: book jacket)
Peak
by Roland Smith
After Peak Marcello is arrested for scaling a New York City skyscraper, he's left with two choices: wither away in Juvenile Detention or go live with his long-lost father, who runs a climbing company in Thailand. But Peak quickly learns that his father's renewed interest in him has strings attached. Big strings. He wants Peak to be the youngest person to reach the Everest summit—and his motives are selfish at best. Even so, for a climbing addict like Peak, tackling Everest is the challenge of a lifetime. But it's also one that could cost him his life. Roland Smith has created an action-packed adventure about friendship, sacrifice, family, and the drive to take on Everest, despite the incredible risk. (Source: houghtonmifflinbooks.com)
* Return to Sender
by Julia Alverez
After Tyler's father is injured in a tractor accident, his family is forced to hire migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont farm from foreclosure. Tyler isn’t sure what to make of these workers. Are they undocumented? And what about the three daughters, particularly Mari, the oldest, who is proud of her Mexican heritage but also increasingly connected her American life. Her family lives in constant fear of being discovered by the authorities and sent back to the poverty they left behind in Mexico. Can Tyler and Mari find a way to be friends despite their differences? (Source: randomhouse.com)
The Greatest: Muhammad Ali
by Walter Dean Myers
Award-winning author Walter Dean Myers presents the amazing story of Muhammad Ali's childhood, his rise as a champion, his politics, and his battles against Parkinson's disease. Packed with dramatic black-and-white photos, this critically acclaimed biography is the perfect choice for both young adult sports fans and fans of Walter Dean Myers in general. (Source: borders.com)
The Ruins of Gorlan
(The Ranger's Apprentice, Book 1)
by John Flanagan
He had always wanted to be a warrior. The Rangers, with their dark cloaks and shadowy ways, made him nervous. The villagers believe the Rangers practice magic that makes them invisible to ordinary people. And now fifteen year-old Will, always small for his age, has been chosen as a Ranger’s apprentice. What he doesn’t realize yet is that the Rangers are the protectors of the kingdom. Highly trained in the skills of battle and surveillance, they fight the battles before the battles reach the people. And as Will is about to learn, there is a large battle brewing. The exiled Morgarath, Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night, is gathering his forces for an attack on the
kingdom. This time, he will not be denied . . . . (Source: book jacket)
The Wee Free Men: The Beginning
by Terry Pratchett
When Tiffany Aching sets out to become a witch, she faces ominous foes and gains unexpected allies. As she confronts the Queen of Fairies and battles an ancient, bodiless evil, she is aided (and most ably abetted) by the six-inch-high, fightin', stealin', drinkin' Wee Free Men! Laugh-out-loud humor and breathtaking action combine in the books that launched the unforgettable adventures of a determined young witch and her tiny but fierce blue friends. (Source: harpercollins.com)
Uglies
by Scott Westerfield
Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license—for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there. But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world—and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever. (Source: book jacket)
When My Name Was Keoko
by Linda Sue Park
Inspired by her own family's stories of living in South Korea during the Japanese occupation in the years preceding World War II, Newbery Medal-winning author Linda Sue Park chronicles the compelling story of two siblings, ten-year-old Sun-hee and 13-year-old Tae-yul, and their battle to maintain their identity and dignity during one of Korea's most difficult and turbulent times. In alternating first-person chapters, they relate their family's troubles under the strict fascist regime. The Kim family is stripped of their cultural symbols, only permitted to learn Japanese history and language, and forced to convert their names to Japanese. Sun-hee, now Keoko, struggles to reconcile her Korean home life with her Japanese school and friends, while Tae-yul, now Nobuo, attempts to convert his growing anger into a more positive passion for flight and airplanes. Both are worried for their uncle, whom they discover is printing an underground Korean resistance paper. When Sun-hee inadvertently puts her uncle's life in danger, she sets in motion a chain of events that results in her brother volunteering as a pilot for the Japanese near the end of WWII. (Source: amazon.com book review, Jennifer Hubert)
* The Witches Roald Dahl
When the young hero of Roald Dahl’s story is orphaned in an automobile accident, he is left in the care of his aged grandmother—a formidable lady who happens to be a retired witchophile, an expert on all witchy matters. Even though she tells him (and us) everything known about how to identify a witch, he accidentally wanders into the annual convocation of the witches of England. The meeting is presided over by none other than The Grand High Witch of the World, the most dangerous of them all. He overhears the horrifying plans she has in store for every child in England, but before he can escape to reveal the witches’ plot, he is captured and turned into a mouse. However, he is no ordinary mouse—and this is no ordinary tale. (Source: book jacket)