Stars Middle School

6th 7th  8th Grade  SUMMER READING LIST

6th Grade ( General Curriculum Only (Select One)

 

Notes From a Liar and Her Dog by Gennifer Choldenko: Ant, stuck in a family that she does not like, copes by telling wild lies. 

The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo: Rob is drawn into a plan to free a caged tiger by a new friend.

Something Upstairs by Avi: Kenny finds his new home haunted by the ghost of a slave boy who wants him to return with him to the early 19th century and find his murderer.

 

 

 

Marisol and Magdalena by Veronica Chambers: Marisol spends a year in Panama, secretly searching for her real father.

 

Heaven by Angela Johnson: Fourteen-year-old Marley’s world is disrupted when she learns her father and mother aren’t her real parents.

 

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George: A runaway boy builds a tree house in the mountains and learns to live entirely by his wits.

 

Eggs by Jerry Spinelli.. Nine-year-old David lives with his grandmother and forms a friendship with 13-year-old Prim-rose, who struggles with her own family issues.

 

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. When a Victorian scien-tist propels himself into the future, he is surprised that the Elfin race now running the land are not as advanced as they first appear.

 

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Nobody Owens grows up in a graveyard, raised by ghosts and searching for the man who holds the key to his past.

 

Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl.  Autobiography of the children’s author.

 

 

 

7th Grade

General Curriculum Only (Select One)

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko: Moose lives at Alcatraz prison with his prison guard father and younger sister, who has autism.

Who Am I Without Him? by Sharon Flake Ten stories of African-American teen girls dealing with prejudice, pain, poverty, and love.

 

Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson: Lafayette’s close relation-ship with his brother changes after he is released from a detention home and blames Lafayette for the death of their mother.

 

Night of the Twisters by Ivy Ruckman: Tornadoes destroy a small town and a twelve-year-old is left to save his family.

 

Tracker by Gary Paulsen: Two coming-of-age stories revolving around hunting and the wilderness.

 

Dear Mrs. Parks by Rosa Parks: Actual letters sent to Ms. Parks by teens from across the nation, and her responses.

 

The Real Question by Adrian Fogelin: Fisher Brown is delighted by the slacker stories of a friend. But after running away, Fisher experiences first-hand the pressures of surviving on his own.

 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Katniss accidentally be-comes a contender in the Hunger Games, a grave competition hosted by the Capitol where young boys and girls are pitted against one another in a fight to the death.

 

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. American classic in which Scout and Jem experience racism in a small town during the De-pression.

 

Tangerine by Edward Bloor. Soccer-playing, legally blind Paul Fisher begins to uncover the ugly truth about his football-hero brother.

 

 

 

 

 

 

8th Grade

General Curriculum Only (Select One)

 

The First Part Last by Angela Johnson: A young father struggles with the responsibilities of caring for his infant son.

 

The Beast by Walter Dean Myers: Anthony attempts to balance his new life at an exclusive prep school with his obligations of caring for a girlfriend battling drug addiction.

 

Night Hoops by Carl Deuker: While struggling to make the high school basketball team, Nick must also deal with his parent’s di-vorce and a troubled friend.

 

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey: Time-less principles for effective living.

 

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Esperanza Cordero, a girl coming of age in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago, uses poems and stories to express thoughts and emotions about her oppressive environment.

 

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. The tale of an aged Cuban fisherman going head-to-head with a marlin.

 

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. The true story of a dying mentor and his former student.

 

Feed by M.T. Anderson. Titus fights against a society dominated by the feed, a next-generation Internet/television hybrid that is directly hardwired into the brain.

 

Copper Sun by Sharon Draper. Amari describes the shocking realities of the slave trade and plantation life while portraying the perseverance, resourcefulness, and triumph of the human spirit.

 

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin. After hit-ting her head in a fall, Naomi loses her memory and must re-learn her life as a high school student.