2017 Summer Reading List
Entering Sixth, Seventh or Eighth Grade in 2017:
Finding Your Voice and Speaking the Truth
Thinking ahead to next year:
To the Classes of 2018, 2019, and 2020, we pose some enduring questions. What do I have to say to the world? What keeps me silent? When should my voice be heard?
In 2017-2018, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students will read, hear, and study people who had something to say. In the fall, students will read the narratives of slaves who found their voice and, in the spring, students will read the speeches of civil rights leaders who spoke to the whole world. In between, students will hear the many varied voices of the writers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as well as the voices of those farmers, soldiers, immigrants, union workers, builders, architects, and leaders that have shaped our nation.
Along the way, students will explore and develop their own voices as they find their own voices and shape what they, too, have to say to the world in which they live as global citizens..
Summer Reading!
In order to celebrate summer vacation and also prepare to hear the many voices that have spoken over time and around the world, we now think about summer reading! This summer, the reading list includes PLENTY of memoir, historical fiction, and nonfiction. There are also many realistic fiction books, that will help us to see the world from others’ points of view and to hear the many voices that speak to us from the past, from the other side of an ocean, or from the other side of an argument.
As usual, all students entering sixth, seventh, or eighth grade are required to read one common title. All students Entering sixth, seventh, or eighth grade must read Chains (or Forged if they have already read Chains) by Laurie Halse Anderson. In addition, three other books should be chosen from the list below.
Please email your review (samples here) for Chains or Forged to the homeroom teacher:rbuys@mustardseedschool.com (entering 6th), edecker@mustardseedschool.org (entering 7th), or schoi@mustardseedschool.org (entering 8th). Your review will be posted on the class blog for other classmates to enjoy!
As always, parents are encouraged to read and talk about these books with their children. Please note that an asterisk indicates that, due to either the content, theme, or reading difficulty you may want to exercise parental discretion or read the book with your child.
Summer Reading List:
Historical Fiction
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson (7.5)
The Fighting Ground by Avi (6.5)
Sarah Bishop by Scott O’Dell (7.0)
Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder (5.5)
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing
Volumes I & II* by M. T. Anderson (9.0)
The Water Seeker* by Kimberly Willis Holt (8.0)
Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen (7.0)
Three Rivers Rising: A Novel of the
Johnstown Flood* by Jame Richards (8.0)
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis (6.0)
The Surrender Tree* by Margarita Engle (8.0)
Moonshiner’s Gold by John Erickson (5.0)
Kira Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (6.0)
Lizzie Bright and Buckminster Boy by Gary Schmidt (7.0)
Jip by Katherine Patterson (5.5)
Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm (4.0)
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia (5.0)
Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper (7.0-8.0)
Sylvia and Aki by Winifred Conkling (6.0-7.0)
Informational Books:
An American Plague* by Jim Murphy (7.0)
Around the World in 100 Years by Jean Fritz (6.0)
Black Hands, White Sails* by Patricia McKissack (8.0)
Freedom Riders by Ann Bausum (6.5)
Freedom Walkers by Russell Freedman (6.5)
Give Me Liberty by Russell Freedman (6.0)
The Great Fire by Jim Murphy (6.0)
Journeys for Freedom by S. Buckley & E. Leacock (6.0)
Remember by Toni Morrison (5.0)
We Were There Too! by Phillip Hoose (5.0)
The Century for Young People by Peter Jennings (6.0)
Classic Fiction
Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt (6.0)
The Call of the Wild by Jack London (7.0-8.0)
Gulliver’s Travel’s by Jonathan Swift (9.0)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (7.0)
White Fang by Jack London (7.0)
Lord of the Flies* by William Golding (9.0)
Old Yeller by Fred Gipson (6.0)
Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (8.0)
The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett (7.0)
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (7.0)
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls (6.5)
Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (7.5)
To Kill a Mockingbird* by Harper Lee (9.0)
Memoir/Biography
Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez (7.5)
Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir by Eloise Greenfield (6.0)
El Bronx Remembered by Nicholasa Mohr (8.0)
When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago (8.0)
How Angel Peterson Got His Name by Gary Paulsen (6.0)
Knots in My Yo-Yo String by Jerry Spinelli (5.5)
Landed by Milly Lee (6.0)
My Dog Skip by Willie Morris (7.0)
Woodsong by Gary Paulsen (7.0)
Does My Head Look Big in This by Randa Abdel-Fattah (7.0-8.0)
Abraham Lincoln by Russell Freedman (7.0)
Eleanor Roosevelt by Russell Freedman (7.0)
Ben Franklin’s Almanac by Candace Fleming (7.0)
The Life and Death of Crazy Horse by Russell Freedman (7.0)
Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges (5.0)
My Thirteenth Winter by Samantha Abeel (9.0)
Tomboy of the Air by Julie Cummins (5.0)
October Sky by Homer Hickam (6.5)
A Voice that Challenged a Nation by Russell Freedman (7.0)
Walking in Another’s Footsteps . . .
Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson (6.0)
The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuin (7.0)
The Star Fisher by Lawrence Yep (6.0)
Ask Me No Questions by Marina Budhos (7.0)
The Schwa Was Here by Neil Shusterman (7.0)
Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff (6.0)
Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer (6.0)
Stand Tall by Joan Bauer (6.0)
Best Foot Forward by Joan Bauer (6.0)
Close to Famous by Joan Bauer (6.5)
Don’t Call Me Ishmael by Michael Bauer (8.0)
The Breadwinner Trilogy by Deborah Ellis (6.0-8.0)
Wild Things by Clay Carmichael (7.0)
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (5.0)
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park (7.5)
The Same Stuff as Stars by Katherine Patterson (6.0)
Small Steps by Louis Sachar (6.0)
A LIttle Piece of Ground by Elizabeth Laird, Bill Neal, and Sonia Nimr (7.0-8.0)
Box Out by John Coy (7.0)
Nothing But the Truth by Avi (8.0)
Trouble by Gary Schmidt (7.0)
The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake (8.0)
Snow in August by Pete Hamill (8.5)
Stepping on the Cracks by Mary Downing Hahn (6.5)
Monkey Island by Paula Fox (6.5)
Samurai Shortstop by Alan Gratz (7.0)
Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park (5.0)
When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park (5.0)
The Kite Fighters by Linda Sue Park (5.0)
Operation Redwood by S. Terrell French (6.0)
