The Columbus City
Preparatory School
for Boys
Reading Summer Engagement
The Columbus City Preparatory School for Boys is pleased to introduce the 2014
Summer Engagement project. Scholars who read over the summer months tend to
retain more reading comprehension skills and enter the school year ready to learn
and engage in literary analysis. The Summer Engagement project will consist of
three parts. First, scholars may choose one novel from the list to read over
summer break. Second, each day of reading, scholars will complete a journal entry
to help monitor comprehension. Third, after the novel is completed, scholars will
choose and complete one activity on the choice menu. A complete log of
journals and activity will be due on the first day of school. Scholars will be
sharing their work informally in class during the first week of school.
PART 1: Choose any ONE of the following novels to read over summer break.
Listed below are books that include age-appropriate, high-interest middle school
titles, even nonfiction titles.
Award Winning Titles
Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarian by Sanderson
Bystander by James Preller
Dark Life by Kat Falls
Jolted by Arthur G. Slade
Killer Pizza by Greg Taylor
Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers
Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow by Steptoe Javaka
The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon
Cooper Sun by Sharon M. Draper
Day of Tears by Julius Lester
Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson
Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
Wood Runner by Gary Paulson
Scat by Carl Hiaasen
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon
The Blacker the Berry by Joyce Carol Thomas
The Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes
Dark Sons by Nikki Grimes
Who Am I Without Him? By Sharon G. Flake
Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Classics
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Doyle
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by M. Twain
Alice In Wonderland by Carroll Lewis
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
White Fang by Jack London
Fiction
Holes by Louis Sachar
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
The Batboy by Mike Lupica
The Boneshaker by Kate Milford
City Boy by Jan Michael
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaimon
The Hunger Games (any one) by Suzanne Collins
Savvy by Ingrid Law
Trash by Andy Mulligan
We Can’t All Be Rattlesnakes by Patrick Jennings
A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
Hoot by Carl Hiasen
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
Maniac McGee by Jerry Spinelli
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by J.K. Rowling
Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
Ashes by Kathryn Laskey
Blazer Drive by Sigmund Brouwer
The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull
Death Cloud by Andrew Lane
Hard Kind of Promise by Gina Wilner-Pardo
Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer
Sources of Light by Margaret McMullon
A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull
Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Up Before Daybreak by Deborah Hopkinson
Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
City of Orphans by Avi
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
Holes by Louis Sachar
A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer
The Lions of Little Rock by Kristen Levine
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Nonfiction
At Her Majesty’s Request by Walter Dean Myer
The Bat Scientists by Mary Kay Carson
Elephant Talk by Ann Downer
Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini by S. Fleishman Flesh and Blood So Cheap by A. Marrin
Frozen Secrets by Sally Walker
The Hive Detectives by Loree Griffin Burns
Journey into the Deep by Rebecca L. Johnson
Marley: A Dog like No Other by John Grogan
Freedom Walkers by Russell Freedman
Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
Anne Frank and the Children of the Holocaust by Carol Lee
PART 2: After you read each day, please complete an option as an entry in
your reading log. See example. You are required to read a minimum of 20
minutes a day five times per week. See attached logs. The reading portion of the
project may last up to six weeks, so six weeks of journals are included.
PART 3: Complete any ONE of the following projects for the book you read. Be
sure to include your name, the title, and the author on your choice of assignment.
Create a “soundtrack” or
music CD for the book.
What 8 songs would you
choose? Give an explanation
typed for why you chose
each song and how it
connects to the events or
characters in the novel. Each
explanation must be a
minimum of 5 sentences long.
Include the title, artist and
lyrics for each song.
Write a 3 to 5 paragraph proposal to
have the book you read made into a
movie. Include which actors will play
the main characters in the movie and
why, and the location where the movie
will be filmed. Make sure you provide
evidence for each character and the
location you choose. You must convey
why these things are important through
the use of examples. Create a movie
poster or video trailer for the book. It
should include elements from a real
movie poster or trailer such as a slogan,
the actors, and the film’s ratings . Look
online to see examples
On a large sheet of paper
or poster, draw 10 objects
or symbols to represent
the book. Using a minimum
of 5 complete sentences,
explain what each symbol
or object represents and
explain how the symbol is
important to the book.
On a large sheet of paper
or poster, draw 10 objects
or symbols to represent
the book. Using a minimum
of 5 complete sentences,
provide a typed
explanation what each
symbol or object
represents and explain
how the symbol is
important to the book.
Create an actual treasure
chest with items that
were mentioned in the
book. Pick items that were
important or significant
for some reason. Your
treasure chest should
include at least 10 items,
and a minimum 5 sentence
typed description and
justification of each item.
Using materials like clay,
balsa wood, soap, or wire,
create 3-D models of
three objects which were
important in the book you
read. On a card attached
to each model, type a
minimum 5 sentence
explanation telling why
that object was important
to the book.
In a Power Point or
Windows Movie Maker
presentation, create a book
talk that explains what the
book is about, the theme,
the author, and information
from the book. Use
pictures and/or video that
accurately shows the
contents of the book.
Presentation must be
between 3-5 minutes long
Write a diary that one of the
story’s main characters might
have kept before, during and
after the books events.
Remember that character’s
thoughts and feelings are very
important in a diary. Tell not
only what is happening to you
and others, but also how you
feel about what is taking place.
The typed diary should contain
at least 15 entries. Each entry
must be a minimum of 5
sentences.
Stories are based on
conflicts and solutions.
Choose three conflicts
(problems) that take place
in the story and give the
solutions. Pick one that you
wished had been handled
differently and explain in a
minimum of three typed
paragraphs containing at
least 5 sentences each
telling how it should have
been handled.
PART 3: Project choices continued:
Write a 2 -3 sentence
typed summary of each
chapter in the novel.
Provide an illustration
using three or more color
for each chapter
summary.
Create a timeline of 15
events for the book on
large construction paper.
Make sure to include and
illustration using three or
more colors and a 3 to 4
sentence caption for each
event.
Do research on a topic brought
up in your book. Turn the topic
into an essential question to
guide your research. Write a
typed one page paper on the
topic. The paper must include a
minimum of 5 paragraphs. The
paper should include an
introduction as the first
paragraph and a conclusion
paragraph to end the paper.
Create a mural on a 4 to 5
foot long and 4 at least foot
tall piece of large canvas
cloth or construction paper
containing at least four
scenes from the book using
paints, markers and
watercolor. Make sure mural
fill more than 80% of the
space and four or more
colors are used.
Compile a list of the top
10 websites a character in
your book would most
frequently visit. Include 4
to 5 typed sentences for
each website explaining
why your character would
like each of these sites.
Select one character
from the book you read
who has the qualities of a
heroine or hero. List six
qualities and use specific
evidence and examples
from the text to tell why
you think they are heroic.
Scrapbook Artist: Create a
unique scrapbook that
represents events and
characters that are in your
book. Use pictures that would
represent ten occurrences or
important events in your book.
For each occurrence or
important event, be sure to add
a brief 3 to five sentence
description. Be sure not to give
away too many details about
your book. Make it colorful
(four or more colors) and be
creative.
Pretend that you are a
book critic and write a
one page typed book
review for a newspaper.
Tell the name of the book,
its author, something
about the main
characters, plot, setting
and conflict. Do not reveal
the ending, but evaluate
the book and the author’s
writing ability by using
specific examples.
Write a one-page typed
biography of one
character. Use any and all
information given by the
author throughout the
book. Write facts about
the author in
chronological order, even
if they weren’t presented
that way during the story.
Be sure to include an
illustration of that
character on a 8 ½ x 11
sheet of paper.