Dear Parents,
Research shows that students who read outside the classroom score better on standardized tests. Reading
is essential to your child’s academic success. As a school of excellence, we have established a summer
reading program for all students of Somerset Preparatory Middle. It will enable your child to extend the
skills they developed during the previous year as well as equip them for their upcoming grade. Reading
comprehension is an essential life skill. It is imperative that students work on increasing their abilities in
this area over the summer.
This summer students entering grades 6-8 will be required to read at least two books from the list below
and complete a book project for the books. When school resumes in August, the students will be given
a test by their Language Arts teacher on the required reading indicated in the list provided.
A book report project must be completed for each of the books read. There are several choices of format
for the book reports. Please choose one from each of the two categories below. For each report the
following elements must be present: Title, author, main character(s), setting (when and where the story
takes place), brief summary, your opinion of the book. Please note that the book report projects are
due the first week of school.
Technology Book Reports:
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Create a short video (5 min. or less). Email to yourself or save on a flash drive.
Video or audio record a commercial advertising your book.
Create a power point presentation (approx. 10 slides). Email to yourself or save on a flash drive.
Create and print a new book cover for your book. You may want to use
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/bookcover/.
 Use Google docs or Microsoft word to write your own book report. Print it, then email to
yourself. Try using: docs.google.com/templates, then type in book report.
 Create an online comic strip. Save on flash drive or email to yourself.
Project or Written Book Reports:
 Create a diorama. Make sure to include all the requirements.
 Make a new book jacket for your book. Be sure to include all requirements.
 Create a mobile. You may use a hanger or other item in order to hang things from it.
 Write a letter to a friend about the book. Give all the information!
 Make a poster advertising the book.
 Create a board game for your book.
Thank you for your continued partnership! Have a great summer! We will see you in August
Somerset Preparatory Middle School
Language Arts/Reading Department
Somerset Preparatory Middle School
SUMMER READING LIST
2013-2014
6th Grade
Holes by Louis Sachar (Required Reading)
As further evidence of his family’s bad luck, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a correctional camp in the Texas
desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
The Tuck family is confronted with an agonizing situation when they discover that a ten-year-old girl and
a malicious stranger now share their secret about a spring whose water prevents one from ever growing
older.
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
Since the death of her mother, Miyax, an Eskimo girl in Alaska, has been raised by her father, Kapugen,
who has been bringing her up in the ways of a traditional Inuit. It is a life based on the rhythms of the
natural world. When Miyax is nine, her aunt takes her away from her father to enroll her in an American
school. There she is around Americanized Eskimos who call her "Julie," and she starts to believe her former
life is a strange one. But Miyax's life is again complicated when she discovers her father's whereabouts,
and finds out that this time it is he who has tragically forsaken the old ways, which have become so crucial
to her survival.
Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
The story of a Japanese American family told from the point of view of the younger sister Katie. Personal
challenges and family tragedy are set against the oppressive social climate of the South during the 1950s
and early 1960s.
The Bully by Paul Langan
A new life. A new school. A new bully. That's what Darrell Mercer faces when he and his mother move
from Philadelphia to California. After spending months living in fear, Darrell is faced with a big decision:
He can keep running from this bully, or find a way to fight back.
A Long Walk for Water by Linda Sue Park
The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she makes two trips
to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the
African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every
hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a
survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way.
Small Steps by Louis Sachar
Two years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Armpit is home in Austin, Texas, trying to turn his
life around. But it's hard when you have a record, and when everyone expects the worst from you. The
only person who believes in him is Ginny, his 10-year-old disabled neighbor. Together they are learning
to take small steps. And he seems to be on the right path, until X-Ray, a buddy from Camp Green Lake,
comes up with a get-rich-quick scheme. This leads to a chance encounter with teen pop sensation Kaira
DeLeon, and suddenly his life spins out of control, with only one thing for certain: He'll never be the same
again.
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
He wasn't born with the name Maniac Magee. He came into this world named Jeffrey Lionel Magee, but
when his parents died and his life changed, so did his name. And Maniac Magee became a legend. Even
today kids talk about how fast he could run; about how he hit an inside-the-park "frog" homer; how no
knot, no matter how snarled, would stay that way once he began to untie it. But the thing Mania Magee
is best known for is what he did for the kids from the East Side and those from the West Side.
7th Grade
Tangerine by Edward Bloor (Required Reading)
Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Eric, fights for the right to
play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his
eyesight.
The Moves Make the Man by Bruce Brooks
The two boys form an unlikely and sometimes precarious friendship centered on the basketball court, as
Jerome sets out to teach Bix his game. Evening after evening, the boys play alone on an outdoor court,
and while Bix improves, he refuses to do any faking — to make any moves. Then he finds his motivation:
If he can beat his stepfather at basketball, he will be allowed to visit his mother, who is in a mental
institution.
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Sal hopes that her missing mother will soon return home as she learns more of her Native American
heritage.
The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake
Realistic fiction that depicts the story of seventh grader Maleeka Madison who has low self-esteem
because of her dark skin color.
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family’s wheat farm in
Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Great Depression.
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Ponyboy, a “greaser”, can count on his brother and on his friends, but not on much else. Trouble starts
when the “Socs”, a gang of rich kids, begin beating up “Greasers.”
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Heady tale of a treasure map, a perilous sea journey across the Spanish Main, a mutiny led by the infamous
Long John Silver, and a lethal scramble for buried treasure as seen through the eyes of cabin boy Jim
Hawkins.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
Prequel to The Lord of the Rings. The adventures of the well-to-do hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who lived happily
in his comfortable home until a wandering wizard granted his wish.
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
Two boys, one an urchin from London's filthy lanes, the other a prince born in a lavish palace, unwittingly
trade identities. Thus a bedraggled "Prince of Poverty" discovers that his private dreams have all the come
true, while a pampered Prince of Wales finds himself tossed into a rough-and-tumble world of squalid
beggars and villainous thieves.
8th Grade
The Giver by Lois Lowry (Required Reading)
Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories
shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he
lives.
Messenger by Lois Lowry
Uniting characters from The Giver and Gathering Blue, this is the story of Matty, a young boy struggling to
conceal an emerging healing power that he cannot explain or understand.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Futuristic fantasy about a society in which all books must be burned.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
During their first summer apart, four friends share a pair of second-hand jeans and experience
adventure, happiness, and heartbreak.
Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley
In the tradition of Beauty and Rose Daughter, Newbery Award-winning author Robin McKinley "lends a
fresh perspective to a classic fairy tale, developing the story of Sleeping Beauty into a richly imagined,
vividly depicted novel."
Animal Farm by George Orwell
In this controversial classic fairy tale, a farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With
flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality,
setting the stage for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned.
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
Two boys, one an urchin from London's filthy lanes, the other a prince born in a lavish palace,
unwittingly trade identities. Thus a bedraggled "Prince of Poverty" discovers that his private dreams
have all the come true, while a pampered Prince of Wales finds himself tossed into a rough-and-tumble
world of squalid beggars and villainous thieves.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Narrated by Death, this beautifully told story of a young girl living Nazi Germany during World War II is
both touching and humorous.