LZMSN Summer Reading Assignment
(students entering Grade 7 in August 2016)
April 27, 2016
Dear Students and Parents,
For the upcoming 2016-2017 school year, it is a 7th grade expectation that all 6th grade students read at least one book from the attached list during the
summer prior to entering 7th grade. We have chosen to use the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award 2017 Nominees as the basis for our book list of
summer reading novels.
We will evaluate the summer reading during the first two weeks of school. All students must have read their book prior to the first day of school so teachers can
assign an early project/assessment. This beginning of the year assessment provides a model of expectations for the student, creates a method for the teachers to
share expectations for the year, and allows teachers to see an early example of each child’s work. Similarly, these novels provide a common literary experience
when discussing classroom novels, enrich background knowledge, and generate points of comparison and analysis throughout the year.
Some students may wish to check a book out of the library (Ela or other public library), some might like to download them on a digital reader, while others may
wish to purchase the book. If you would like to purchase one of these books, Mrs. Dooley-Taylor, our MSN Librarian, makes the novels available to students at a
great price.
Purchased books will be distributed to students before the last day of 6th grade. All listed books can be found at bookstores, online, and the public
library. (Purchase of these novels is NOT expected. This is simply an option for your child.) If you do wish to purchase one from our MSN Library, please have
your form turned in to Mrs. Dooley-Taylor or Mrs. Sieckowski no later than Thursday, May 12 .
In addition, on your child’s fall, winter, and spring MAP results, you will find a Lexile Score which may assist you in finding books from the summer reading list
that are appropriate to his/her reading level. For more information about Lexile Scores and how to use them in selecting appropriate reading material, please
refer to www.lexile.com . (Keep in mind that the Lexile Scores given on the summer reading list pertain more to the level of the words used than to the content.)
We hope to make this an enjoyable experience for all. Thank you in supporting us in this integral program to help keep our kids reading and learning all year
long.
Sincerely,
The 7th Grade Literature Teachers
*Please contact Shirli Kubiak (Shirli.kubiak@lz95.org), Jennifer Lippert (Jennifer.Lippert@lz95.org), or Kristyn Lakiotis (Kristyn.Lakiotis@lz95.org ) if you have any further
questions about summer reading or have questions about access to these books. Questions will be answered immediately if asked prior to June.
2017 Rebecca Caudill Nominees
Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma
Lynda Blackmon Lowry
Non-fiction/Memoir
780L
Voting Rights March
As the youngest marcher in the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, Lynda Blackmon Lowery proved that young adults can
be heroes. Jailed nine times before her fifteenth birthday, Lowery fought alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. for the rights of African-Americans. In this
memoir, she shows today's young readers what it means to fight nonviolently (even when the police are using violence, as in the Bloody Sunday
protest) and how it felt to be part of changing American history.
The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights
Steve Sheinkin
Non-fiction
950L
On July 17, 1944, a massive explosion rocked the segregated Navy base at Port Chicago, California, killing more than 300 sailors who were at the docks,
critically injuring off-duty men in their bunks, and shattering windows up to a mile away. On August 9th, 244 men refused to go back to work until
unsafe and unfair conditions at the docks were addressed. When the dust settled, fifty were charged with mutiny, facing decades in jail and even
execution. This is a fascinating story of the prejudice that faced black men and women in America's armed forces during World War II, and a nuanced
look at those who gave their lives in service of a country where they lacked the most basic rights."
The Crossover
Kwame Alexander
Poetry (novel in verse)
750L
"With a bolt of lightning on my kicks . . .The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I'm delivering," announces
dread-locked, 12-year old Josh Bell. He and his twin brother Jordan are awesome on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood, he's got
mad beats, too, that tell his family's story in verse, in this fast and furious middle grade novel of family and brotherhood.
Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story's heartstopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family.
Rhyme Schemer
K.A. Holt
Poetry
520L
Kevin has a bad attitude. He's the one who laughs when you trip and fall. In fact, he may have been the one who tripped you in the first place. He has a
real knack for rubbing people the wrong way--and he's even figured out a secret way to do it with poems. But what happens when the tables are
turned and he is the one getting picked on? Rhyme Schemer is a touching and hilarious middle-grade novel in verse about one seventh grader's journey
from bully-er to bully-ee, as he learns about friendship, family, and the influence that words can have on people's lives.
A Time to Dance
Padma Venkatraman
Poetry
720L
Padma Venkatraman’s inspiring story of a young girl’s struggle to regain her passion and find a new peace is told lyrically through verse that captures
the beauty and mystery of India and the ancient bharatanatyam dance form. This is a stunning novel about spiritual awakening, the power of art, and
above all, the courage and resilience of the human spirit.
Veda, a classical dance prodigy in India, lives and breathes dance—so when an accident leaves her a below-knee amputee, her dreams are shattered.
For a girl who’s grown used to receiving applause for her dance prowess and flexibility, adjusting to a prosthetic leg is painful and humbling. But Veda
refuses to let her disability rob her of her dreams, and she starts all over again, taking beginner classes with the youngest dancers. Then Veda meets
Govinda, a young man who approaches dance as a spiritual pursuit. As their relationship deepens, Veda reconnects with the world around her, and
begins to discover who she is and what dance truly means to her.
Nightbird
Alice Hoffman
Fantasy
840L
Twig lives in Sidwell, where people whisper that fairy tales are real. After all, her town is rumored to hide a monster. And two hundred years ago, a
witch placed a curse on Twig’s family that was meant to last forever. But this summer, everything will change when the red moon rises. It’s time to
break the spell. In this enchanting story by beloved author Alice Hoffman, love and friendship are truly magical.
The Fourteenth Goldfish
Jennifer L. Holm
Science Fiction
550L
Galileo. Newton. Salk. Oppenheimer.
Science can change the world . . . but can it go too far?
Eleven-year-old Ellie has never liked change. She misses fifth grade. She misses her old best friend. She even misses her dearly departed goldfish. Then
one day a strange boy shows up. He’s bossy. He’s cranky. And weirdly enough . . . he looks a lot like Ellie’s grandfather, a scientist who’s always been
slightly obsessed with immortality. Could this pimply boy really be Grandpa Melvin? Has he finally found the secret to eternal youth?
The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim
E.K. Johnston
Fantasy
1020L
Listen! For I sing of Owen Thorskard: valiant of heart, hopeless at algebra, last in a long line of legendary dragon slayers. Though he had few years and
was not built for football, he stood between the town of Trondheim and creatures that threatened its survival. There have always been dragons. As far
back as history is told, men and women have fought them, loyally defending their villages. Dragon slaying was a proud tradition. But dragons and
humans have one thing in common: an insatiable appetite for fossil fuels. From the moment Henry Ford hired his first dragon slayer, no small town was
safe. Dragon slayers flocked to cities, leaving more remote areas unprotected. Such was Trondheim's fate until Owen Thorskard arrived. At sixteen,
with dragons advancing and his grades plummeting, Owen faced impossible odds armed only with a sword, his legacy, and the classmate who agreed
to be his bard. Listen! I am Siobhan McQuaid. I alone know the story of Owen, the story that changes everything. Listen!
Echo
Pam Munoz Ryan
Fantasy/Historical
620L
Lost and alone in a forbidden forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and suddenly finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy,
a promise, and a harmonica.
Decades later, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California each, in turn, become interwoven when the very same harmonica
lands in their lives. All the children face daunting challenges: rescuing a father, protecting a brother, holding a family together. And ultimately, pulled
by the invisible thread of destiny, their suspenseful solo stories converge in an orchestral crescendo.
Richly imagined and masterfully crafted, this impassioned, uplifting, and virtuosic tour de force will resound in your heart long after the last note has
been struck.
The Screaming Staircase
Jonathon Stroud
Fantasy
720L
When the dead come back to haunt the living, Lockwood & Co. step in . . .
For more than fifty years, the country has been affected by a horrifying epidemic of ghosts. A number of Psychic Investigations Agencies have sprung
up to destroy the dangerous apparitions.
Lucy Carlyle, a talented young agent, arrives in London hoping for a notable career. Instead she finds herself joining the smallest, most ramshackle
agency in the city, run by the charismatic Anthony Lockwood. When one of their cases goes horribly wrong, Lockwood & Co. have one last chance of
redemption. Unfortunately this involves spending the night in one of the most haunted houses in England, and trying to escape alive.
Set in a city stalked by spectres, The Screaming Staircase is the first in a chilling new series full of suspense, humour and truly terrifying ghosts. Your
nights will never be the same again . . .
How I Became a Ghost: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story
Tim Tingle
Fantasy/Historical
HL480L
Told in the words of Isaac, a Choctaw boy who does not survive the Trail of Tears, HOW I BECAME A GHOST is a tale of innocence and resilience in the
face of tragedy. From the book's opening line, "Maybe you have never read a book written by a ghost before," the reader is put on notice that this is no
normal book. Isaac leads a remarkable foursome of Choctaw comrades: a tough-minded teenage girl, a shape-shifting panther boy, a lovable five-yearold ghost who only wants her mom and dad to be happy, and Isaac s talking dog, Jumper. The first in a trilogy, HOW I BECAME A GHOST thinly disguises
an important and oft-overlooked piece of history.
The Night Gardener
Jonathon Auxier
Mystery/Suspense
690L
This much-anticipated follow-up to Jonathan Auxier’s exceptional debut, Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes, is a Victorian ghost story with shades of
Washington Irving and Henry James. More than just a spooky tale, it’s also a moral fable about human greed and the power of storytelling.
The Night Gardener follows two abandoned Irish siblings who travel to work as servants at a creepy, crumbling English manor house. But the house and
its family are not quite what they seem. Soon the children are confronted by a mysterious spectre and an ancient curse that threatens their very lives.
With Auxier’s exquisite command of language, The Night Gardener is a mesmerizing read and a classic in the making.
Masterminds
Gordon Korman
Mystery/Suspense/ Adventure 730L
From bestselling author Gordon Korman comes a thrilling new middle grade trilogy about a group of kids living in a Pleasantville-type town who
discover a dark secret that connects them to some of the greatest criminal masterminds of their time.
Eli Frieden lives in the most boring town in the world: Serenity, New Mexico. Only thirty kids live in the idyllic town, where every lawn is perfectly
manicured and everyone has a pool and a basketball hoop. Honesty and kindness are the backbone of the community. There is no crime in this utopia.
Eli has never left town…. Why would he ever want to? But everything changes the day he and his friend Randy bike to the edge of the city limits. Eli is
suddenly struck with a paralyzing headache and collapses. Almost instantly, a crew of security — or “Purple People Eaters,” as the kids call them—
descend via helicopter. Eli awakens in the hospital, and the next day, Randy and his family are gone.
As Eli convinces his friends Tori and Malik to help him investigate Randy’s disappearance, it becomes clear that nothing is as it seems in Serenity. As the
clues mount to reveal a shocking discovery, the kids realize they can trust no one—least of all their own parents. So they hatch a plan for what could be
the greatest breakout in history—but will they survive? And if they do, where do they go from there?
The War That Saved my Life
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Historical Fiction
580L
An exceptionally moving story of triumph against all odds set during World War 2.
Nine-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little
brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him.
So begins a new adventure of Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns
to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan—and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to
hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother?
Stella By Starlight
Sharon Draper
Historical Fiction
740L
When the Ku Klux Klan's unwelcome reappearance rattles Stella's segregated southern town, bravery battles prejudice in this Depression-era tour de
force from Sharon Draper, the New York Times bestselling author of Out of My Mind.
Stella lives in the segregated South; in Bumblebee, North Carolina, to be exact about it. Some stores she can go into. Some stores she can't. Some folks
are right pleasant. Others are a lot less so. To Stella, it sort of evens out, and heck, the Klan hasn't bothered them for years. But one late night, later
than she should ever be up, much less wandering around outside, Stella and her little brother see something they're never supposed to see, something
that is the first flicker of change to come, unwelcome change by any stretch of the imagination. As Stella's community - her world - is upended, she
decides to fight fire with fire. And she learns that ashes don't necessarily signify an end.
The Great Trouble
Deborah Hopkinson
Historical Fiction
660L
Eel has troubles of his own: As an orphan and a “mudlark,” he spends his days in the filthy River Thames, searching for bits of things to sell. He’s being
hunted by Fisheye Bill Tyler, and a nastier man never walked the streets of London. And he’s got a secret that costs him four precious shillings a week
to keep safe. But even for Eel, things aren’t so bad until that fateful August day in 1854—the day the deadly cholera (“blue death”) comes to Broad
Street.
Everyone believes that cholera is spread through poisonous air. But one man, Dr. John Snow, has a different theory. As the epidemic surges, it’s up to
Eel and his best friend, Florrie, to gather evidence to prove Dr. Snow’s theory—before the entire neighborhood is wiped out.
The Paper Cowboy
Kristin Levine
Historical Fiction
600L
Though he thinks of himself as a cowboy, Tommy is really a bully. He's always playing cruel jokes on classmates or stealing from the store. But Tommy
has a reason: life at home is tough. His abusive mother isn't well; in fact, she may be mentally ill, and his sister, Mary Lou, is in the hospital badly
burned from doing a chore it was really Tommy's turn to do. To make amends, Tommy takes over Mary Lou's paper route. But the paper route also
becomes the perfect way for Tommy to investigate his neighbors after stumbling across a copy of The Daily Worker, a communist newspaper.
Tommy is shocked to learn that one of his neighbors could be a communist, and soon fear of a communist in this tight-knit community takes hold of
everyone when Tommy uses the paper to frame a storeowner, Mr. McKenzie. As Mr. McKenzie's business slowly falls apart and Mary Lou doesn't seem
to get any better, Tommy's mother's abuse gets worse causing Tommy's bullying to spiral out of control.
The Secret Hum of a Daisy
Tracy Holzer
Realistic Fiction
unknown
Twelve-year-old Grace and her mother have always been their own family, traveling from place to place like gypsies. But Grace wants to finally have a
home all their own. Just when she thinks she's found it her mother says it's time to move again. Grace summons the courage to tell her mother how
she really feels and will always regret that her last words to her were angry ones.
After her mother's sudden death, Grace is forced to live with a grandmother she's never met. She can't imagine her mother would want her to stay
with this stranger. Then Grace finds clues in a mysterious treasure hunt, just like the ones her mother used to send her on. Maybe it is her mother,
showing her the way to her true home.
Fish in a Tree
Linda Mullaly Hunt
Realistic Fiction
550L
An uplifting novel that will speak to anyone who’s ever thought there was something wrong with them because they didn’t fit in.
“Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.”
Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever
yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright,
creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her
confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there’s a lot more to her— and to
everyone—than a label, and that great minds don’t always think alike.
Rain, Reign
Ann M. Martin
Realistic Fiction
720L
Rose Howard has Asperger’s syndrome, and an obsession with homonyms (even her name is a homonym). She gave her dog Rain a name with two
homonyms (Reign, Rein), which, according to Rose’s rules of homonyms, is very special. Rain was a lost dog Rose’s father brought home. Rose and Rain
are practically inseparable. And they are often home alone, as Rose’s father spends most evenings at a bar, and doesn’t have much patience for his
special-needs daughter.
Just as a storm hits town, Rain goes missing. Rose’s father shouldn’t have let Rain out. Now Rose has to find her dog, even if it means leaving her
routines and safe places to search. Rose will find Rain, but so will Rain’s original owners.
LZMSN 7th Grade Summer Reading Assignment Book Order Form
(Please check one book you would like to purchase)
The Crossover (HC only) $11.89
Echo (HC only) $13.99
Fish in a Tree (HC only) $11.89
Fourteenth Goldfish (HC only) $11.89
Great Trouble $5.59
How I Became a Ghost $7.16
Masterminds $5.59
Night Gardener $7.16
Nightbird (HC only) $11.89
Paper Cowboy (HC only) $11.89
Port Chicago (HC only) $13.99
Rain Reign (HC only) $11.89
Rhyme Schemer $5.59
Screaming Staircase $5.59
Secret Hum of a Daisy $5.59
Stella by Starlight (HC only) $12.59
Story of Owen (HC only) $17.95
Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom (HC only) $13.99
Time to Dance $6.99
War that Saved my Life (HC only) $11.89
Sign and return this form with payment to the MSN librarian, Mrs. Taylor, by May 12.
Student Name
Parent signature
_Lit/Reading Teacher