GENERAL District Summer Reading List 2015
Unless otherwise indicated, the titles listed are required for PAP. Although some campuses require reading for ALL students, the specific titles may vary from the general district list below. Please scroll down to individual campus links for short stories and other titles.
Contemporary
Becoming Naomi Leon
Pam Munoz Ryan
When Naomi's absent mother resurfaces to claim her,
Naomi runs away to Mexico with her great-grandmother and younger brother in search of her father.
Sixth Grade
Contemporary
Heaven
Angela Johnson
Fourteen-year-old Marley's seemingly perfect life in the small town of Heaven is disrupted when she discovers that her father and mother are not her real parents.
Contemporary
The Conch Bearer
Chitra Divakaruni
In India, a healer invites twelve year – old Anad to join him on a quest to return a magical conch to its safe and rightful home, high in the Himalahyan mountains.
Classic
A Wrinkle in Time
Madeleine L’Engle
Meg and Charles Wallace set out with their friend Calvin in
a search for their father. His top secret job as a physicist for the government has taken him away and the children search through time and space to find him.
La Linea
Ann Jaramillo
When fifteen-year-old
Miguel's time finally comes to leave his poor Mexican village, cross the border illegally, and join his parents in California, his younger sister's determination to join him soon imperils them both.
Hatchet
Gary Paulsen
After a plane crash, thirteenyear-old Brian spends fiftyfour days in the wilderness, learning to survive initially with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce.
Iqbal
Francesco D’Adamo
A fictionalized account of the Pakistani child who escaped from bondage in a carpet factory and went on to help liberate other children like him before being gunned down at the age of thirteen.
*Phineas Gage
John Fleischman
The true story of Phineas
Gage, whose brain had been pierced by an iron rod in 1848, and who survived and became a case study in how the brain functions.
The Dream Bearer
Walter Dean Myers
During a summer in Harlem, an old man helps David come to terms with his father's outbursts and unstable behavior.
The Wednesday Wars
Gary D. Schmidt
Seventh grader Holling
Hoodhood has a tough year ahead of him. But things are changing, and while reciting his favorite curses from
Shakespeare’s plays, Holling might just find the true meaning of his own story.
The Wizard of Oz
(Puffin Classics version)
L. Frank Baum
Dorothy and her dog Toto are befriended by a scarecrow, a tin man, and a lion, who accompany her on a journey to find a wizard who can help her return home to Kansas.
See your campus website for specific summer reading requirements. Students will be assessed on summer reading within the first six weeks of school. These selections are recommended for all students.
* denotes nonfiction
To find a synopsis of these texts, see the FBISD online catalog and EBSCO – NoveList.

Seventh Grade
Contemporary
*A Life in the Wild
Pamela S. Turner
Presents a story of wildlife conservation through the research and efforts of George
Schaller.
*Almost Astronauts
Tanya Lee Stone
Profiles thirteen women who challenged social norms and government policies to prove they could be exceptional astronauts.
A Step From Heaven
An Na
A young girl and her family find it difficult to learn English and adjust to life in America.
Contemporary
Bull Rider
Suzanne Morgan Williams
Cam’s older brother returns from the Iraq War partially paralyzed. Cam stops skateboarding to enter a bull – riding contest, with the expectation of winning to lift his brother’s spirits.
Day of Tears
Julius Lester
When gambling debts and greed enter into the Butler household, Pierce Butler decides to host the biggest slave auction in American history and breaks a promise by selling Emma, his most-valued slave and caretaker of his children--a decision that brings about unthinkable consequences.
Everlost
Neal Shusterman
When Nick and Allie are killed in a car crash, they end up in Everlost, or limbo for lost souls, where although Nick is satisfied,
Allie will stop at nothing to break free.
Contemporary
Good Enough
Paula Yoo
A Korean American teenager tries to please her parents by getting into an
Ivy League college, but a new guy in school and her love of the violin tempt her in new directions.
*Isaac’s Storm
Erik Larson
Tells the story of Isaac Cline, a weather scientist in
Galveston, Texas in 1900, discussing his belief and assertion that nothing in the way of weather could destroy the coastal city; and looks at how Cline dealt with the aftermath of the hurricane that hit Galveston on September 8, claiming the lives of thousands of people.
Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan
After learning that he is the son of a mortal woman and
Poseidon, god of the sea, twelve-year-old Percy is sent to a summer camp for demigods like himself.
Percy joins his new friends on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.
Classic
The Secret Garden
(Puffin Classics Version)
Frances Hodgson Burnett
A young orphan moves in with her uncle and cousin and discovers a secret garden.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
(Puffin Classics version)
Jules Verne
A French professor and his team sail the ocean for an adventure under the reigns of
Captain Nemo.
Students are required to read two selections from this list before entering seventh grade PreAP or GT classes.
They will be assessed on summer reading within the first six weeks of school.
These selections are recommended for all students.
* denotes nonfiction
To find a synopsis of these texts, see the FBISD online catalog and EBSCO – NoveList.

Eighth Grade
Contemporary
Buried Onions
Gary Soto
When nineteen-year-old
Eddie drops out of college, he struggles to find a place for himself as a Mexican-
American living in a violence-
-infested neighborhood of
Fresno, California.
*Claudette Colvin:
Twice Toward Justice
Phillip Hoose
Presents an account of 15 year old Claudette Colvin, an
African-American girl who refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in
Montgomery, Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks, and covers her role in a crucial civil rights case.
*Gifted Hands:
The Ben Carson Story
Ben Carson and Cecil Murphy
Captures Dr. Ben Carson's fight to beat the odds, the secret behind his accomplishments as a pediatric neurosurgeon, and what drives him to take risks.
Contemporary
Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins
Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place in an annual televised survival competition pitting young people against one another; .
Romiette and Julio
Sharon Draper
An African-American girl and a Latino boy fall in love after meeting on the
Internet, but a gang who objects to their interracial dating harasses them.
Shabanu:Daughter of the Wind
Suzanne Fisher Staples
In a year that brings a sandstorm, a feud with a rich landowner, and other disasters, the daughter of a nomad in the Pakistan desert, becomes a victim of her people's views of gender roles and marriage.
Contemporary
*The Other Side of the Sky
Farah Ahmedi and
Timim Ansary
The victim of a land mine tells about her childhood in
Afghanistan and discusses the challenges she has faced as a result of losing her leg, and in trying to adapt to living in the
United States.
*Three Cups of Tea
The Young Reader’s Edition
Greg Mortenson and
David Relin
One man's journey to change the world-- one child at a time.
Touching Spirit Bear
Ben Mikaelsen
In order to avoid going to prison Cole agrees to participate in a sentencing alternative based on the
Native American Circle
Justice, and he is sent to a remote Alaskan Island where an encounter with a bear changes him.
Classic
King Arthur and His Knights of the
Round Table
Roger Lancelyn Green
Retells the stories of Sir
Gawain and the Green
Knight, the quest for the
Holy Grail, and Morgana le
Fay
The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer
Mark Twain
The adventures and pranks of a mischievous boy growing up in a 19thcentury Mississippi River town as he plays hooky on an island, witnesses a crime, hunts for pirate's treasure, and becomes lost in a cave.
Students are required to read two selections from this list before entering eighth grade PreAP or GT classes. They will be assessed on summer reading within the first six weeks of school. These selections are recommended for all students.
* denotes nonfiction
To find a synopsis of these texts, see the FBISD online catalog and EBSCO – NoveList.

SPECIFIC District Summer Reading List 2015 – Will be posted on campus websites
Baines Middle School
For regular ELA students, they can choose any one of the following books. PreAP must read the required book and one other
6 th –

Wonder - RJ Palacio (PreAP required)

Walk Two Moons- Sharon Creech

Where the Red Fern Grows – Wilson Rawls

A Wrinkle in Time – Madeline L’engle

The New Kid-Tim Greene

Get Organized Without Losing It-Janet Fox
For regular ELA students, they can choose any one of the following books. PreAP must read the required book and one other
7 th –

Everlost by Neal Shusterman (PreAP required)

Bull Rider by Suzanne Morgan Williams

Day of Tears by Julius Lester
 Issac’s Storm by Erik Larson

Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

Port Chicago 50 by Steve Sheinkin
For regular ELA students, they can choose any one of the following books. PreAP must read the required book and one other
8 th –

The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers ( PreAP required )

The Other Side of the Sky by Farah Ahmedi

King Arthur by Roger Lancelyn Green

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples

How to Read Literature Like a Professor FOR KIDS by Thomas C. Foster
Bowie Middle School
6 th grade
All Regular ELA students are required to read one and all PreAP/GT students are required to read two of the following:

Take Me to the River by Will Hobbs

The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine

Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Wonder by R.J. Palacio
7 th grade
All Regular ELA students are required to read one of the following:

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Bull Rider by Suzanne Morgan Williams

Iqbal by Francesco D’Adamo

La Linea by Ann Jaramillo
All PreAP/GT students are required to read Bull Rider by Suzanne Morgan Williams AND one of the following:

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Iqbal by Francesco D’Adamo

La Linea by Ann Jaramillo
8 th grade
All regular ELA students are required to read The Giver by Lois Lowry.
All PreAP/GT students are required to read The Giver by Lois Lowry AND The Cage by Ruth Minsky Sender.

Crockett Middle School
6 th Grade:
All incoming 6 th
grade students will read: Wonder by R. j. Palacio
6 th grade GT/PreAP students will ALSO read one additional novel from the GENERAL district list.
7 th Grade:
All incoming 7th grade students in REGULAR ELA will read ONE book from the district general list.
Incoming 7 th
grade students in GT/PreAP ELA will read TWO books from the GENERAL district list.
8 th Grade:
All 8 th grade students in REGULAR ELA will read The Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson
Incoming 8 th
grade GT/PreAP ELA students will ALSO read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey
Dulles Middle School
Click here for list
First Colony Middle School
6 th Grade
All 6 th
grade ELA students are required to read TWO of the following books:

The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine

Rules by Cynthia Lord

Who Moved My Cheese? For Teens by Spencer Johnson

Middle School—The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson

Football Genius by Tim Green
6 th
grade GT/PreAP students are ALSO required to read ONE of these two books:

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle

Deck Z—The Titanic by Chris Pauls and Matt Solomon
7 th Grade
All 7 th grade students will choose TWO of the following books:

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
 Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James Swanson

Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip by Jordan Sonnenblick

Day of Tears by Julius Lester

Iqbal by Francesco D’Adamo

La Linea by Ann Jaramillo

The Laura Line by Chrystal Allen

Pay It Forward: Young Readers Edition by Catherine Ryan Hyde

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann
8 th Grade :
All 8 th grade students will read ONE of the following books:

Ungifted by Gordon Korman

Unwind by Neal Shusterman
All 8 th
grade GT/PreAP students will ALSO read:
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Fort Settlement Middle School
6 th Grade
Regular ELA: Choose one of the following:

Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick

Travel Team by Mike Lupica

Heaven by Angela Johnson

Iqbal by Francesco D’Adamo
GT/Pre AP must choose one from the following list:

Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick

Travel Team by Mike Lupica

Heaven by Angela Johnson

Iqbal by Francesco D’Adamo
And an additional one from the following:

The Alchemistby by Paulo Coelho

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
7 th Grade
Regular ELA: Choose one from the following list:

RF - Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass

RF - Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanan

HF - Blood Red Horse by K.M. Grant

SF - Truesight by David Stahler, Jr.

NF - Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton and Rick Bundschuh
Pre-AP: Choose two different genres from the following list:

RF - Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass

RF - Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanan

HF - Blood Red Horse by K.M. Grant

SF - Truesight by David Stahler, Jr.

NF - Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton and Rick Bundschuh
8 th Grade:
Pre-AP

How to Read Literature Like a Professor, for Kids by Thomas C. Foster

In addition, select one of the following:

Gifted Hands by Ben Carson

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Regular ELA:

How to Read Literature Like a Professor, for Kids by Thomas C. Foster

The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson

Garcia Middle School
6 th Grade G/T:
 “Wonder” by R. J. Palacio
 “Lions of Little Rock” by Kristin Levine
6 th Grade Regular :

Students must choose ONE book from the GENERAL district list
7 th Grade Pre-AP:
Fiction: Choose one of the following -

A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

Colin Fischer by Ashley Miller

Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool
Non Fiction: Choose one of the following -

Boy on a Wooden Box by Leon Leyson
 Warrior’s Heart
by Eric Greiten
7 th Grade Regular: 1 Fiction and 1 Nonfiction novel from the GENERAL district list
8 th Grade Pre-AP:

King Arthur , Townsend Press version by Howard Pyle

Any other book from the GENERAL district list
8 th Grade Regular:
1 Fiction and 1 nonfiction novel from the GENERAL district list
Hodges Bend Middle School
6 th Grade
We suggest that all Regular ELA students select TWO books from the following:

Guts by Gary Paulsen

Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings

Confetti Girl by Diane Lopez

Far North by Will Hobbs
All PreAP/GT ELA students must choose TWO of the following:

The Conch Bearer by Chitra Divakaruni

Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
7 th Grade
We suggest that all Regular ELA students select TWO books from the following:

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

A Life in the Wild by Pamela Turner

Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs
All PreAP/GT ELA students must read:

Everlost by Neal Shusterman

ONE additional novel from the GENERAL district list
8 th Grade
We suggest that all Regular ELA students select TWO books from the following:

Gifted Hands—The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson and Cecil Murphy

Buried Onions by Gary Soto

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelson
All PreAP/GT ELA students must read:

Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper AND

The Other Side of the Sky by Farah Ahmedi and TImim Ansary

Lake Olympia
6 th Grade –
ALL students choose

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
OR

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
7 th Grade –
Regular ELA

Day of Tears by Julius Lester
PreAP ELA
 Issac’s Storm by Erik Larson.
8 th Grade –
Regular ELA

The Call of the Wild by Jack London
PreAP ELA

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.
McAuliffe Middle School
See District General List above
Missouri City Middle School
ALL students read ALL three books at each grade level
6 th

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Phineas Gage by John Fleischman

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
7 th

Everlost by Neal Shusterman

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Slam! by Walter Dean Myers
8 th

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper

The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson and Cecil Murphy

Quail Valley Middle School
(Students zoned to QVMS—GT Academy students must contact the campus for their reading list.)
6 th Grade –
All incoming 6 th grade students must read:
Get Organized Without Losing It by Janet Fox
All PreAP/GT ELA students must ALSO choose ONE of the following:

The Conch Bearer by Chitra Divakaruni

The Dream Bearer by Walter Dean Myers

Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan
7 th Grade –
ALL 7 th grade students must read:

The Other Side of the Sk y by Farah Ahmedi & Timim Ansary
Pre-AP 7 th grade students must ALSO choose ONE of the following:

Day of Tears by Julius Lester

Shadow of the Dragon by Sherry Garland
8 th Grade –
All 8 th grade students must read:

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey
All PreAP/GT ELA students must ALSO choose ONE of the following:

Gifted Hands , The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson and Cecil Murphy

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table (Puffin Classics Version) by Roger Lancelyn Green

Buried Onions by Gary Soto

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
Sartartia Middle School
6 th Grade Texts—all students choose one of the following pairs; GT read the additional book

F— Flygirl by Sherri Smith

NF— Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart by Candace Fleming

F— The Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus

NF— Shipwrecked! The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy by Rhoda Blumberg

F— War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

NF— The War to End All Wars: World War I by Russell Freedman

GT— Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien
7 th Grade Texts all students choose one of the following pairs; PAP read the additional book

F— Slam!
by Walter Dean Myers

NF
—Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
by Ben Carson

F— Shabanu: Daugher of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples

NF
—
I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Readers Edition) by
Malala Yousafzai

F— Hatchet by Gary Paulson

NF— Guts: The True Stories behind Hatchet and the Brian Books by Gary Paulson

PAP— The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

8 th Grade Texts
Academic students will read:

F— The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

NF—assorted articles (link coming soon!)
Pre-AP/GT students will read:

NF— How to Read Literature like a Professor for Kids by

F— The Giver by Lois Lowry
Sugar Land Middle School
6 th Grade –
All Regular ELA students must choose ONE novel from the GENERAL district summer reading list and be prepared to complete an assessment/assignment within the first two weeks of school.
All PreAP/GT ELA students will read the following and be prepared to complete assessments/assignments within the first two weeks of school:

Classic: Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Contemporary: Heaven by Angela Johnson OR Iqbal by Francesco D’Adamo
7 th Grade –
All ELA students will choose ONE CONTEMPORARY novel from the GENERAL district summer reading list and be prepared to complete an assessment/assignment within the first two weeks of school.
GT/PreAP students will read the following titles and be prepared to complete assessments/assignments within the first two weeks of school:

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Day of Tears by Julius Lester
8 th Grade –
All Regular ELA students must read ONE novel from the GENERAL district summer reading list and be prepared to complete an assessment/assignment within the first two weeks of school.
All PreAP/GT ELA students must read the following titles and be prepared to complete assessments/assignments within the first two weeks of school:

Classic – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ; AND

Contemporary--
Three Cups of Tea: The Young Reader’s Edition
by Greg Mortenson and David Relin
OR

S habanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples