Wagner Middle School, MS 167
220 East 76th Street
New York, NY 10021
phone: 212-535-8610
fax: 212-472-9385
www.wagner167.org
Jennifer Rehn Losquadro, Principal
Courtney Dowd, Assistant Principal
Kaye Kerr, Assistant Principal
David Prinstein, Assistant Principal
Lisa Stefanick, Assistant Principal
Wagner Middle School Summer Reading List | Summer, 2013
Required for all incoming
6th Graders:
Choose one from the
following fiction list:
Incoming 6th Grade (3 total books)
Bud not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (950 Lexile)
“It's funny how ideas are, in a lot of ways they're just like seeds. Both of them
start real, real small and then... woop, zoop, sloop... before you can say Jack
Robinson, they've gone and grown a lot bigger than you ever thought they
could." So figures scrappy 10-year-old philosopher Bud--"not Buddy"-Caldwell, an orphan on the run from abusive foster homes and Hoovervilles in
1930s Michigan.”
1. Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko (600 L)
“In this appealing novel set in 1935, 12-year-old Moose Flanagan and his
family move from Santa Monica to Alcatraz Island where his father gets a job
as an electrician at the prison and his mother hopes to send his autistic older
sister to a special school in San Francisco. Family dilemmas are at the center of
the story, but history and setting play an important part, too.”
2. Holes by Louis Sachar (660 L)
“This winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award features
Stanley Yelnats, a kid who is under a curse. Stanley tries to dig up the truth in
this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment—and
redemption.”
3. Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan (750 L)
“Esperanza thought she'd always live with her family on their ranch in Mexico-she'd always have fancy dresses, a beautiful home, and servants. But a
sudden tragedy forces Esperanza and Mama to flee to California during the
Great Depression, and to settle in a camp for Mexican farm workers.”
Choose one from the
following non-fiction list:
4. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (1020 L)
“This Newbery Honor book is a dramatic, heart-stopping story of a boy who,
following a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness, must learn to survive with
only a hatchet and his own wits.”
1. The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss (380 L)
“A Dutch Jewish girl describes the two-and-one-half years she spent in hiding
in the upstairs bedroom of a farmer's house during World War II.”
2. Zlata’s Diary by Zlata Filipov (640 L)
“The experiences of Zlata Filipovic+a7 from 1991 through 1993 in Sarajevo
reveal an innocent life of piano lessons and birthday parties horrifyingly
transformed into days of food shortages, friends dying, and hiding out in a
neighbor's cellar during bombings.”
OVER 
3. Knots in My Yo-Yo String by Jerry Spinelli (980 L)
“Newbery medalist Jerry Spinelli has penned his early autobiography with all
the warmth, humor, and drama of his best-selling fiction. From first memories
through high school, including first kiss, first punch, first trip to the principal's
office, and first humiliating sports experience, this is not merely an account of
a highly unusual childhood.”
4. The Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary (1040 L)
“Generations of children have grown up with Henry Huggins, Ramona Quimby,
and all of their friends, families, and assorted pets. For everyone who has
enjoyed the pranks and schemes, embarrassing moments, and all of the other
poignant and colorful images of childhood brought to life in Beverly Cleary
books, here is the fascinating true story of the remarkable woman who
created them.”