Dutchman Creek Middle School
Rising 7th Grade
2009 Summer Reading List
Hoot (Lexile: 760) by Carl Hiaasen
Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy's attempt
to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site.
Down a Dark Hall ** and other mysteries ** (Lexile: 750) by Lois Duncan
Suspicious and uneasy about the atmosphere at her new boarding school, 14-year-old Kit
slowly realizes why she and the other three students at the school were selected.
Slam! (Lexile: 750) by Walter Dean Myers
Sixteen-year-old "Slam" Harris is counting on his noteworthy basketball
talents to get him out of the inner city and give him a chance to succeed in life, but his
coach sees things differently.
Locomotion (Lexile: No Lexile) by Jacqueline Woodson
Inspired by his teacher, 11-year-old Lonnie begins to write about his life in a series of
poems in which he discusses his feelings about his friends, his foster mom, his little sister
Lili, and the death of his parents.
The Lost Years of Merlin **and series** (Lexile: 770) by TA Barron
A young boy who has no identity or memory of his past washes ashore on the coast of
Wales and finds his true name after a series of fantastic adventures.
Tangerine (Lexile: 680) by Edward Bloor
Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the
right to play soccer despite his near blindness, and slowly begins to remember the incident
that damaged his eyesight.
Witness (Lexile: No Lexile) by Karen Hesse
A series of poems express the views of various people in a small Vermont town, including a
young black girl and a young Jewish girl, during the early 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan is
trying to infiltrate the town.
The Schwa Was Here (Lexile: 790) by Neal Schusterman
When Anthony "Antsy" Bonano and his friends meet Calvin Schwa, they are impressed and
puzzled by his ability to appear and disappear before their very eyes. Antsy concocts a
moneymaking scheme based on the Schwa's invisibility that seems promising until he and
his friends overreach and are caught by the town's legendary mean millionaire, Mr. Crawley.
Breadwinner (Lexile: 630) by Deborah Ellis
Because the Taliban rulers of Kabul, Afghanistan, impose strict limitations on women's
freedom and behavior, eleven-year-old Parvana must disguise herself as a boy so that her
family can survive after her father's arrest.
Monster (Lexile: 670) by Walter Dean Myers
"Monster" is what the prosecutor called 16-year-old Steve Harmon for his supposed role in
the fatal shooting of a convenience-store owner. But was Steve really the lookout who gave
the "all clear" to the murderer, or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time? In this
innovative novel by Walter Dean Myers, the reader becomes both juror and witness during
the trial of Steve's life. To calm his nerves as he sits in the courtroom, aspiring filmmaker
Steve chronicles the proceedings in movie script format.
Surviving the Applewhites (Lexile: 820) by Stephanie S. Tolan
Jake, a budding juvenile delinquent, is sent for home schooling to the arty and eccentric
Applewhite family's Creative Academy, where he discovers talents and interests he never
knew he had.
Among the Hidden (Lexile: 800) by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Luke has never been to school. He's never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend's house
for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend. Luke is one of the shadow children, a
third child forbidden by the Population Police.
Stormbreaker (Lexile: 670) by Anthony Horowitz
They told him his uncle died in a car accident. Fourteen-year-old Alex knows that's a lie,
and the bullet holes in his uncle's windshield confirm his suspicions. But nothing prepares
him for the news that the uncle he always thought he knew was really a spy for MI6—
Britain's top secret intelligence agency. Recruited to find his uncle's killers and complete his
final mission, Alex suddenly finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse.
I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing up in the Holocaust (Lexile: 720) by Livia
Britton-Jackson
The author describes her experiences during World War II when she and her family were
sent to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
Heir Apparent (Lexile: 820) by Vivian Vande Velde
While playing a total immersion virtual reality game of kings and intrigue, fourteen-year-old
Giannine learns that demonstrators have damaged the equipment to which she is
connected, and she must win the game quickly or be damaged herself.
Turnabout (Lexile: 690) by Margaret Peterson Haddix
In the year 2000 Melly and Anny Beth had reached the peak of old age and were ready to
die. But when offered the chance to be young again by participating in a top-secret
experiment called Project Turnabout, they agreed. Miraculously, the experiment worked -Melly and Anny Beth were actually growing younger every year. But when they learned that
the final treatment would be deadly, they ran for their lives.
Now it is 2085. Melly and Anny Beth are teenagers. They have no idea what will happen
when they hit age zero, but they do know they will soon be too young to take care of
themselves. They need to find someone to help them before time runs out, once and for
all....
The Wreckers (Lexile: 640) by Iain Lawrence
Shipwrecked after a vicious storm, fourteen-year-old John Spencer attempts to save his
father and himself while also dealing with an evil secret about the English coastal town
where they are stranded.
Inkheart (Lexile: 780) by Cornelia Funke
Meggie, 12-year-old, goes on a dangerous adventure in which she and her father are
pursued by a group of sinister bandits, led by a man named Scorpio. Most intriguing are the
identities of the bandits (who were fictional characters from story books) and the magical
ability of Meggie's father who can "read" people, animals, and objects OUT of and IN to
books! The second book, INKSPELL, will come out in Fall of 2005!
The Lord of the Rings (Lexile: 1010) (series) by J.R.R. Tolkien
Starting with THE HOBBIT, the journey through Middle Earth, told with poetic language and
vivid description of creatures and landscapes, this classic series (FELLOWSHIP OF THE
RING, THE TWO TOWERS and THE RETURN OF THE KING) has enjoyed the highest acclaim
in the realm of fantasy writings in our century.
Farewell to Manzanar (Lexile: 1040) by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
This is an autobiographical account of one Japanese American family's attempt to survive
the indignities of internment during World War II.
2009 – 2010 Junior Book Award Nomination List
Adam Canfield, Watch Your Back (Lexile: 730) by Michael Winerip
A much-welcomed snow day turns into an embarrassing nightmare for middle-grader Adam
Canfield when, after being mugged by high school bullies for his snow-shoveling money, he
becomes the focus of major media attention just as his co-editors at The Slash are
launching a contest to oust bullies at their school.
The Big Field (Lexile: 970) by Mike Lupica
When fourteen-year-old baseball player Hutch feels threatened by the arrival of a new
teammate named Darryl, he tries to work through his insecurities about both Darryl and his
remote and silent father, who was once a great ballplayer too.
Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems (Lexile: NA) by John Grandits
Concrete poems about a girl named Jessie who mocks the school which she attends.
Book of a Thousand Days (Lexile: 850) by Shannon Hale
Fifteen-year-old Dashti, sworn to obey her sixteen-year-old mistress, the Lady Saren,
shares Saren's years of punishment locked in a tower, then brings her safely to the lands of
her true love, where both must hide who they are as they work as kitchen maids.
The Boy Who Dared (Lexile: 760) by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
In October, 1942, seventeen-year-old Helmuth Hübener, imprisoned for distributing antiNazi leaflets, recalls his past life and how he came to dedicate himself to bring the truth
about Hitler and the war to the German people.
Cover-up (Lexile: 780) by John Feinstein
Two teenagers learn that every player on a professional football team--which is supposed to
play in the Super Bowl--has failed their drug test and the owner has covered up the results,
and now they must find a way to prove it.
Elephant Run (Lexile: 750) by Roland Smith
Nick's father and others are taken prisoner when his plantation in Burma is invaded by the
Japanese in 1941, leaving Nick and his friend Mya to risk their lives in order to free them
from the POW camp.
Fire From the Rock (Lexile: 830) by Sharon Draper
In 1957, Sylvia Patterson's life--that of a normal African American teenager--is disrupted by
the impending integration of Little Rock's Central High when she is selected to be one of the
first black students to attend the previously all white school.
Go Big or Go Home (Lexile: 700) by Will Hobbs
Fourteen-year-old Brady and his cousin Quinn love extreme sports, but nothing could
prepare them for the aftermath of Brady's close encounter with a meteorite after it crashes
into his Black Hills, South Dakota, bedroom.
If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period (Lexile: 530) by Gennifer Choldenko
Kirsten and Walk, seventh-graders at an elite private school, describe how race, wealth,
weight, and other issues shape their relationships as they and other misfits stand up to a
mean but influential classmate.
Leepike Ridge (Lexile: 780) by N.D. Wilson
Eleven-year-old Tom finds himself trapped in a series of underground caves and pursued by
murderous treasure-hunters.
Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf: A Year told Through Stuff (Lexile: NA) by
Jennifer L. Holm
Ginny makes a to do list for her seventh grade year, which includes landing a role in the
school play, trying to make friends, ignoring her horoscope, and going to see her grandpa
Joe in Florida; but she always seems to come up short in accomplishing any of it.
Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller (Lexile: 890) by Sarah Miller
At age twenty-one, partially-blind, lonely but spirited Annie Sullivan travels from
Massachusetts to Alabama to try and teach six-year-old Helen Keller, deaf and blind since
age two, self-discipline and communication skills.
Night of the Howling Dogs (Lexile: 530) by Graham Salisbury
Eleven Boy Scouts, their leaders, and some new friends camping at Halape, Hawaii, in 1975,
find their survival skills put to the test when a massive earthquake strikes, followed by a
tsunami.
The Redheaded Princess: A Novel (Lexile: 750) by Ann Rinaldi
In 1542, nine-year-old Lady Elizabeth lives on an estate near London, striving to get back
into the good graces of her father, King Henry VIII, and as the years pass she faces his
death and those of other close relatives until she finds herself next in line to ascend the
throne of England in 1558.
Schooled (Lexile: 740) by Gordon Korman
Cap lives in isolation with his grandmother, a former hippie; but when she falls from a tree
and breaks her hip, Cap is sent to a foster home where he has his first experience in a
public school.
Seer of Shadows (Lexile: 720) by Avi
Photographer Horace Carpetine is commissioned to do a portrait for society matron Mrs.
Frederick Von Macht; however, the photos evoke both the image and the ghost of the Von
Macht's dead daughter, Eleanora, who has returned to seek vengence on those who killed
her.
Taken (Lexile: 640) by Edward Bloor
In 2036 kidnapping rich children has become an industry, but when thirteen-year-old
Charity Meyers is taken and held for ransom, she soon discovers that this particular
kidnapping is not what it seems.
Toby Wheeler: Eighth Grade Bench Warmer (Lexile: 680) by Thatcher Heldring
When Toby finally decides to join the middle school basketball team, he does not anticipate
the changes that will occur in his relationship with his best friend JJ, who is the team's star
player, as well as in other areas of his life.
When I crossed No-Bob
When I Crossed No-Bob (Lexile: 870) by Margaret McMullan
Ten years after the Civil War's end, twelve-year-old Addy, abandoned by her parents, is
taken from the horrid town of No-Bob by schoolteacher Frank Russell and his bride, but
when her father returns to claim her she must find another way to leave her O'Donnell past
behind.