Neptune Township School District
Summer Reading Book List- Incoming 1st through 12th grade
Incoming 1st Grade
1
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Marshall
While three bears are away, a little girl enters their house, easts a bowl of
porridge, tries out their chairs and beds, and falls asleep. She’s in for a
surprise when the bears return.
1
Jack and the Beanstalk
Kellogg
A boy climbs to the top of a giant beanstalk, where he uses his quick wits to
outsmart a giant and make his and his mother's fortune.
1
Red Riding Hood
Grimm
A little girl meets a hungry wolf in the forest on her way to visit her
grandmother.
1
The Little Engine that Could
Piper
Although he is not very big, the Little Blue Engine agrees to try to pull a
stranded train full of toys over the mountain.
1
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Potter
The story of the curious little bunny who disobeys his mother and finds
himself trapped in Mr. MacGregor's garden.
1
La casa adormecida (Bilingual)
Audrey Wood
In this cumulative tale, a wakeful flea atop a number of sleeping creatures
causes a commotion, with just one bite.
ISBN# 0152000534
1
And I Mean It, Stanley
Bonsall
A little girl plays alone until her dog arrives.
1
Biscuit
Capucilli
A little yellow dog wants ever one more thing before he'll go to sleep.
1
All by Myself
Mayer
Little Critter thinks about all the things he can do all by himself and the one
thing he cannot do
1
Kick, Pass, and Run
Kessler
After observing a boys' football game, a group of animals organizes its own
teams and game.
Incoming 2nd Grade
2
Hansel and Gretal
Grimm
Hansel and Gretel, poor woodcutter's children, are lost in the
woods. As they walk, they come upon a house made of cookies,
cakes, and candy, occupied by a wicked witch who enjoys tasty
treats.
2
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Burton
Mike Mulligan proves that, although old and outdated, his steam
shovel is still useful.
2
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Grimm
The tale of the beautiful princess who makes friends with dwarfs
living deep in the forest.
2
The Emperor’s New Clothes
Anderson
Two weavers convince the emperor they are making him
beautiful new clothes, visible only to those good at their jobs, but
when he wears them during a royal procession, a child recognizes
that the emperor has nothing on.
2
The Velveteen Rabbit
Williams
In this tale, the magic of a young boy's love changes his favorite
stuffed animal into a real live rabbit.
2
La verdadera historia de los tres cerditos
(Bilingual)
Jon Scieszka
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. ISBN# 014055758X
2
Henry and Mudge and Annie’s Perfect
Pet
Rylant
Although Henry's cousin Annie likes his dog Mudge, when she
gets her own pet she decides that a bunny will be perfect for her.
2
Nate the Great
Weinman
Super-detective Nate tracks down Annie's missing picture and
finds a lost cat in the bargain.
2
Corduroy’s Hike
Inches
Corduroy sneaks into Lisa's backpack when she goes on a hiking
trip and has quite an adventure when he gets lost along the trail.
This book is based on the character created by Don Freeman.
2
Poppleton in Winter
Rylant
This book contains three fun adventures of the pig, Poppleton.
Incoming 3rd Grade
3
Alice in Wonderland
Carroll
Nothing’s more magical than going down the rabbit hole and through the
looking glass with Alice. There everything is turned upside down and
wrong-way round.
3
Charlotte’s Web
White
Some pig! These words that Charlotte spins into her web to describe
Wilbur cause plenty of excitement, and ultimately, help save his life.
This story describes a likable pig and his loyal spider friend whose true
friendship lasts forever.
3
Sarah Plain and Tall
Maclachlan
When their father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in
their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother
and hope that she will stay.
3
Swiss Family Robinson
Wyss
The resourceful Robinson Family is shipwrecked, arrives on a deserted
island, and learns to survive.
3
The Wind in the Willows
Grahame
The adventures of Mole, Water Rat, Badger, and Toad on the river. Rat
rows his boat, Badger grumpily entertains his friends in his comfortable
underground home, and Toad gets into one tangle after another by his
obsession with motor cars.
3
Eric and Julieta: Ahora que-Now
What? (Bilingual)
Munoz
Mom is in the living room with a friend, and has asked Eric to watch
over Julieta. The problem with Julieta is she can't keep her hands off her
brother's toys! ISBN#9780439783729
3
Junie B. Jones y el negocio del mono
(Bilingual)
Park
Because of an unusual misunderstanding, Junie B. Jones begins to think
that her new baby brother is "A REAL, ALIVE BABY MONKEY!" #
ISBNS942514
3
3
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
The Magic Finger
Blume
Dahl
Peter Hatcher has a terrible problem--his two-year-old little brother.
A duck-hunting family learns a lesson when an eight-year-old girl turns
her magic finger on them.
3
Gooney Bird Greene
Lowry
A most unusual new student, who loves to be the center of attention,
entertains her teacher and fellow second-graders by telling absolutely
true stories about herself, including how she got her name.
Incoming 4th Grade
4
Gulliver’s Travels
Swift
The voyages of an Englishman carry him to such strange places as
Lilliput, where people are six inches tall; a land of giants; an island of
sorcerers; and a country ruled by horses.
4
King Author and His Knights
Pyle
The adventures and exploits of King Arthur and his knights at the court
of Camelot.
4
Oliver Twist
Dickens
The tale of an orphaned child whose innocence is threatened by a host of
Victorian characters but who triumphs over his circumstances.
4
Pollyanna
Porter
In early twentieth-century Vermont, orphaned, eleven-year-old Pollyanna
comes to live with her austere and wealthy Aunt Polly, and uses her
philosophy of gladness to bring happiness to her aunt and other unhappy
members of the community
4
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Pyle
Recounts the legend of Robin Hood, who takes the king's purse and
poaches his deer and whose generosity endears him to the poor.
4
The Tale of Despereaux
DiCamillo
This book tells of the adventure of Despereaux Tilling, a small mouse of
unusual talents, the princess he loves, the servant girl who longs to be a
princess, and a devious rat determined to bring them all to ruin.
4
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs.
Basil E. Frankweiler
Konigsburg
Claudia and her brother Jamie run away from home and take up
residence in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
4
Shiloh
Naylor
When he finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home,
Marty tries to hide it from his family and the dog's real owner. The owner
is a mean-spirited man known to shoot deer out of season and to mistreat
his dogs.
4
Stone Fox
Gardiner
Little Willy hopes to pay the back taxes on his grandfather's farm with
the purse from a dogsled race he enters.
4
Shoeless Joe & Me: A Baseball Card
Adventure
Gutman
Joe Stoshack travels back to 1919, where he meets Shoeless Joe Jackson
and tries to prevent the fixing of the World Series in which Jackson was
wrongly implicated.
Incoming 5th Grade
5
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Verne
The nineteenth-century science fiction tale of an electric submarine, its
eccentric captain, and the undersea world, which anticipated many of the
scientific achievements of the twentieth century.
5
Johnny Tremaine
Forbes
After injuring his hand, a silversmith's apprentice in Boston becomes a
messenger for the Sons of Liberty in the days before the American
Revolution.
5
Little Women
Alcott
Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into
young ladies in mid-nineteenth-century New England.
5
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Irving
A superstitious schoolmaster, in love with a wealthy farmer's daughter, has a
frightening encounter with what he thinks is a headless horseman.
5
The Red Badge of Courage
Crane
In the spring of 1863, as he faces battle for the first time in Virginia, a young
Union soldier matures to manhood and finds peace of mind as he comes to
grips with his conflicting emotions about war.
5
The Willoughbys
Lowry
In this tongue-in-cheek take on classic themes in children's literature, the four
Willoughby children set about to become "deserving orphans" after their
neglectful parents embark on a treacherous around-the-world adventure.
5
Regarding the Fountain: A Tale in
Letters, of Liars, and Leaks
Klise
When the principal asks a fifth grader to write a letter regarding the purchase
of a new drinking fountain for their school, he finds that all sorts of chaos
results.
5
Two-Minute Drill
Lupica
Brainy Scott, a great kicker who otherwise struggles with football, and star
quarterback, Chris, who has dyslexia, team up to help each other succeed in
both football and school.
5
Where the Red Fern Grows
Wilson
This is a simply written, moving story of the love between a young boy and
his two dogs
5
No Talking
Clements
The noisy fifth-grade boys of Laketon Elementary School challenge the
equally loud fifth-grade girls to a "no talking" contest.
Incoming 6th Grade
6
A Wrinkle in Time
L'Engle
As Meg and her friends search for her father, who disappeared while engaged in secret
work for the government, they make the acquaintance of strangers and journey through a
wrinkle in time.
6
Island of Blue
Dolphins
O'Dell
6
Paul Bunyan
Shephard
Left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, a young Indian girl
spends eighteen years, not only surviving through her courage and self-reliance, but also
finding happiness in her solitary life.
Paul Bunyan was never "stumped," and no job was ever too big for him and his blue ox to
handle. From Michigan to Minnesota, from North Dakota to the Pacific Northwest,
wherever Paul went, he liked to do things in a big way.
6
The Call of the Wild
6
The Hound of the
Baskervilles
6
Where the Mountain
Meets the Moon
6
The Name of This
Book is Secret
Pseudonymour
Bosch
6
Becoming Naoimi
Leon
Pam Muñoz
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.
6
Summer of the Swans
Betsey Byars
A fourteen-year-old girl gains new insight into herself and her family when her mentally
handicapped brother gets lost.
6
Dear Mr. Henshaw
Beverly Cleary
In his letters to his favorite author, ten-year-old Leigh reveals his problems in coping with
his parents' divorce, being the new boy in school, and generally finding his own place in
the world.
London
The adventures of an unusual dog, part St. Bernard, part shepherd, that is forcibly taken to
the Klondike gold fields, where he eventually becomes the leader of a wolf pack.
Doyle
The Baskerville family has been haunted for generations by a fearsome hound - a phantom
beast with blazing eyes and dripping jaws. Surely it is just a legend? Then Sir Charles is
found mysteriously dead in the grounds of Baskerville Hall. It is time to bring in Sherlock
Holmes and Doctor Watson, to discover the truth about the family curse...
Grace Lin
Minli, an adventurous girl from a poor village, buys a magical goldfish and then joins a
dragon on a quest to find the Old Man of the Moon in hopes of discovering how to change
her family's fortune.
When Cass and Max-Ernest find a mysterious case containing vials of liquid labeled The
Symphony of Smells with an encoded message asking for help, the two friendless elevenyear olds decide to investigate. Book #1
Incoming 7h Grade
7
Around the World in
Eighty Days
Jules Verne
On a wager, the eccentric English gentleman Phileas Fogg accepts a challenge to circle the
globe in eighty days. Follow Phileas and his faithful valet, Passepartout, on this fantastic
adventure.
7
The Adventures of
Sherlock Holmes
Conan Doyle
This collection of stories about the famous detective include: “The Adventure of the Devil’s
Foot,” “The Adventure of the Abbey Grange,” “The Adventure of the Cardboard Box,” “The
Man With the Twisted Lip,” and “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans.
7
The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain
The adventures and pranks of a mischievous boy growing up in a Mississippi River town in
the early nineteenth century.
7
The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz
7
Treasure Island
7
Esperanza Rising
7
Mrs. Frisby and the
Rats of NIMH/The
Secret of NIMH
7
L. Frank Baum Dorothy, a girl from Kansas, and her dog Toto, get carried away by a tornado to the magical
Land of Oz. On the way she meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly
Lion, who help her to return home.
Stevenson
Young Jim Hawkins finds himself the owner of a map to Treasure Island, where the fabled
pirate booty is buried Honest Captain Smollett, heroic Dr. Livesey, and the good-hearted
Squire Trelawney help Jim on his quest for the treasure.
Pam Munoz
Ryan
Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to
work in the labor camps of Southern California on the eve of the Great Depression.
Robert C.
O’Brien
When Timothy, youngest of a family of field mice, becomes ill, his mother, Mrs. Frisby,
enlists the aid of the Rats of NIMH to move their home from the path of the farmer's plow.
The Bronze Pen
Zilpha Keatley
Snyder
With her father's failing health and the family's shaky finances, twelve-year-old Audrey's
dreams of becoming a writer seem very impractical until she is given a peculiar bronze pen
that appears to have unusual powers.
7
Agent Amelia: Ghost
Diamond!
Michael Broad
Elementary-school secret agent Amelia continues her efforts to save the world from evil
geniuses and criminal masterminds, this time foiling a jewel thief, identifying some unusual
cat burglars, and evading a weed army. Book #1
7
The Westing Game
Ellen Raskin
Sixteen game players, heirs to Sam Westing's fabulous fortune, are all suspected of his
murder. This book is part mystery story, part play-along game, and part do-it-yourself puzzle.
Incoming 8h Grade
8
Anne Frank: Diary
of a Young Girl
Frank
The journal of a Jewish girl in her early teens describes both the joys and torments of daily
life, as well as typical adolescent thoughts, throughout two years spent in hiding with her
family during the Nazi occupation of Holland.
8
Peter Pan
J.M. Barrie
A tale of a magical boy who never grows up, who lures young Wendy and her brothers to
Neverland where they meet pirates, Indians, fairies, and the Lost Boys.
8
Robinson Crusoe
Defoe
8
The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
The adventures of a boy and a runaway slave as they travel down the Mississippi River on a
raft.
8
The Lion, the
Witch, and the
Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis
Four English school children enter the magic land of Narnia through the back of a wardrobe
and assist Aslan, the golden lion, in defeating the White Witch who has cursed the land with
eternal winter.
8
Freak The Mighty
Rodman
Philbrick
8
The Curious
Misadventures of
Feltus Ovalton
Jo Treggairi
8
Tuck Everlasting
Natalie Babbitt
Winnie Foster discovers a magic spring that has given the Tuck family eternal life. She is
faced with the difficult decision of whether or not to drink from it, and whether to tell all
when a stranger wants to know the secret in order to sell the water.
8
When You Reach
Me
Rebecca Stead
In 1979, as her mother prepares to be a contestant on the THE $20,000 PYRAMID, a twelveyear-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from
an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space.
8
The Bad
Beginning
Lemony Snicket
After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each
other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian
is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune. #1
The tale of shipwreck and survival on an uninhabited island.
At the beginning of eighth grade, learning disabled Max and his new friend Freak, whose
birth defect has affected his body but not his brilliant mind, find that when they combine
forces they make a powerful team.
Ever since he and his parents moved to the city, Feltus has been hiding out in his room,
reading comics, wishing for something, anything, to happen to his miserable life. Then,
gibberish-speaking Great-Aunt Eunida appears and everything changes.
Incoming 9h Grade
9
Great Expectations
Charles
Dickens
Follow the orphan Pip as he struggles with poverty, then is given a fortune, which causes him
to attempt to be someone other than who he really is.ISBN#9781593081621
9
Lord of the Flies
Golding
The tale of a group of English school boys who are left stranded on an unpopulated island,
and who must confront not only the defects of their society but the defects of their own
natures. ISBN#9780399501487
9
A Farewell to Arms
Hemingway
The story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front during World War I and his
love for a beautiful English nurse.
9
The Odyssey
Homer
Crowded with characters, both human and non-human, and bursting with action, this story
details the adventures of Odysseus, King of Ithaca and hero of the Trojan War, as he
struggles to return to his home and his waiting, ever-faithful wife, Penelope.
9
Romeo and Juliet
Shakespeare
Shakespeare's love story of a young couple whose families' feud affected their relationship
with tragic consequences.
9
Flipped
Wendelin
Van
Draanen
In alternating chapters, two teenagers describe their feelings about themselves, each other,
and their families.
9
We Beat the Street:
How A Friendship
Pact Led to Success
Sampson
Davis
Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt, known as The Three Doctors, reveal
anecdotes from their childhood, teen, and young-adult years. It is their hope that the story of
their friendship will inspire readers to form pacts of their own.
9
Ruins of Gorlan
(Ranger’s Apprentice
Series)
John
Flanagan
When fifteen-year-old Will is rejected by battleschool, he becomes the reluctant apprentice to
the mysterious Ranger Halt and winds up protecting the kingdom from danger. Book #1
9
The Book Thief
Markus
Zusak
Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel, a
young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and
the Jewish man they are hiding.
9
Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch
Albom
This book is a chronicle of the time the author spent with his mentor, his former college
professor, in the last months of the older man's life. Their rekindled relationship turned into
one final "class": lessons in how to live.
Incoming 10th Grade
10
Pride and
Prejudice
10
The Canterbury
Tales
Jane Austen
Geoffrey Chaucer
In this retelling of the classic story, spirited Elizabeth Bennet copes with the suit of the snobbish Mr. Darcy
while trying to sort out the romantic entanglements of two of her sisters, sweet and beautiful Jane and
scatterbrained Lydia.
This book presents a retelling of Geoffrey Chaucer's famous work in which a group of pilgrims in fourteenthcentury England tell each other stories as they travel on a pilgrimage to the cathedral at Canterbury.
10
Brave New
World
Adous Huxley
. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled readers for generations, it remains remarkably
relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking,
satisfying entertainment.
10
Animal Farm
George Orwell
Politically minded farm animals undergo a revolution against their human master and establish a new
government that fails because of a corrupt leader tempted by greed and power.
10
The Picture of
Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde
10
The Body of
Christopher
Creed
Carol Plum-Ucci
Torey Adams, a high school junior with a seemingly perfect life, struggles with doubts and questions
surrounding the mysterious disappearance of the class outcast.
10
Leviathan
Scot Westerfeld
In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who
are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who,
disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.
10
Fire From the
Rock
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.
10
Finnikin of the
Rock
Melina Marchetta
In this adaptation of the Oscar Wilde classic, an incredibly handsome young man in Victorian England retains
his youthful appearance over the years while his portrait reflects both his age and evil soul as he pursues a life
of decadence and corruption.
Now on the cusp of manhood, Finnikin, who was a child when the royal family of Lumatere was murdered
and replaced by an imposter, reluctantly joins forces with an enigmatic young novice and fellow-exile, who
claims that her dark dreams will lead them to a surviving royal child and a way to regain the throne of
Lumatere.
10
Friday Night
Lights
H.G.Bissinger
Follows the 1988 season of the Permian Panthers, a high school football team in Odessa, Texas, exploring the
lives of the players and the impact of the championship team on the small town.
Incoming 11th Grade
11
The Great Gatsby, F.
11
The Catcher in the
Rye
J.D. Salinger
An adolescent boy, knowing he is about to be dropped by his school, spends three
days and nights in New York City.
11
A Separate Peace
John Knowles
Two adolescents come to understand each other and themselves after a tragic
accident.
11
To Kill A
Mockingbird
11
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Harriet Beecher
Stowe
11
Eragon, bk. 1 in the
Inheritance Cycle
Christopher
Paolini
In Aagaesia, a fifteen-year-old boy of unknown lineage called Eragon finds a
mysterious stone that weaves his life into an intricate tapestry of destiny, magic,
and power, peopled with dragons, elves, and monsters. (this book was written by
the author when he was 15 years old.)
11
How I Live Now
Meg Rosoff
To get away from her pregnant stepmother in New York City, fifteen-year-old
Daisy goes to England to stay with her aunt and cousins, with whom she instantly
bonds, but soon war breaks out and rips apart the family while devastating the land.
11
Year of Wonders: a
Novel of the Plague
Geraldine
Brooks
This is the story of a small mountain village in England and housemaid Anna Frith
as they try to survive the terrible plague year of 1666.
11
The Curious Incident
of the Dog in the
Night-time
11
Hitchhiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy
Scott Fitzgerald
Harper Lee
Mark Haddon
Douglas Adams
This story deals with the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the
beautiful Daisy Buchanan, set during 1920s.
Two children witness the effects of racial prejudice, as their father courageously
defends an innocent black man who has been accused of raping a white woman.
In a time when women might see the majority of their children die, Harriet Beecher
Stowe portrays beautiful Eliza fleeing slavery to protect her son.
Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a
mathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the
murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.
Seconds before Earth is demolished to make room for a galactic freeway, an
earthman is saved by his friend. Together they journey through the galaxy.
Incoming 12th Grade
12
Wuthering Heights
Emily Bronte
This dramatic retelling of Emily Brontë's classic story brings to life a passionate tale of
two generations torn apart by love and revenge.
12
Pilgrim’s Progress
John Bunyan
Christian's encounters with various trial and temptations on his journey to the Celestial
City depicted in the seventeenth century.
12
The Stranger
Albert Camus
Caught in the grip of forces he does not understand, a quiet, ordinary clerk in Algiers
commits a murder.
12
Don Quixote
Miguel
deCervantes
This book chronicles the adventures of Don Quixote, the errant Knight, and his faithful
servant Sancho Panza. It is a humorous and thought-provoking parody of chivalry.
12
Hamlet
Shakespeare
In this classic play about royal murder, Hamlet is caught in a web of family intrigue.
12
Incarceron
12
And Still We Rise:
The Trials and
Triumphs of Twelve
Gifted Inner-City
Students
12
Catherine Fisher
To free herself from an upcoming arranged marriage, Claudia, the daughter of the
Warden of Incarceron, a futuristic prison with a mind of its own, decides to help a
young prisoner escape.
Miles Corwin
The author, Miles Corwin, spent a school year with twelve high school seniors, SouthCentral kids who qualified for a gifted program because of their exceptional IQs and
test scores. This is their amazing odyssey.
Sarah’s Key
Tatiana Rosnay
American journalist Julia Jarmond researches the brutal 1942 Nazi roundup in Paris
and stumbles upon a connection between her husband's family and one of the victims,
which compels her to learn more about the girl's life.
12
My Sister’s Keeper
Jodi Picoult
Thirteen-year-old Anna, conceived to provide blood and bone marrow for her sister
Kate who was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia at the age of two, decides to sue
her parents for control of her body when her mother wants her to donate a kidney.
12
Timeline
Michal Crichton
With the technology of the twenty-first century, a group of historians enter, literally,
life in fourteenth-century feudal France. Historical fiction, Time travel fiction.