6th Grade Summer Reading List
Mrs. Avalos
aavalos@harmonytx.org
Begin the Next School Year with a Hundred!
I Challenge YOU to READ this Summer!
Students will read 2 books this summer and create a project for each book read. Students can earn 50 points for each project
that is turned in by Tuesday, August 26, 2014
While you’re flying, sunning or waiting; read some of these and earn you first grade for the next school year. All of these
great books are entertaining and fun to read. Check Amazon.com or your favorite bookstore for an overview before you start.
Make sure you choose wisely, select a genre that you enjoy! You may select books that are not on the list; however, you
must email me for approval. Make sure that your parents approve as well.
























American Library Association (ALA) Award Winners
Kit’s Wilderness
The Compound
Under the Mesquite
Beneath My Mother’s Feet
Downsiders
Lockdown
Under the Persimmon Tree
The Thirteenth Tale
The World Made Straight
Black Swan Green
The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game
The Floor of the Sky
Color of the Sea
Eagle Blue
The Book of Lost Things
Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon
Small Steps
Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea
To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; v. 1: The Pox Party
Water for Elephants
An Abundance of Katherines
Copper Sun
Anything by Rick Riordan (The Kane Chronicles, Heros of Olympus, etc.)
My Brother Sam is Dead
Twilight Saga (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn)
Ender’s Quintet (Ender’s game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, etc.)
The Shadow Series (Ender’s Shadow, Shadow of Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, etc.)
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
Heros, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths
October Sky
Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine
Now is Your Time: The African-American Struggle for Freedom
The Black Flower: A Novel of the Civil War
Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry
Close to Shore: Shark Attack
Divergent Series (Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant)
David Almond
S. A. Bodeen
Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Amjed Qamar
Neal Shusterman
Alexander Gordon Smith
Suzanne Fisher Staples
Diane Setterfield
Ron Rash
David Mitchell
Michael Lewis
Pamela Carter Joern
John Hamamura
Michael D’Orso
John Connolly
Catherine Thimmesh
Louis Sachar
Sy Montgomery
Siena Cherson Siegel
M. T. Anderson
Sara Gruen
John Green
Sharon Draper
Rick Riordan
Christopher Collier
Stephanie Meyer
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card
Peter Sis
Bernard Evslin
Homer Hickam
Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Walter Dean Myers
Howard Bahr
Mildred D. Taylor
Michael Capuzzo
Veronica Roth
NOTE TO PARENTS: This list is based on recommendations from teaching colleagues and ALA
and NCTE, and I have not read them all. Some deal with adolescent/young adult situations.
“There is no friend as loyal as a book.” – Ernest Hemingway
“If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. Or better, one’s chances
of survival increase with each book one reads.” — Sherman Alexie
After you read the books of your choice (from the reading list on the opposite side or one of your choice and approve
by me, your teacher), you will need to create a project for each book -- a total of 2 projects.
Choose from the following projects:
1.
Create a Diary or Journal for the protagonist or antagonist; it must be 200-300 words in length. Create day-by-day diary
or journal entries for the character of your choice.
2.
Pick an important quote from the story and create a poster or photo-journal to illustrate the importance of the quote
(draw, paint, color or create a collage from magazine or newspaper clippings.) Include the quote, book title, author’s
name, and page number on the poster.
3.
Write a well-organized 300-400 word essay about the book. Explain if the author uses literary devices such as
foreshadowing, irony, personification, similes and/or metaphors. Explain how author uses the literary device(s) to
convey his/her message, reveal the characters, describe the setting, reveal the conflict or set the tone. Remember to stay
on topic and get your point across with examples.
4.
Create a comic strip with 6- 8 panels that illustrates the plot of the book. Your comic can be in the 1st person perspective
or 3rd person perspective. Include the book title, author’s name and which point of view you used (1st person or 3rd
person)
5.
Write 4 poems about the book. Each poem must be different; pick 4 different forms (types) of poem. Each poem must be
of different content such as plot, setting, antagonist, protagonist or a particular character.
Form
Purpose
Common Characteristics
Elegy
Mourns the dead
Length, rhyme scheme and meter can vary
Epic
Tells a story of mythic or national heroes.
Lyric
Expresses poet’s feelings
Long and serious in tone; usually doesn’t rhyme; regular
meter.
Short stanzas and rhyming lines; heartfelt
Ballad
Ode
Tells a popular folk story, often about a
local hero
Speaks directly to an idea, thing or person
Sonnet
Varies; often a love poem
Haiku
An un rhymed verse
Short stanzas and couplets, often with a refrain; like a song
Uses lofty, grand language to describe the subject of the
poem
14 lines long; ends in a couplet (2 successive lines that
rhyme and have the same meter.)
3 lines long; a total of 17 syllables. 1st line is 5 syllables, 2nd
line is 7 syllables and 3rd line is 5 syllables.
Plagiarism:
Webster’s dictionary defines PLAGIARISM as “[using] the words or ideas of another person as if they were your own words
or ideas.” If you copy straight from the internet or a book without quoting and correctly citing it, you are plagiarizing. DO
NOT use someone else’s work as your own. Plagiarizing can lead to consequences punishable in accordance with the Student
Handbook.
“I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.”
―Abraham Lincoln
“There are essentially two things that will make you wise -- the books you read
and the people you meet.” ― Jack Canfield