Welcome to Pre-AP English 6! This year you will read one required novel called The House of Dies Drear.
You will complete a study guide and take a test on this novel. In addition, you will read one novel of
your choice from the Middle School Summer Reading List. Please follow the enclosed guidelines to
create a project for your choice novel. We look forward to meeting you in August.
Summer Reading Test & Project Pre-AP English 6
You will have a test on The House of Dies Drear on Friday, August 26th. For the second novel you
read, create one project from the list below; projects will be presented & displayed on Wednesday,
August 31st.
Visual/Spatial Intelligence
Draw, color and label a series of pictures incorporating the theme, character, setting and plot of your
novel. (Minimum of four drawings with captions)
Design a map or timeline depicting major plot events from the novel.
Create a box (cereal, milk/juice carton, pizza box etc.) detailing the development of the main
character. Include internal and external conflict.
Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence
Write a poem about the plot, theme, and/or one of the main characters in the novel. Your poem
must be at least four four-line stanzas.
Pretend that you and the main character are twins. In a three paragraph essay, write about what you
like to do together, the secrets you share, and what you like to do apart from each other.
Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence
Present a puppet show expressing the plot and theme of the novel.
Act out a scene in the novel, either as a monologue or with a partner.
Musical/Rhythmic Intelligence
Sing a song that fits the time and culture of the novel. You may write your own song. You may use
an original melody or a familiar tune.
Play a piece of music on your instrument—either an original piece or one that fits the novel. Note
which parts of the composition remind you of the novel.
Grading Criteria:
Demonstrates understanding of the key
features of the novel
___/50
Quality of the product
___/20
Preparation of the performance
___/15
Creativity and expression
___/15
Total
___/100
Summer Reading Study Guide for The House of Dies Drear
Write the definition and part of speech for each word. Make sure you are defining the
word as it is used in context. The test will be Friday, August 26th.
1. P. 13, relic
2. P. 23, loom
3. P. 26, opaque
4. P. 63, cordial
5. P. 73, garret
6. P. 76, save
7. P. 96, feign
8. P. 105, favor
9. P. 139, legacy
10. P. 157, reprimand
11. P.180, fare
12. P. 181, apparition
Answer each question in complete sentences.
1. Explain the secret of reading of Dies Drear’s coded triangles.
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2. Why does Mr. Small not move his family after the kitchen is destroyed?
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3. Why is the history of Dies Drear important to Mr. Small?
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4. What makes Mayhew decide to impersonate his father?
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5. Who was Selah, and how did he get his name?
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6. Why did Dies Drear accumulate his treasure?
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7. Who was the “third slave”, and why was he important to the story?
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8. What prompts Small’s decision about the treasure at the end of the novel?
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9. What does Thomas mean when he says to his father, “We could have stayed with
Great-Grandmother and had the very same change.”?
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10. Why is Pesty important to Mr. Pluto?
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Middle School Recommended Reading List
Fantasy/Science Fiction
The Lost Years of Merlin, T. A. Brown
Gregor the Overlander, Suzanne Collins
Silverwing, Kenneth Oppel
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, Nancy
Farmer
The Wish List, Eoin Colfer
Downsiders, Neil Shusterman
The Golden Compass, Philip Putman
Mystery/Adventure
The Name of the Game Was Murder, Joan
Lowery Nixon
The Rag and Bone Shop, Robert Cromier
The Egypt Game, Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Scared Stiff, Willo Davis Roberts
The Silent Boy, Lois Lowry
Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
Eagle Strike, Anthony Horowitz
Blackwater, Eve Bunting
Far North, Will Hobbs
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment,
James Patterson
The Wreckers, Iain Lawrence
Jason’ Gold, Will Hobbs
Black Star, Bright Dawn, Scott O’Dell
Blizzard’s Wake, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Popular Fiction
Olive’s Ocean, Kevin Henkes
Flying Solo, Ralph Fletcher
The School Story, Andrew Clements
Say Goodnight, Gracie, Julie Reece Deaver
Ruby Holler, Sharon Creech
Halfway to the Sky, Kimberley Brubaker
Bradley
So B. It, Sarah Weeks
Last Book in the Universe, Rodman Philbrick
A Single Shard, Linda Sue Park
Tears of a Tiger, Sharon Mills Draper
My Louisiana Sky, Kimberley Holt
Stuck in Neutral, Terry Trueman
Biography/Autobiography
Boy: Tales of a Childhood, Roald Dahl
The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom
Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural
Revolution, Ji-Li Jang
I Have Lived a Thousand Years, Livia Bitton
Jackson
Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an
Unwanted Daughter, Adeline Yen Mah
Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt, Jean
Roosevelt-Fritz
Guts, Gary Paulsen
Bad Boy: A Memoir, Walter Dean Meyers
Coach Carter, Jasmine Jones
Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable
Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard,
Mawi Asgedom
Historical Fiction
A Boy at War: Novel of Pearl Harbor, Harry
Mazer
Soldier’s Heart: Being the Story of the
Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy
Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota
Volunteers, Gary Paulsen
The Slave Dancer, Paula Fox
Devil’s Arithmetic, Jane Yolen
Where the Broken Heart Still Beats, Carolyn
Meyers
Don’t You Know There’s a War On?, Avi
Girl in a Cage, Jane Yolen
Classics
Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther
The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Emmuska
Orczy
White Fang, Jack London
The Yearling, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Mark Twain
The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien
Non-fiction
Shipwrecked at the Bottom of the World; the
Extraordinary True Story of the Shackleton
and Endurance, Jennifer Armstrong
Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom, Walter
Dean Myers
The Great Fire, Jim Murphy
Woodsong, Gary Paulsen
We Beat the Street: How a Friendship Pact
Led to Success, Sampson Davis, George
Jenkins,Rameck Hunt
A Time for Freedom: What Happened When
in America, Lynne Cheney
Warriors Don’t Cry, Melba Pattilo Beals
Recognizing the diversity of our student body,we have designed this list to represent
a widerange of selections. The titles have been carefully selected to account for the
varying interests of our students. Topics range from magical worlds, to friendship, to
war, to sports,to the trials and tribulations of growing up. We hope all students will
find something that sparks the desire to read this summer. Pre-AP English will have
a required summer reading assignment which may or may not include selections on
this list. Students enrolling in other levels of English can earn extra credit for
completing an assignment based on the reading of any selection on this list. Extra
credit may be earned for reading and doing the assignment for no more than two
books. Specific information about these assignments can be obtained from your son
or daughter’s school. The assignments and this list will also be posted on each
school’s website. Parents and guardians are asked to work closely with the student
to select readings that are appropriate to the reader’s interest, maturity, and reading
skills. Roanoke County teachers believe that students should develop a love of
reading and a responsibility to read in order to become life-long learners. We,
therefore, encourage our students to continue to read during the summer.
All students are encouraged to read at least two books. The list contained in this
pamphlet is composed of a wide variety of recommended readings. We ask that you
review it with your son or daughter to identify titles that are appropriate to his or her
reading ability and maturity level. Since reading is the single most important factor
attributed to school success, we hope that students will use the list as a starting
point and choose other selections to read during the summer.