SUMMER READING 7th and 8th Grade | 2019 Dear Rising 7th and 8th grade hard to make sure there is something for everyone on this list­—please take some time to read through McCallie Families, the descriptions below to find something that you will enjoy! I am so excited to share this year’s Summer Reading Program with you and with our McCallie Middle School Students will sign up for a summer reading group via students! Now in its fourth year, the summer reading a survey that will be sent by email on Monday, May 6. book groups are a way to provide a variety of options Please complete the survey by Friday, May 10. for fun summer reads along with the opportunity for student leadership from our returning students. Rising 7th graders are required to read The Outsiders In addition, the all-middle-school book brings us by S.E. Hinton. 7th-grade students should be prepared together around a common reading experience to start the year with a unit on the required reading and provides a platform for making curriculum in their English classes. connections and facilitating a robust discussion. 8th-grade students are required to read a 3rd This summer, every student will read the young book of their choice. See the 2019 Summer readers version of The Boy Who Harnessed the Reading Guide (https://libguides.mccallie.org/ Wind by William Kamkwamba. This book tells mssummerreading2019) for recommendations. the amazing true story of a boy from Malawi who designed and built a windmill to bring electricity and Please let me know if you have any questions. water to his family’s farm. I am very excited about this book and highly recommend that you read it Happy reading! as a family! Margaret Wadley Rising 7th and 8th graders will also sign up for a McCallie School Librarian faculty or student-sponsored reading group. The Middle School faculty, students, and I have worked Am I allowed to read my book(s) on an eReader (Kindle, iPad, Nook, etc.)? Absolutely!

Can I listen to the audio- book version of one or more of my books? FAQs Yes, but you must read along as you listen.

How many books do How does sign-up for There are several I have to read? book groups work? different versions of my Three. Rising 7th and Students will sign up for a book available to buy. 8th grade students will summer reading group via How do I know which read The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind a survey that will be sent by email on one to get? and the book for their chosen reading Monday, May 6. Please complete the survey We’ve provided an ISBN for each book group. 7th grade students will read The by Friday, May 10. Students who do not to help you find a copy; however, you are Outsiders and 8th grade students will respond will be placed in a group. We will not required to read that exact edition, read a third book of their choice. Of have a short waiting list for each group in unless noted. course, we would love for you to read case someone changes their mind. as many books as you want! I have another question Will the summer reading about summer reading. Can I choose a book that books be sold at the What should I do? I have already read? campus Bookstore? Contact Mrs. Wadley at Please choose a book that The McCallie Bookstore will [email protected]. you have never read before. carry The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. You can also purchase the books from another bookstore or online, or borrow them from the library. The McCallie library has most of the books in print and format.

McCallie Summer Reading / 7th and 8th Grade 1 Required Reading

ALL GRADES 7TH GRADE

The Boy Who Harnessed The Outsiders the Wind: Young Readers by S.E. Hinton Edition ASIN: B00ES28IPK by William Kamkwamba According to Ponyboy, there are ISBN: 9780147510426 two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short When fourteen-year-old William for “social”) has money, can get Kamkwamba’s Malawi village away with just about anything, was hit by a drought, everyone’s and has an attitude longer than crops began to fail. Without a limousine. A greaser, on the enough money for food, let alone other hand, always lives on the school, William spent his days outside and needs to watch his in the library . . . and figured out back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and how to bring electricity to his he’s always been proud of it, even village. Persevering against the willing to rumble against a gang odds, William built a functioning of socs for the sake of his fellow windmill out of junkyard scraps, greasers—until one terrible night... and thus became the local hero who harnessed the wind.

McCallie Summer Reading / 7th and 8th Grade 2 Reading Group Selections

The Assassination of move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running Brangwain Spurge alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin from the strange people he can see in the distance. ISBN: 978-0763698225 Chasing Lincoln’s Killer Uptight elfin historian Brangwain Spurge by James L. Swanson is on a mission: survive being catapulted across the mountains into goblin territory, deliver a priceless ISBN: 978-0439903547 peace offering to their mysterious dark lord, and spy on the goblin kingdom—from which no elf has returned alive in more This fast-paced thriller tells the story of the than a hundred years. Brangwain’s host, the goblin archivist pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth Werfel, is delighted to show Brangwain around. They should be and gives a day-by-day account of the wild the best of friends, but a series of extraordinary double crosses, chase to find this killer and his accomplices. blunders, and cultural misunderstandings throws these two It also shows readers Abraham Lincoln bumbling scholars into the middle of an international crisis that the man, the father, the husband, the friend, and how his death may spell death for them—and war for their nations. impacted those closest to him.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne ISBN: 978-0385751537

When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must

McCallie Summer Reading / 7th and 8th Grade 3 Reading Group Selections

Code Talker Dabo’s Dynasty by Joseph Bruchac by Larry Williams ISBN: 978-0142405963 ISBN: 978-1467143905

Throughout World War II, in the conflict From the beginning of the season, Dabo fought against Japan, Navajo code talkers Swinney’s rallying cry was “joy.” Each week were a crucial part of the U.S. effort, sending for opponents, though, was another joyless messages back and forth in an unbreakable occasion against a big orange machine that code that used their native language. They found its high gear midseason. The results braved some of the heaviest fighting of the war, and with their shook the foundation of college football. In 2015 and 2016, the code, they saved countless American lives. Yet their story Tigers needed to bring their own guts to achieve great things. In remained classified for more than twenty years. But now Joseph Swinney’s 10th season, they brought their own sledgehammers. Bruchac brings their stories to life for young adults through the Larry Williams, who has covered Clemson and Swinney since riveting fictional tale of Ned Begay, a sixteen-year-old Navajo boy 2004, unearths revealing anecdotes from Dabo’s tenure and who becomes a code talker. His grueling journey is eye-opening shares how a season dominated by Alabama hype ended up and inspiring. This deeply affecting novel honors all of those young overwhelmed by a Clemson tide. men, like Ned, who dared to serve, and it honors the culture and language of the Navajo Indians.

McCallie Summer Reading / 7th and 8th Grade 4 Reading Group Selections

Fever 1793 Lakota. When he embarks on a journey with his grandfather, Nyles High Eagle, he learns more and more about his Lakota by Laurie Halse Anderson heritage—in particular, the story of Crazy Horse, one of the most ISBN: 978-0689848919 important figures in Lakota history. Drawing inspiration from the oral stories of the Lakota tradition and the Lakota cultural It’s late summer 1793, and the streets of mechanism of the “hero story,” Joseph Marshall provides readers Philadelphia are abuzz with mosquitoes with an insider’s perspective on the life of Tasunke Witko, better and rumors of fever. Down near the docks, known as Crazy Horse. Through his grandfather’s tales about the many have taken ill, and the fatalities are famous warrior, Jimmy learns more about his Lakota heritage mounting. Now they include Polly, the and, ultimately, himself. serving girl at the Cook Coffeehouse. But fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook doesn’t get a moment to mourn the passing of her Hondo childhood playmate. New customers have overrun her family’s coffee shop, located far from the mosquito-infested river, and by Louis L’Amour Mattie’s concerns of fever are all but overshadowed by dreams ISBN: 978-0553280906 of growing her family’s small business into a thriving enterprise. But when the fever begins to strike closer to home, Mattie’s He was etched by the desert’s howling winds, struggle to build a new life must give way to a new fight—the a big, broad-shouldered man who knew the fight to stay alive. ways of the Apache and the ways of staying alive. She was a woman alone raising a young In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse son on a remote Arizona ranch. And between Hondo Lane and Angie Lowe was the warrior Vittoro, whose by Joseph Marshall people were preparing to rise against the white men. Now the ISBN: 978-1419707858 pioneer woman, the gunman, and the Apache warrior are caught in a drama of love, war, and honor. Jimmy McClean is a Lakota boy—though you would not guess it by his name: his father is a white man and his mother is

McCallie Summer Reading / 7th and 8th Grade 5 Reading Group Selections

Nyxia crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery—one that will change Rithmatics— by Scott Reintgen and their world—forever. ISBN: 978-0399556821 See You in the Cosmos Emmett Atwater isn’t just leaving ; he’s leaving Earth. Why the Babel by Jack Cheng Corporation recruited him is a mystery, but ISBN: 978-0399186370 the number of zeroes on their contract has him boarding their lightship and hoping to 11-year-old Alex Petroski loves space and return to Earth with enough money to take care of his family. rockets, his mom, his brother, and his dog Forever. But Babel’s ship is full of secrets. And Emmett will face —named for his hero, the real-life the ultimate choice: win the fortune at any cost, or find a way to astronomer. All he wants is to launch his fight that won’t forever compromise what it means to be human. golden iPod into space the way Carl Sagan (the man, not the dog) launched his Golden Record on the The Rithmatist Voyager spacecraft in 1977. From Colorado to New Mexico, to L.A., Alex records a journey on his iPod to show other by Brandon Sanderson lifeforms what life on earth, his earth, is like. But his destination ISBN: 978-0765338440 keeps changing. And the funny, lost, remarkable people he meets along the way can only partially prepare him for the secrets he’ll As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at uncover—from the truth about his long-dead dad to the fact that, Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch for a kid with a troubled mom and a mostly not-around brother, as Rithmatist students learn the magical he has way more family than he ever knew. art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing— kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the

McCallie Summer Reading / 7th and 8th Grade 6 Reading Group Selections

Treasure Hunters Doctors could not explain to his mother, Judy, what led to the birth defect, but at the age of five, the one-legged toddler scaled by James Patterson and Chris a fifty-foot pole unassisted. From that moment on, Judy knew Grabenstein without a doubt that her son would be unstoppable. ISBN: 978-0316207560 We Beat the Street The Kidd siblings have grown up diving by Drs. Sampson Davis, down to shipwrecks and traveling the world, helping their famous parents recover George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt everything from swords to gold doubloons from the bottom of ISBN: 978-1592408047 the ocean. But after their parents disappear n the job, the kids are suddenly thrust into the biggest treasure hunt of their lives. Growing up on the rough streets of Newark, They’ll have to work together to defeat dangerous pirates and New Jersey, Rameck, George, and Sampson dodge the hot pursuit of an evil treasure hunting rival, all while could easily have followed their childhood following cryptic clues to unravel the mystery of what really hap- friends into drug dealing, gangs, and prison. But when a pened to their parents—and find out if they’re still alive. presentation at their school made the three boys aware of the opportunities available to them in the medical and dental Unstoppable professions, they made a pact among themselves that they would become doctors. It took a lot of determination—and a lot by Anthony Robles of support from one another—but despite all the hardships along ISBN: 978-1592408047 the way, the three succeeded.

Anthony Robles is a three-time all-American wrestler, the 2011 NCAA National Wrestling Champion, and a Nike-sponsored athlete. He was also born without his right leg.

McCallie Summer Reading / 7th and 8th Grade 7 For more information contact: Margaret Wadley | [email protected] | (423) 493-5422

*All book summaries adapted from Goodreads