RIPPOWAM CISQUA SCHOOL UPPER CAMPUS Some Suggestions for Summer Reading 2015 Grades 5-9 Pam Bowlus, Librarian Jacqueline Bergson, Assistant Librarian 1 There are many new books to choose from this year. The following book list contains a sampling of some of our favorites for you to feast on over the summer. It also includes recommended old favorites. Use it as a place to start your reading adventures! At the Upper Campus, all students are required to read at least four books over the summer. Make a list of the books you’ve read with titles and authors. Your parents should sign your list. We encourage you to read your required book(s) in August so everything will be fresh in your mind when school starts. The 2015 Summer Reading List is also displayed on the Rippowam Cisqua Upper Campus website: https://www.rcsny.org/podium/default.aspx?t=157149 ALL INCOMING 5th GRADERS You should read Touch Blue, by Cynthia Lord, along with three books of your own choosing. ALL INCOMING 6th GRADERS You should read Of Beetles and Angels: a Boy's Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard, by Mawi Asgedom, along with three books of your own choosing. 2 ALL INCOMING 7th GRADERS Two books are required: The Running Dream, by Wendelin Van Draanen; and, Fever, 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson. In addition, please read two books of your own choosing. ALL INCOMING 8th GRADERS Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer is required. In addition, please read three books of your own choosing. Some copies of these books will be available at the RCS Upper Campus Book Fair, May 11th through the 13th this year, and Amazon and other vendors have them in stock. These are terrific, inspirational stories that will provide a great deal of rich discussion and writing opportunities for you as you embark on your fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade reading journeys. In addition to these novels, you are asked to read two or three other books (depending on your grade) of your own choice over the summer. The following list should provide you with some possibilities of books to read and enjoy. 3 “Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.” ― Maya Angelou 4 FICTION To the library. Books and summertime go together.” ― Lisa Schroeder, I Heart You, You Haunt Me Kwame Alexander – The Crossover. Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health. Winner of the 2015 Newbery Medal. Also the 2015 Coretta Scott King Honor Award Winner. Laurie Halse Anderson – The Impossible Knife of Memory. Hayley’s father, a war vet who buries his pain and memories with drugs and alcohol, forces her to become as much a parent as a child. A realistic yet tender treatment, beautifully written. School Library Journal, Best of 2014. Katherine Applegate – The One and Only Ivan. A gorilla’s-eye view of the world, laden with humor, warmth, and insights into friendship and hope. ALA Best Book 2013. Jonathan Auxier – The Night Gardener. As two abandoned siblings try to find their way in Victorian England, they discover the value of storytelling as well as the dark side of greed. A great read! Blue Balliett – Pieces and Players. Thirteen extremely valuable pieces of art have been stolen from one of the most secretive museums in the world. A Vermeer has vanished. A Manet is missing. And nobody has any idea where they and the other eleven artworks might be . or who might have stolen them. Ann E. Burg – Serafina’s Promise. Set in Haiti and told in verse, 11-year-old Serafina endures hardship but remains determined to become a doctor. 5 Jeanne Birdsall – The Penderwicks in Spring. As spring arrives on Gardam Street, there are surprises in store for each Penderwick, from neighbor Nick Geiger's expected return from the war to Batty's new dog-walking business, but her plans to use her profits to surprise her family on her eleventh birthday go astray. Sequel to: The Penderwicks at Point Mouette. Rob Buyea – Mr. Terupt Falls Again. Short chapters tell of Mr. Terupt’s reunited class of 7th graders. The next eagerly awaited Mr. Terupt book, Saving Mr. Terupt, comes out in early July, 2015. J.C. Carleson – The Tyrant’s Daughter. Daughter of a former king, Laila is living in exile and trying to find the truth about her family. Kate DiCamillo – Flora & Ulysses: the Illuminated Adventures. ALA 2014 Newbery Medal winner 2014. The story starts with a freak accident with a vacuum cleaner. The highly entertaining tale (with illustrations) of Flora Belle Buckman, a natural cynic, and Ulysses, a flying, poetry-writing squirrel, along with a full cast of funny characters. Sharon Draper – Panic. As rehearsals begin for the ballet version of Peter Pan, the teenaged members of an Ohio dance troupe lose their focus when one of their own goes missing. Stella by Starlight. When a burning cross set by the Klan causes panic and fear in 1932 Bumblebee, North Carolina, fifth-grader Stella must face prejudice and find the strength to demand change in her segregated town. Kathryn Erskine – The Absolute Value of Mike. After being shipped off to relatives by his father who cares only about his own engineering project, Mike really sinks his teeth into his own project: raising $40,000 in 3 weeks so the town he is visiting can adopt an orphan from Romania. Karen Foxlee – The Midnight Dress. From Down Under comes a wonderful story of the dress Rose makes that may change her life forever. ALA Notable Book 2014. 6 Eric Gansworth – If I Ever Get Out of Here. An unlikely friendship between Lewis who lives on a reservation, and George who lives outside, reveals many things they’ve both tried to hide. Well written, lots of action. ALA Notable Book 2014. Adam Gidwitz – In a Glass Grimmly, and The Grimm Conclusion are companion books to A Tale Dark and Grimm. All three books are inspired by the tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. Full of adventures and fantastic creatures. ALA Best Book 2013. Holly Goldberg – Counting by 7s. Willow’s adoptive parents are killed in a car crash which makes her feeling of never fitting in become more pronounced. Everything changes in an unexpected way. ALA Notable Book 2014. Chris Grabenstein -- Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. A new library, designed by famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello, is the scene. Kyle and eleven kids are locked in and can’t get out until they solve all the puzzles based on famous books. Great fun! ALA Notable Book 2014. Jennifer L. Holm – The Fourteenth Goldfish. Some fantasy elements, a light tone, and humor are in this novel of relationships, family, and life. Elizabeth LaBan – The Tragedy Paper. Tim is deeply upset when he gets the worst room at boarding school. There he finds an unexpected gift that will change his understanding of life. ALA Notable Book 2014. Natalie Lloyd – A Snicker of Magic. Felicity Pickles’ family has always wandered. When they land in Midnight Gulch, Tennessee, she hopes it will be a home permanently, and that its magic will be restored. Book List, Best of 2015. Cynthia Lord – Touch Blue. Tess and her family take in a trumpet-playing foster child to increase the school population on a small island off the coast of Maine. A warm and wonderful story of friendship and growth. Pittacus Lore – I Am Number Four; The Power of Six; The Rise of Nine; and The Fall of Five, and The Revenge of Seven. Action sequences and intriguing information will leave fans hungering for more. 7 Ann M. Martin – Rain Reign. Rose is obsessed with homonyms and rules, a result of her Asperger’s Syndrome. A wonderful story. Book List, Best of 2015; Schneider Family Book Award, 2015. Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award. Tom McNeal – Far Far Away. Jeremy, the only one who can hear the narrator Jacob Grimm, must save himself and his friends. ALA Notable Book 2014. Also 2014 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults. Good follow-up to Adam Gidwitz’s books. Maile Meloy – The Apothecary. A mysterious apothecary. A magic book. A missing scientist. An impossible plan. It’s 1952 and the Scott family has moved unexpectedly from Los Angeles to London. Janie Scott meets Benjamin and things become very interesting! The sequel is The Apprentices. A tale set two years after the events of The Apothecary finds Benjamin and his father treating the sick and wounded in the war-torn jungles of Vietnam until a magical communication formula reveals that Janie is in trouble, prompting a desperate chase around the world. R. J. Palacio – Wonder. Booklist and the American Library Association called this “The undisputed stand-up-and-cheer book of the year.” Ten-year-old Auggie was born disfigured but blessed with intelligence and grace. He changes the lives of a wide cast of characters. An all-school favorite! Andrea Davis Pinkney – The Red Pencil. An African girl’s dreams are shattered by the militants who attack her village in the Sudan. Only the gift of a red pencil enables her to begin healing from her grief. School Library Journal, Best of 2014. Mark Shulman – Scrawl. When 8th grade bully Tod and his friends get caught committing a crime on school property, his penalty is staying after school and writing in a journal under the eye of the school guidance counselor.