Junior High Summer Reading
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Epiphany Catholic School- Junior High Summer Reading June 2014 Welcome to the Summer Reading program for students entering grades 6, 7, and 8 at Epiphany Catholic School! The summer reading program is designed to help our students understand the following: • Reading is an enjoyable pastime. • People read for pleasure, not just to acquire information. • Reading is a skill that improves with practice. • Reading is a family activity; families in which parents read inspire children to read. • Reading is necessary in providing a solid basis for academic achievement. This summer, your student will read required books and have choice for one book. For 6th and 7th graders, THREE (3) total books must be read over the summer break, 8th graders must read FOUR (4) books! Included are suggestions for a wide variety of titles and authors whose works students should be encouraged to investigate. Also included is a planning calendar with suggested completion dates for summer reading and project work. I hope you and your student will use this guide to plan for summer reading work due MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1. As you can see from the assignment information, the program is a required one. The emphasis of the assignments and the evaluation process is on making sure that students understand the books they read and discover that books can be relevant to their own lives. Your support of the Summer Reading program is greatly appreciated. Deborah Coffey 6,7,8 Reading Teacher 2014 Junior High SUMMER READING & Epiphany Catholic School Questions, comments and suggestions may be emailed to Mrs. Deborah Coffey, Reading Teacher [email protected] Epiphany Catholic School- Junior High Summer Reading The Assignment Dear Epiphany Junior High Student, Incoming 6th and 7th grade students, you are responsible for reading THREE (3) books this summer. Incoming 8th graders, you are required to read FOUR (4) books this summer. You must read the assigned books listed below for your grade level PLUS one additional book of your own choice. See the attached list of suggested authors and titles. If you would like to read a book by an author not listed, you MUST fill out the ‘Goldilocks Rule’ worksheet showing you thought about your choice of book. You will be responsible for taking notes and expressing your ideas about what you have read, and completing a creative project for one of your three books. Your reading teacher will be grading this work in the fall! Use the Summer Reading Schedule to help you stay on track you’re your reading, complete the Summer Reading graphic organizers to help you keep track of your thoughts as you read, and choose the creative project you want to complete for Monday, September 1. Enjoy your summer reading! 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 1) Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob 1) When You Reach Me by 1) A Separate Peace by John Buyea Rebecca Stead. Knowles 2) Wonder by R.J. Palacio 2) Red Kayak by Priscilla 2) The Seven Habits of Highly Cummings Effective Teens by Sean Covey 3) YOUR CHOICE! See attached list for suggestions! 3) YOUR CHOICE! See attached 3) Buried Onions by Gary Soto list for suggestions! 4) YOUR CHOICE! See attached list for suggestion Epiphany Catholic School- Junior High Summer Reading Titles are noted for general reading level by stars: *easy **average ***challenging. Look for the *series* note: if you see it, the author has written more! ACTION AND ADVENTURE ** Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz... After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen- year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6. *series* ** The Recruit by Robert Muchamore... James is recruited into CHERUb, a secret division of MI5 which consists of teenage spies. He successfully completes his training and goes on his first mission.*series* ** Ranger's Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan by 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. *series* ** Jimmy Coates: Assassin? by Joe Craig... While escaping from the strange men that are after him in London, Jimmy discovers he possesses many unusual talents for an eleven-year-old boy. *series* * Hatchet by Gary Paulsen... After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness, learning to survive with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce. *series* ** Soldier Boys by Dean Hughes... Two boys, one German and one American, are eager to join their respective armies during World War II, and their paths cross at the battle of the bulge. Pay attention to the wartime propaganda on both sides! * Boy At War by Harry Mazer... While fishing with his friends off Honolulu on December 7, 1941, teenaged Adam is caught in the midst of the Japanese attack and through the chaos of the subsequent days tries to find his father, a naval officer who was serving on the U.S.S. Arizona when the bombs fell. *series* ** Code Orange by Caroline B. Cooney... While conducting research for a biology class paper on infectious diseases, Mitty finds an envelope containing 100-year-old smallpox scabs and fears that he has infected himself and all of New York City, and attracted the attention of terrorists who want to use the disease as a weapon. ** Flash Flood by Chris Ryan... Ben's on a trip to London to meet his mum. But an accident at the Thames Barrier, combined with a tidal surge and a dramatic thunderstorm - and suddenly his trip turns into something totally different as the Barrier is breached and London is flooded. With streets underwater, communications down, rats pouring up out of the sewers and thousands of people in a state of panic, survival becomes a key issue. But as Ben tries to get across London to meet his mother, little does he know that two terrorists have a similar rendezvous. *series* ** Silverfin by Charlie Higson... Young James Bond attends school at the prestigious Eton boarding school, and teams up with Red to investigate the mystery of the disappearance of a boy, Alfie Kelly, Red's cousin, allegedly linked to a madman with a plot for global domination. *series* Epiphany Catholic School- Junior High Summer Reading Chick Lit * Confessions of a Closet Catholic by Sarah Littman... Justine Silver, a teenaged middle child, questions her Jewish faith when her Catholic best friend, Mary Catherine McAllister gives up chocolate for Lent, but when her grandmother suffers a stroke, Jussy has to face her relationship with religion. * You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah by Fiona Rosenbloom... As her bat mitzvah approaches, Stacy Adelaide Friedman of White Plains, New York, has a lot on her mind--her parents have separated, her mother dresses her like an American Girl doll, her younger brother is embarrassing, and she is totally in love with Andy Goldfarb. GREAT for in-coming 6th graders since we study the Jewish religion as the foundation of the Catholic religion in the coming year! ** The Girl Who Invented Romance by Caroline B. Cooney... While waiting for her first big romance and observing the sometimes rocky love affairs of her parents and brother, sixteen-year-old Kelly develops a board game called Romance. ** A Girl Like Moi: The Fashion-Forward Adventures of Imogene by Lisa Barham... Fashion-obsessed Imogene's dreams of a summer in Paris are put aside when she is forced to get a job and support herself, but when she lands a dream job as an intern at a New York fashion forecasting agency, she realizes she has gotten the chance of a lifetime and does her best to make the most of it. Lots of Greenwich humor and fashion name-dropping! ** If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson... After meeting at their private school in New York, fifteen- year-old Jeremiah, who is black and whose parents are separated, and Ellie, who is white and whose mother has twice abandoned her, fall in love and then try to cope with peoples' reactions. ** Flavor of the Week by Tucker Shaw... Cyril, an overweight boy who is good friends with Rose but wishes he could be more, helps his best friend Nick woo her with culinary masterpieces which Cyril himself secretly creates. Includes recipes from the story. A modern teenage take on the famous French story, Cyrano de Bergerac. ** I'd Tell You That I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter... As a sophomore at a secret spy school and the daughter of a former CIA operative, Cammie is sheltered from "normal teenage life" until she meets a local boy while on a class surveillance mission. * Bloomability by Sharon Creech... Thirteen-year-old Dinnie finds her world expanding after her aunt and uncle take her from New Mexico to Lugano, Switzerland, to attend an international school. Very funny and perfect for going into 6th grade. ** Twilight by Stephenie Meyer... When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human. *series* *** A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray... After the suspicious death of her mother in 1895, sixteen- year-old Gemma returns to England, after many years in India, to attend a finishing school where she becomes aware of her magical powers and ability to see into the spirit world.