Rising Grade 6 Summer Reading
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June 2021 Dear Future Sixth Graders, We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on moving from the Lower School to the Middle School and to welcome you to sixth grade. Get ready for an action-packed, thought-provoking year! Over the summer, you will read three books, which you will select from a list that will be provided to you and your parents. Please note that we have provided a range of options in both level of text and complexity of content. We encourage you to discuss these options with your parents and choose books that are right for your unique interests and reading level. When you return to school in September, you will complete a writing assignment that will help you think more deeply about the characters you encountered in your reading. In order to ensure that your reading stays fresh in your mind, we recommend either completing your summer reading during the second half of the summer or taking notes on your reading that you can refer back to while working on your assignment. Your teacher will give you more details about the writing assignment in September. If you have any questions, please email both Spencer and Naomi: Spencer- [email protected] Naomi- [email protected] Have a fantastic summer! We are looking forward to sharing sixth grade with you and having a year filled with interesting experiences. See you in September, The 6th Grade Humanities Team Sixth Grade Summer 2021 Reading List Select three books from this list for your summer reading! This list is organized alphabetically by the author's last name. The summaries are adapted from Amazon.com and Goodreads.com. Chains, Laurie Halse Anderson As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom. Sophia’s War, Avi In 1776, young Sophia Calderwood witnesses the execution of Nathan Hale in New York City, which is newly occupied by the British army. Sophia is horrified by the event and resolves to do all she can to help the American cause. Recruited as a spy, she becomes a maid in the home of General Clinton, the supreme commander of the British forces in America. Through her work, she becomes aware that someone in the American army might be switching sides, and she uncovers a plot that will grievously damage the Americans if it succeeds. But the identity of the would-be traitor is so shocking that no one believes her, and so Sophia decides to stop the treacherous plot herself, at great personal peril: She’s young, she’s a girl, and she’s running out of time. And if she fails, she’s facing an execution of her own. Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt When 10-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles upon the Tuck family's disturbing secret, she is forced to come to terms with her conflicting emotions. She feels drawn to the loving, gentle, and rather eccentric Tucks, but what they tell her is too incredible to be believed. Doomed to, or blessed with, eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family tries to make Winnie understand that the terrible magic of the forest spring can never be revealed. The consequences to the world could prove to be disastrous! But then an unexpected complication arises when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to sell the spring water and make a fortune. Hope Was Here, Joan Bauer When Hope and her aunt move to small-town Wisconsin to take over the local diner, Hope's not sure what to expect. But what they find is that the owner, G.T., isn't quite ready to give up yet—in fact, he's decided to run for mayor against a corrupt candidate. And as Hope starts to make her place at the diner, she also finds herself caught up in G.T.'s campaign—particularly his visions for the future. After all, as G.T. points out, everyone can use a little hope to help get through the tough times… even Hope herself. The Girl Who Drank The Moon, Kelly Barnhill Every year the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the forest, Xan, is kind and gentle. Xan rescues the abandoned children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey. One year Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. When Luna approaches her 13th birthday, her magic begins to emerge on schedule—but Xan is far away. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Soon it is up to Luna to protect those who have protected her—even if it means the end of the loving, safe world she's always known. Circus Mirandus, Cassie Beasley Even though his awful great-aunt Gertrudis doesn't approve, Micah believes in the stories his dying grandpa Ephraim tells him of the magical Circus Mirandus: the invisible tiger guarding the gates, the beautiful flying bird woman, and the magician more powerful than any other—the Man Who Bends Light. Finally, Grandpa Ephraim offers proof. The circus is real. And the lightbender owes Ephraim a miracle. With his friend Jenny Mendoza in tow, Micah sets out to find the circus and the man he believes will save his grandfather. The only problem is the lightbender doesn't want to keep his promise. And now it's up to Micah to get the miracle he came for. The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, Pablo Cartaya Save the restaurant. Save the town. Get the girl. Make Abuela proud. Can thirteen-year-old Arturo Zamora do it all or is he in for a BIG, EPIC FAIL? For Arturo, summertime in Miami means playing basketball until dark, sipping mango smoothies, and keeping cool under banyan trees. And maybe a few shifts as junior lunchtime dishwasher at Abuela’s restaurant. Maybe. But this summer also includes Carmen, a poetry enthusiast who moves into Arturo’s apartment complex and turns his stomach into a deep fryer. He almost doesn’t notice the smarmy land developer who rolls into town and threatens to change it. Arturo refuses to let his family and community go down without a fight, and as he schemes with Carmen, Arturo discovers the power of poetry and protest through untold family stories and the work of José Martí. New Kid, Jerry Craft Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade. As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds—and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself? Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle, proud of her country roots and the "Indian-ness in her blood," travels from Ohio to Idaho with her eccentric grandparents. Along the way, she tells them of the story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who received mysterious messages, who met a "potential lunatic," and whose mother disappeared. As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe's outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold—the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother. Out of My Mind, Sharon Draper Melody is not like most people. She cannot walk or talk, but she has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her and smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom—the very same classmates who dismiss her as mentally challenged because she cannot tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by cerebral palsy. And she's determined to let everyone know it…somehow. The Breadwinner, Deborah Ellis Eleven-year-old Parvana lives with her family in one room of a bombed-out apartment building in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital city. Parvana’s father—a history teacher until his school was bombed and his health destroyed—works from a blanket on the ground in the marketplace, reading letters for people who cannot read or write. One day, he is arrested for the crime of having a foreign education, and the family is left without someone who can earn money or even shop for food.