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2015 Summer Reading Grade 2015 Summer Reading Picks from the Upper Merion Area Grades Middle School Librarians Unmask! 7-8 Heroes in Literature What do they Teach Us? Here is a list with some of the best heroes in books today. Each hero’s journey teaches us a lesson. What can we learn from these brave (and not so brave) heroes? Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard by Rick Riordan (The Sword of Summer, bk. 1) Heroic Quests: Sci Fi and Fantasy Heroes Magnus Chase is a street kid, living alone on the streets of Boston since his mother’s death. When he learns he is the son of a Norse god, he must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon to defeat the trolls, giants and monsters threatening the world with destruction. We learn to look Mister Monday by Garth Nix (Keys to the Kingdom, bk. 1) for heroes in unlikely places. Arthur Penhaligan is an unlikely hero. A shy awkward boy with severe asthma, he is the last person you would expect to go into the world of Reawakened by Colleen Houck (The Reawakened, bk. 1) magic and danger to save the world. When evil Mr. Monday gives him Lily goes to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to escape boredom during the hand to an enchanted clock, he learns he has been selected to be her spring break. Fate has other plans. Lily, along with Amon, an the “Rightful Heir” to a magical house that holds the key to the world’s Egyptian pharaoh back from the dead, must travel to the Valley of the survival. Arthur teaches us that not all heroes come in superhero Kings, raise his brothers, and stop an evil god named Seth from taking form. J PAP 1 over the world. We learn that sometimes it is our destiny to be a hero. Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan (Ranger’s Apprentice, bk.1) Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes by Rick Riordan (Percy Will is too small and weak to be a knight so he is apprenticed to the Jackson and the Olympians companion book) Rangers, a mysterious group that Will and the other townspeople have Hear the stories of the Greek heroes straight from Percy himself. Who always feared. What Will doesn’t know is that the Rangers are the true better to fill you in on the details history left out? Percy will give you the protectors of the kingdom and a war is brewing on the frontiers. Will inside scoop on who beheaded who, who fell in love, and who got shot. teaches us that the smallest among us can be the hero that saves We learn that heroes almost always have a hard time of it, before us. J FANTASY FLANAGAN they are heroes. A must read for Riordan fans! Silver Child by Cliff McNish (Silver Sequence, bk. 1) Historic Heroes When six children are drawn to Coldharbor, a toxic waste dump, they all experience a strange transformation. Each change brings a special gift. They learn they were brought together for a reason--an enemy is 50 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet threatening and these heroes must use their gifts to fight for the world’s by Dennis Denenberg survival. We learn that heroes aren’t always what we expect. J FANTASY MCNISH With short biographies on all the people we would expect to be on this list, this is a good book because it covers some unexpected heroes and Wabi: A Hero’s Tale by Joseph Bruchac presents the information in such a readable way that it becomes a great book. Fun to browse, it will introduce you to some heroes history often Wabi is afraid of nothing when he is in the shape of a great horned owl. forgets. We learn that heroes aren’t always rewarded. When he falls in love with a human girl, he shape shifts into human form J920.073 DEN 2001 1 to win her heart and learns to fear things in the Valley of the Monsters. We learn that heroes live with fear but don’t let it defeat them. J BRUCHAC Dare to Dream: 25 Extraordinary Lives by Sandra McLeod Humphrey Heroes often begin as ordinary people placed in extraordinary circumstances; people who overcome obstacles because of the strength of their will and the quality of their characters. We learn that you can choose to be a hero. MERION AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT www.umreads.org SUMMER 2015 p. 1 Historic Heroes cont. Still Trying to be a Hero... Saving the Baghdad Zoo: A True Story of Hope and Heroes by Kelly Milner Halls During wartime, people run to safety if they can. But what about zoo The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian animals locked in their cages? Often, they die from lack of food and by Sherman Alexie water, are butchered and eaten or stolen by dealers in exotic animals. A few will cling to life in terrible conditions. U.S.Army Captain William Junior is a talented artist and cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Sumner led a group of volunteer heroes who saved and rehabilitated Reservation. Realizing success is almost impossible on the Reservation, some of the animals left behind in the largest zoo in the Middle East Junior leaves to attend an all-white high school, where the only other during the Second Gulf War. This book teaches us that heroic Indian is the school mascot. This story chronicles the struggles of a Native actions sometimes don’t involve fighting. American teen trying to break free from the destiny he has been given. Junior teaches us that it takes bravery to change your world. YOUNG ADULT FICTION The Forgotten Heroes: the Story of the Buffalo Soldiers by Clinton Cox Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli Between 1866 and 1891, Buffalo Soldiers, all-black units of the 9th and 10th Cavalry, rode hundred of thousands of miles on the western From the day Stargirl arrives at Mica High, the hallways hum with talk of frontier, mapping uncharted territory and laying the groundwork for the her strange and wondrous ways. She captures Leo Borlock’s heart and creation of eight states. They were treated as inferiors, given poor the rest of the school with just one smile and she sparks a school spirit horses and equipment, and assigned tasks considered too dangerous revolution with just one cheer. The students of Mica High are enchanted. for white soldiers. Their personal stories highlight the role these At first. But high school popularity can change in a second. Will Stargirl forgotten heroes played in opening the West. Sometimes heroes be brave enough to stand by her beliefs when everyone abandons her? have to fight discrimination and racism to be recognized. Stargirl teaches us that heroes remain true to themselves, no matter what. YOUNG ADULT FICTION Code Talker:a Novel about the Navajo Marines of World A Separate Peace by John Knowles War Two by Joseph Bruchac What if you did something to your best friend and fiercest competitor that Some of the unsung heroes of World War II were the young Navajo hurt them badly? What if they didn’t remember what you did? Would you Marines who were a crucial part of the American effort in sending and admit it or would you remain silent? Poised on the edge of being drafted receiving messages that used their native language. With their code, into World War II, the lives of these high school boys all hinge on the they saved countless American lives yet their story remained classified question: will you be brave enough? for more than twenty years. This fictional story brings their heroic F/BROWSING CLASSICS 6-10-10 efforts into the light where they belong. Sometimes the biggest heroes aren’t the ones with the guns. J BRUCHAC My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Piccoult What if your sister needed you? What if she was dying from leukemia and needed your kidney? What if you knew your parents only had you to be the savior sister, donating whatever organs your sister needs as she battles the disease that has recurred throughout her life? How many years and painful operations would you be expected to live Still Trying to be a Hero... through before you can say no? In this fictional story, 13 year old Anna battles her family to regain control over her own body. Anna teaches us that being a hero is hard. F/BROWSING 6-24-09 I am the Messenger by Marcus Zuszak The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks Ed Kennedy is not your typical hero. An underage cab driver, he has no by E. Lockhart ambition and no plans. One day, he accidentally stops a bank robbery. Playing cards start to come to him and they are leading him into Frankie used to be the perfect girl; pretty, smart and popular. Then situations where he must be the hero to save the people around him. Frankie turned sixteen and everything changed. Now Frankie isn’t the What is behind this mysterious change? What has made Ed Kennedy a kind of girl to take “no” for an answer especially when “no” means she’s hero? Ed teaches us that it’s not the act of heroism, it’s the people you excluded from her boyfriend’s all-male secret society. When the world is save that count. YOUNG ADULT FIC PAP full of “no”, what is a girl to do? Frankie teaches us that heroes never accept the unacceptable. J LOCKHART The Book Thief by Marcus Zuszak The Contender by Robert Lipsyte Sometimes heroic deeds aren’t big and flashy, but small and silent.
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