Sixth Grade Summer Reading OVERVIEW Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie All 6th grade students are required to read three books: Drums, Girls, and by Jordan Sonnenblick Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick and two additional books from the 6th ISBN: 978-0439755191 Grade Directed Reading List below. Students should not select any texts that Steven has a totally normal life: he plays drums in the they have previously read, and students should submit the reading log to their All-Star Jazz band, has a crush on the cutest girl in the English teachers when they return to school in August. school, and is constantly annoyed by his five-year-old brother, Jeffrey. When Jeffrey is diagnosed with leuke- The purpose of summer reading at Baylor is to encourage students to de- mia, Steven's world is turned upside down. He is forced velop a life-long habit of reading, echo the students’ classroom learning to deal with his brother's illness and his parents' at- experiences, and provide opportunities for students to read classics and tempts to keep the family in one piece. Salted with humor and peppered other texts that expand their perspectives and stimulate interest in the world with devastating realities, Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie is a heartwarming around them. journey through a year in the life of a family in crisis. CLASSICS trusted ally, Lolo, has been acting strangely lately. Lolo has been forgetting The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin important things, falling from his bike, and getting angry over nothing, but no ISBN: 978-0142401200 one in her family will tell Merci what's going on, so she’s left to her own wor- A bizarre chain of events begins when sixteen unlikely people gather for the ries, while also feeling all on her own at school. In a coming-of-age tale full reading of Samuel W. Westing’s will. Although no one knows why the eccentric, of humor and wisdom, award-winning author Meg Medina gets to the heart game-loving millionaire has chosen a virtual stranger—and a possible mur- of the confusion and constant change that defines middle school and the derer—to inherit his vast fortune, one thing’s for sure: Sam Westing may be steadfast connection that defines family. dead…but that won’t stop him from playing one last game! Soar by Joan Bauer Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery ISBN: 978-0451470348 ISBN: 978-1503214132 Jeremiah lives and breathes baseball and wants nothing more than to be a Anne of Green Gables recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, an 11-year-old professional player, but when he learns that he suffers from a severe heart orphan girl who is mistakenly sent to live with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. condition, his dreams are put on hold. Soon after he and his father move to a The family had originally intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm town that is something of a baseball capital, the entire community is shaken in Prince Edward Island, but they can’t help but be charmed by Anne’s spirit. by the death of a beloved school baseball player and a town scandal that As a child of imagination, Anne takes much joy in life and adapts quickly, is revealed in the aftermath. Jeremiah finds himself coaching and bringing thriving in the close-knit farming village. Anne's story is full of humor, and the baseball back to the local middle school and ends up motivating the entire book follows her adventures at the country school where she quickly excels town. When he and his father are faced with having to leave their new town in her studies, her friendship with Diana Barry, her budding literary ambitions, behind, Jeremiah has to deal with the possibility of also leaving his heart in and her rivalry with classmate Gilbert Blythe. the very place that helped to make it stronger. _______________________________________________________ Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen HISTORICAL FICTION ISBN: 978-0380805600 Stella by Starlight by Sharon Draper After severely injuring Peter Driscal in an empty parking lot, troublemaker Cole ISBN: 978-1442494985 Matthews is in major trouble. Instead of jail time, Cole is given an alterna- Stella lives in the segregated South—in Bumblebee, North Carolina, to be tive: one-year banishment to a remote Alaskan island. This program—called exact about it. Some stores she can go into. Some stores she can’t. Some Circle Justice—is based on Native American traditions that provide healing for folks are right pleasant. Others are a lot less so. Late one night, later than the criminal mind. To avoid serious jail time, Cole resolves to go. While there, she should ever be up, much less wandering around outside, Stella and her Cole is mauled by a mysterious white bear and left for dead. Thoughts of his little brother see something they’re never supposed to see, something that is abusive parents, helpless Peter, and his violent anger cause him to examine the first flicker of change to come, unwelcome change by any stretch of the the root of his troubled ways. Touching Spirit Bear is a poignant depiction of imagination. As Stella’s community—her world—is upended, she decides to the vicious cycle of violence and one boy’s journey to healing. _______________________________________________________ fight fire with fire, and she learns that ashes don’t necessarily signify an end. REALISTIC/COMING OF AGE FICTION Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina (2018 Newbery Medal Winner) ISBN: 978-1416905851 ISBN: 978-0763690496 As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own Merci Suarez knew that sixth grade would be different, but she had no idea fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and just how different. For starters, Merci has never been like the other kids at her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious her private school in Florida because she and her older brother, Roli, are New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American scholarship students. They don’t have a big house or a fancy boat, and they Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a have to do extra community service to make up for their free tuition. When slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who bossy Edna Santos sets her sights on the new boy who happens to be Merci’s know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when school-assigned Sunshine Buddy, Merci becomes the target of Edna’s jeal- the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the ousy. Things aren't going well at home, either: Merci’s grandfather and most bidder who can provide her with freedom. SCI-FI and FANTASY Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi ISBN: 978-0375870897 ISBN: 978-1368012355 Kyle Keeley is the class clown and a huge fan of all games—board games, Twelve-year-old Aru Shah has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in word games, and particularly video games. His hero, Luigi Lemoncello, the at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic most notorious and creative game-maker in the world, just so happens to be locales, she’ll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of the genius behind the construction of the new town library. Lucky Kyle wins Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest a coveted spot as one of twelve kids invited for an overnight sleepover in the archeological trip. Is it any wonder that Aru makes up stories about being library, hosted by Mr. Lemoncello and riddled with lots and lots of games. royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur? One day, three schoolmates But when morning comes, the doors stay locked, and Kyle and the other kids show up at Aru’s doorstep to catch her in a lie. They don’t believe her claim must solve every clue and figure out every secret puzzle to find the hidden that the museum’s Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. escape route! Just a quick light, Aru thinks, and then she can get herself out of this mess Belly Up by Stuart Gibbs and never ever fib again, but lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She ISBN: 978-1416987321 unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken Twelve-year-old Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt Fitzroy has murder on his hands the God of Destruction. Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in and trouble on his tail. He believes that Henry, the hippopotamus at the time, and it’s up to Aru to save them. brand-new FunJungle, has been murdered. The zoo’s top brass claim the Tesla’s Attic by Neal Shusterman hippo went belly up the natural way, but Teddy and his feisty friend Summer ISBN: 978-1423148036 McCraken have other ideas. Could the culprit be FunJungle’s animal-hating After their home burns down, fourteen-year-old Nick, his younger brother, and head of operations? Or is it FunJungle’s owner—Summer’s dad—a man who is their father move into a ramshackle Victorian house they've inherited.