GRADE 6 – FICTION – 2008 SUMMER READING LIST

 

Avi Crispin

Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret.

Babbit, Natalie Tuck Everlasting

Welcome to the town of Treegap. The Tucks and Fosters are brought together by a magic water spring. Winnie Foster learns the importance of the life cycle and that it has a natural beauty and balance. She learns that this should not be disturbed by human greed.

Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker For Freedom – The Story of a French Spy

Despite the horrors of World War II, a French teenager pursues her dream of becoming an opera singer, which takes her to places where she gains information about what the Nazis are doing--information that the French Resistance needs.

Burnett, Frances Hodgson The Secret Garden

Ten-year-old Mary comes to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors and

discovers an invalid cousin and the mysteries of a locked garden.

Clements, Andrew The School Story

After twelve-year-old Natalie writes a wonderful novel, her friend Zoe helps her devise a scheme to get it accepted at the publishing house where Natalie's mother works as an editor.

Colden, Christopher

Sniegoski, Thomas Outcast the Un-Magician

Timothy has spent his life on a remote hidden island. He is the only person in existence without magical powers. When he is able to return to his birthplace, he finds out he is marked for death. The government is watching his every move. He can’t imagine why, he wields no power. Or does he?

Colfer, Eoin Artemis Fowl (series)

When a twelve-year-old evil genius tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll.

Cooney, Caroline B. What Child is This?: A Christmas Story

When seventeen-year-old Matt tries to find a family for an eight-year-old foster child, his attempt backfires and both of them need a Christmas miracle.

DiCamillo, Kate The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread

The adventures of Desperaux Tilling, a small mouse of unusual talents, the princess that he loves, the servant girl who longs to be a princess, and a devious rat determined to bring them all to ruin.

DiTerlizzi, Tony The Spiderwick Chronicles – The Field Guide (series)

When the Grace children go to stay at their Great Aunt Lucinda's worn Victorian house,

they discover a field guide to fairies and other creatures and begin to have some unusual

experiences.

Durrant, Lynda Echohawk

A twelve-year-old white boy , adopted and raised by Mochicans in the Hudson River Valley during the 1730's, is sent with his younger brother to an English settlement for schooling.

Ferris, Jean Once Upon a Marigold

A young man with a mysterious past and a penchant for inventing things leaves the troll who raised him, meets an unhappy princess he has loved from afar, and discovers a plot against her and her father.

Gantos, Jack Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (series)

To the constant disappointment of his mother and his teachers, Joey has trouble paying attention or controlling his mood swings when his prescription medications wear off and he starts getting worked up and acting wired.

Giff, Patricia Reilly Pictures of Hollis Woods

A troublesome 12-year-old orphan, staying with an elderly artist who needs her, remembers the only other time she was happy in a foster home, with a family that truly seemed to care about her.

Haddix, Margaret Peterson Among the Hidden

In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm, until another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong.

Hobbs, Will Jackie’s Wild Seattle

Fourteen-year-old Shannon and her little brother, Cody, spend the summer with their uncle, helping at a wildlife rescue center named Jackie's Wild Seattle.

Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn (series)

While attempting to solve the mystery of a stolen jewel, Seikei, a merchant's son who longs to be a samurai, joins a group of kabuki actors in eighteenth-century Japan.

Horowitz, Anthony Stormbreaker (Alex Ryder series)

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.

Horvath, Polly Everything on a Waffle

Eleven-year-old Primrose, who lives in a small fishing village in British Columbia, recounts her experiences and all that she learns about human nature and the unpredictability of life in the months after her parents are lost at sea.

Hunter, Erin Into the Wild (Warriors series)

Rusty, a bored house kitten, is apprenticed by the ThunderClan and must struggle to fit in when the group of feral cats is threatened by the enemy ShadowClan.

Ibbotson, Eva Dial-A-Ghost

A family of nice ghosts protects a British orphan from the diabolical plans of his evil guardians.

Jacques, Brian Redwall (Redwall series)

When the peaceful life of ancient Redwall Abbey is shattered by the arrival of the evil rat Cluny and his villainous hordes, Matthias, a young mouse, determines to find the legendary sword of Martin the Warrior which, he is convinced, will help Redwall's inhabitants destroy the enemy.

Jones, Elizabeth McDavid The Night Flyers

In 1918, caring for her family's homing pigeons while her father is away fighting in World War I, twelve-year-old Pam comes to suspect that a mysterious stranger in her small North Carolina town is a German spy.

Korman, Gordon No More Dead Dogs

Eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace is sentenced to detention attending rehearsals of the school play where, in spite of himself, he becomes wrapped up in the production and begins to suggest changes that improve not only the play but his life as well.

 

Levine, Gail Carson Ella Enchanted

In this Cinderella based fantasy, Ella struggles against the childhood curse that forces her to obey any order given to her.

 

Lewis, C. S. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (series)

Four English schoolchildren find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia.

Lisle, Janet Taylor Afternoon of the Elves

Hillary and Sara-Kate spend hours fixing the tiny stick houses and the miniature Ferris wheel so the elves that live in Sara-Kate’s backyard won’t move away. Hillary hears people saying that Sara-Kate is bad and learns that there is more to Sara-Kate’s world than people know.

Lubar, David Wizards of the Game

Eighth grader Mercer, whose passion is the fantasy role-playing game Wizard of the Warrior World, hopes to use a fund raiser to bring a gaming convention to his middle school, but instead he attracts four genuine wizards who are trapped on Earth and want his help in returning to their own world.

Meyers, Walter Dean The Journal of Scott Pendleton

A seventeen-year-old soldier from central Virginia records his experiences in a journal as his regiment takes part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and subsequent battles to liberate France.

Mikaelsen, Ben Rescue Josh McGuire

When thirteen-year-old Josh runs away to the mountains of Montana with an orphaned bear cub destined for laboratory testing, they both must fight for their lives in a sudden snowstorm.

Montgomery, L. M. Anne of Green Gables (series)

An orphan girl mistakenly sent to Prince Edward Island to live with a lonely old couple changes their lives.

Nix, Garth Mister Monday (series)

A key that saves Arthur Penhaligon's life also brings with it a plague and a stranger named Mister Monday who is set on destroying Arthur and everything around him.

O’Dell, Scott Sing Down the Moon

. A young Navaho girl recounts the events of 1864 when her tribe was forced to march to Fort Sumner as prisoners of the white soldiers.

Osborne, Mary Pope Adaline Falling Star

. The daughter of explorer, Kit Carson, and an Arapaho mother, Adaline runs away from her prejudiced cousins and faces a battle for survival in the wilderness.

Park, Barbara The Graduation of Jake Moon

Fourteen-year-old Jake tells about his last four years as his grandfather suffered the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Park, Linda Sue A Single Shard

Tree-ear is an orphan boy in a twelfth-century Korean potters’ village. Tree-ear dreams of creating his own pots someday. When he accidentally breaks a pot, he must work for the master potter Min. Tree-ear is eager to learn and embarks on a difficult and dangerous journey that will change his life.

Peck, Richard A Long Way From Chicago / A Year Down Yonder

Humorous account of two siblings’ annual summer trip to eccentric grandmother during the Great Depression.

Perkins, Lynne Rae All Alone in the Universe

Debbie is dismayed when her best friend Maureen starts spending time with ordinary, boring Glenna.

Pierce, Tamora First Test – Protector of the Small Series

Ten-year-old Keladry of Mindalen, daughter of nobles, serves as a page but must prove herself to the males around her if she is ever to fulfill her dream of becoming a knight.

Raskin, Ellen The Westing Game

The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely

assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they

can claim their inheritance.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter

Harry lives in a tiny closet in his uncle, aunt and cousin’s house. He hasn’t celebrated his birthday in eleven years. All of that changes when he is invited to a wonderful, mysterious, magical place. Join Harry and his adventure to a place of broomsticks, invisibility cloaks and dragons.

Ruby, Lois Steal Away Home

Almost 150 years after a Quaker family in Kansas operated a station on the Underground Railroad, twelve-year-old Dana moves into the same house and finds a skeleton.

Ryan, Pam Munoz Esperanza Rising

Esperanza lived a wonderful life in Mexico with her family. However, a tragedy forces Esperanza and her mother to flee to California where they settle in a camp for Mexican farm workers. It’s the Great Depression and Esperanza must find a way to rise above her difficult circumstances.

Shan, Darren Cirque Du Freak (series)

Two boys who are best friends visit an illegal freak show, where an encounter with a vampire and a deadly spider forces them to make life-changing choices.

Snicket, Lemony The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events)

After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune.

Spinelli, Jerry Loser

Even though his classmates from first grade on have considered him strange and a loser, Daniel Zinkoff's optimism and exuberance and the support of his loving family do not allow him to feel that way about himself.

Tolan, Stephanie Surviving the Applewhites

Jake, a budding juvenile delinquent, is sent for home schooling to the arty and eccentric Applewhite family's Creative Academy, where he discovers talents and interests he never knew he had.

VanDraanen, Wendelin Sammy Keyes (series)

Sammy continues to make life with her grandmother interesting as she tries to discover who is stealing from St. Mary's church, befriends a homeless girl, and plays in a softball tournament against a bitter rival.

Wrede, Patricia C. Dealing With Dragons (series)

Bored with traditional palace life, a princess goes off to live with a group of dragons and soon becomes involved with fighting against some disreputable wizards.

 

 

 

 

 

GRADE 6 – NON-FICTION – 2006 SUMMER READING LIST

 

Blumberg, Rhoda Shipwrecked!: The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy

In 1841, rescued by an American whaler after a terrible shipwreck leaves him and his four companions castaways on a remote island, fourteen-year-old Manjiro learns new laws and customs as he becomes the first Japanese person to set foot in the United States.

Brewster, Hugh Anastasia’s Album

In a scrapbook derived from journals, letters, photographs, and watercolor paintings, the life of the last Russian princess is recreated, providing glimpes into her home life, the revolution, and her family's subsequent captivity.

Fleischman, John Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science

Tells the story of Phineas Gage, a railroad construction foreman who survived eleven years years after an accident in which a thirteen-pound iron rod shot through his brain.

Glover, Savion Savion!: My Life in Tap

Examines the life and career of the young tap dancer who speaks with his feet and who choreographed the Tony Award-winning Broadway show "Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk."

Macaulay, David Building Big

Focuses on the connections between the planning and design problems and the solutions that are finally reached when building bridges, tunnels, skyscrapers, domes, and dams.

Poole, Josephine Joan of Arc

A biography of the fifteenth-century peasant girl who led a French army to victory against the English, witnessed the crowning of King Charles VII, and was later burned at the stake for witchcraft.

Watkins, Richard Ross Gladiator

Describes the history of gladiators, including types of armor, use of animals, amphitheaters, and how the practice fit into Roman society for almost 700 years.

 

*This list has been adapted from the Shenendehowa Central School Summer Reading lists.