Albany City School District Middle School Suggested Summer Reading List Dear Parents and Students: Summer is a wonderful time for children. It is a time of freedom, exploration and learning. Summer can be a time for children to enjoy reading and at the same time to practice skills learned in the classroom. It can be an opportunity to lay the foundation for a lifelong love of reading. Just like swimming or throwing a baseball, reading is a skill that improves with practice. Let's encourage reading! It is important to remember that summer reading should be self-selected. Children should be able to pick out what they find appealing. You can encourage your child to read in many ways. Stop by a bookstore and buy your child a paperback. In addition, make regular visits to the Albany Public Library. Pack some books on a trip to the pool, or just relax at home and share a good book with the family. Reading aloud is an enjoyable quiet-time activity and acquaints your child with books he/she may not yet be able to read by him/herself. The list has been compiled with the intention to introduce you and your child to some of the best, most enjoyable books available. Use it with the understanding that it is not allinclusive. Let your child feel free to choose books from different grade levels and to find other books by favorite authors. Have fun with this list and have a wonderful summer. Happy Reading! Secondary ELA Supervisor, Margaret E. DiGiulio Fiction Titles People of Sparks Jeanne DuPrau Stormbreaker Andrew Horowitz The Silent Boy Louis Lowry Hidden Talents David Lubar Al Capone Does My Shirts Gennifer Choldenko Phantom of 86 th Street Paul Zindel The River Between Us Richard Peck A Corner of the Universe Martin All-American Girl Meg Cabot Pictures of Hollis Woods Reilly Giff Milkweed Spinelli Gathering Blue Lowry Cut-McCormick The Killer s Cousin-Nancy Werlin Deathwatch Robb White The City of Ember- Jeanne DuPrau The Moves Make the Man Bruce Brooks Catalyst- Laurie Halse Anderson Double Dutch Sharon Draper Tangerine- Edward Bloor
Takeoffs and Landings Margaret Peterson Haddix Among the Hidden Margaret Peterson Haddix Hush- Jacqueline Woodson Hope was Here-Joan Bauer Dead Girls Don t Write Letters Gail Giles The Cuckoo s Child Freeman Achingly- Naylor All Alone in the Universe Perkins Brian s Winter Gary Paulsen Trouble Don t Last Shelley Pearsall 145 th Street Stories Myers First Part Last Angela Johnson Stand Tall Joan Bauer Who Put Hair in my Toothbrush Jerry Spinelli My Life in Dog Years Gary Paulsen Olive s Ocean Kevin Henkes Charlie Bone and the Time Twister Jenny Nimmo Dancing in Cadillac Light Kimberly Willis Holt Ruby Holler Sharon Draper Stuck in Neutral Terry Trueman The Boys Start the War Phyllis Reynolds Naylor The Grim Grotto Lemony Snicket The High King Lloyd Alexander Out of the Dust Karen Hesse A View from Saturday E.L. Konigsburg Messenger Louis Lowry Missing May Cynthia Rylant Jackie s Wild Seattle Will Hobbs Biography Titles Every Second Counts Lance Armstrong Knots in my Yo-Yo String Jerry Spinelli Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter Adeline Yen ah Uncommon Champions: Fifteen Athletes Who battled Back Marty Kaminiki The Greatest, Muhammad Ali Walter Dean Myers My Thirteenth Winter A Memoir by Samantha Abeel Tony Hawk: Professional Skateboarder Tony Hawk Lindsay Lohan: The It Girl Next Door Lauren Brown Jeff Gordon: Rainbow Warrior Mark Stewart Privilege of Youth: A Teenager s Story Dave Pelzer Real Stories from the Rink Brian McFarlane Cheaper by the Dozen Frank Gilbreth, Jr.
Gutsy Girls: Young Women Who Dare Schwager Homesick: My Own Story Ryan White Non-Fiction Titles Burb! The Most Interesting Book You ll Ever Read About Intelligence- Trudee Romanek Extreme Sports Michael Dean Pro Sports: How Did They Begin Don Wulffson The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle Don Wulffson The Art of Mickey Mouse Craig Yoe Unsolved Mysteries of History Paul Aaron Eyewitness Spies- Richard Platt Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul: The Real Deal School Jack Canfield Citymaze: A Collection of Amazing City Mazes Wendy Madgwick Science Experiments That You Can Eat Vicki Cobbi 200 Magic Tricks Anyone Can Do Harry Blackstone Abracadebra to Zombie: More than 300 Wacky Word Origins Don Wulffson Best Book of Snakes Christine Gunzi Ballparks- Then and Now Eric Enders People Who Shaped the Century Time-Life Books My Backyard History Book David Weitzman Roller Coasters Lynn M. Stone Woman Against Slavery John Anthony Scott Tiger Woods William Durbin Tell Them We Remember Susan Bachrach Taking Off Joanne Bernstein Clueless in the Kitchen: A Cookbook.. Evelyn Raab Fingerprints and Talking Bones Charlotte Jones How to Play Drums James Blades Series & Sequel Titles Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Brashares His Dark Materials Phillip Pullman Artemis Fowl Eoin Colfer Sammy Keyes Van Draanen Phantom Stallion Terri Farley Alex Rider Anthony Horowitz P.C. Hawke Mysteries Paul Zindel Johnny Dixon Mystery- Brad Strickland Lost Years of Merlin T.A. Barron Wizard of Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin Middle Earth -J.R.R. Tolkien
Chronicles of Namia C.S. Lewis Hitchhiker s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams Keys to the Kingdom Garth Nix Net Force Tom Clancy Baseball Card Adventure Dan Gutman Anne of the Green Gables L.M. Montgomery Pit Dragon Trilogy Jane Yolen Time Trilogy Madeleine L Engle Redwall Brian Jacques Animorphs K. A. Applegate The Seventh Tower Garth Nix Pendragon D.J. McHale Westmark Trilogy Lloyd Alexander Shadow Children Margaret Peterson Haddix American Sisters Laurie Lawler Children of the Red King Jenny Nimmo Legends and Myths Titles Kissing the Witch Donoghue The Ch i-lin Purse Fang Her Stories Hamilton Spiders in the Hairdo Holt One Thousand and One Arabian Nights McCaughrean Greek and Roman Mythology Nardo Passenger Say Parizal: The Quest of the Grail Knight Paterson The Deetkatoo: Native American Stories about Little People John Bierhorst Favorite Middle School Authors Lloyd Alexander Katherine Applegate Avi Meg Cabot Caroline B. Cooney Bruce Coville Sharon Creech Paula Danziger Kate DiCamillo Lois Duncan Sharon Draper Jack Gantos Jean Craighead George Margaret Peterson Haddix
Virginia Hamilton Anthony Horowitz Will Hobbs Brian Jacques E.L. Konigsburg Madeleine L Engle Gail Carson Levine C.S. Lewis Lois Lowry Norma Fox Mazer Anne McCaffrey Walter Dean Myers Philip Reynolds Naylor Garth Nix Joan Lowery Nixon Katherine Paterson Gary Paulsen Tamora Pierce Philip Pullman J.K. Rowling Cynthia Rylant Darren Shan William Sleator Lemony Snicket Jerry Spinelli R. L. Stine J.R.R. Tolkien Wendelin VanDraanen Cynthia Voight Lawrence Yep Paul Zindel Summer Reading Tips for Parents Read aloud together with your child everyday. Make it fun by reading outdoors on the front steps, patio, at the beach or park. Let your child read to you. Set a good example. Keep lots of reading material around the house. Turn off the TV and have each person read his or her book, including mom and dad. Read the same book your child is reading and discuss it. This is the way to develop habit of the mind and build capacity for thought and insight.
Buy books on tape. Listen to them in the car, or turn off the TV and have the family listen to them together. Take your children to the library regularly. Check the library calendar for special summer reading activities and events. Libraries also provide age appropriate lists for summer reading. Subscribe, in your child s name, to magazines like Highlights for Children or National Geographic World. Encourage older children to read the newspaper and current events magazines, to keep up the reading habit over the summer. Ask them what they think about what they ve read, and listen to what they say. Make trips a way to encourage reading by reading aloud traffic signs, billboards, notices. Show your children how to read a map, and once you are on the road, let them take turns being the navigator. Encourage children to keep a summer scrapbook. Tape in souvenirs of your family s summer activities picture postcards, ticket tubs, photos. Have your children write the captions and read them aloud as you look at the book together.