• SUGGESTED SUMMER READING 

     

    Students are encouraged to read during the summer. They can read fiction or non-fiction books and articles that interest them. We highly recommend the following that are connected to the ELA curriculum they will be learning in their classrooms next year:

     

    Grade 6: Stories of Change

    • A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
    • Maniac McGee by Jerry Spinelli
    • The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis
    • The Library Card by Jerry Spinelli
    • The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt

     

    Grade 7: The Choices We Make

    • Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings
    • The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
    • Touching the Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
    • Bad Boy by Walter Dean Myers
    • Gym Candy by Carl Dueker

     

    Grade 8: The Challenge of Heroism

    • Wonder by R.J. Palacio
    • Bomb: the Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin
    • The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
    • Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
    • Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

     

    Grade 9: Coming of Age

    • Emako Blue by Brenda Woods
    • A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
    • Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Note: contains descriptions of violent behavior)
    • Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
    • How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent by Julia Alvarez
    • Farewell to Manzanar by James Houston and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

     

    Suggestions for Below Grade Level Readers:

    • Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (Available free on-line)
    • I am the Cheese by Robert Cormier

     

    Grade 10: Cultural Conversations

    • In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
    • Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
    • Shabanu by Suzanne Fisher Staples
    • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Note: contains profanity)
    • Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (Note: contains profanity and sensitive themes)
    • Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas
    • Code Talker

     

    Suggestions for Below Grade Level Readers:

    • Brown Girl Dreaming by Jaqueline Woodson
    • A Step from Heaven by An Na (available as a free audiobook)
    • The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez

     

    Grade 11: The American Dream

    • Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
    • They Call Me Coach by John Wooden
    • Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
    • Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez
    • The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
    • The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
    • Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

     

    Suggestions for Below Grade Level Readers:

    • Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska (available as a free PDF download)
    • Ashes of Roses by Mary Jane Auch

     

    Grade 12: Perspectives

    • Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
    • The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy by Thomas J. Stanley
    • The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
    • Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
    • Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
    • The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
    • Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan

     

    Suggestions for Below Grade Level Readers:

    • Hiroshima by John Hersey (available as a free PDF download)
    • The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
    • The Help by Kathryn Stockett

     

     

    The Pierce County Library has motivational summer reading programs and resources. Visit http://www.piercecountylibrary.org for more details.