Summer Reading

The following is a list of optional recommended books for students entering third grade. Challenge books are also included on the list. Students may track their reading minutes for a small incentive at the start of the school year. 

Fiction

“Nancy Drew” Series by Carolyn Keene

“The Hardy Boys” Series by Franklin W. Dixon

“Encyclopedia Brown” Series by Donaold J. Sobol

“The Time Warp Trio” Series by Jon Scieszka, John R. Erickson

“A to Z Mysteries” Series by Ron Roy

“Bailey School Kids” Series by Debbie Dadey & Marcia Jo

”Boxcar Children” Series by Warner

My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannet

Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

Summer Reading is Killing Me! by Jon Scieszka

The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Catling

The Haunting of Grade Three by Grace Maccarone

“Geronimo Stilton” Series by Geronimo Stilton

“Franny K. Stein” series by Jim Benton

Nonfiction

Frogs (and other books by this author) by Seymour Simon

“If You. . .” Series Published by Scholastic
 (If You Were on the Mayflower)

“Eyewitness Juniors” Series by Alfred A. Knof, Inc.
(Amazing Birds)

Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln by Jean Fritz

“My America” series

“Everything You Need to Know About…” series by DK publisher

Fiction or Nonfiction – you decide!

”Magic Treehouse” Series by Mary Pope Osborne

Poetry

Poetry by Jack Prelutsky, Douglas Florian, Bruce Lansky, and Shel Silverstein

These fiction and nonfiction optional reading texts are themed around the exciting world of entrepreneurs which is the first fourth-grade inquiry project. These texts are aimed to spark enthusiasm and ignite curiosity among our young upcoming fourth grade entrepreneurs.

Lion Lights by Richard Turere (nonfiction)

Bee Fearless by Mikaila Ulmer (nonfiction)

Billy Sure Kid Entrepreneur (any text in the series) by Luke Sharpe (fiction)

Rising fifth graders are asked to choose ONE summer reading book from two choices:

CHOICE 1: Garvey’s Choice by Nikki Grimes (learn more about the novel HERE)

CHOICE 2: Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (learn more about the novel HERE)

Each of these novels includes a main character who has to use grit and perseverance to overcome a challenge. As you read, please think of times when you have used grit and perseverance in your own life. We’ll use these ideas when you come to school at the beginning of the year!

If you choose to read Garvey’s Choice:

• Please use these questions to help you think about the book. The questions are divided by poem titles. There are 105 poems that make up this book, and each poem has between 2-4 questions.
• Please choose 25 poems for which to answer a question. Choose one question from the list above and write the answer to the question in the open space on the page in your book. See an example HERE.
• Use the Reading With a Pen bookmark to annotate other areas of the book when you have ideas or emotions!

If you choose to read Hatchet:

• Please use these questions to help you think about the book. The questions are divided by chapters. There are 19 chapters and an epilogue. Make sure to read the epilogue!
• Please choose 10 chapters for which to answer a question. Choose one question from the list above and write the answer to the question in the open space on the page in your book. See an example HERE.
• Use the Reading With a Pen bookmark to annotate other areas of the book when you have ideas or emotions!

Sixth graders are asked to read Save Me A Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan for their summer reading. This will be the first novel unit, so reading the book closer to the time school begins is encouraged.  

Annotating while reading will become a staple in sixth grade. Annotations are interactions with the text as you read.  Students are encouraged to write down their thoughts in the margins and spaces of the pages. Here are two YouTube videos you can watch to assist with annotations:

Resource 1

Resource 2  

In Save Me A Seat, you will find that a new friend could be sitting right next to you and you don’t even realize it. Over the course of the first week of school at Albert Einstein Elementary, two boys in Mrs. Beam’s class will find how much alike they really are and how there really is more than meets the eye.

• Joe and Ravi, our protagonists (or main characters), come from different home lives and backgrounds and bring different experiences to their classroom.  What are their differences? How do the two protagonists view one another at the beginning of the novel? In the middle? At the end of the novel?
• Each event in the novel is told from both Joe’s perspective and Ravi’s perspective. How can the same event be seen so differently by two people who were both there? How does this apply to our daily lives?
• Joe and Ravi share an antagonist (or adversary) in a boy named Dillon Samreen. How does their need to overcome this shared adversary lead Joe and Ravi to team up and overcome their difficulties with Dillon?

Optional Summer Reading

History Smashers: The American Revolution

Myths! Lies!  Secrets! This combination of informational text, sidebars, graphic panels, illustrations, and fun facts will spark your curiosity for the American Revolutionary War. What history is truth? What history is legend? Learn about events that aren't included in the history books or that history has gotten just plain wrong. This information will be a great addition to what we learn in sixth grade history and it will assist in our novel study Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen.

Rising seventh grade students will need to choose which Dystopian novel they would like to read and complete the detailed instructions. Annotating while reading will become more challenging and specific in seventh grade. Annotations are interactions with the text as you read. Students are encouraged to write down their thoughts in the margins and spaces of the pages. 

Required: Rising seventh graders are asked to choose ONE summer reading book from two choices:

• CHOICE 1: The Giver by Lois Lowry (ISBN 9780544336261). Students should follow the specific, detailed directions from English teacher Angie Vetter. General annotation guidelines on this bookmark should also be followed.
• CHOICE 2: Legend by Marie Lu (ISBN 978-0142422076) Students should follow the specific, detailed instructions from Mrs. Vetter. General annotation guidelines on this bookmark should also be followed.

Required: How to be an Explorer of The World, Portable Life Museum by Keri Smith. This journaling activity will allow students to become close observers of the world around them. This stimulating and creative book provides students guidance into deep exploration and appreciation of what is around them asking them to stop and be mindful in even small moments. Instructions:

• Read pages 2-27 to see how the book works, your options and hints from Kari Smith, the author.
• Choose 20 Explorations to complete, you may complete more if you choose to. 
• You are required to complete Exploration #15, #17 and #32. These will become a part of your Portable Life Museum at the start of the year. 
• Document, build, create, take photos, ensure you can prove the completion of the 20 explorations. This will help you better prepare for your first project with this book. Pages 151-191 will help you with this. You may also find additional ways to document your explorations. 
• Portable Life Museum Show: This will be the first week of school’s project in English 7. Please read pages (192-197) for more information. As you are completing your 20 explorations, think about what you could include in your own museum. You must include your creation from Exploration #15, #17 and #32.

Brownell Talbot’s eighth graders are required to read three novels over the summer: Karen Hesse’s Out of the Dust, S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.

The following considerations and questions are provided to guide students’ reading to give some direction to their efforts toward annotating the texts.

Out of the Dust

Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust (Scholastic, ISBN 978-0590371254)

Hesse refers to her work as a novel though it is written entirely in free verse (poetry). Based on a true story, it is an account of a 15-year-old girl’s life on an Oklahoma farm during the period known as the Dust Bowl (1930s). Her mother and father play into the story as do dust storms and grasshopper infestations, all of which contribute to her immense suffering, suffering which she attempts to transcend through music, specifically, playing the piano.

When reading this novel consider:

• The poetry: What images and scenes are most compelling?
• The role of the humanities (particularly music) as a kind of sanctuary (shelter) for the narrator.

The Outsiders

S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders (Viking Books for Young Readers, ISBN, 978-0142407332)

he Outsiders was published in 1967 when the author was 17 years old. Its appeal stems primarily from the 15-year-old narrator whose narrative voice is starkly genuine. When reading this novel consider:

• Which events and scenes in the novel support the idea that the book is about the loss of innocence?
• How do the characters in the novel help the reader to reimagine the definition of family?

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Perennial, ISBN 978-0060935467)

To Kill a Mockingbird will be treated in a four-week unit of study. It is recommended that, of the three books required, you read this one last. To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 during the Civil Rights Movement and is credited with helping raise awareness of racial injustice in America.

When reading this novel consider:

• What scenes/events in the novel connect it to the Civil Rights Movement? 
• If the novel teaches lessons, what lessons can be drawn from it?

Anne Carson, Antigonick (New Directions, ISBN 978-0811222921)

Ursula K. Le Guin, Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching: A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way (Shambhala, ISBN 978-1611807240) 

Overview and guiding questions available here.

For summer reading this year, sophomores will select a book that supports BT’s goal to provide a Global Education and fits into the scope of English 10, which is a World Literature course. A wide range of options are available, with the main requirement being an age-appropriate text that students have not read before. 

Recommended titles and further instructions available here. 

Aimee Nezhukumatathil, World of Wonders (Milkweed Editions, ISBN 978163955056)

Tommy Orange, There There (Vintage Books, ISBN 9780525436140)

Overview and guiding questions available here.

For summer reading for AP Lit, you will choose a text from the list below that you have not read before. These are all the texts that have been suggested on the “open response” essay question on the AP exam from 1970 to 2024. Take notes or annotate as you read.

Summer reading details and directions here.

Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, Second Norton Critical Edition, edited by Virginia Eby,  ISBN 978-0-393-42036-4

Overview and guiding questions/considerations available here.

History teacher Dan Coffey will send all students the Guided Readings & Summer Work via email sometime in mid-June.  This work is done using the same textbook that will be used during the school year itself. Specifically, students will work on chapters 1-3 over the summer months.

History teacher Mark Smith will notify all students of their assigned section of Charles Mann’s 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created (Knopf Publishing, ISBN 978-0307265722). Students will read one section of this book, create notes from the reading, key concepts explored, and questions to consider. This will then be used for an in-class activity during the first six weeks of the school year.