Reading List, Middle School

Grade 6 GOR List

Avi: The Blue Heron, The Man Who Was Poe, Nothing But the Truth, Crispin, Cross of Lead, and others. Note: We will read The True Confessions of Charlo3e Doyle in Grade 6, so please DO NOT read this one on your own.

Lloyd Alexander: The Chronicles of Prydain (series) and others

Joan Aiken: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, and others

Laurie Anderson: Chains

Natalie BabbiA: Tuck EverlasHng

Blue Balliet: Chasing Vermeer

Joan Bauer: Hope Was Here, and others

Gary Blackwood: The Shakespeare Stealer

Betsy Byers: Summer of the Swans, The Midnight Fox and others

Gennifer Choldenko: Al Capone Does My Shirts

Andrew Clements: Frindle, Things Not Seen

Susan Cooper: The Dark is Rising (series)

Padriac Collum: The Golden Fleece

Zizou Corder: Lion Boy

Sharon Creech: Walk Two Moons, Bloomability, The Wanderer, and others, but not her shorter stories

Christopher Paul CurLs: Bud, Not Buddy, The Watsons Go to Birmingham

Karen Cushman: Catherine Called Birdie, The Midwife’s ApprenHce

Roald Dahl: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, MaHlda, and others

Kate DiCamillo: The Tale of Despereaux, Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tiger Rising

Kathryn Erskine: Mockingbird

Paula Fox: Slave Dancer, One-Eyed Cat, Monkey Island

Cornelia Funke: The Thief Lord, Dragon Rider, Inkheart, Inkspell

Jack Gantos: Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, and sequels

Jean Craighead George: My Side of the Mountain, and sequels

Patricia Reilly Giff: Pictures of Hollis Woods, Lily’s Crossing

BeAe Greene: Summer of My German Soldier

Margaret Peterson Haddix: Among The Hidden

Karen Hesse: Out of the Dust, The Music of Dolphins, Stowaway, and others

Polly Horvath: Everything on a Waffle

Eva IboAson: The Secret of PlaWorm 13, and sequels

E.L. Konigsburg: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The View from Saturday, Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver, and others

Joseph Krumgold: Onion John, And Now Miguel

Cynthia Kadohata: Kira-Kira

Stephen Lawhead: The Dragon King Saga (series)

Madeleine L’Engle: A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A SwiZly TilHng Planet, Meet the AusHns, and many more.

Gail Carson Levine: Ella Enchanted, Dave at Night (not her shorter fairy tales)

KrisLn Levine: The Best Bad Luck I Have Ever Had

Lois Lenski: Indian CapHve

C.S. Lewis: Note: You will be required to read The Magician’s Nephew during the summer before Grade 6 as part of the summer reading program. (If you would like to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, or any of the other books in the Chronicles of Narnia series, these would be excellent choices for GOR.)

Lois Lowry: The Giver, Gathering Blue, The Messenger, Number the Stars, The Willoughbys, and others

Michelle Magorian: Goodnight Mr. Tom

Walter Dean Myers: Somewhere in the Darkness, and others ScoA O’Dell: Island of the Blue Dolphins

Linda Sue Park: A Single Shard, My Name Is Keoko, and others  Katherine Paterson: Bridge to Terabithia, Lyddie, Jip, and others

Gary Paulson: Hatchet, Dogsong, Brian’s Winter, and others

Richard Peck: A Long Way from Chicago, A Year Down Under

Rodman Philbrick: Freak the Mighty

Wilson Rawls: Where the Red Fern Grows, Summer of the Monkeys

Louis Sachar: Holes

Zilpha Snyder: The Bronze Pen

Elizabeth George Speare: The Witch of Blackbird Pond and others. Note: We will read The Bronze Bow together in Grade 6, so please DO NOT read this one on your own.

Armstrong Sperry: Call it Courage

Jerry Spinelli: Maniac Magee, Wringer, and others

J. R. R. Tolkien: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings (series)

Yoshiko Uchida: Jar of Dreams

Cynthia Voight: Homecoming, Dicey’s Song, Jackaroo, and others

Virginia Euer Wolff: True Believer

Lawrence Yep: Dragonwings, The Star Fisher, and others

Jane Yolen: The Devil’s ArithmeHc and others

• There are many other wonderful authors to choose from, but any addiLons to this list must be approved by one of your English teachers in order to count for independent reading. One guideline is to first check if a book that you would like to read has won any significant awards.
• Not all books are appropriate for every sixth grader; a book’s appropriateness may depend on one’s level of maturity, understanding of the topic, and familiarity with English. If you have a quesLon about whether or not a book is appropriate for you, please check with one of your English teachers, with one of the CAJ librarians, or with your parents.

Grade 7

Required Reading:	Task:	Reviewed by:
1 book from the GOR list	Book Recommendation Poster	English Teacher
	Google Drive Survey
1 book from content area list (Bible, Math, Science, or Social Studies)	2 Minute Presentation	Content Area Teacher
	Google Drive Survey
1 free choice (must be on grade level)	Google Drive Survey	Homeroom Teacher

• Additional books read should also be recorded on the Google Drive Survey, in order to count toward the class goal.

• Book list & instructions will be posted on the CAJ website.

• Today we will practice using the google drive survey!

TASK #1 - GOR BOOK POSTER

You are going to design a Book Recommendation Poster that will persuade others to read the book.

Requirements for the poster:

• Title and Author (spelled correctly) must stand out clearly

• A summary in your own words – Write 5-7 sentences that sum up the main action or conflict going on in the book. Don't say "This book is about . . ." Get us right into the action!

• Your Personal Recommendation – Write 2-3 sentences telling your classmates why you recommend this book. Be specific!

• 2 Adjectives (Example: ACTION-PACKED!) describing the book must stand out clearly on the page.

• Visuals: Add pictures, graphics, etc. that relate to the book

• Size: B5 (250 x 176 mm or 9.84 x 6.93 inches) or half of a construction paper

• Due: the first day of class (to your English teacher)

TASK #2 - CONTENT AREA PRESENTATION

You are going to give a short presentation in a content area class to explain to your classmates what you learned about a particular topic.

Requirements for the presentation:

• Tell the title and author name

• Give a brief summary

• Explain the most interesting thing that you learned from reading the book

• Script or notecards written for the presentation

• Due: the first day of class (to your content area teacher)

Requirements:

• 1 book from the Guided Outside Reading (GOR) list
  • Task: book recommendation
  • Reviewed by: English Teacher
• 1 book from a content area (Bible, Math, Science, or Social Studies )
  • Task: 2 minute presentation - Title and Author
    • Brief summary
    • What you learned
  • Reviewed by: Content Area Teacher
• 1 free choice (must be on grade level but does not have to be on one of the reading list)

Guided Outside Reading List

English 7 Guided Outside Reading (GOR) List

Alcott, Louisa M.	Little Women
Alvarez, Julia	Before we were Free
Avi	Nothing but the Truth
	The Secret School
	Don’t you know there’s a War on?
	Crispin: Cross of Lead
Balliett, Blue	Chasing Vermeer
	The Wright 3
Bauer, Joan	Hope was Here
Birdsall, Jeanne	The Penderwicks
Chabon, Michael	Summerland
Creech, Sharon	Walk Two Moons
	Chasing Redbird
	The Wanderer
	Ruby Holler
	Heartbeat
	Replay
Curtis, Christopher Paul	Bud, Not Buddy
	Elijah of Buxton
Cushman, Karen	Catherine called Birdy
	Midwife’s Apprentice
	Matilda Bone
	The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
DiCamillo, Kate	The Tale of Despereaux
Dickens, Charles	A Christmas Carol
Farmer, Nancy	The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
	A Girl Named Disaster
	The House of the Scorpion
	The Sea of Trolls
Frederick, Heather Vogel	The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed
Funke, Cornelia	The Thief Lord
	Inkheart
	The Dragon Rider
	Inkspell
Gantos, Jack	Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
	Joey Pigza Loses Control
	What would Joey Do?
Griff, Patricia R.	Pictures of Hollis Woods
Grisham, John	Skipping Christmas
Haddix, Margaret P.	Running Out of Time
	Among the Hidden
	Among the Barons
	Among the Betrayed
	Among the Imposters
	Escape from Memory
	Among the Brave
	Among the Enemy
	The House on the Gulf
	Double Identity
	Among the Free
Hamilton, Virginia	The Mystery of Drear House
Hannigan, Katherine	Ida B.
Hiassen, Carl	Hoot
Hesse, Karen	Out of the Dust
	Stowaway
Horvath, Polly	Everything on a Waffle
	The Vacation
Jacques, Brian	Mattimeo
	Mossflower
	Pearls of Lutra
	Redwall
	Taggerung
	The Bellmaker
Jimenez, Francisco	Breaking Through
Kadohata, Cynthia	Kira-Kira
	Weedflower
Klass, David	You don’t know Me
Konigsburg, E.L.	The Outcasts ot 19 Schulyer Place
Korman, Gordon	Everest Series (I: Contest, II: Climb, III: Summit)
	Island Series (I: Shipwreck, II: Survival, III: Escape)
Lawhead, Stephen	various titles
L’engle, Madeleine	A Ring of Endless Light
	A Wind in the Door
	Many Waters
	An Acceptable Time
Lewis, C.S.	The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Lisle, Janet Taylor	The Art of Keeping Cool
Lobel, Anita	No Pretty Pictures
Lowry, Lois	The Giver
	Gathering Blue
	Silent Boy
	Messenger
Myers, Walter Dean	The Glory Field
Napoli, Donna Jo	Daughter of Venice
	Stones into Water
	Sirena
	Three Days
	North
	Bound
Park, Linda Sue	A Single Shard
	When my Name was Keoko
Paterson, Katherine	Jip
	Preacher’s Boy
	The Same Stuff as Stars
Paulsen, Gary	Dogsong
	Hatchet
	Brian’s Winter
	Brian’s Return
	The Transall Saga
	Guts
Peck, Richard	A Long Way from Chicago
	A Year Down Yonder
	Fair Weather
	The River Between Us
Sachar, Louis	Small Steps
Schmidt, Gary	Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster
	Boy
Smith, Roland	Peak
Spinelli, Jerry	Stargirl
	Loser
	Crash
	The Library Card
	Milkweed
Staples, Suzanne Fisher	Shabanu
	Haveli
	Shiva’s Fire
St. John, Patricia M.	Twice Freed
Taylor, Mildred D.	Let the Circle be Unbroken
	The Road to Memphis
	The Land
Tolan, Stephanie S.	Surviving the Applewhites
Ullman, James Ramsey	Banner in the Sky
Voigt, Cynthia	Dicey’s Song
	Homecoming
	The Runner
Weeks, Sarah	So B. It
Wolff, Virginia Euwer	Make Lemonade
	True Believer
Yolen, Jane	Armageddon Summer

“Dear America” Book series

“Heroes of the Faith” Book series (Biography) “Christian Heroes” Then & Now” (Biography) Trailblazer books

“Reel Kids Adventures” Book series