Over the summer, Kathy and I ask that you read at least five books. The books you read do not have to be from the attached list, but the list provides suggestions for books and authors you might find interesting.
I’ve attached a separate list of DCF books. Many of you have probably heard about the DCF program; it is the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award program, and it works like this: we get a list of 30 books for grades 4-8. These books are in the TGS library on a special shelf, just for 6th graders. We all read from this list between now and April of 2014, and everyone who has read at least five books from the list by April gets to vote for his or her favorite book. Kids all over Vermont do this, the votes are tallied, and we find out the winning title later in the spring. We’ll have time during English class to work on this, but if you want to get a start on reading from this list, please do so. Your local library will probably have the books.
Please keep track of the books you read this summer. I’ve included a log sheet (sample below) for you to use if you want, but you may use something else if it works better for you—just be sure to include the book title and author’s name.
Please choose one of the books you read this summer and write a paragraph or two about the book. Your paragraph should include: the title and author, what the book is about, your opinion of the book and why. Your log and paragraph should be given to Tara or Kathy at August conferences or during the first week of school.
Try to read regularly over the summer; graphic novels and magazines count as reading too, and it will be easier to read five books if you are reading all summer. Reading over the summer will help you maintain the skills you learned this year, plus it’s fun!
Please send me an e-mail or call me at school over the summer if you have any questions about summer reading: tmeinhar@thegrammarschool.org or 802-387-5364 ext. 107.
Happy reading,
Tara
2013 Summer Reading Log
(sample - see info Tara sent home for log setup)
Book Title and Author’s Name
2013-14 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award Master List
The list below contains a wide range of styles, subjects, and difficulty levels so that kids in grades 4-8 across Vermont can find interesting books to read. If you read one that’s too easy, try one at a higher maturity level. If you start one that’s too hard, try something else. In the list below, the titles in bold are more challenging.In order to vote for your favorite book in April, you need to read at least five (5) books from this list. You are encouraged to read many more. Each year, several students challenge themselves to read all 30!
TITLE -- AUTHOR -- MATURITY LEVEL
The One and Only Ivan -- Applegate, Katherine -- 7 and up
Shadow and Bone -- Bardugo, Leigh -- 4 and up
Little Dog, Lost -- Bauer, Marion Dane -- 5 and up
Laugh with the Moon -- Burg, Shana -- 5 and up
The Mighty Miss Malone -- Curtis, Christopher Paul -- 4 and up
Will Sparrow’s Road -- Cushman, Karen -- 5 and up
Chomp -- Hiaasen, Carl -- 5 and up
The Whole Story of Half a Girl -- Hiranandani, Veera -- 5 and up
Same Sun Here -- House, Silas & Neela Vaswani -- 6 and up
One for the Murphys -- Hunt, Lynda Mullaly -- 7 and up
Fourmile -- Key, Watt -- 6 and up
See Y ou At Harry’s -- Knowles, Jo -- 5 and up
Ungifted -- Korman, Gordon -- 5 and up
The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls -- Legrand, Claire -- 5 and up
Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World -- Montgomery, Sy -- 6 and up
The False Prince -- Nielsen, Jennifer -- 5 and up
Wonder -- Palacio, R.J. -- 5 and up
I Funny -- Patterson, James & Chris Grabenstein -- 5 and up
Summer of the Gy psy Moths -- Pennypacker, Sara -- 6 and up
Shadow on the Mountain -- Preus, Margi -- 6 and up
Dogs of Winter -- Pyron, Bobbie -- 4 and up
The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook Rocklin, Joanne 4 and up
May B. -- Rose, Caroline Starr -- 7 and up
After Eli -- Rupp, Rebecca -- 5 and up
Glory Be -- Scattergood, Augusta -- 6 and up
Bomb: The Race to Build - and Steal –the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon -- Sheinkin, Steve
-- 5 and up
Liar and Spy -- Stead, Rebecca -- 6 and up
The Boy on Cinnamon Street -- Stone, Phoebe--5 and up
The Expeditioners and the Treasure of Drowned Man’s Canyon -- Taylor, S.S. -- 5 and up
Three Times Lucky -- Turnage, Sheila -- 7 and up
Books marked with an asterisk (*) are more challenging.
If you like adventure…
Peter And the Starcatchers series – Dave Barry
The Cheshire Cheese Cat – Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright
Chase – Jessie Haas
Stowaway – Karen Hesse,
Scat – Carl Hiaasen (ecological)
Crossing The Wire –Will Hobbs
Hatchet – Gary Paulsen
Steel Trapp: The Challenge – Ridley Pearson
A Dog’s Way Home – Bobbie Pyron
Swallows and Amazons series – Arthur Ransome,
Call It Courage – Armstrong Sperry*
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson*
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea – Jules Verne
If you like fantasy…
The Search for WondLa (and sequel) Tony DiTerlizzi
The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman,* (scary)
Sun And Moon, Ice And Snow – Jessica Day George
A Tale Dark and Grimm and sequel In a Glass Grimmly – Adam Gidwitz
Book Of A Thousand Days – Shannon Hale
Redwall / Mossflower series – Brian Jacques
Savvy and sequel – Ingrid Law
Pendragon series – D. J. MacHale
Hero – Mike Lupica
The Apothecary – Maile Meloy
The Lioness And Her Knight and Squires Tales series – Gerald Morris *
Keys to the Kingdom series – Garth Nix
The Golden Compass and His Dark Materials series – Philip Pullman *
The Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, and The Kane Chronicles series – Rick Riordian
The Grimm Legacy – Polly Shulman
The Silver Bowl – Diane Stanley
The Mysterious Benedict Society series – Trenton Lee Stewart
Killer Pizza – Greg Taylor
If you like historical fiction…
City of Orphans – Avi (1890s New York City)
All the Broken Pieces – Ann Burg (Vietnam)
Elijah of Buxton – Christopher Paul Curtis (Civil War)
A Girl Named Disaster – Nancy Farmer (1980s Africa)
Walk Across the Sea – Susan Fletcher (1800s)
Lily's Crossing – Patricia Reilly Giff (WWII America)
Letter From Rifka – Karen Hesse * (1940s immigration)
Turtle in Paradise – Jennifer Holm (1930s Key West, Florida)
Gifts From The Sea – Natalie Kinsey-Warnock (1850s)
Inside Out and Back Again – Thanhha Lai (1975) in verse
Hattie Big Sky – Kirby Larson (frontier)
Day of Tears – Julius Lester * (pre Civil War)
The Year of Goodbyes – Debbie Levy (WWII Germany)
Sources of Light – Margaret McMullan, (1960s Mississippi)
A Family Apart and others in Orphan Train series – Joan Lowry Nixon (pre Civil War)
A Single Shard – Linda Sue Park (Medieval Korea)
Bread And Roses, Too – Katherine Paterson (1912 Vermont)
Listening For Lions – Gloria Whelan (Kenya)
One Crazy Summer – Rita Williams-Garcia (1960s Berkeley)
If you like humor…
The Great Brain series – John D. Fitzgerald
Homer Price – Robert McCloskey
A Long Way From Chicago – Richard Peck
Teacher’s Funeral – Richard Peck
Looking for Bobowicz – Daniel Pinkwater
If you like mystery and suspense…
Into the Dark – Peter Abrahams
The Calder Game – Blue Balliett
Shift – Jennifer Bradbury
Closed for the Season – Mary Downing Hahn (scary)
Kokopelli's Magic Flute – Will Hobbs
Elephant Run – Roland Smith
Stolen – Vivian Vande Velde
Way Down Deep – Ruth White
If you like realistic fiction…
Firegirl – Tony Abbott
Al Capone Does My Shirts – Gennifer Choldenko
Close to Famous – Joan Bauer
Hidden – Helen Frost (in verse)
Thief Lord – Cornelia Funke
Olive’s Ocean – Kevin Henkes
Dream of Night – Heather Henson (horse) *
Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf – Jennifer Holm
Addie on the Inside – James Howe
Grounded – Kate Klise
Schooled – Gordon Korman
11 Birthdays – Wendy Mass
Saffy's Choice and sequels – Hilary Mckay *
Half Brother – Kenneth Oppel
Beneath My Mother’s Feet – Amjed Qamar
Paint the Wind – Pam Muñoz Ryan (horses)
When You Reach Me – Rebecca Stead
A Crooked Kind of Perfect – Linda Urban
Water Balloon – Audrey Vernick
Warp Speed – Lisa Yee
If you like science fiction…
Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card
The White Mountains series – John Christopher
Gregor series – Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games and sequels – Suzanne Collins *
Dark Life and sequel – Kat Falls
The Ear, The Eye, And The Arm – Nancy Farmer *
The Other Side of the Island – Allegra Goodman
A Wrinkle in Time series – Madeleine L’Engle
Earthsea series – Ursula Le Guin *
Fever Crumb series – Philip Reeve
If you like graphic novels…
Calamity Jack – Shannon Hale
Rapunzel’s Revenge – Shannon Hale
Black and White – David Macaulay
Olympians series – George O’Connor
Meanwhile – Jason Shiga
Smile and Drama – Raina Telgemeier
Robot Dreams – Sara Varon
If you like sports…
One Handed Catch – Mary Jane Auch
The Moves Make the Man – Bruce Brooks *
Wild Girl – Patricia Reilly Giff (horses)
Safe at Second – Scott Johnson *
Sugar and Ice – Kate Messner
Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow – James Sturm (graphic)
Bat 6 – Virginia Wolff *
If you like non-fiction…
Through My Eyes – Ruby Bridges (civil rights)
Tracking Trash – Loree Griffin Burns (environment)
Horrible Histories series – Terry Deary (humorous history)
Bodies From the Ash – James M. Deem (Pompeii)
Titanic Sinks! – Barry Denenberg
Who Was First? – Russell Freedman (discovering America)
Good Brother, Bad Brother – James Cross Giblin * (Lincoln assassination)
An Inconvenient Truth: Adapted for a New Generation – Al Gore (climate)
Built to Last – David Macaulay (architecture, cultural history)
What’s Happening to my Body for Boys/Girls – Linda Madaras (health)
The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood – Sy Montgomery (pets)
Grey Seas Under – Farley Mowat * (adventure)
Dewey: A Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World – Vicki Myron (pets)
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare – E. Nesbitt, editor
Harris and Me – Gary Paulsen (humorous)
The Woods Scientist – Stephen R. Swinburne (science)
If you like biographies…
The Daring Nellie Bly: America’s Star Reporter – Bonnie Christensen
Boy – Roald Dahl
Escape! The Story Of The Great Houdini – Sid Fleischman
Amelia Lost – Candace Fleming
Eleanor Roosevelt – Russell Freedman *
Cheaper by the Dozen – Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr.*
A Strong Right Arm: The Story Of Mamie “Peanut” Johnson – Michelle Y. Green
Small Steps – Peg Kehret
Charles Darwin – Kathleen Krull
Ten Queens: Portraits of Women of Power – Milton Meltzer
How Angel Peterson Got His Name and Other Outrageous Tales About Extreme Sports –
Gary Paulsen
Bill Peet: An Autobiography
If you like poetry…
Poetry For Young People series
Poetry 180 – Billy Collins, editor (2013 Vermont Reads book)
Blue Lipstick – John Grandits
The Place My Words Are Looking For and other anthologies by this author – Paul B. Janeczko
The Book Of Limericks – Edward Lear
This Same Sky – Naomi Shihab Nye
Oxford Book Of Children’s Verse – Opie
Math Verse or Science Verse – Jon Scieszka
Runny Babbit – Shel Silverstein
Have a great summer!
