In addition, we expect you to read at least four other books (and hopefully many more!). Below is a suggested summer reading list. Please report back to us those books on the list you enjoyed and those you did not. Don’t leave your reading for the last moment in August. It will be much easier, and your reading skills will continue to improve much more, if you read continuously throughout the summer.
To aid you in your book selection, books are placed in categories. Although each book has been placed in one category, many books crossover into more than one. For example, 47 by Walter Mosley is listed under “Science Fiction;” however, it could also be listed as “Historical.” Remember that many “Historical” books can also be adventures, humorous or mysteries, and therefore, very exciting. So try books from more than one category. Vermont State Standard for grades 3-8: Demonstrates the habit of reading extensively* by... "Reading the equivalent of at least two books a month, including in-school, out-of-school, and summer reading."
“*” = more challenging books.
If you like realistic fiction…
Firegirl – Tony Abbott
Return to Sender - Julia Alvarez (Vermont, farms, illegal immigration)
Close to Famous - Joan Bauer
The House on Mango Street - Sandra Cisneros
On Pointe - Lorie Ann Grover
Godless or Invisible - Pete Hautman
Addie on the Inside – James Howe
Dream of Night – Heather Henson
Do Not Pass Go - Kirkpatrick Hill
Crossing the Wire - Will Hobbs
One for the Murphys – Lynda Mullaly Hunt (DCF 2013-14)
Heaven - Angela Johnson
Fourmile – Watt Key (DCF 2013-14)
The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver *
Grounded - Kate Klise
See You at Harry’s – Jo Knowles (DCF 2013-14)
Bluefish – Pat Schmatz
Okay for Now – Gary D. Schmidt (2012 Newbery Award)
After Ever After - Jordan Sonnenblick
The Boy on Cinnamon Street – Phoebe Stone (DCF 2013-14)
The Running Dream – Wendelin Van Draanen (DCF 2012-13 WINNER)
Water Balloon – Audrey Vernick
Warp Speed – Lisa Yee
If you like adventure and suspense…
Watership Down - Richard Adams*
Sharpe’s Triumph - Bernard Cornwell *
Mr. Midshipman Hornblower - C. S. Forester *
Stowaway - Karen Hesse
Crossing the Wire - Will Hobbs
Redwall/Mossflower series - Brian Jacques
Captain’s Courageous - Rudyard Kipling *
Call of the Wild- Jack London
Daughter of Venice - Donna Jo Napoli
Brian’s Winter - Gary Paulsen
Endangered – Eliot Schrefer
Prince of Mist - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
If you like classics…
Pride and Prejudice – JaneAusten *
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte *
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens *
Anne of Green Gables series - L. M. Montgomery *
The Yearling - Marjorie Rawlings *
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith *
A Story Like the Wind - Laurens van der Post
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne
If you like fantasy…
Shadow and Bone- Leigh Bardugo
House of the Scorpion - Nancy Farmer
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
Book of a Thousand Days - Shannon Hale
The Apothecary – Maile Meloy
The False Prince – Jennifer Nielsen (DCF 2013-14)
Lireal series - Garth Nix
Trickster’s Choice - Tamora Pierce
Nation - Terry Pratchett
The Dark Materials series – Philip Pullman
The Grim Legacy – Polly Shulman
The Silver Bowl – Diane Stanley
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Thief series - Megan Whalen Turner
Leviathan and sequels - Scott Westerfield
Once and Future King - T. H. White *
Sword of the Rightful King - Jane Yolen
If you like historical fiction…
Crispin - Avi (14th century)
For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy - Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (WWII)
Queen of Hearts – Martha Brooks (1941)
My Antonia - Willa Cather * (Frontier)
Al Capone Does My Shirts - Gennifer Choldenko (1930s)
My Brother Sam is Dead - James Lincoln Collier (American Revolution)
Elijah of Buxton - Christopher Paul Curtis (Civil War)
Lily’s Crossing - Patricia Giff (WWII)
Witness - Karen Hesse (Vermont 1924)
Year of Goodbyes - Debbie Levy (WWII)
Day of Tears - Julius Lester (pre Civil War)
Fallen Angels - Walter Dean Myers * (Vietnam war)
Shadow on the Mountain – Margi Preus (Nazi-occupied Norway) (DCF 2013-14)
Dogs of Winter – Bobbie Pyron (1990’s Moscow) (DCF 2013-14)
Arundel - Kenneth Roberts * (American revolution)
Glory Be – Augusta Scattergood (1960’s Mississippi) (DCF 2013-14)
Killer Angels - Michael Shaara* (Civil War)
The Wall – Peter Sis (Iron Curtain – graphic)
Elephant Run - Roland Smith (WWII)
The Arrival - Shaun Tan (Immigration - graphic)
If you like humor…
Stuck on Earth - David Klass
A Long Way from Chicago and sequel - Richard Newton Peck
Teacher’s Funeral - Richard Newton Peck
Looking for Bobowicz - Daniel Pinkwater
Guys Read: Funny Business (includes short stories by Neil Gaiman, Will Hobbs, Stephen King) - Jon Scieszka, ed.
If you like mystery and suspense…
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie
The Cases of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle *
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn - Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler *
Beekeeper’s Apprentice - Laurie R. King
Slob – Ellen Potter
Ruby in the Smoke - Philip Pullman
Dangerous Skies - Suzanne Fisher Staples
A Thief in the House of Memory - Tim Wynne-Jones
If you like science fiction and the future…
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Ender’s Game- Orson Scott Card *
Hunger Games and sequels –Suzanne Collins
City of Ember and sequels - Jeanne DuPrau
Dark Life and sequel – Kat Falls
The Ear, the Eye and the Arm - Nancy Farmer
The Other Side of the Island - Allegra Goodman
Gifts - Ursula LeGuin
47- Walter Mosley
Maximum Ride series - James Patterson
Last Book in the Universe - Lynn Rae Perkins*
Heir Apparent - Vivianne Van Velde
The Time Machine - H. G. Wells
If you like sports…
Tangerine - Edward Bloor
Shift - Jennifer Bradbury
What Hearts - Bruce Brooks
Safe at Second - Scott Johnson
Pop – Gordon Korman
The Contender - Robert Lipsyte
Peek – Roland Smith
Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow - James Sturm
The Running Dream – Wendelin VanDraanen (DCF 2012-13 WINNER)
Non-fiction
If you like biographies…
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
Getting the Real Story: Nellie Bly & Ida B. Wells – Sue Davidson
An American Hero: True Story of Charles A. Lindberg - Barry Denenberg
Real Courage: the Story of Harper Lee by Katherine Don
Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini – Sid Fleischman
Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart - Candace Fleming
Martha Graham: A Dancer’s Life - Russell Freedman
Good Brother - Bad Brother - James Cross Giblin * (Lincoln assassination)
Cheaper by the Dozen - Frank Bunker
Runaway Girl: The Artist Louise Bourgeois - Jan Greenberg
Anthony Burns: Defeat & Triumph of a Fugitive Slave - Virginia Hamilton
The Story of My Life - Helen Keller
Keeping Secrets: The girlhood diaries of seven women writers – Mary E. Lyons
Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World –
Sy Montgomery (DCF 2013-14)
The Harvey Girls: The Women Who Civilized the West - Juddi Morris
Guts - Gary Paulsen
Cleopatra Rules: the Amazing Life of the Original Teen Queen – Vicky Shecter
Knuckehead – Jon Scieszka
The Pigman and Me – Paul Zindel
If you like poetry…
Poetry 180 – Billy Collins, editor (2013 Vermont Reads book)
Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems - Kristine O’Connell George
Who Killed Mr. Chippendale - Mel Glenn
Blue Lipstick - John Grandits
Hoofprints: Horse Poems – Jessie Haas
The Place My Words Are Looking For (and other anthologies) - Paul Janeczko
The Raven & Other Poems - Edgar Alan Poe
Math Curse and Science Verse - Jon Scieszka
A Fire in My Hands- Gary Soto
If you like non-fiction…
They Call Themselves the K. K. K.: the Birth of an American Terrorist Group -
Susan Campbell Bartoletti
My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell (humorous natural history)
Phineas Gage: A Gruesome But True Story About Brain Science - John Fleischman
The War to End All Wars: World War I - Russell Freedman
An Inconvenient Truth: Adapted for a New Generation – Al Gore
All Creatures Great and Small - James Herriot (veterinarian)
Seabiscuit: An American Legend - Laura Hillenbrand
Ice Story: Shakleton’s Lost Expedition - Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer
Darkness over Denmark: The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of the Jews - Ellen Levine
Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues - Patricia and Fred McKissack
The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood – Montgomery, Sy (pets)
Heart and Soul: the story of American and African Americans – Kadir Nelson
Bomb: The Race to Build-and Steal-the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon- Steve Sheinkin
(DCF 2013-14)
Chasing Lincoln’s Killer – James L. Swanson
Escape from Saigon - Andrea Warren
Have a great summer!
