Summer Reading

The following books have been recommended for your summer reading pleasure by JDMS students and teachers and local librarians. Enjoy! (Discover some new favorites, too, and add the titles to our list when you return to school in September.)

Realistic Fiction (It could happen to you.)

Arrick, Fran: Chernowitz
Avi: Blue Heron
Bauer, Marion D.: On My Honor
Bonham, F.: Durango Street
Bunting, Eve: Someone is Hiding on Alcatraz Island
Myers, Walter Dean: Motown and Didi
Cooney, Caroline: Flight #116 is Down, Face on the Milk Carton, Whatever Happened to Janie
Cormier, Robert: The Chocolate War, After First Death, The Middle of the Night
Creech, Sharon: Walk Two Moons
Cushman, Karen: Catherine, Called Birdy; The Midwife's Apprentice
Deuker, Paul: On the Devil's Court, Heart of a Champion
Hahn, Mary D.: Stepping on the Cracks, December Stillness
Hamilton, Virginia: M.C. Higgins, the Great
Hobbs, Will: Downriver
Howard, Ellen: Circle of Giving
Hurwin, Davida: Time for Dancing
Levenkron, Stephen: The Best Little Girl in the World
Lipsyte, Robert: The Contender
Marsden, John: So Much to Tell You, Letters From the Inside
Mazer, Norma Fox: Who is Eddie Leonard?, Baby Face
Newman: Fat Chance
Paterson, Katherine: Jacob Have I Loved, Bridge to Terabithia
Pfeffer, Susan Beth: The Year Without Michael
Strasser, Todd: The Wave
Taylor, Theodore: The Weirdo, The Cay
Voigt, Cynthia: Izzy Willy Nilly
White, Robb: Deathwatch

 

Historical Fiction (Going back into the past)

Anderson, Margaret: Searching for Shona
Cheetham, Ann: The Pit
Forman, James: Ceremony of Innocence
Lyons, M.E.: Letters from a Slave Girl: The Story of Harriet Jacobs
Matas, Carol: Daniel's Story, Lisa's War, The Burning Time
Myers, Walter Dean: Fallen Angels
O'Dell, Scott: Sing Down the Moon
Paterson, Katherine: Liddy
Paulsen, Gary: Night John
Taylor, Mildred: Mississippi Bridge
Walsh, Jill Paton: Parcels of Patterns
Watkins, Yoko Kawashima: So Far From the Bambo Grove
Westall, Robert: Blitzcat
Yep, Laurence: Dragon's Gate
Yolen, Jane: Devil's Arithmetic

 

Survival
Callahan, Stephen:
Adrift
Mazer, Harry: Snowbound
Reid, P.P.: Alive
Roth, Arthur: Trapped, Iceberg, Hermit

 

Fantasy (A bit of magic, dragons, wizards, and animals that talk)

Alexander, Lloyd: The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen
Babbitt, Natalie: Tuck Everlasting
Cooper, Susan: The Grey King
Jacques, Brian: Redwall
Mckinley, Robin: Hero and the Crown
Wrede, Patricia: Calling on Dragons

 

Science Fiction (Current science/technology pushed into the future)

Coville, Bruce: My Teacher Glows in the Dark
Dickinson, Peter: Eva, Bone From a Dry Sea
Hesse: Phoenix Rising
Jordan, Sherryl: Time of Darkness
Lawrence, Louise: Children of the Dust
Miklowitz, Gloria D.: After the Bomb
O'Brien, Robert C.: Z is for Zachariah
Sleator, William: The Duplicate, Others See Us

 

Mystery

Bennett, Jay: The Executioner
Bunting, Eve: Is Anybody There?
Duncan, Lois: Don't Look Behind You
Konigsburg, E.L.: Father's Arcane Daughter
Voigt, Cynthia: Callender Papers

 

Short Stories

Coville, Bruce: Oddly Enough
Gallo, Donald: Sixteen Visions
Mazer, Norma Fox: Dear Bill, Remember Me
Yolen, Jane: 2041

 

Non-Fiction

Gunther, John: Death Be Not Proud
Myers, Walter Dean: Now is Your Time! Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary
Freedman, Russell: Children of the Wild West, Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery

 

Poetry

Adoff, Arnold: All the Colors of the Race
Fleischman, Paul: Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices
Janeczko, Paul: Looking For Your Name
Prelutsky, Jack: Dragons Are Singing Tonight
Silverstein, Shel: Where the Sidewalk Ends

 

Especially for Eighth Graders/Advanced Readers

Adams, Richard: Watership Down
Angelou, Maya: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Archer, Jeffrey: Kane and Abel
Avi: Nothing But the Truth
Bosse, Malcolm: Captives of Time
Christie, Agatha: Murder on the Orient Express
Clark, Mary Higgins: A Stranger is Watching
Crew, Linda: Children of the River
Crichton, Michael: Andromeda Strain
Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki: Farewell to Manzanar
Lowry, Lois: The Giver
Orwell, George: Animal Farm
Siegal A.: Upon the Head of a Goat
Stewart, Mary: The Crystal Cave
Wiesel, Elie: Night, The Oath

Teen Page