Welcome to the 7th Grade!
ACCELERATED TEAM: Click here for your Summer Reading Assignment.
The teachers at Barberton Middle School would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to
7th grade. We are looking forward to meeting each and every one of you. We anticipate your 7th
grade year will be one that you will long remember, and we hope your classes will be
intellectually stimulating and academically rewarding (and fun). We consider it important that
you keep your math and reading skills sharp in order to maintain the gains that you made this
past academic year- we do not want your hard work to go to waste.
At Barberton Middle School, we believe that summer reading is an essential part of education
and growth as an adolescent. Summer reading enables students to continue being active readers
and thoughtful writers while also preparing them for the upcoming 7th grade school year.
This summer we recommend all incoming 7th grade students read at least two of the novels on
the list provided and complete two assignments described below. We will be addressing
these assignments the first week of school.
The novels are available at the Barberton Public Library or at a local bookstore or at the
Barberton Board of Education (contact Dr. Shelly Habbegger, Curriculum Director, at
330-753-1025).
Above all, have a wonderful time this summer!
You have a choice of which assignments you would like to complete. You need to complete
two different assignments (one for each book read). Choose from the options below:
Option A: Create a graphic novel for the major plot events in the book. Include no less than 25
cells.
Option B: Write a letter to your teacher explaining which character you would like to invite to
dinner and why. Your letter should be in correct format and contain vivid details.
Option C: Create a soundtrack (school appropriate) for the movie version of your book. Include
at least six tracks. For each song, explain what plot event it would be played during and why.
Option D: Turn the lyrics from your favorite song (school appropriate) into a song about the
book. Include at least two versus and a chorus.
Option E: Quotations- Create a two-column table. On the left record at least seven quotes from
the book and include the page number. On the right, write why the quote is significant to the
story.
Rising 7th Grade Summer Reading List
Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac
Genre – Historical Fiction (1100L)
The United States is at war, and sixteen-year-old Ned Begay wants to join the cause—especially
when he hears that Navajos are being specifically recruited by the Marine Corps. So he claims
he’s old enough to enlist, breezes his way through boot camp, and suddenly finds himself
involved in a top-secret task, one that’s exclusively performed by Navajos. He has become a
code talker. Now Ned must brave some of the heaviest fighting of the war, and with his native
Navajo language as code, send crucial messages back and forth to aid in the conflict against
Japan. His experiences in the Pacific—from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima and beyond—will leave
him forever changed.
Schooled by Gordon Korman
Genre – Fiction (740L)
Homeschooled on an isolated "alternate farm commune" that has dwindled since the 1960s to 2
members, 13-year-old Cap has always lived with his grandmother, Rain. When she is
hospitalized, Cap is taken in by a social worker and sent—like a lamb to slaughter—to middle
school. Smart and capable, innocent and inexperienced (he learned to drive on the farm, but he
has never watched television), long-haired Cap soon becomes the butt of pranks. Will Cap turn
out to be the greatest President in the history of C-Average School? Or the biggest punchline?
The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake
Genre – Fiction (670L)
Maleeka suffers every day from the taunts of the other kids in her class. If they're not getting at
her about her homemade clothes or her good grades, it's about her dark, black skin. When a new
teacher, whose face is blotched with a startling white patch, starts at their school, Maleeka can
see there is bound to be trouble for her too. But the new teacher's attitude surprises Maleeka.
Miss Saunders loves the skin she's in. Can Maleeka learn to do the same?
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Genre-Realistic Fiction 770L
In her own singularly beautiful style, Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech intricately weaves
together two tales, one funny, one bittersweet, to create a heartwarming, compelling, and utterly
moving story of love, loss, and the complexity of human emotion. Thirteen-year-old Salamanca
Tree Hiddle, proud of her country roots and the "Indian-ness in her blood," travels from Ohio to
Idaho with her eccentric grandparents. Along the way, she tells them of the story of Phoebe
Winterbottom, who received mysterious messages, who met a "potential lunatic," and whose
mother disappeared.
Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn
Genre-Mystery Realistic Fiction 670L
Two 13-year-old boys, Arthur and Logan, set out to solve the mystery of a murder that took
place some years ago in the old house Logan's family has just moved into. The boys' quest takes
them to the highest and lowest levels of society in their small Maryland town, and eventually to a
derelict amusement park that is supposedly closed for the season.
The Transall Saga by Gary Paulsen
Genre-Sci-Fi/Fantasy 630L
Mark's solo camping trip in the desert turns into a terrifying and thrilling odyssey when a
mysterious beam of light transports him to another time on what appears to be another planet. As
Mark searches for a pathway back to his own time on Earth, he must make a new life in a new
world. His encounters with primitive tribes bring the joy of human bonds, but violence and war
as well—and, finally, a contest in which he discovers his own startling powers.