RISING 7TH - 8th GRADERS
BOOKS RECOMMENDED FOR
SUMMER READING 2016
“It’s hard to imagine a novel more perfectly suited, in both form and
content, to this literary moment. Station Eleven, if we were to talk about it in our usual way,
would seem like a book that combines high culture and low culture—“literary fiction” and
“genre fiction.” But those categories aren’t really adequate to describe the book” —The New
Yorker
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
In Helene Wecker’s first novel, two more than usually disoriented foreigners emerge
onto the streets of 1899 New York. One is a golem, a clay woman fashioned near Danzig,
then shipped across the ocean as the wife of a man who inconveniently dies on the
voyage. The other is a jinni from the Syrian Desert, trapped inside a copper flask until a
hapless tinsmith sets him free during a routine repair. “It was ludicrous,” thinks the
surprised tinker. “Such things were only stories. But then… [NYT]
Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party by Ying Chang, Compestine
The summer of 1972, before I turned nine, danger began knocking on doors all over
China. Nine-year-old Ling has a very happy life. Her parents are both dedicated surgeons
at the best hospital in Wuhan, and her father teaches her English as they listen to Voice
of America every evening on the radio. But when one of Mao’s political officers moves
into a room in their apartment, Ling begins to witness the gradual disintegration of her
world. In an atmosphere of increasing mistrust and hatred, Ling fears for the safety of
her neighbors, and soon, for herself and her family. For the next four years, Ling will
suffer more horrors than many people face in a lifetime. Will she be able to grow and
blossom under the oppressive rule of Chairman Mao? Or will fighting to survive destroy
her spirit—and end her life? [Goodreads]
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss.
She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till
Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved
maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no
one will tell Skeeter where she has gone. [Amazon]
Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris
In a blazing hot desert in Saudi Arabia, a search party is dispatched to find a missing
young woman. Thus begins a novel that offers rare insight into the inner workings of a
country in which women must wear the abaya in public or risk denunciation by the
religious police; where ancient beliefs, taboos, and customs frequently clash with a fastmoving, technology-driven modern world.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss.
She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till
Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved
maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no
one will tell Skeeter where she has gone. [Amazon]
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
Translated by Stephen Snyder.
Last December the death of a man named Henry Gustav Molaison made headlines in
The New York Times and around the world. He was famous in scientific circles for not
being able to remember anything new longer than 15 minutes, due to an accident. He
had spent the later part of his life in a Connecticut nursing home being a subject known
only as H. M. in psychology experiments
A similar malady, but a more humane fate, has befallen the “professor” in this
deceptively elegant novel, which was a bestseller and a movie in Japan. A car accident
has robbed him of the ability to remember any new memories for more than 80
minutes. For him time stopped in 1975. [NYT]
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter
and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once
the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the
new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left
when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As
Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.
The African Queen by C.S. Forester
A classic story of adventure and romance - the novel that inspired the legendary movie
starring Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart
A fast-moving tale and a very good yarn...Mr Forester again and again proves himself a
master of suspense - [New York Times Book Review]
Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
In The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury, America’s preeminent storyteller, imagines a
place of hope, dreams, and metaphor— of crystal pillars and fossil seas—where a fine
dust settles on the great empty cities of a vanished, devastated civilization. Earthmen
conquer Mars and then are conquered by it, lulled by dangerous lies of comfort and
familiarity, and enchanted by the lingering glamour of an ancient, mysterious native
race. In this classic work of fiction, Bradbury exposes our ambitions, weaknesses, and
ignorance in a strange and breathtaking world where man does not belong.
Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
"There isn’t really a gay scene or a straight scene in our town. They got all mixed up a
while back, which I think is for the best." Paul has both gay and straight friends, and they
all hang out together at terrific bookstores and concerts, and advise one another on the
sometimes troubled progress of their various romances.
Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline
Yen Mah
Blamed for the loss of her mother, who died shortly after giving birth to her, Mah is an
outcast in her own family. When her father remarries and moves the family to Shanghai
to evade the Japanese during WWII, Mah and her siblings are relegated to second-class
status by their stepmother.
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon
Mark Haddon's bitterly funny debut novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night- Time, is a murder mystery of sorts--one told by an autistic version of Adrian
Mole. Fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone is mathematically gifted and
socially hopeless, raised in a working-class home by parents who can barely cope with
their child's quirks. He takes everything that he sees (or is told) at face value, and is
unable to sort out the strange behavior of his elders and peers.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Firemen don't put out fires; they start them in order to burn books. Society holds up the
appearance of happiness as the highest goal; a place where trivial information is good,
and knowledge and ideas are bad. Fireman Guy Montag is moved to make some
changes.
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Autobiography/Graphic
Satrapi is nine when fundamentalist rebels overthrow the Shah of Iran. While Satrapi's
radical parents and their community initially welcomed the ouster, they soon learn a
new brand of totalitarianism is taking over.
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
Despite his natural athletic ability, T.J. has steered away from organized sports. In his
senior year he sees an opportunity to get revenge on the athletic establishment at
school. He assembles a swim team (in a school with no pool) and invites outcasts to
participate on the team; he ends up with "a representative from each extreme of the
educational spectrum, a muscle man, a giant, a chameleon, and a psychopath.”
American Born Chinese by Gene Yang - Graphic Novel
The Chinese folk hero Monkey King attempts to shed his humble roots. Jin Wang, a
lonely Asian American student, wants to fit in with his white classmates. Danny, another
teen, is shamed by his Chinese cousin Chin-Kee (a purposefully painful ethnic
stereotype). These three stories intertwine to create a commentary about race, identity,
and self-acceptance.
Facing the Lion by Joseph Lekuton
Lekuton grew up in Kenya’s poorest tribe, herding cows and playing in hyena holes
before he was accepted into a fancy Nairobi high school and went to college in the U.S.
Now he teaches in Virginia, but he has never lost his Maasai roots.
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
When Rashid’s storytelling ability dries up, his son Haroun seeks the mysterious forces
that block the Sea of Stories, from which all stories come. The book contains humor,
wordplay, fantasy, and epic battle, and it is ultimately a metaphor for the forces that
limit free speech and those who fight to keep telling stories.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Algernon is a lab mouse who gets an experimental brain operation that raises his IQ.
Charlie, a mentally disabled man, undergoes the same operation, and his intelligence
expands. But then Algernon suddenly and unexpectedly begins to deteriorate. Will the
same happen to Charlie?
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein
Bilbo Baggins is a quiet and contented hobbit whose life is turned upside down when he
joins the wizard Gandalf and thirteen dwarves on their quest to reclaim stolen treasure.
Tolkein creates an entire world of creatures, geography, culture, and adventures and
continues it into the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Joy Luck Club explores the bond between four daughters and their mothers. The
daughters know one side of their mothers, but they don’t know about their earlier
never-spoken-of lives in China.
Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston grew up in two worlds: “solid America,” the place his parents
emigrated to, and the China of her mother’s “talk-stories.”
Absolutely Positively Not by David LaRochelle
Steven DeNarski, 16, is determined that he is absolutely, positively not gay. He covers
his Superman posters with pictures of women in bikinis, hangs out with the hockey
players at lunch, and embarks on a series of disastrous dates with girls from his class. It
doesn’t work. When he reluctantly tells his friend Rachel that he is gay, she wants him
to celebrate by telling his family and forming a gay-straight alliance in his high school the
following day. The first-person narrative moves from personal angst to outright farce as
Steven finds quiet support, as well as betrayal, in unexpected
places.
Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez
Twelve-year-old Anita de la Torre is too involved with her own life to be more than
dimly aware of the growing menace all around her, until her last cousins and uncles and
aunts have fled from the Dominican Republic to America and a fleet of black
Volkswagens comes up the drive, bringing the secret police to the family compound to
search their houses. Gradually, through overheard conversations and the explanations
of her older sister, Lucinda, she comes to understand that her father and uncles are
involvedin a plot to kill El Jefe, the dictator, and that they are all in deadly peril.
Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech
Always the quiet (and often forgotten) middle child in a bustling family, Zinnia's life
begins to change when she stumbles upon a hidden, overgrown pathway that stretches
from the edge of her family's farm into the great unknown.
China Boy by Gus Lee
This story of seven-year-old Kai Ting, set in the tough Panhandle District of San Francisco
in the 1950s, includes all of the classic fairy-tale conventions: a wicked stepmother; a
bully, Big Willie Mack, who lives to beat Kai into pulp; Toussaint La Rue, a street-wise
friend; and the YMCA “Knights” who teach Kai to stand up for himself. Readers will
weep with Kai when he’s locked out of the house and left as prey to the McAllister
street bullies. They’ll laugh with him when he confuses English idioms and ethnic street
slang. They’ll root for him during his survival training at the Y where he transforms his
body into a disciplined fighting machine, and cheer loudly when he learns to deal with
the ghosts who haunt him.
The Chocolate War series by Robert Cormier
Does Jerry Renault dare to disturb the universe? You wouldn't think that his refusal to
sell chocolates during his school's fundraiser would create such a stir, but it does; it's as
if the…
Cuba 15 by Nancy Osa
Violet Paz, growing up in suburban Chicago, barely knows Spanish, and her dad refuses
to talk about his Cuban roots, so it's a real surprise when Abuela insists that Violet have
a grand quinceanero, the traditional Latina fifteenth-year coming-of-age ceremony. But
Violet wouldn't be caught dead in any onstage ceremony wearing a ruffled pink dress
and a tiara. Violet narrates her own story, which is specific to Cuban culture and also
transcends that culture to speak to all readers.
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Sixteen-year-old Miles goes to boarding school to find real friends, real adventure, and
real challenges. He finds all three in this engrossing and intense novel about growing up.
(Alaska is the name of a girl here–not that state.)
A Step from Heaven by An Na
When at four years old Young Ju takes her first plane ride to emigrate from Korea to
California, she is sure she’s on her way to heaven. But it doesn’t take the girl very long
to realize that America is not heaven. Young, her parents, and her new baby brother
struggle to adjust: learning a new language, dealing with government bureaucracy,
adults working two jobs each, and children embarrassed by their parents’ behavior.
Woven throughout Young’s story, beginning when she’s four and ending when she’s
about to go to college, is the abuse she faces from her alcoholic father as well as the
small joys she encounters in her family life.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Francie grows up in the slums of Brooklyn during the early part of the twentieth century,
and life treats her badly. But like the Tree of Heaven that grows out of cement or
through cellar gratings, resourceful Francie struggles against all odds to survive and
thrive.
Eragon series by Christopher Paolini
Written when Paolini was a teenager himself, this is the story of a teenager who
happens upon a dragon’s egg and finds himself, the last of the Dragon Riders, a key
player in the war different groups of fantastical creatures.
The Golden Compass series by Philip Pullman
This incredibly sophisticated fantasy focuses on Lyra, an orphan growing up in a
fantastical alternate-universe version of Oxford University, in which every person has a
magical daemon who follows her around.
The Hunger Games by Collins, Suzanne
Sixteen year old Katriss Everdeen does all that she can to help her family survive in their
post-apocalyptic world, even enticing her sister in The Hunger Games.
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Like The Hunger Games, this is a dystopian adventure in which children must survive in
a created environment and figure out how to escape—in this case, from a mysterious
maze.
Cartoon Guide to the Environment by Larry Gonick & Alice Outwater
[graphic format]
Using the ecological collapse of Easter Island as an example of a failing environment, the
authors present the historical, scientific, and ethical backgrounds to the environmental
challenges faced currently, and in the near future, by all humanity. Nothing less than the
fate of life on Earth lies in the balance, which makes for an engrossing plot, made more
poignant by the scientific research and data that back it up. Black-and-white cartoons
clearly explain, define, and graphically display terms, events, and situations.
Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species: A Graphic Adaptation by
Michael Keller
This graphic adaptation of Darwin’s original breakthrough work also includes some
history about the book and some updates about what is now understood about
evolution.
Clan Apis by Jay Hosler
The life story of Nyuki the honeybee is a combination of authoritative science; appealing
black-and-white drawings; and dialogue replete with humor, pubescent angst, political
sloganeering, and more. Nyuki’s colony undertakes migration to a new hive, is beset by
a woodpecker, and hibernates through a winter that yields to a revitalizing spring. The
bees are nicely individualized, as are the plants and other insects that figure into their
lives, and there are a number of clever touches. This is the sort of science book that
fiction and comics readers will enjoy.
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
Set in NYC at the beginning of the American Revolution, Chains addresses the price of
freedom both for the nation and for individuals through the story of Isabel, a slave sold
at the age of five to a cruel family.
Leonardo’s Shadow: Or, My Astonishing Life as Leonardo da Vinci’s
Servant by Christopher Grey
Giacomo has a lot to do: run errands, fend off the merchants who try to collect debts,
and try to solve the mystery of why Leonardo refuses to work on his great masterpiece,
“The Last Supper.”
To Be a Slave by Julius Lester
What was it like to be a slave? Drawn from slave narratives of the 1800s and interviews
of ex-slaves conducted in the 1930s, the stories collected in this book describe living
conditions under a bondage that negated one’s humanity. Passion and emotion
emanate from these passages, as those affected describe slave trade, the auction block,
resistance to slavery, plantation life and emancipation. Readers experience slaves as
human beings, and while the dehumanizing aspects of slavery are made abundantly
clear, the book serves more as a testament to the human spirit of those who endured or
survived.
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
With his dog Charley, John Steinbeck set out in his truck to explore and experience
America in the 1960s. As he in traveled over 10,000 miles through thirty-eight states,
Steinbeck talked with different people, noting the passing of region speech, falling in
love with Montana, and chronicling the racism he encountered in New Orleans. Readers
will enjoy savoring the vivid details preserved in this memoir.
The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
"Chevalier is especially adept at character studies: imperious burghers, butchers, biddies
and crones. It's as if, after scrutinizing Vermeer's masterworks (and doing the required
reading), she began to think and feel like a 17th century Delft." [Time Magazine]
I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President
by Josh Lieb
With plenty of sci-fi, fantastical, and comic elements, this story of Oliver, an overweight
12-year-old from Omaha is set against a realistic backdrop. Oliver fools his family and
classmates into thinking that he is slow-witted while in fact he is the third-richest person
in the world and is plotting to attain his goal of world domination.
The boy in the striped pajamas by John Boyne
Berlin 1942. When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his
belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the
family must move from their home to a new house far, far away, where there is no one
to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the
eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance. But
Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate
new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets
another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their
meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.
The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, 11-year-old Parvana has rarely been
outdoors. Barred from attending school, shopping at the market, or even playing in
the streets of Kabul, the heroine of Deborah Ellis's engrossing children's novel The
Breadwinner is trapped inside her family's one-room home. That is, until the Taliban
hauls away her father and Parvana realizes that it's up to her to become the
"breadwinner" and disguise herself as a boy to support her mother, two sisters, and
baby brother. Set in the early years of the Taliban regime, this topical novel for middle
school readers explores the harsh realities of life for girls and women in modern-day
Afghanistan. Ellis based The Breadwinner on the true-life stories of women in Afghan
refugee camps.
I AM THE MESSENGER by Markus Zusak.
If you liked The Book Thief, you might try this one by the same author. Nineteen-yearold Ed Kennedy has little to look forward to. He works as a cabbie and plays cards with
his friends. But then he stops a bank robbery and starts receiving anonymous
messages, written in code on playing cards. The cards send him on challenging tasks.
But who is sending them?
EVVY’S CIVIL WAR by Miriam Brenaman
Evvy, oldest of five sisters, is shocked on her fourteenth birthday, when everyone
expects her to start acting like a "Southern Lady." Putting up her hair, wearing tight
corsets and dainty gloves; however, the events are soon overshadowed by the horror
and death of the Civil War, especially after her father goes to fight in the war, leaving
Evvy in charge of the plantation.
NIGHT by Elie Wiesel
In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, a scholarly, pious teenager is wracked
with guilt at having survived the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign
that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps
present him with an intolerable question: how can the God he once so fervently
believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur? There are no easy answers
in this harrowing book, which probes life's essential riddles with the lucid anguish only
great literature achieves. It marks the crucial first step in Wiesel's lifelong project to
bear witness for those who died.
THE ROLLER BIRDS OF RAMPUR by Indi Rana
Although Shehla was born in India, she grew up in London and thinks of herself as
English. But when her boyfriend drops her because she is Indian, Shehla begins to
wonder where she belongs. Since her grandparents live in India, Sheila visits them to
learn more about her native land. From karma to Hinduism, Sheila discovers that India
is a land of contradiction --and a complex place where she learns about herself, her
people, and the incredible challenge of growing up proud of her heritage...
Finding Miracles by Julia Alvarez
Sixteen-year-old Milly Kaufman has always known she was adopted. Her family has
always been willing to talk about it, but not Milly. However, when Pablo Bolivar moves
to her small Vermont town and she discovers that he and his family are from the same
South American country as she, Milly starts to wonder about her country of origin.
When she sets off on an adventure to learn more about where she came from, she
discovers a history she never knew and learns that family is about more than blood
ties.
In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
The four Mirabel sisters were called the Mariposas, or butterflies. Dede, the
only survivor, tells the story of courage that helps liberate the Dominican
Republic from the dictator Trujillo
Classic Literature For Young Teens
20,000 Leagues under the Sea -- Jules Verne Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn, The -- Mark Twain Adventures of
Sherlock Holmes -- Arthur Conan Doyle Adventures of
Tom Sawyer, The -- Mark Twain African Queen, The -C.S. Forester
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland -- Lewis Carroll
Amos Fortune, Free Man -- Elizabeth Yates Around
the World in Eighty Days -- Jules Verne
Bell for Adano, A -- John Hersey
Ben-Hur -- Lewis Wallace
Big Sky, The -- A.B. Guthrie
Black Arrow, The -- Robert Louis Stevenson
Bridge of San Luis Rey, The -- Thornton Wilder
Bridge over the River Kwai, The -- Pierre Boulle
Bridges at Toko-Ri, The -- James Michener
Christmas Carol, A -- Charles Dickens
Cimarron -- Edna Ferber
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A -- Mark Twain
Count of Monte Christo, The -- Alexander Dumas
Cry, the Beloved Country -- Alan Paton
Dandelion Wine -- Ray Bradbury
Death Be Not Proud -- John Gunther
Deerslayer, The -- James Fenimore Cooper
Diary of a Young Girl -- Anne Frank
Dracula -- Bram Stoker
Drums along the Mohawk -- Walter D. Edmonds
Ethan Frome -- Edith Wharton
Fahrenheit 451 -- Ray Bradbury
Frankenstein -- Mary Shelley
Goodbye, Mr. Chips -- James Hilton
Gone with the Wind -- Margaret
Mitchell Green Mansions -- W.H. Hudson
High Wind in Jamaica, A -- Richard Hughes
Hiroshima -- John Hersey
Hobbit, The -- J.R.R. Tolkien
Hornblower series, The -- C.S. Forester
Hunchback of Notre Dame, The -- Victor Hugo
Illustrated Man, The -- Ray Bradbury
Innocents Abroad -- Mark Twain
Island of the Blue Dolphins -- Scott O'Dell
Ivanhoe -- Sir Walter Scott
Johnny Tremain -- Esther Forbes
Journey to the Center of the Earth -- Jules Verne
Kim -- Rudyard Kipling
King Must Die, The -- Mary Renault
King Solomon's Mines -- H. Rider Haggard
Kon-Tiki -- Thor Heyerdahl
Last of the Mohicans, The -- James Fenimore Cooper
Le Morte d'Arthur -- Sir Thomas Malory
Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The -- Washington Irving
Life on the Mississippi -- Mark Twain
Life with Father -- Clarence Day
Little Men -- Louisa May Alcott
Little Prince, The -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Lord of the Rings, The -- J.R.R. Tolkien
Lorna Doone -- Richard D. Blackmore
Lost Horizon -- James Hilton
Madame Curie: A Biography -- Eve Curie
Martian Chronicles -- Ray Bradbury
Member of the Wedding -- Carson McCullers
Men of Iron -- Howard Pyle
Mutiny on the Bounty -- Charles and J.N. Hall Nordhoff
Mysterious Island -- Jules Verne
National Velvet -- Enid Bagnold
Night to Remember, A -- Walter Lord
Northwest Passage -- Kenneth Roberts
Old Man and the Sea, The -- Ernest Hemingway
Ox-Bow Incident, The -- Walter Clark
Pearl, The -- John Steinbeck
Pilgrim's Progress, The -- John Bunyan
Poems -- Robert Frost
Prince and the Pauper, The -- Mark Twain
Profiles in Courage -- John F. Kennedy
Raisin in the Sun -- Lorraine Hansberry
Rebecca -- Daphne Du Maurier
Ring of Bright Water -- Gavin Maxwell
Robe, The -- Lloyd C. Douglas
Robinson Crusoe -- Daniel Defoe
Scarlet Pimpernel, The -- Baroness Emma Orczy
Sea Wolf, The -- Jack London
Separate Peace, A -- John Knowles
Shane -- Jack Schaefer
Snow Goose, The -- Paul Gallico
Stories -- Saki
Story of My Life -- Helen Keller
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The -- R. L.Stevenson
Thirty-Nine Steps, The -- John Buchan
Three Musketeers, The AlexanderDumas
Through the Looking Glass -- LewisCarroll
Thurber Carnival, The -- James Thurber
Time Machine, The -- H.G. Wells
To Kill a Mockingbird – HarperLee
Tortilla Flat -- John Steinbeck
Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A -- Betty Smith
Two Years before the Mast -- Richard Henry Dana
Up from Slavery -- Booker T. Washington
Virginian -- Owen Wister
Wall, The -- John Hersey
War of the Worlds -- H.G. Wells
Wind, Sand and Stars -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Yearling, The -- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings