SIXTH GRADE ENTERING SEVENTH GRADE
RECOMMENDED SUMMER READING LIST
CLAIRBOURN SCHOOL
REQUIRED READING
All Middle School students are required to read a total of
four books over the summer. The first two required books for all students entering 7th
grade are the following:
1. North, Sterling
RASCAL. The author recalls his carefree life in a small midwestern town at the close of World War I,
and his adventures with his pet raccoon, Rascal.
2. Broach, Elise
SHAKESPEARE’S SECRET. Named after a character in a Shakespeare play, misfit sixth-grader Hero
becomes interested in exploring this unusual connection because of a valuable diamond supposedly
hidden in her new house, an intriguing neighbor, and the unexpected attention of the most popular boy in
school.
The third and fourth required summer reading books should be chosen from the
following list:
ADVENTURE
Abbott, Tony
THE FORBIDDEN STONE: Book One of the Copernicus Legacy. Wade, Lily, Darrell, and Becca
fly from Texas to Germany for the funeral of an old family friend. But instead of just paying their
respects, they wind up on a dangerous, mind-blowing quest to unlock an ancient, guarded secret that
could destroy the fate of the world
Bell, Ted
NICK OF TIME. Book One of the Nick McIver Time Adventure series. Twelve-year-old Nick
McIver tries to help his father and sister send vital information to England about imminent Nazi
invasion, until he finds himself transported through time to help his ancestor stop a mutinous captain
who is aiding the French fleet and endangering British sailors.
Buckley-Archer, Linda
GIDEON THE CUTPURSE: Book One of the Gideon trilogy. Ignored by his father and sent to
Derbyshire for the weekend, 12-year old Peter and his new friend Kate are accidentally transported back
in time to 1763 England where they are befriended by a reformed cutpurse.
THE TIME THIEF: Book Two of the Gideon trilogy. When an attempt to bring Peter and Kate back
to their own time is bungled, Peter finds himself stranded in 1763 while the Tar Man, a villainous
eighteenth-century criminal, returns with Kate to twenty-first-century London.
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Collins, Suzanne
GREGOR THE OVERLANDER. Book One of series. When eleven-year-old Gregor and his twoyear-old sister are pulled into a strange underground world, they trigger an epic battle involving humans,
bats, rats, cockroaches, and spiders while on a quest foretold by ancient prophecy.
Columbus, Chris
HOUSE OF SECRETS series. Cordelia, Brendan, and Eleanor Walker, aged fifteen to eight, must rely
on a mysterious book to face the Wind Witch and her father, the Storm King, who have kidnapped Dr.
and Mrs. Walker and brought them to a strange world of magic.
Flanagan, John
THE RUINS OF GORLAN: Book One of the Ranger’s Apprentice series. When fifteen-year-old
Will is rejected by battle school, he becomes the reluctant apprentice to the mysterious Ranger Halt, and
winds up protecting the kingdom from danger.
Horowitz, Anthony
STORMBREAKER. Book One of the Alex Rider series. After the death of the uncle who had been
his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced into continuing his uncle’s dangerous work for
Britain’s intelligence agency, MI6.
SNAKEHEAD. Book Seven. Alex Rider crash lands off the coast of Australia where he is recruited by
the Australian Secret Service to infiltrate one of the ruthless gangs operating across South East Asia, and
in the midst of his dangerous mission, Alex discovers information about his parents' murder.
Lupica, Mike
HERO. Fourteen-year-old Zach learns he has the same special abilities as his father, who was the
president's globe-trotting troubleshooter until "the Bads" killed him, and now Zach must decide whether
to use his powers in the same way at the risk of his own life.
Miller, Kirsten
KIKI STRIKE: INSIDE THE SHADOW CITY. Life becomes more interesting for Ananka Fishbein
when, at the age of twelve, she discovers an underground room in the park across from her New York
City apartment and meets a mysterious girl called Kiki Strike who claims that she, too, wants to explore
the subterranean world.
Sachar, Louis
HOLES. (1999 Newbery Winner) As further evidence of his family’s bad fortune which they attribute
to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert,
where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.
Scott, Michael Dylan
THE ALCHEMYST: THE SECRETS OF THE IMMORTAL NICHOLAS FLAMEL. Book One.
Fifteen-year-old twins, Sophie and Josh, find themselves caught up in the deadly struggle between rival
alchemists, Nicholas Flamel and John Dee, over the possession of an ancient book that holds the secret
formulas for alchemy and everlasting life.
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FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION
Choldenko, Gennifer
NO PASSENGERS BEYOND THIS POINT. With their house in foreclosure, sisters India and
Mouse and brother Finn are sent to stay with an uncle in Colorado until their mother can join them, but
when the plane lands, the children are welcomed by cheering crowds to a strange place where each of
them has a perfect house and a clock that is ticking down the time.
Cole, Stephen
Z-REX. Book One of The Hunting Trilogy. From Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Edinburgh, Scotland,
thirteen-year-old Adam Adlar must elude police while being hunted by a dinosaur come-to-life from a
virtual reality game invented by his father, who has gone missing.
Fletcher, Charlie
STONEHEART. Book One of The Stoneheart Trilogy. Twelve-year-old George breaks the head off
a dragon sculpture outside the Natural History Museum in an act of rebellion and soon discovers, to his
dismay, that he has reawakened the war between the statues of London.
Johnson, Jaleigh
THE MARK OF THE DRAGONFLY. Since her father's death in a factory in the Dragonfly
territories, thirteen-year-old Piper has eked out a living as a scrapper in Merrow Kingdom, but the arrival
of a mysterious girl sends her on a dangerous journey to distant lands.
Law, Ingrid
SAVVY. (2009 Newbery Honor Book) Recounts the adventures of Mibs Beaumont, whose thirteenth
birthday has revealed her "savvy"--a magical power unique to each member of her family--just as her
father is injured in a terrible accident.
L’Engle, Madeleine
A WRINKLE IN TIME, (1963 Newbery Winner) Meg Murry, her brother Charles, and their friend
Calvin, embark on a journey through space and time to find their father, assisted by three other worldly
women.
Lerangis, Peter
THE COLOSSUS RISES. Book One of the Seven Wonders series. Teens Jack, Marco, Aly, and
Cass begin a quest to find seven pieces of Atlantis' power that were hidden long ago and that will, if
returned to Atlantis, save them from certain death due to the genetic abnormality that also gives them
superior abilities.
McKinley, Robin
THE HERO AND THE CROWN and other titles. (1985 Newbery Winner) Aerin, with the
guidance of the wizard Luthe and the help of the blue sword, wins the birthright due her as the daughter
of the Damarian king and a witch woman of the mysterious, demon-haunted North.
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McMann, Lisa
THE ISLAND OF SILENCE. Book Two of the Unwanteds series. As the Wanteds, Unwanteds, and
Necessaries struggle to adjust to changes in their society, Mr. Today begins training fourteen-year-old
Alex to replace him as Artime's leader one day while Alex's disgraced twin, Aaron, connives to take over
Quill.
Paolini, Christopher
ERAGON Book One of the Inheritance series. In Aagasia, a fifteen-year-old boy of unknown lineage
called Eragon finds a mysterious stone that weaves his life into an intricate tapestry of destiny, magic,
and power, peopled with dragons, elves, and monsters.
ELDEST Book Two. After successfully evading an Urgals ambush, Eragon is adopted into the
Ingeitum clan and sent to finish his training so he can further help the Varden in their struggle against
the Empire.
Rex, Adam
THE TRUE MEANING OF SMEKDAY. Twelve-year-old Gratuity “Tip” Tucci is left to fend for
herself after Earth is colonized by aliens and her mother is abducted, and must try to stop another alien
invasion with only the help of a cat named Pig and an alien named J. Lo.
Riordan, Rick
THE SEA OF MONSTERS: Book Two of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Percy and
his friends set out to find his best friend, Grover, who is held prisoner on an island somewhere in the
Bermuda Triangle, before heading out to save Camp Half-Blood from mythological monsters.
THE RED PYRAMID. Book One of the Kane Chronicles. Brilliant Egyptologist Dr. Julius Kane
accidentally unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes the doctor to oblivion and forces his two
children to embark on a dangerous journey, bringing them closer to the truth about their family and its
links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.
Schmidt, Gary D.
WHAT CAME FROM THE STARS. In a desperate attempt for survival, a peaceful civilization on a
faraway planet besieged by a dark lord sends its most precious gift across the cosmos into the lunchbox
of Tommy Pepper, sixth grader, of Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Stead, Rebecca
WHEN YOU REACH ME. (2010 Newbery Winner) As her mother prepares to be a contestant on
the 1980s television game show, "The $20,000 Pyramid," a twelve-year-old New York City girl tries to
make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the
laws of time and space.
Walden, Mark
H.I.V.E.: Higher Institute of Villainous Education. Book One of series. Swept away to a hidden
academy which trains budding evil geniuses, Otto, a brilliant orphan, Wing, a sensitive warrior, Laura, a
shy computer specialist, and Shelby, an infamous jewel thief, plot to beat the odds and escape the prison
known as H.I.V.E..
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Westerfield, Scott
LEVIATHAN. Book One of the Leviathan series. In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old
Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe
using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the
British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.
HISTORICAL FICTION
Avi,
CRISPIN: The Cross of Lead. Book One of series. (2003 Newbery
Winner) Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in
fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life
juggler who holds a dangerous secret.
Compestine, Ying Chang
REVOLUTION IS NOT A DINNER PARTY. Starting in 1972 when she is nine years old, Ling, the
daughter of two doctors, struggles to make sense of the communists' Cultural Revolution, which empties
stores of food, homes of appliances deemed "bourgeois," and people of laughter.
Cooney, Caroline
THE RANSOM OF MERCY CARTER. In 1704, in the English settlement of Deerfield,
Massachusetts, eleven-year-old Mercy and her family and neighbors are captured by Mohawk Indians
and their French allies, and forced to march through bitter cold to French Canada, where some adapt to
new lives and some still hope to be ransomed.
Curtis, Christopher Paul
THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM-1963. (1996 Newbery Honor Book) The ordinary
interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan,
are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.
Goldblatt, Mark
TWERP. In Queens, New York, in 1969, twelve-year-old Julian Twerski writes a journal for his
English teacher in which he explores his friendships and how they are effected by girls, a new student
who may be as fast as Julian, and especially an incident of bullying.
Holm, Jennifer L.
OUR ONLY MAY AMELIA. (2000 Newbery Honor Book) As the only girl in a Finnish American
family of seven brothers, May Amelia Jackson resents being expected to act like a lady while growing up
in Washington state in 1899.
BOSTON JANE. Schooled in the lessons of etiquette for young ladies of 1854, Miss Jane Peck of
Philadelphia finds little use for manners during her long sea voyage to the Pacific Northwest and while
living among the American traders and Chinook Indians of Washington Territory.
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Kadohata, Cynthia
WEEDFLOWER. During World War II, twelve-year-old Sumiko and her Japanese-American family
are relocated from their flower farm in southern California to an internment camp on a Mojave Indian
reservation in Arizona. She helps her family and neighbors, becomes friends with a local Indian boy, and
tries to hold on to her dream of owning a flower shop.
Klages, Ellen
WHITE SANDS, RED MENACE. Sequel to The Green Glass Sea. In 1946, high schooler Dewey
Kerrigan is beginning to adjust to living with the Gordon family near the White Sands Missile Range in
New Mexico, but the arrival of her mother, who wants to take her back, changes everything.
Levine, Kristin
LIONS OF LITTLE ROCK. Twelve-year-old Marlee develops a strong friendship with Liz, the new
girl in school, but when Liz suddenly stops attending school and Marlee hears a rumor that her friend is
actually an African American girl passing herself off as white, the two young girls must decide whether
their friendship is worth taking on integration and the dangers it could bring to their families.
Matas, Carol
LISA’S WAR. During the Nazi occupation of Denmark, Lisa and other teenage Jews become involved
in an underground resistance movement and eventually must flee for their lives.
Peck, Richard
A LONG WAY FROM CHICAGO. (1999 Newbery Honor Book) A boy recounts his annual
summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than–life
grandmother.
Ryan, Pamela Munoz
ESPERANZA RISING. Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege
in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh
circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.
Schmidt, Gary D.
LIZZIE BRIGHT AND THE BUCKMINSTER BOY. (2005 Newbery Honor Book) In 1911,
Turner Buckminster hates his new home of Phippsburg, Maine, but things improve when he meets
Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves that the
town fathers--and Turner's--want to change into a tourist spot. A tale of forbidden friendship, racial
prejudice and its effects upon a small town.
Vanderpool, Clare
MOON OVER MANIFEST. (2011 Newbery Winner) Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the
daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest,
Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past.
Yep, Laurence
DRAGON’S GATE. (1994 Newbery Honor Book) When he accidentally kills a Manchu, a fifteenyear-old Chinese boy is sent to America to join his father, an uncle, and other Chinese working to build a
tunnel for the transcontinental railroad through the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1867. Sequel to
"Mountain light."
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MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE
Carter, Ally
I’D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU, BUT THEN I’D HAVE TO KILL YOU. Book One. As a
sophomore at a secret spy school and the daughter of a former CIA operative, Cammie is sheltered from
“normal teenage life” until she meets a local boy while on a class surveillance mission.
ONLY THE GOOD SPY YOUNG. Book Four. Cammie Morgan questions the loyalty of her
classmates and friends after she learns that one of her most trusted allies is actually a double-agent, and
now danger follows her everywhere.
Constable, Cathryn
THE WOLF PRINCESS. Sophie Smith is a teenage orphan stuck in a boarding school in London, but
at night she dreams of Russia and wolves. Then, on a class trip to St. Petersburg, she finds herself and
her two friends deliberately separated from the group and whisked off into the silver forest of her
dreams, where a mystery awaits.
Grisham, John
THEODORE BOONE: THE ACCUSED. Book Three. Thirteen-year-old Theodore Boone faces his
biggest challenge when a new case opens up in Strattenburg and Theo is the prime suspect when the
police discover some stolen computer equipment in his locker.
Nixon, Joan Lowery
THE KIDNAPPING OF CHRISTINA LATTIMORE. A teenage girl is kidnapped, but when freed,
is accused of masterminding the scheme to extort money from her wealthy grandmother.
Skelton, Matthew
ENDYMION SPRING. Having reluctantly accompanied his academic mother and pesky younger sister
to Oxford, 12- year old Blake Winters is at loose ends until he stumbles across an ancient and magical
book, secretly brought to England in 1453 by Gutenberg’s mute apprentice to save it from evil forces,
and which now draws Blake into a dangerous and life-threatening quest.
REALISTIC FICTION
Bauer, Joan
CLOSE TO FAMOUS. The residents of Culpepper, despite their grand aspirations, have made little
progress toward achieving their goals, but unexpected events and surprises put the ambitions of the
residents of Culpepper to the test.
Choldenko, Gennifer
AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS. (2005 Newbery Honor Book) A twelve-year-old boy named
Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards’ families were housed there, and has to contend
with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.
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Fitzgerald, Laura Marx
UNDER THE EGG. Her grandfather's dying words lead thirteen-year-old Theodora Tenpenny to a
valuable, hidden painting she fears may be stolen, but it is her search for answers in her Greenwich
Village neighborhood that brings a real treasure.
Frederick, Heather Vogel
MUCH ADO ABOUT ANNE. Book Two of the Mother-Daughter Book Club series. Entering
seventh grade at Walden Middle School, four girls continue their mother-daughter book club, reading
Lucy Maud Montgomery's "Anne of Green Gables" while dealing with a mean, troublemaking
classmate.
Giff, Patricia Reilly
PICTURES OF HOLLIS WOODS. (2003 Newbery Honor Book) A troublesome twelve-year-old
orphan, staying with an elderly artist who needs her, remembers the only other time she was happy in a
foster home, with a family that truly seemed to care about her.
Holt, Kimberly Willis
WHEN ZACHARY BEAVER CAME TO TOWN. During the summer of 1971 in a small Texas
town, thirteen-year-old Toby and his best friend Cal meet the star of a sideshow act, 600 pound Zachary,
the fattest boy in the world.
Key, Watt
FOURMILE. A mysterious stranger arrives at a boy's rundown Alabama farm home, just as a
dangerous situation is unfolding for the twelve-year-old and his widowed mother
Konigsburg, E.L.
VIEW FROM SATURDAY. (1997 Newbery Winner) Four students, with their own individual
stories, develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher, a paraplegic, who chooses them
to represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition.
Lord, Cynthia
RULES. (2007 Newbery Honor Book) Frustrated at life with an autistic brother, twelve-year-old
Catherine longs for a normal existence, but her world is further complicated by a friendship with a young
paraplegic.
Lupica, Mike
HEAT. Pitching prodigy Michael Arroyo is on the run from social services after being banned from
playing Little League baseball because rival coaches doubt he is only 12 years old and he has no parents
to offer them proof.
MILLION DOLLAR THROW. Eighth-grade star quarterback Nate Brodie's family is feeling the
stress of the troubled economy, and Nate is frantic because his best friend Abby is going blind. When he
gets a chance to win a million dollars if he can complete a pass during the halftime of a New England
Patriot's game, he is nearly overwhelmed by the pressure to succeed.
Philbrick, Rodman
ZANE & THE HURRICANE:A Story of Katrina. A twelve-year-old boy and his dog become
trapped in New Orleans during the horrors of Hurricane Katrina.
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Schmidt, Gary
OKAY FOR NOW. Fourteen-year-old Doug Swieteck faces many challenges, including an abusive
father, a brother traumatized by Vietnam, suspicious teachers and police officers, and isolation, but when
he meets a girl known as Lil Spicer, he develops a close relationship with her and finds a safe place at
the local library.
Shusterman, Neal
THE SCHWA WAS HERE. A Brooklyn eighth-grader nicknamed Antsy befriends the Schwa, an
“invisible-ish” boy who is tired of blending into his surroundings and going unnoticed by nearly
everyone.
Spinelli, Jerry
WRINGER. (1998 Newbery Honor Book) As Palmer comes of age, he must either accept the
violence of being a wringer at his town’s annual Pigeon Day hunt or find the courage to oppose it.
Stead, Rebecca
LIAR & SPY. Seventh-grader Georges adjusts to moving from a house to an apartment, his father's
efforts to start a new business, his mother's extra shifts as a nurse, being picked on at school, and Safer, a
boy who wants his help spying on another resident of their building.
Voight, Cynthia
HOMECOMING series. Abandoned by their mother, four children begin a search for a home and an
identity.
White, Ruth
BELLE PRATER’S BOY. (1997 Newbery Honor Book) When Woodrow’s mother suddenly
disappears, he moves to his grandparents home in a small Virginia town where he befriends his cousin
and together they find the strength to face the terrible losses and fears in their lives.
HUMOR
Ferris, Jean
ONCE UPON A MARIGOLD. A young man with a mysterious past and a penchant for inventing
things leaves the troll who raised him, meets an unhappy princess he has loved from afar, and discovers
a plot against her and her father.
Korman, Gordon
UNGIFTED. Due to an administrative mix-up, troublemaker Donovan Curtis is sent to the Academy of
Scholastic Distinction, a special program for gifted and talented students, after pulling a major prank at
middle school.
Myers, Anna
CONFESSIONS FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S CHAIR. After participating in a cruel prank on a
classmate, fourteen-year-old Robin and her mother move to Oklahoma, where Robin is mistaken for the
substitute principal and receives a new perspective on bullying.
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THE CLASSICS
Carroll, Lewis
ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Retells the familiar tale of a young girl who falls into a rabbit hole and
meets many unusual characters.
London, Jack
THE CALL OF THE WILD. The adventures of an unusual dog, part St. Bernard, part Scotch
shepherd, that is forcibly taken to the Klondike gold fields where he eventually becomes the leader of a
wolf pack.
WHITE FANG. The adventures in the northern wilderness of a dog who is part wolf and how he
comes to make peace with man.
Montgomery, L.M.
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES. An adventurous young orphan goes to live on a farm with an elderly
brother and sister.
O”Hara, Mary
MY FRIEND FLICKA. An aimless Wyoming teenager at odds with his practical father finds purpose
when he befriends a wild filly.
Verne, Jules.
TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and other titles. A classic tale by the
author who is the father of science fiction.
Wyss, J.
SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON. The family builds a wonderful house in a tree, survives cleverly and
happily, not wanting to be rescued.
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