Crosby Middle School
2014-2015 Summer Reading Assignment
Wow…the end of the school year has finally arrived! We applaud your hard work this year and want to make sure
that you begin the upcoming school year on the right track. Research shows that students who read over the summer
break maintain and improve their reading. Those who do not engage in educational activities during the summer
experience learning loss. To keep your minds active, Crosby students are required to choose one book from each
of the following two lists (2 books total). When you return in August an assignment based upon the books will be
given to you.
2015 Kentucky Bluegrass Award List
The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible Became Possible…on Schindler’s List: A Memoir / Leon Leyson,
with Marilyn J. Harran and Elisabeth B. Leyson
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2013.
Leon Leyson describes growing up in Poland, being forced from home to ghetto to concentration camps by
the Nazis, and being saved by Oskar Schindler. A powerful work of literary nonfiction.
Counting by 7s / Holly Goldberg Sloan
Dial Books for Young Readers, 2013.
Twelve-year-old genius and outsider Willow Chance must figure out how to connect with other people and
find a surrogate family for herself after her parents are killed in a car accident.
Doll Bones / Holly Black.
Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2013.
Zach, Alice, and Poppy, friends from a Pennsylvania middle school who have long enjoyed acting out
imaginary adventures with dolls and action figures, embark on a real-life quest to Ohio to bury a doll made
from the ashes of a dead girl.
Foul Trouble / John Feinstein.
Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.
College recruiters are clamoring to sign up Terrell Jamerson, the #1 high school basketball player in the
country. But not all of these recruiters are straight shooters, and Terrell will have to think fast if he wants to
stay in the game.
The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel / Deborah
Hopkinson.
Alfred A. Knopf, 2013
Eel, an orphan, and his best friend Florrie must help Dr. John Snow prove how cholera is spread when an
epidemic sweeps across their London neighborhood in 1854.
Paperboy / Vince Vawter.
Delacorte Press, 2013.
When an eleven-year-old boy takes over a friend's newspaper route in July, 1959, in Memphis, his
debilitating stutter makes for a memorable month. A run-in with the neighborhood junkman stirs up real
trouble--and puts the boy's life, as well as that of his family's devoted housekeeper, in danger.
Rump / Leisl Shurtliff.
Alfred A. Knopf, 2013
Tells the tale of Rumpelstiltskin's childhood and youth, explaining why his name is so important, how he is
able to spin straw into gold, and why a first-born child is his reward for helping the miller's daughterturned-queen.
Soldier Dog / Sam Angus.
Feiwel and Friends, 2013.
Thirteen-year-old Stanley joins the army during World War I after running away from home and is
assigned to the War Dog School, where he is partnered with a messenger dog named Bones and the two of
them are sent to France.
Steelheart / Brandon Sanderson.
Delacorte Press, 2013.
At age eight, David watched as his father was killed by an Epic, a human with superhuman powers, and
now, ten years later, he joins the Reckoners--the only people who are trying to kill the Epics and end their
tyranny.
Crosby Middle School
2014-2015 Summer Reading Assignment
Sure Signs of Crazy / Karen Harrington.
Little, Brown and Co., 2013.
Twelve-year-old Sarah writes letters to her hero, To Kill a Mockingbird's Atticus Finch, for help
understanding her mentally ill mother, her first real crush, and life in her small Texas town, all in the course
of one momentous summer.
Classic Novels for Middle School Readers
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea/Jules Verne
Professor Aronnax, his faithful servant, Conseil, and a Canadian harpooner, Ned Land, begin an extremely
hazardous voyage to rid the seas of a little-known and terrifying sea monster.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes/Arthur Conan Doyle
Set against the foggy, mysterious backdrops of London and the English countryside, these are the stories of
the infamous Detective Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Doctor Watson.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland/Lewis Carroll
A little girl falls down a rabbit hole and discovers a world of nonsensical and amusing characters.
Anne of Green Gables/L.M. Montgomery
Instead of a strong orphan boy to help work the farm, the Cuthberts of Avonlea receive a chatty,
impulsive redheaded girl at Green Gables.
Fahrenheit 451/Ray Bradbury
Fireman Guy Montag doesn’t want to burn books anymore, he wants to read them, but the society in which
he lives forbids it.
Robinson Crusoe/Daniel Defoe
During one of his several adventurous voyages in the 1600's an Englishman becomes the sole survivor of a
shipwreck and lives for nearly thirty years on a deserted island.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry/Mildred D. Taylor
Nine year old Cassie Logan tells the story of her strong and loving African American family in
1930s Mississippi, and their struggles against the threats of poverty and intense racial hatred.
Treasure Island/Robert Louis Stevenson
While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, the mistress of the inn
and her son find a treasure map that leads to a pirate fortune as well as great danger.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn/Betty Smith
The story focuses on an impoverished but aspirational third-generation-American adolescent girl and her
ethnically-blended family in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and New York City during the first two decades of
the 20th century.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz/L. Frank Baum
Follow the yellow brick road and take a trip back to Oz; this children's story, written in 1900, has become
one of the most famous and lasting stories ever written. Very different from the movie.
Obviously, you are encouraged to read more than two books this summer. As always you are
encouraged to participate in the Louisville Free Public Library Summer Reading Program,
but that will not fulfill the requirement for Crosby’s assignment.
Reading is one of the easiest ways to increase learning power and keep yourself mentally
sharp for when you return to school in August. The administrators, teachers, and staff of
Crosby Middle School believe in the power of reading and hope you make reading part of your daily summer
activities.
Additional reading practice opportunities will be available on the Crosby website.