June 2015
Dear Middle School Parents:
Summer break is a time for students as well as faculty and staff to relax and participate in fun
activities with little effort. What better way to do this than to dive into a good book! Need book
recommendations? No worries because we have you covered. The first list includes titles highly
recommended by the Middle School librarian at Providence Day. The books vary from new and
popular to award-winning reads. The second list was compiled by the 2015-2016 North Carolina
Battle of the Books committee, which consists of a group of librarians and other educators from
across the state.
Please note that Providence Day’s Middle School English teachers expect each student to
read at least one book this summer. Early in the school year, all students will be assigned a
project relating to their summer choice. This will be one of the first graded assignments of the year.
Students are not required to choose their book from either of these lists, but we hope they consider
a title or two.
As an added incentive for summer reading, students may complete one of the activities below.
Each product must include the participant’s name, grade, and advisor’s name. Completed activities
are due to the Middle School Librarian by Friday, August 28, 2015. Participants will be recognized
in Middle School Assembly and awarded a gift.
1. Design bookmarks featuring scenes or a favorite character from any book on either list. Include
the character’s name or brief description of scene on back of the bookmark. Your bookmarks will be
on display in the middle room of Thompson-Jones Library in the fall. Be sure to include your name
and grade on back of the bookmark.
2. Make a video recording of a book review on any book from either list to be uploaded to the
Middle School library webpage. Please provide a copy of the recording on a flash disk or DVD to be
uploaded to the library webpage.
For more information about Middle School programs offered by Thompson-Jones Library at
Providence Day School, please visit the school website.
Happy reading!
Sincerely,
Corley May
Middle School Librarian
Amy Bynum
Middle School English
Department Chair
Middle School Summer Reading 2015
All titles are for grades 6-8 unless otherwise stated.
Summaries: Destiny Catalog, Amazon.com, Public Library of Charlotte Mecklenburg County
Beneath by Roland Smith
Pat O'Toole has always idolized his older brother, Coop, right up until the day Coop ran away from
their home just outside Washington, D.C. Now, a year later, he has received a package containing
a digital voice recorder and a cryptic message from his brother, which will lead Pat on a strange and
dangerous journey to the mysterious community living beneath the streets of New York.
Between Heaven and Earth by Eric Walters
DJ, David McLean's eldest grandson, plans to climb Kilimanjaro to scatter his grandfather's ashes,
but he faces numerous obstacles and finds that success is more difficult than he expected.
Can’t Look Away by Donna Cooner (Grade 8)
Sixteen-year-old Torrey Grey's YouTube videos on fashion and beauty for teenagers were famous,
but when her younger sister is killed by a drunk driver during a filming her world falls apart--cyber
bullies are attacking her, her father moves them to Texas, and she does not know who to trust at
her new school or whether her cousin is really a friend.
Edison’s Alley, Tesla’s Attic by Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman
After their home burns down, fourteen-year-old Nick, his younger brother, and their father move into
a ramshackle Victorian house they've inherited. When Nick opens the door to his attic room, he's hit
in the head by a toaster. That's just the beginning of his weird experiences with the old junk stored
up there. After getting rid of the odd antiques in a garage sale, Nick befriends some local kids and
they discover that all of the objects have extraordinary properties. What's more, Nick figures out that
the attic is a strange magnetic vortex, which attracts all sorts of trouble. It's as if the attic itself has
an intelligence . . . and a purpose.
The Ghost of Graylock by Dan Poblocki
Staying with their aunts over the summer, Neil Cady, his sister Bree, and their new friends Wesley
and Eric, set out to explore Greylock Hall, an abandoned psychiatric hospital which is supposed to
be haunted by the ghost of Nurse Janet.
Hungry by H.A. Swain
In Thalia's world there is no more food and no need for food, as everyone takes medication to ward
off hunger. But when she meets a boy who is part of an underground movement to bring food back,
she realizes that the meds are not working.
Hypnotists by Gordon Korman
Twelve-year-old Jackson Opus is descended from two powerful hypnotist bloodlines, but he has
just begun to realize that he can control other peoples' actions with sometimes frightening results-especially when the head of the Sentia Institute plans to use Jackson for his own benefit.
Jack Strong Takes A Stand by Tom Greenwald
Tired of being forced to participate in sports and take extra lessons and tutoring to become wellrounded in anticipation of college, middle-schooler Jack Strong stages a sit-in on his couch until his
parents ease up.
Jasmine and Maddie by Christine Pakkala
To grieving Jasmine, Maddie's a rich kid with no problems. To lonely Maddie, Jasmine is all cavaliercool in their tame Connecticut town.True friends they are not. Yet each hopes the other might save
her. Can Maddie give Jasmine what she needs? Could Jasmine rescue Maddie from the outskirts of
the crowd? When Jasmine steals Maddie's heirloom ring, just how far will she go to
keep it? In alternating chapters, Maddie and Jasmine take turns weaving their story about friendship
and coming of age.
Mutation by Roland Smith
"Marty and his best friend, Luther, have managed to rescue Marty's cousin Grace from the clutches
of the nefarious pseudo-naturalist Noah Blackwood, but their most dangerous mission lies ahead of
them. Marty's parents have been missing in Brazil for months, and their trail has all but run cold.
With time running out, Marty and the Cryptos Island crew race off for Brazil--where they discover
that Noah Blackwood has twisted the natural order of things beyond their wildest, most terrifying
dreams.”
Nerd Girls: A Catastrophe of Nerdish Proportions by Alan Lawrence Sitomer
As punishment for their perpetual infighting, the Nerd Girls and the ThreePees (Pretty, Popular,
Perfect) must compete together in the Academic Septhalon.
Palace of Lies (Palace Chronicles Book 3) by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Desmia discovers the reality of royalty is far from a fairy tale in this third adventure set in the
Cinderella-esque world of Just Ella and Palace of Mirrors. Desmia and her twelve sister-princesses
are ruling Suala together at last, a united front. The kingdom seems to have finally gotten its happily
ever after, but Desmia, trained by a lifetime of palace intrigue, is not so sure. And then the
unthinkable happens, and Desmia’s worst fears are confirmed. Now, without the support of the
sister-princesses she’s grown to rely on or the trappings of royalty that have always convinced
people to listen to her, Desmia must find the courage to seek out the truth on her own terms—and
to determine the course of two kingdoms.
P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams Garcia
After spending the summer of 1968 with their mother and the Black Panthers, Delphine, Vonetta,
and Fern return home to Brooklyn with a new feeling of independence, but they discover their father
has a new girlfriend, Uncle Darnell has come home from Vietnam a changed man, and Big Ma still
expects Delphine to take care of everything. Feeling overwhelmed, Delphine writes to her mother,
who reminds her to enjoy being eleven and not grow up too fast.
She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick
A London teenager, who is blind, and her younger brother travel to New York to find their missing
father, using clues from his notebook.
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
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.
Striker by David Skuy
Thirteen-year-old Cody, who was diagnosed with cancer for a tumor in his leg, wants to play soccer
again, but when he makes the team he finds himself with more playing time then he can handle.
The Recruit by Robert Muchamore
James becomes a part of the highly secretive organization, CHERUB, a group of teens whose
mission is to spy on terrorists and international drug dealers, hack into computers, and download
crucial information for the government.
The Secret Ingredient by Laura Schaefer
While working at her grandmother's Madison, Wisconsin, teashop, fourteen-year-old Annie hears of
a scone cook-off, for which the prize is an all-expense paid trip to London for tea, and enlists Genna
and Zoe to help her win. Includes proverbs, quotations, and brief stories about tea, as well as
recipes.
The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers
Seventeen-year-old Jocelyn follows clues apparently from her dead twin, Jack, in and around Seale
House, the terrifying foster home where they once lived, and with help from childhood friend Noah
she begins to uncover the truth about Jack's death and the company that employed him and Noah.
NC Battle of the Books List 2015-2016
Title
Author
The Crossover
Kwame Alexander
Sugar Changed the World
Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos
The Nine Pound Hammer
John Claude Bemis
Code Talker
Joseph Bruchac
Wild Things
Clay Carmichael
Etiquette and Espionage
Gail Carriger
Diamonds in the Shadow
Caroline B. Cooney
Out of My Mind
Sharon M. Draper
Incarceron
Catherine Fisher
Phineas Gage
John Fleischman
The Graveyard Book
Neil Gaiman
Dead End in Norvelt
Jack Gantos
One for the Murphys
Lynda Mullaly Hunt
The Great Greene Heist
Varian Johnson
Death Cloud
Andrew Lane
White Fang
Jack London
Under the Mesquite
Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Cinder
Marissa Meyer
Stones in Water
Donna Jo Napoli
Left for Dead
Peter Nelson
Rebels of the Kasbah
Joe O'Neill
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Ransom Riggs
The Wednesday Wars
Gary D. Schmidt
Between Shades of Gray
Ruta Sepetys
Everlost
Neal Shusterman
Counting by 7s
Holly Goldberg Sloan
Brown Girl Dreaming
Jacqueline Woodson