A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
Torn Thread by Anne Isaacs
The Single Shard tells the story of a 12-year-old boy
named Tree-ear. He is an orphan and lives under a
bridge in Ch’ulp’o, a small village in 12th Century Korea,
with Crane-man, a crippled old man. One day, when no
one is around, Tree-ear sneaks into Potter Min's house
for a closer look at his creations.
It is June 1943, and for two years the Nazi armies have
occupied the Polish town of Bedzin. Twelve-year-old Eva,
along with her father and her sister, have been forced to
leave their comfortable home and move into a tiny attic
room in the Jewish ghetto.
Daughter of the Wind By Michael Cadnum
Hallegerd is the 17 year-old daughter of her Norwegian
village's leader. A group of Danes, acting under the orders of a powerful, warring-king's daughter, kidnap her
and intend to marry her to this noblewoman's son. These three young people find their fates intertwined as a
series of events take them into danger far from home.
The Master Puppeteer By Katherine Paterson
A thirteen-year-old boy describes the poverty and discontent of 18th century Osaka and the world of puppeteers in which he lives.
Goodbye, Vietnam by Gloria Whelan
Thirteen-year-old Mai and her family embark on a dangerous sea voyage from Vietnam to Hong Kong to escape the unpredictable and often brutal Vietnamese government.
Call it Courage by Armstrong Sperry
A legendary adventure story of how Mafatu, the son of
the Great Chief of Hikueru, a Polynesian race who worships courage, conquers his fear of the sea and proves
he isn't a coward.
Keystone Kids by John Tunis
When two young brothers join the Brooklyn Dodgers,
one becomes team manager and must battle dissension and prejudice to unite the team and convince the
players to accept the new Jewish catcher.
Eva's life takes a terrifying turn when she and her sister are
torn from their father and imprisoned in a Nazi work camp
in Czechoslovakia
E. L. Wright
Middle School
ELA Department
When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue
Park
1940: Sun-hee and her older brother Tae-yul live in Korea,
which is under Japanese rule. Korean customs and traditions are forbidden by law. As the family struggles under
these conditions, World War II comes to the region, and
with it the life-and-death decisions of wartime.
Among the Hidden by Margaret Haddix
Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He's lived his entire life in
hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family's farm, he is no
longer even allowed to go outside. Does Luke dare to
become involved in a dangerous plan? Can he afford not
to?
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple By Karen Cushman
In 1849 a twelve-year-old girl who calls herself Lucy is
distraught when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a small California mining town. There Lucy
helps run a boarding house and looks for comfort in
books while trying to find a way to return "home."
Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse
In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles
her family's flight from Russia in 1919 and her own experiences when she must be left in Belgium for a while
when the others immigrate to America.
IB Summer
Reading
Choices
Rising
7th Graders
List at least 3 Connections you
Language Arts
Summer Reading
Directions: Read 1 novel of your
choice and ask yourself, “How can I
connect the reading to my life?” After
reading, see how many personal connections you can make. Fill in the
chart with your ideas using complete
sentences. You must complete each
graphic organizer on another sheet of
paper. Do not write on the brochure.
You may print the organizers and
write on them or write them on notebook paper.
Compare and contrast your personality traits to those of your
favorite character in the novel.
You may make a Venn Diagram.
State in complete sentences what lessons you learned from the Connections you
You
Character
both
Plot: List the major events from
the novel:
Beginning/Introduction to problem or situation.
(Rising action) Major story
events/ actions leading to the
conclusion.
Climax
Resolution (Ending)
Locate 3 quotes from the novel.
Put one in each column, with
page number it is located on.
Then explain
Quote It!
Page #
“
Text_____________
“
_________
_______________________
____________________________________
_____________________________________
Choose 8 vocabulary words that
you do not know and complete
the vocabulary organizer. You
can print it and write on the
forms or rewrite it on separate
paper. You need one for each
vocabulary word.