This year we were able to purchase two novels for every student to keep and take home over the summer to read. Students received them today and you should see them at home. While they are not required reading, it would not be unheard of us to refer to them in the fall. We really think that students will enjoy them and we encourage them to relax and enjoy a good book!
6th graders:
Starfish by Lissa Fipps: The story is told in prose by a girl who is excessively bullied over her weight. It helps students understand the power words can have on a person’s life.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba: This is the TRUE story of a boy from Malawi, Africa who changed his small village suffering from famine to one of hope and prosperity (this one has been turned into a Netflix film). We will also be working with this book during summer camp!
7th graders:
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera: Earth has been destroyed and Petra is a young girl chosen to travel 100 years into the future to help establish a new human colony in space. She alone remembers the stories of Earth.
The Last Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes: Last year we read The Westing Game, this is an action packed game of money and danger that crosses the Westing Game and the movie Knives Out together into young adult fiction. You will want to order the 2nd book before you finish the first! Ms. Fryzel did – thank goodness for Amazon!
8th graders:
The Last Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes: Last year we read The Westing Game, this is an action packed game of money and danger that crosses the Westing Game and the movie Knives Out together into young adult fiction. You will want to order the 2nd book before you finish the first! Ms. Fryzel did – thank goodness for Amazon!
The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes: This book was on last year’s recommended summer reading list put out by the 3 high schools and it is a thriller! It is about a young girl who has been asked to keep secrets her whole life, secrets that have hurt her family and her. Now, she has found freedom, but only if she is willing to divulge all of her secrets.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho: 25 of these were raffled off, so not everyone received a copy of this book. A philosophical novel that teaches us that “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.”
Happy reading!