6th Grade Summer Reading Selections

*Indicates a more challenging choice

REAL LIFE AND HISTORICAL FICTION

Avi -  Fighting Ground 
Thirteen-year-old Jonathan goes off to fight in the Revolutionary War and discovers the real war is being fought within himself.

Creech, Sharon – Ruby Holler 
Thirteen-year-old fraternal twins Dallas and Florida have grown up in a terrible orphanage but their lives change forever when an eccentric but sweet older couple invites them each on an adventure, beginning in an almost magical place called Ruby Holler.

*Creech, Sharon – Absolutely Normal Chaos 
Thirteen-year-old Mary Lou grows up quickly during the summer while learning about romance, homesickness, death, and her cousin's search for his biological father.

Cushman, Karen – Catherine Called Birdy 
The daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off.

Giff, Patricia Reilly – Pictures of Hollis Woods  
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.

Henry, Marguerite – Misty of Chincoteague  
The determination of two youngsters to win a Chincoteague pony is greatly increased when the Phantom and her colt are among those rounded up for the yearly auction.

Hobbs, W.- The Maze 
13 year old Rick Walker discovers a lot about himself, the environment, and how to survive while living in Utah’s Canyonland National Park.

Konigsburg, E.L. – View from Saturday 
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.

Martin, Ann M. - A Dog's Life   
Squirrel, a stray puppy, tells her life story, from her nurturing mother and brother to making her own way in the world, facing busy highways, changing seasons, and humans both gentle and brutal.

Philbrick, Rodman- Freak the Mighty   
Incredible union of a large boy with a small brain, and a small boy with a brilliant brain.

Robinson, Barbara – Best Christmas Pageant Ever  
The six mean Herdman kids lie, steal, smoke cigars (even the girls) and then become involved in the community Christmas pageant.

Wolff, Virginia – Bat 6 
In small town, post-World War Oregon, twenty-one 6th grade girls recount the story of an annual softball game, during which one girl's bigotry comes to the surface.

Yep, L. - Dragonwings
Moon Shadow leaves his Chinese village in 1903 and goes to live with his father in San Francisco where the two work toward their dream of creating a dragon-like flying machine

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MYSTERY

Barry, Dave – Science Fair  
The president of Kprshtskan is plotting to infiltrate the science fair at Hubble Middle School in Maryland in order to take over the United States government, but when Toby Harbinger, an ordinary student, makes up his mind finally to win the fair, the terrorists' plans go awry.

*Blue, Balliett – The Calder Game
When seventh-grader Calder Pillay disappears from a remote English village--along with an Alexander Calder sculpture to which he has felt strangely drawn--his friends Petra and Tommy fly from Chicago to help his father find him.

Colfer, Eoin – Half Moon Investigations  
When Marjan, a thirteen-year-old crippled girl, joins the Sultan's harem in ancient Persia, she gathers for Shahrazad the stories which will save the queen's life.

Fletcher, S.-  Shadow Spinner  
When Marjan, a thirteen-year-old crippled girl, joins the Sultan's harem in ancient Persia, she gathers for Shahrazad the stories which will save the queen's life.

*Funke, C.-  The Thief Lord  
Escaping the aunt who wants to adopt only one of them, two orphaned brothers run away from Hamburg to Venice, finding shelter with a gang of street children and their leader, the thirteen-year-old "Thief Lord," while also eluding the detective hired to return them to Germany.

Springer, Nancy – The Case of the Missing Marquess
Enola Holmes, much younger sister of detective Sherlock Holmes, must travel to London in disguise to unravel the disappearance of her missing mother.

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FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION

*Alexander, L.- The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran the Wanderer, The High King  
Tales of Taran, a series set in the mythical land of Prydain, as Taran journeys from boyhood to manhood.

*Cooper, Susan- Over Sea, Under Stone, Dark is Rising, Greenwitch, The Grey King, Silver on the Tree  
Thrilling fantasy series where the conflict of good and evil reaches new levels.

*Farmer, Nancy- The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm  
Science fiction odyssey set in Zimbabwe in the year 2194.

Haddix, M.P.-  Found 
When thirteen-year-olds Jonah and Chip, who are both adopted, learn they were discovered on a plane that appeared out of nowhere, full of babies with no adults on board, they realize that they have uncovered a mystery involving time travel and two opposing forces, each trying to repair the fabric of time.

*Hale, S.-  Goose Girl 
On her way to marry a prince she's never met, Princess Anidori is betrayed by her guards and her lady-in-waiting and must become a goose girl to survive until she can reveal her true identity and reclaim the crown that is rightfully hers.

Law, I.- Savvy  
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, M.- A Wrinkle in Time  
A provocative, imaginative tale of a brother and sister in search of their father who is lost in the fifth dimension.

Pierce, T.-  The Circle Opens Series; Song of the Lioness Series; Protector of the Small Series  
Fantasy adventure series

Rowling, J.K.- Harry Potter Series
Harry Potter’s adventures at the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Waugh, S.-  Space Race  
When he learns that he and his father must soon leave Earth, eleven-year-old Thomas Derwent is upset, but a terrible accident that separates the two of them makes Thomas's situation much worse.

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NON-FICTION

Dendy, Leslie & Mel Boring – Guinea Pig Scientists: Bold Self Experimenters in Science & Medicine 
From hundreds of examples gathered during a decade of research, the authors offer 10 enthralling case studies of scientists from the past several centuries who became their own test subjects--with occasionally fatal results.

*Fleischman, J. - Phineas Gage:  The Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science 
The incredible story of the railroad worker who, in 1848, survived the piercing blast of a 13-pound iron rod as it entered below his cheekbone and exited the front of his skull.

Freedman, Russell. - Freedom Walkers   
Presents the story of the Montgomery bus boycott and the key persons and events that contributed to the year-long struggle for equal rights on Montgomery's city buses.

Freedman, Russell. - Voice that Challenged a Nation
Tells the life story of singer Marian Anderson, describing her famous 1939 Lincoln Memorial performance and explaining how she helped end segregation in the American arts after being refused the right to perform at Washington's Constitution Hall because of the color of her skin.

*Krull, Kathleen – Isaac Newton   
Contains a look at the life and times of Isaac Newton, the seventeenth century scientist who provided an explanation of gravity, from his childhood through his accomplishments in science.

Freedman, Russell – Kids at Work    
Text and accompanying photographs show the use of children as industrial workers, interwoven with the story of Lewis W. Hine who took these photographs and whose life work made significant difference in the lives of others. 

Partridge, Elizabeth – This Land was Made for You and Me   
An illustrated biography of Woody Guthrie, composer of "This Land Is Your Land," and over three thousand other folk songs and ballads, telling about his travels throughout the U.S. in the first half of the twentieth century, and discussing how his experiences influenced his music.

 *Thimmesh, Catherine - Team Moon : How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon.    
Chronicles the Apollo 11 mission, the spaceflight that landed the first man on Earth's moon on July 20, 1969, emphasizing the contributions and reactions of the thousands of people who made the mission successful.

 *Woodson, Jacqueline - Locomotion.    
Inspired by his teacher, eleven-year-old Lonnie begins to write about his life in a series of poems in which he discusses his feelings about his friends, his foster mom, his little sister Lili, and the death of his parents.

GRAPHIC NOVELS

Gaiman, Neil - Coraline (The graphic novel)
Looking for excitement, Coraline ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly different from her own, where she must challenge a gruesome entity in order to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others.

Herge - Tintin (series)
Join traveling reporter Tintin and his faithful dog Snowy, along with well-known friends such as Captain Haddock, as they embark on extraordinary adventures spanning historical and political events, fantasy and science-fiction adventures and thrilling mysteries.

*Indicates a more challenging choice

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awp 05/09