All incoming grade 6-8 students are required to read at least ONE book from the given required book list and ONE book from the suggested author list.

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2 Dear Parents, During the summer months, it is crucial that children continue to read daily to sustain their academic skills. The importance of summer reading cannot be overemphasized. Educational researchers note that some children s reading levels dropped as much as two grades when students did not read regularly over the summer months. It is really simple: the more students read, the better readers they become. Though only two books are required for summer reading, we hope that your child reads many more. Your support is a critical part of the Summer Reading Program. All incoming grade 6-8 students are required to read at least ONE book from the given required book list and ONE book from the suggested author list. Students are required to complete one of the listed assignments for each book read. Assignments should be passed in to students ELA teachers by September 11, 2015 and will count as a quiz grade. Students who complete their assignments and pass them in on time will be invited to a summer reading celebration to be held in the fall. Have an enjoyable summer and happy reading! Sincerely, The English Language Arts Department

3 Dear Seventh Grade Reader: Next September you will be entering the seventh grade. Reading is one of the most important activities you can do this summer to prepare for seventh grade. These selections offer a rich world of reading experiences with a variety of authors that will strengthen your reading skills and broaden your understanding of literary styles. Enjoy! Here is what you need to do: 1. Read one book from the required book list 2. Read one book from the suggested author list 3. Complete one square on the Assignment page for each book you read. You cannot use the same square twice. 4. Pass in your completed work to your ELA teacher by September 11, 2015!

4 Required Book List Fiction The Misfits- James Howe Four students who do not fit in at their small town middle school decide to create a third party for the student council elections to represent all students who have ever been called names. Uglies- Scott Westerfeld Tally is faced with a difficult choice when her new friend Shay decides to risk life on the outside rather than submit to the forced operation that turns sixteen year old girls into gorgeous beauties, and realizes that there is a whole new side to the pretty world that she doesn't like. The Bar Code Tattoo- Suzanne Weyn Things for Kayla progress from bad, as in being told her computer grades disqualify her from an art scholarship, to worse, when she refuses to accept an identification bar code tattoo on her seventeenth birthday. The Crossover- Kwame Alexander In this middle grade novel in verse that's Love That Dog meets The Watsons Go to Birmingham meets Slam, twelve-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health. El Deafo- Cece Bell Going to school and making new friends can be tough. But going to school and making new friends while wearing a bulky hearing aid strapped to your chest? That requires superpowers! Tesla s Attic- Neil Shusterman and Eric Elfman With a plot combining science and the supernatural, four kids are caught up in a dangerous plan concocted by the eccentric inventor, Nikola Tesla. Series Nonfiction The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, & the Fall of Imperial Russia- Candace Fleming Here is the riveting story of the Russian Revolution as it unfolded. When Russia s last tsar, Nicholas II, inherited the throne in 1894, he was unprepared to do so. With their four daughters (including Anastasia) and only son, a hemophiliac, Nicholas and his reclusive wife, Alexandra, buried their heads in the sand, living a life of opulence as World War I raged outside their door and political unrest grew. Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream- Tanya Lee Stone A chronicle of the thirteen women who tried to become NASA's first women astronaut trainees in the early 1960s. All were pilots; each earned high scores in preliminary tests. They were not accepted into the program, but their story is riveting.

5 Suggested Author List Avi Natalie Babbit Sarah Dessen Veronica Roth James Dashner Langston Hughes Cornelia Funke Cynthia Kadohata E. L. Konigsburg Gordon Korman C.S. Lewis Mike Lupica Wendy Mass Scott O Dell Gary Paulsen J.K. Rowling Cynthia Rylant Louis Sachar Neal Shusterman Roland Smith Jerry Spinelli Anna Staniszewski J.R.R. Tolkien Jane Yolen You can access the MMS Summer Reading Information at: Great Summer Reading Incentive Programs Barnes & Noble: Earn a free book! Pizza Hut: Spark Your Greatness with Book It! Scholastic: Power up & Read!

6 Summer Reading Assignments Complete one square for each book you read. You cannot use the same square twice. For example, if you complete square 5 for the first book you read, you must choose a different square for your second book! Pass in your completed work to your ELA teacher by September 11, 2015! 1. Write a review of your book for Amazon.com. Give 2 opinions about it and cite examples using quotations from the book to support why you think it is an interesting book or not. Include whether you would recommend it to a friend and say why or why not. 6. Create a WANTED poster for a character in the book. Include a picture, a written physical description, the crime committed and whom to call with information. 2. Pretend you are a talk show host and 1 character from the book will be a guest on your show. Create a transcript of the interview which includes an introduction of the character to the audience and 5 why or how questions that you, the host, would ask the character. Then, answer each question in the character s voice. 7. Create a soundtrack for the book. What 5 songs would you choose? Give an explanation for why you chose each song and how it connects to the events or characters in the book. Include the title, artist and lyrics for each song. 3. Write a proposal to have the book you ve read made into a movie. Include which actors will play the main characters in the movie and why, and the location where the movie will be filmed and why. Create the movie poster for the book. It should include elements from a real movie poster such as a slogan, the actors and the rating. 8. Design a final exam for the book. The exam must contain 5 true or false questions, 10 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions and 1 open response or essay question. Include an answer key. 4. Choose a character from the book and create a scrapbook page showing how the character s experiences relate to the theme of the book. Use pictures, words, and/or your own drawings and put them together on one piece of paper. You must also include at least two quotations from the book that relate to the theme. On the back, write a brief explanation (one paragraph) of how some of the mementos on your scrapbook relate to the theme. 9. In a short essay, identify a problem that a character in your book had to face. What was the problem and how did the character solve it? If you were that character, explain what would you have done differently and why. 5. After reading a non-fiction book, become a teacher. Prepare a lesson that will teach something you learned from the book. It could be a how-to lesson or one on content. Plan carefully to present all necessary information in a logical order. You don t want to confuse your students! 10. Create a short book trailer that portrays the theme of the book. You can use online websites such as Animoto.com, Pixton.com or use a movie-making program on your computer. Make sure your trailer includes pictures and words and clearly shows the theme of the book. 11. In a short essay, compare and contrast yourself with one of the characters in the book. Explain 3 similarities and 3 differences you have with that character. 12. On a poster, draw 4 objects or symbols to represent the book. Explain what each object or symbol represents and explain how the symbol is important to the book. 13. Pretend you could put yourself in the book. Write a short essay explaining where would you put yourself and why? How would you being there change the story? 14. Imagine you are the author of the book. In a short essay, describe what happens to a character years before or years after the story takes place. 15. Create a timeline of 10 events for the book, including an illustration and a caption for each event.