| Belle Prater's Boy - Ruth White |
When Woodrow's mother suddenly disappears, he moves to his
grandparents' home in a small Virginia town where he befriends his cousin
and together they find the strength to face the terrible losses and fears
in their lives. |
| Farewell to Manzanar - Jeanne W.
Houston |
The true story of one Japanese American family and their
attempt to survive the indignities of forced detention
during World War II. |
| Crash – Jerry Spinelli |
The story of a seventh grade football sensation in his humorous, and touching journey through seventh grade. |
| The Golden Compass - Phillip Pullman |
Lyra, age 11, must travel north to fulfill her destiny of saving her people. Fantasy with armored bears, and the value of friendship and love. |
| Great Expectations - Charles Dickens |
Suspenseful story of Pip as he searches for his true
benefactor. |
| The Hobbit- J.R.R. Tolkien |
The delightful fantasy set in Middle Earth peopled by charming
dwarf-like creatures called hobbits. |
| The House on Mango Street- Sandra
Cisneros |
Realistic portrayal of Hispanic culture in an urban area of the
U.S. |
| The Island - Gary Paulsen |
15-year-old Wil discovers himself and the wonders of nature on
an island in northern Wisconsin. |
| The Lillies of the Field - W.
Barrett |
A group of nuns hold an impossible dream - Homer Smith, a black
ex-GI, sets out to make the dream a reality. |
| Lily's Crossing - Patricia Giff |
A young girl learns that World War II is bound to change everyone,
even the Americans who never leave home. |
| Little Women - Louisa May Alcott |
Beloved story of the four March girls, Jo, Beth, Amy, and Meg,
as they grow up. |
| A Long Way From Chicago – Richard Peck |
A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois whit his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother. |
| Pictures of Hollis Woods - Patricia Reilly Giff |
A troublesome 12-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. |
| The Prince and the Pauper - Mark Twain |
An interesting story of two young boys who switched their identities
and their lifestyles. |
| Riding the Flume - Patricia Pfitsch |
In 1894, 15-year-old Francie determines to fight the lumbermen and protect the largest sequoia tree ever seen, which had been given to her sister just before her death six years later. |
| The Secret Garden - Frances H. Burnett |
Mary befriends the invalid son of a manor and together they
investigate the mysteries of a secret garden. |
| Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World - Jennifer Armstrong |
This is the extraordinary and harrowing true story of Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance. This is the story of their attempt to cross the frozen Antarctic continent from one side to the other and all the adventures they encountered. |
* Tangerine - Edward Bloor
(Discussion group title) |
Paul Fisher is an adolescent faced with the challenges of adjusting
to a new school, making new friends, and confronting the horrible truth about
his family. |
| Travel Team - Mike Lupica |
After he is cut from his travel basketball team--the very same team that his father once led to national prominence--twelve-year-old Danny Walker forms his own team of cast-offs that might have a shot at victory. |
| Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson |
A thrilling story of buried treasure, piracy, and derring-do in
days past. |
| 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne |
An embittered genius takes frfuge from humanity aboard his fantastic
submarine, the Nautilus. |
| When Zachary Beaver Came to Town – Kimberly Willis Holt |
Set during the Vietnam War, Cal and Todd befriend Zachary, “the fattest kid in the world,” after he is abandoned in their small Texas town. |
| Where the Lillies Bloom - Vera and Bill Cleaver |
A spunky 14-year-old girl holds her orphaned family together after
the death of their father. |
| Anne Frank: the Diary of a Young Girl - Anne
Frank |
Famous diary of a young Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis
in Amsterdam during World War II. |
| Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery |
Eleven-year-old Anne Shirley wins the heart of her foster mother
in this first novel of the Anne series. |
| The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman - Ernest Gains |
The story of a remarkable black woman's struggle against prejudice
from the Civil War through the 1960's. |
| The Black Stallion - Walter Farley |
Story of the wildest of all wild creatures - an untamed
stallion. |
| The Contender - Robert Lipsyte |
This novel tells the story of a young black man's struggle to
grow up in Harlem and become a fighter. |
| Death Be Not Proud - John Gunther |
The true story of a teenager's heroic battle against cancer. |
* Dr. Franklin’s Island -
Ann Halam
(Discussion group title) |
As the three survivors of a plane crash on their way to the rain forests of Ecuador, Semi, Miranda, and Arnie believe they are the only people on the island, yet they soon discover they are not as Dr. Franklin, a genetic engineer reveals himself and his twisted plan. |
Elsewhere - Gabrielle Zevin |
This young adult novel is a tender, funny, and thought-provoking story about first love and seeing death as the other half of life. Liz discovers a place so like Earth, but also completely different. |
| Fantastic Voyage - Isaac Asimov |
Four men and a woman, reduced to microscopic size, enter a man's
bloodstream to remove a blood clot. |
| Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift |
Generations learn the failings of man from his travel story to
fantastic lands. |
| Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury |
Stories that blend weird fantasy and chilling truth involving
time and space. |
| A Man Without A Country - Edward Hale |
"Damn the United States! I wish I never hear of the United
States again!" Philip Nolan's wish was his sentence. |
| Maximum Ride - James Patterson |
A group of genetically enhanced kids who can fly and have other unique talents are on the run from part-human, part-wolf predators called Erasers in this exciting science fiction thriller. |
| The Moves Make the Man - Bruce Brooks |
A black boy and an emotionally troubled white boy in North Carolina
form a precarious friendship. The bond that holds them together?
Basketball. |
| Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens |
The moving tale of an orphan who must make his way through the
horrors of London's sinister underworld. |
| Olive’s Ocean – Kevin Henkes |
On a summer visit to her grandmother’s cottage by the ocean, Martha gains perspective about her life. |
| The Outcasts of Poker Flat - Bret Harte |
Realistic portraits of Americans and immigrants in the California
Sierras. |
| Rascal - Sterling North |
Story of a ring-tailed raccoon and his eleven-year-old
friend. |
| Rebecca - Daphne DuMaurier |
Story of a young bride haunted by the ghost of her husband's first
wife. |
| Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Mildred Taylor |
A southern black family is determined to maintain their pride
and independence against hard times and racial inequality. |
| Shane - Jack Schaefer |
Set in the Old West, the story of a gunman's struggle to escape
his past by living with a normal, loving family. |
| Shoeless Joe - W.P. Kinsella |
The story of Ray, an insurance man turned Iowa farmer - a baseball
fanatic who builds his "Field of Dreams." |
| Sounder - William Armstrong |
A heart-wrenching story of a black family in the South. |
| Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson |
The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban's backyard. |
| White Fang - Jack London |
Story of the taming of a wild wolf-dog through the patience and
devotion of one man. |
| The Wind Singer - William Nicholson |
Relegated to the lowest levels of society after a schoolroom rebellion, Kestral Hath and her twin brother seek to recover the wind singer from the evil spirit lord. |
| The Witch of Blackbird Pond - Elizabeth George Speare |
When Kit's friendship with an old woman is discovered, she is
accused of witchcraft. |
| Witness - Karen Hesse |
The year is 1924, a small town in Vermont is falling under the influence of the Ku Klux Klan, two girls find themselves among those who are no longer welcome. |
| The Yearling - Marjorie Rawlings |
Jody Baxter, living in the Florida backwoods with his pet fawn,
experiences the joys and pains of growing up. |
Printer-friendly Summer Reading List