Rochambeau Middle School Summer Reading List
This is list of recommended books from Rochambeau Middle School. Copies of the list are also available at the library.
| Grade 6 | |
| Anderson, Laurie Halse | |
| Fever, 1793. 2000 | |
| In 1793 Philadelphia, sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick mother, learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of a yellow fever epidemic. | |
| Avi | |
| Crispin: Cross of Lead 2002 | |
|
Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret. Sequels include Crispin: At the Edge of the World |
| Avi | |
| Something Upstairs. 1988 | |
| When he moves from Los Angeles to Providence, Rhode Island, Kenny discovers that his new house is haunted by the spirit of a black slave boy who asks Kenny to return with him to the early nineteenth century and prevent his murder by slave traders. | |
| Bloor, Edward | |
| Tangerine. 1997 | |
| Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight. | |
| Chabon, Michael | |
| Summerland. 2002 | |
| Ethan Feld, the worst baseball player in the history of the game, finds himself recruited by a 100-year-old scout to help a band of fairies triumph over an ancient enemy. | |
| Choldenko, Gennifer | |
| Al Capone Does My Shirts. 2004 | |
| A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister. | |
| Choldenko, Gennifer | |
| If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period. 2007 | |
| Kirsten and Walk, seventh-graders at an elite private school, alternate telling how race, wealth, weight, and other issues shape their relationships as they and other misfits stand up to a mean but influential classmate, even as they are uncovering a long-kept secret about themselves. | |
| Clements, Andrew | |
| Things Not Seen. 2002 | |
| When fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes up and finds himself invisible, he and his parents and his new blind friend Alicia try to find out what caused his condition and how to reverse it. | |
| Colfer, Eoin | |
| Artemis Fowl. 2001 | |
| When a twelve-year-old evil genius tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll. Sequels include The Arctic Incident, The Eternity Code, The Opal Deception, The Lost Colony, The Time Paradox Series also includes Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel |
|
| Crowe, Chris | |
| Mississippi Trial, 1955. 2002 | |
| In Mississippi in 1955, a sixteen-year-old finds himself at odds with his grandfather over issues surrounding the kidnapping and murder of a fourteen-year-old African American from Chicago. | |
| Curtis, Christopher Paul | |
| The Watson's Go to Birmingham 1963. 1996 | |
| The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963. | |
| Farmer, Nancy | |
| The House of the Scorpion. 2002 | |
| In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patrón, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States. | |
| Funke, Cornelia | |
| Inkheart. 2003 | |
| Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service. Sequels include Inkspell. |
|
| Hawking, Stephen | |
| George's Secret Key to the Universe. | |
| (not available from the Southbury Library) | |
| Hesse, Karen | |
| The Music of Dolphins. 1996 | |
| After rescuing an adolescent girl from the sea, researchers learn she has been raised by dolphins and attempt to rehabilitate her to the human world. | |
| Hulme, John | |
| The Seems: The Glitch in Sleep. 2007 | |
| When twelve-year-old Becker Drane is recruited by The Seems, a parallel universe that runs everything in The World, he must fix a disastrous glitch in the Department of Sleep that threatens everyone's ability to ever fall asleep again. | |
| Jeter, Derek | |
| The Life You Imagine. 2000 | |
| Kinney, Jeff | |
| Diary of a Wimpy Kid. 2007 | |
| Greg records his sixth grade experiences in a middle school where he and his best friend, Rowley, undersized weaklings amid boys who need to shave twice daily, hope just to survive, but when Rowley grows more popular, Greg must take drastic measures to save their friendship. Sequels include Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules |
|
| Korman, Gordon | |
| No More Dead Dogs. 2000 | |
| Eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace is sentenced to detention attending rehearsals of the school play where, in spite of himself, he becomes wrapped up in the production and begins to suggest changes that improve not only the play but his life as well. | |
| Korman, Gordon | |
| The 6th Grade Nickname Game. | |
| (not available from the Southbury Library) | |
| Lupica, Mike | |
| Heat. 2006 | |
| Pitching prodigy Michael Arroyo is on the run from social services after being banned from playing Little League baseball because rival coaches doubt he is only twelve years old and he has no parents to offer them proof. | |
| Lupica, Mike | |
| Miracle on 49th Street. 2006 | |
| After her mother's death, twelve-year-old Molly learns that her father is a basketball star for the Boston Celtics. | |
| Lupica, Mike | |
| Summer Ball. 2007 | |
| Thirteen-year-old Danny must prove himself all over again for a disapproving coach and against new rivals at a summer basketball camp. Sequel to Travel Team. |
|
| Lupica, Mike | |
| Travel Team. 2004 | |
| 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. | |
| Macaulay, David | |
| The New Way Things Work. 1998 | |
| Masoff, Joy | |
| Oh Yuck. 2000 | |
| An alphabetical collection of articles about disgusting things, from acne, ants, and bacteria to worms, x-periments, and zits. | |
| Mercado, Nancy | |
| Tripping Over the Lunch Lady. 2004 | |
| An anthology of ten humorous short stories about life in school, written by well-known authors of children's books. | |
| Mull, Brandon | |
| Fablehaven. 2006 | |
| When Kendra and Seth go to stay at their grandparents' estate, they discover that it is a sanctuary for magical creatures and that a battle between good and evil is looming. Sequels include Rise of the Evening Star, Grip of the Shadow Plague |
|
| Murphy, Jim | |
| Blizzard. 2000 | |
| Presents a history, based on personal accounts and newspaper articles, of the massive snow storm that hit the Northeast in 1888, focusing on the events in New York City. | |
| Murphy, Jim | |
| The Great Fire. 1995 | |
| Nelson, Kadir | |
| We Are the Ship. 2008 | |
| Kadir Nelson tells the story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s through the decline after Jackie Robinson crossed over to the majors in 1947. | |
| Paulsen, Gary | |
| Harris and Me. 1993 | |
| Sent to live with relatives on their farm because of his unhappy home life, an eleven-year-old city boy meets his distant cousin Harris and is given an introduction to a whole new world. | |
| Paulsen, Gary | |
| The Transall Saga. 1998 | |
| While backpacking in the desert, thirteen-year-old Mark falls into a tube of blue light and is transported into a more primitive world, where he must use his knowledge and skills to survive. | |
| Riordan, Rick | |
| The Lightning Thief. 2005 | |
| Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson learns he is a demigod, the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea. His mother sends him to a summer camp for demigods where he and his new friends set out on a quest to prevent a war between the gods. Sequels include The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth |
|
| Schade, Susan | |
| Travels of Thelonious. 2006 | |
| At a time when animals only know myths about the talking humans who once dominated and nearly destroyed the world, a young chipmunk escapes danger in the City of Ruins and, with new friends, finds the Fog Mound, where all creatures live in peace and harmony. | |
| Schlitz, Laura Amy | |
| Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village. 2007 | |
| A collection of short one-person plays featuring characters, between ten and fifteen years old, who live in or near a thirteenth-century English manor. | |
| Selznick, Brian | |
| The Invention of Hugo Cabret. 2007 | |
| When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized. | |
| Spinelli, Jerry | |
| Stargirl. 2000 | |
| In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever. Sequels include Love, Stargirl |
|
| Tan, Shaun | |
| The Arrival. 2007 | |
| In this wordless graphic novel, a man leaves his homeland and sets off for a new country, where he must build a new life for himself and his family. | |
| Van Draanen, Wendelin | |
| Flipped. 2001 | |
| In alternating chapters, two teenagers describe how their feelings about themselves, each other, and their families have changed over the years. | |
| Wallace, Bill | |
| A Dog Called Kitty. 1980 | |
| Afraid of dogs since he was attacked by a mad one, Ricky resists taking in a homeless pup that shows up at the farm. | |
| Grades 7 & 8 | |
| Alexie, Sherman | |
| The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. 2007 | |
| Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. | |
| Anderson, Laurie Halse | |
| Catalyst. 2002 | |
| Eighteen-year-old Kate, who sometimes chafes at being a preacher's daughter, finds herself losing control in her senior year as she faces difficult neighbors, the possibility that she may not be accepted by the college of her choice, and an unexpected death. | |
| Anderson, Laurie Halse | |
| Fever, 1793. 2000 | |
| In 1793 Philadelphia, sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick mother, learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of a yellow fever epidemic. | |
| Avi | |
| Crispin: Cross of Lead 2002 | |
|
Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret. Sequels include Crispin: At the Edge of the World |
| Avi | |
| Something Upstairs. 1988 | |
| When he moves from Los Angeles to Providence, Rhode Island, Kenny discovers that his new house is haunted by the spirit of a black slave boy who asks Kenny to return with him to the early nineteenth century and prevent his murder by slave traders. | |
| Bloor, Edward | |
| London Calling. 2006 | |
| Seventh-grader Martin Conway believes that his life is monotonous and dull until the night the antique radio he uses as a night-light transports him to the bombing of London in 1940. | |
| Bloor, Edward | |
| Taken. 2007 | |
| In 2036 kidnapping rich children has become an industry, but when thirteen-year-old Charity Meyers is taken and held for ransom, she soon discovers that this particular kidnapping is not what it seems. | |
| Bloor, Edward | |
| Tangerine. 1997 | |
| Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight. | |
| Blumenthal, Karen | |
| The Story of Title IX. 2005 | |
| Up until the 1970s, if you were a girl, you were told you shouldn't play team sports, or go to college. But, in 1972, Title IX changed that, by ensuring that girls have the same opportunities as boys to participate in sports and classes. But that change did not come without a fight. | |
| Chabon, Michael | |
| Summerland. 2002 | |
| Ethan Feld, the worst baseball player in the history of the game, finds himself recruited by a 100-year-old scout to help a band of fairies triumph over an ancient enemy. | |
| Choldenko, Gennifer | |
| Al Capone Does My Shirts. 2004 | |
| A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister. | |
| Choldenko, Gennifer | |
| If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period. 2007 | |
| Kirsten and Walk, seventh-graders at an elite private school, alternate telling how race, wealth, weight, and other issues shape their relationships as they and other misfits stand up to a mean but influential classmate, even as they are uncovering a long-kept secret about themselves. | |
| Clements, Andrew | |
| Things Not Seen. 2002 | |
| When fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes up and finds himself invisible, he and his parents and his new blind friend Alicia try to find out what caused his condition and how to reverse it. | |
| Colfer, Eoin | |
| Artemis Fowl. 2001 | |
| When a twelve-year-old evil genius tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll. Sequels include The Arctic Incident, The Eternity Code, The Opal Deception, The Lost Colony, The Time Paradox Series also includes Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel |
|
| Crowe, Chris | |
| Mississippi Trial, 1955. 2002 | |
| In Mississippi in 1955, a sixteen-year-old finds himself at odds with his grandfather over issues surrounding the kidnapping and murder of a fourteen-year-old African American from Chicago. | |
| Curtis, Christopher Paul | |
| Elijah of Buxton. 2008 | |
| In 1859, eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American South, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice the lying preacher who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family's freedom. | |
| Curtis, Christopher Paul | |
| The Watson's Go to Birmingham 1963. 1996 | |
| The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963. | |
| Deuker, Carl | |
| Heart of a Champion. 2007 | |
| Seth faces a strain on his friendship with Jimmy, who is both a baseball champion and something of an irresponsible fool, when Jimmy is kicked off the team. | |
| Draper, Sharon | |
| Tears of a Tiger. | |
| (not available from the Southbury Library) | |
| Farmer, Nancy | |
| The House of the Scorpion. 2002 | |
| In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patrón, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States. | |
| Flake, Sharon | |
| The Skin I'm In. 1999 | |
| Thirteen-year-old Maleeka, uncomfortable because her skin is extremely dark, meets a new teacher with a birthmark on her face and makes some discoveries about how to love who she is and what she looks like. | |
| Funke, Cornelia | |
| Inkheart. 2003 | |
| Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service. Sequels include Inkspell. |
|
| Gilbin, James Cross | |
| Good Brother, Bad Brother. 2005 | |
| Grogan, John | |
| Marley & Me. 2005 | |
| The story of a family in the making and the wondrously neurotic dog who taught them what really matters in life. Is it possible for humans to discover the key to happiness through a bigger-than-life, bad-boy dog? Just ask the Grogans.--From publisher description. | |
| Hawking, Stephen | |
| George's Secret Key to the Universe. | |
| (not available from the Southbury Library) | |
| Hesse, Karen | |
| The Music of Dolphins. 1996 | |
| After rescuing an adolescent girl from the sea, researchers learn she has been raised by dolphins and attempt to rehabilitate her to the human world. | |
| Hulme, John | |
| The Seems: The Glitch in Sleep. 2007 | |
| When twelve-year-old Becker Drane is recruited by The Seems, a parallel universe that runs everything in The World, he must fix a disastrous glitch in the Department of Sleep that threatens everyone's ability to ever fall asleep again. | |
| Jeter, Derek | |
| The Life You Imagine. 2000 | |
| Kinney, Jeff | |
| Diary of a Wimpy Kid. 2007 | |
| Greg records his sixth grade experiences in a middle school where he and his best friend, Rowley, undersized weaklings amid boys who need to shave twice daily, hope just to survive, but when Rowley grows more popular, Greg must take drastic measures to save their friendship. Sequels include Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules |
|
| Klass, David | |
| You Don't Know Me. 2001 | |
| Fourteen-year-old John creates alternative realities in his mind as he tries to deal with his mother's abusive boyfriend, his crush on a beautiful, but shallow classmate and other problems at school. | |
| Koertge, Ron | |
| Shakespeare Bats Cleanup. 2003 | |
| When a fourteen-year-old baseball player catches mononucleosis, he discovers that keeping a journal and experimenting with poetry not only helps fill the time, it also helps him deal with life, love, and loss. | |
| Korman, Gordon | |
| No More Dead Dogs. 2000 | |
| Eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace is sentenced to detention attending rehearsals of the school play where, in spite of himself, he becomes wrapped up in the production and begins to suggest changes that improve not only the play but his life as well. | |
| Korman, Gordon | |
| Son of the Mob. 2002 | |
| Seventeen-year-old Vince's life is constantly complicated by the fact that he is the son of a powerful Mafia boss, a relationship that threatens to destroy his romance with the daughter of an FBI agent. | |
| Korman, Gordon | |
| The 6th Grade Nickname Game. | |
| (not available from the Southbury Library) | |
| Lupica, Mike | |
| Heat. 2006 | |
| Pitching prodigy Michael Arroyo is on the run from social services after being banned from playing Little League baseball because rival coaches doubt he is only twelve years old and he has no parents to offer them proof. | |
| Lupica, Mike | |
| Miracle on 49th Street. 2006 | |
| After her mother's death, twelve-year-old Molly learns that her father is a basketball star for the Boston Celtics. | |
| Lupica, Mike | |
| Summer Ball. 2007 | |
| Thirteen-year-old Danny must prove himself all over again for a disapproving coach and against new rivals at a summer basketball camp. Sequel to Travel Team. |
|
| Lupica, Mike | |
| Travel Team. 2004 | |
| 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. | |
| Masoff, Joy | |
| Oh Yuck. 2000 | |
| An alphabetical collection of articles about disgusting things, from acne, ants, and bacteria to worms, x-periments, and zits. | |
| Macaulay, David | |
| The New Way Things Work. 1998 | |
| Mercado, Nancy | |
| Tripping Over the Lunch Lady. 2004 | |
| An anthology of ten humorous short stories about life in school, written by well-known authors of children's books. | |
| Mull, Brandon | |
| Fablehaven. 2006 | |
| When Kendra and Seth go to stay at their grandparents' estate, they discover that it is a sanctuary for magical creatures and that a battle between good and evil is looming. Sequels include Rise of the Evening Star, Grip of the Shadow Plague |
|
| Murphy, Jim | |
| Blizzard. 2000 | |
| Presents a history, based on personal accounts and newspaper articles, of the massive snow storm that hit the Northeast in 1888, focusing on the events in New York City. | |
| Murphy, Jim | |
| The Great Fire. 1995 | |
| Myers, Walter Dean | |
| 145th Street. 2000 | |
| Ten stories portray life on a block in Harlem. | |
| Myers, Walter Dean | |
| Bad Boy. 2001 | |
| Nelson, Kadir | |
| We Are the Ship. 2008 | |
| Kadir Nelson tells the story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s through the decline after Jackie Robinson crossed over to the majors in 1947. | |
| Paulsen, Gary | |
| Harris and Me. 1993 | |
| Sent to live with relatives on their farm because of his unhappy home life, an eleven-year-old city boy meets his distant cousin Harris and is given an introduction to a whole new world. | |
| Paulsen, Gary | |
| The Transall Saga. 1998 | |
| While backpacking in the desert, thirteen-year-old Mark falls into a tube of blue light and is transported into a more primitive world, where he must use his knowledge and skills to survive. | |
| Pfeffer, Susan Beth | |
| Life as We Knew It. 2006 | |
| Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. Sequels include The Dead & the Gone |
|
| Riordan, Rick | |
| The Lightning Thief. 2005 | |
| Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson learns he is a demigod, the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea. His mother sends him to a summer camp for demigods where he and his new friends set out on a quest to prevent a war between the gods. Sequels include The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth |
|
| Ryan, Pam Munoz | |
| Esperanza Rising. 2000 | |
| Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression. | |
| Schade, Susan | |
| Travels of Thelonious. 2006 | |
| At a time when animals only know myths about the talking humans who once dominated and nearly destroyed the world, a young chipmunk escapes danger in the City of Ruins and, with new friends, finds the Fog Mound, where all creatures live in peace and harmony. | |
| Schlitz, Laura Amy | |
| Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village. 2007 | |
| A collection of short one-person plays featuring characters, between ten and fifteen years old, who live in or near a thirteenth-century English manor. | |
| Scieszka, Jon | |