2020 Summer Reading Lists with descriptions - Canterbury ...
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2020 Summer Reading Lists with descriptions
Students Entering Grade 7
Students will need to bring their own copy of the required book on the first day of school.
Required: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, this is the story of one family’s struggle to maintain their integrity,
pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice. And it is also Cassie’s story - Cassie Logan, an
independent girl who discovers over the course of an important year why having land of their own is so crucial to the
Logan family, even as she learns to draw strength from her own sense of dignity and self-respect.
In addition, select one of the following: Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins Forbes
Fourteen-year-old Johnny Tremain, an apprentice
Fever 1793 silversmith with a bright future ahead of him, injures
by Laurie Halse Anderson his hand in a tragic accident, forcing him to look for
During the summer of 1793, Yellow Fever sweeps the other work. In his new job as a horse-boy, riding for
streets of Philadelphia and Mattie Cook, a teenage girl, the patriotic newspaper, The Boston Observer, and as a
who lives above a family coffee shop with her widowed messenger for the Sons of Liberty, he encounters John
mother and grandfather must learn how to move from Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Dr. Joseph Warren. Soon
daily chores to daily survival. Themes include love, Johnny is involved in the pivotal events shaping the
courage and coming of age as the protagonist moves American Revolution from the Boston Tea Party to the
from childhood to adulthood. first shots fired at Lexington.
Students may also read any or all of the following: Pick Your Poison by Lauren Child
Ruby Redfort: You can count on her if you’re between a
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora rock and a hard place. A bite from a poisonous snake?
by Pablo Cartaya Pass me the anti-venom. Need someone to take the
Save the restaurant. Save the town. Get the girl. Make fall? You don’t even have to ask. Stay one step ahead of
Abuela proud. Can thirteen-year-old Arturo Zamora trouble? Not so easy. There are always snakes to look
do it all or is he in for a BIG, EPIC FAIL? For Arturo, out for, but they aren’t half as poisonous as the rumors
summertime in Miami means playing basketball until floating around Twinford. It’s a lot to chew over. Will
dark, sipping mango smoothies, and keeping cool Ruby pull through in one piece? When trouble’s out to
under banyan trees. And maybe a few shifts as junior get you and being smart is not enough, do you run like
lunchtime dishwasher at Abuela’s restaurant. Maybe. But crazy, or is it time to brush up on your martial arts?
this summer also includes Carmen, a poetry enthusiast
who moves into Arturo’s apartment complex and turns Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse
his stomach into a deep fryer. He almost doesn’t notice Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke spends her days procuring
the smarmy land developer who rolls into town and and delivering sought-after black market goods to
threatens to change it. Arturo refuses to let his family paying customers, her nights hiding the true nature of
and community go down without a fight, and as he her work from her concerned parents, and every waking
schemes with Carmen, Arturo discovers the power of moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on
poetry and protest through untold family stories and the Dutch front lines when the Germans invaded.
the work of José Martí. She likes to think of her illegal work as a small act of
rebellion. On a routine delivery, a client asks Hanneke
Continued on back...
for help. Expecting to hear that Mrs. Janssen wants nineteen-year-old brother, who is a slob. What do they
meat or kerosene, Hanneke is shocked by the older know about being a teen age girl? What she needs, Alice
woman’s frantic plea to find a person--a Jewish teenager decides, is a gorgeous woman who does everything
Mrs. Janssen had been hiding, who has vanished right, as a roadmap, so to speak. If only she finds herself,
without a trace from a secret room. Hanneke initially when school begins, in the classroom of the beautiful
wants nothing to do with such dangerous work, but is sixth-grade teacher, Miss Cole, her troubles will be over.
ultimately drawn into a web of mysteries and stunning Unfortunately, she draws the homely, pear-shaped Mrs.
revelations that lead her into the heart of the resistance, Plotkin. One of Mrs. Plotkin’s first assignments is for each
open her eyes to the horrors of the Nazi war machine, member of the class to keep a journal of their thoughts
and compel her to take desperate action. and feelings. Alice calls hers “The Agony of Alice,” and in
it she records all the embarrassing things that happen to
Restart by Gordon Korman her.
Chase’s memory just went out the window. Chase
doesn’t remember falling off the roof. He doesn’t The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
remember hitting his head. He doesn’t, in fact, In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify
remember anything. He wakes up in a hospital room the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court,
and suddenly has to learn his whole life all over again . . devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the
. starting with his own name. He knows he’s Chase. But king’s long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince.
who is Chase? When he gets back to school, he sees that Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role,
different kids have very different reactions to his return. including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that
Some kids treat him like a hero. Some kids are clearly Conner’s motives are more than questionable, yet his
afraid of him. One girl in particular is so angry with him life balances on a sword’s point -- he must be chosen to
that she pours her frozen yogurt on his head the first play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage’s
chance she gets. Pretty soon, it’s not only a question of rivals have their own agendas as well. As Sage moves
who Chase is--it’s a question of who he was . . . and who from a rundown orphanage to Conner’s sumptuous
he’s going to be. palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold,
until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very
Rules by Cynthia Lord well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken
Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. together.
Which is near impossible when you have a brother with
autism and a family that revolves around his disability. When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park
She’s spent years trying to teach David the rules from “a Sun-hee and her older brother, Tae-yul, live in Korea
peach is not a funny-looking apple” to “keep your pants with their parents. Because Korea is under Japanese
on in public” -- in order to head off David’s embarrassing occupation, the children study Japanese and speak it
behaviors. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a at school. Their own language, their flag, the folktales
surprising, new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the next-door Uncle tells them—even their names—are all part of the
friend she’s always wished for, it’s her own shocking Korean culture that is now forbidden. When World War II
behavior that turns everything upside down and forces comes to Korea, Sun-hee is surprised that the Japanese
her to ask: What is normal? expect their Korean subjects to fight on their side. But
the greatest shock of all comes when Tae-yul enlists in
The Agony of Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor the Japanese army in an attempt to protect Uncle, who
Life, Alice McKinley feels, is just one big embarrassment. is suspected of aiding the Korean resistance. Sun-hee
Here she is, about to be a teenager and she doesn’t stays behind, entrusted with the life-and-death secrets
know how. It’s worse for her than for anyone else, she of a family at war. This is a WWII novel that is categorized
believes, because she has no role model. Her mother as historical fiction.
has been dead for years. Help and advice can only come
from her father, manager of a music store, and her Continued on next page...
They Dance in the Sky: Native American Star Myths Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk
by Ray Williamson & Jean Guard Monroe Twelve-year-old Crow has lived her entire life on a
For countless generations, Native American storytellers tiny, isolated piece of the starkly beautiful Elizabeth
have watched the night sky and told tales of the stars Islands in Massachusetts. Abandoned and set adrift on
and the constellations. The stars themselves tell many a small boat when she was just hours old, Crow’s only
tales—of children who have danced away from home, companions are Osh, the man who rescued and raised
of six brothers who rescue a maiden from the fearful her, and Miss Maggie, their fierce and affectionate
Rolling Skull, of the great wounded sky bear, whose neighbor across the sandbar. Crow has always been
blood turns the autumn leaves red, and many more. curious about the world around her, but it isn’t until the
night a mysterious fire appears across the water that
the unspoken question of her own history forms in her
heart. Soon an unstoppable chain of events is triggered,
leading Crow down a path of discovery and danger.You can also read
