We are all excited to take a break and enjoy the summer! We’d like part of everyone’s summer vacation to include some enjoyable reading. It is vital for students to keep up their reading skills during the summer months. This will help them with vocabulary, increased creativity, and improved writing skills.
Students currently in grade 5 are required to choose one book from the attached lists to read and complete one of the following projects on their book: a written report; a poster; a multimedia presentation; an oral presentation; or a diorama.
The project must be submitted within the first week of the 2009-10 school year and will count as their first grade in language arts class. Project requirements are listed on the back of this letter.
The book list includes Newbery Medal and Newbery Honor Books. Also recommended by our librarian, Mrs. Mooney, you may access the website http://www.c-t-l.org and select Kids recommend for additional summer reading books. These books are readily available at local libraries and in local bookstores. For a brief description of the more recent Newbery Medal winners, you can access Newbery Medal Winners at the American Library Association website www.ala.org. (Please note we discourage projects completed on books that have been made into movies. You’ll notice these book titles have been removed for our list.)
Attached please find the book lists that cover an array of topics and interests which will allow your child to find a book they’ll enjoy reading.
Have a great summer!
Mrs. Beach
Mr. Rispoli
Mrs. Vail
MOT Charter School
Required Summer Reading Project
Incoming 6th Grade
Students must complete one of the following on their book report:
• Written Report
• Oral Book Report
• Poster
• Multimedia Presentation
• Diorama*
The report must include:
• Name of Book
• Author
• Literary Genre (historical fiction, realistic fiction, fantasy, nonfiction, biography, science fiction, etc.)
• Description of Setting
• Description of Main Characters
• Short Summary of Plot
• Identify and explain one theme of the book (Ex. Friendship; Overcoming Obstacles; Family; Loneliness, etc.)
• Opinion of Book
In addition to the above requirements, project should be neat, and written passages should be legible with accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
*Note: A written report should accompany the diorama to include all required information.
Summer Reading Book List
A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer (Richard Jackson/Orchard Books)
A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck (Dial)
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin) After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson (G.P. Putnam's Sons, a division of Penguin Books for Young Readers)
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy
After The Rain by Norma Fox Mazer (Morrow)
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick Press)
Belle Prater's Boy by Ruth White (Farrar Straus Giroux)
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Crowell)
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (Delacorte) by Russell Freedman (Holiday House)
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman (Clarion)
Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi (Hyperion).
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (Morrow)
Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt (Atheneum)
Dragon's Gate by Laurence Yep (HarperCollins)
Ear, the Eye and the Arm, The by Nancy Farmer (Jackson/Orchard)
Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman (Clarion Books)
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis (Scholastic)
Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath (Farrar Straus Giroux)
Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson (Putnam)
Getting Near to Baby by Audrey Couloumbis (Putnam)
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz (Candlewick.)
Graveyard Book, The by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins)
Great Fire, The by Jim Murphy (Scholastic)
Grey King, The by Susan Cooper (McElderry/Atheneum)
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (Bradbury)
A Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin (Scholastic)
Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan (HarperCollins)
Hero and the Crown, The by Robin McKinley (Greenwillow)
Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Higher Power of Lucky, The by Susan Patron (Simon & Schuster)
Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Scholastic)
House of the Scorpion, House by Nancy Farmer (Atheneum)
Summer Reading Book List (cont.)
Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson (Crowell)
Joey Pigza Loses Control by Jack Gantos (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (Harper)
Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (Simon and Schuster)
Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff (Delacorte)
M. C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton (Macmillan)
Midwife's Apprentice, The by Karen Cushman (Clarion)
Moorchild by Eloise McGraw (Margaret McElderry/Simon & Schuster)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien (Atheneum)
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Houghton)
Olive’s Oceans by Kevin Henkes
Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm (HarperCollins)
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (Scholastic)
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (Bloomsbury Children's Books)
Savvy by Ingrid Law (Dial Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group in partnership with Walden Media)
Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers (Harper)
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Atheneum)
Slave Dancer, The by Paula Fox (Bradbury)
Somewhere in the Darkness by Walter Dean Myers (Scholastic /Orchard)
Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson,
Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom, The by Margarita Engle (Henry Holt)
Thief, The by Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow/Morrow) Underneath, The by Kathi Appelt, illus. by David Small (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster)
View from Saturday, The by E.L. Konigsburg (Jean Karl/Atheneum)
Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963,The by Christopher Paul Curtis (Delacorte)
Wednesday Wars, The by Gary D. Schmidt (Clarion)
Westing Game, The by Ellen Raskin (Dutton)
What Hearts by Bruce Brooks (A Laura Geringer Book, a HarperCollins imprint)
What Jamie Saw by Carolyn Coman (Front Street)
Whittington by Alan Armstrong,
Wringer by Jerry Spinelli (HarperCollins)
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