Summer 2021 Reading Lists

      5th Grade Book List

      • The Crossover

        by Kwame Alexander Year Published: 2014 Fiction

        A novel written in verse about a kid who loves basketball and is a master at playing with words (free-styling/rapping). Avid readers and reluctant readers alike love this book about a kid who is trying to create his own identity amidst the admiration he has for his father, a retired professional basketball player.

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      • For Everyone

        by Jason Reynolds Year Published: 2018 Poetry

        A poem and memoir about achieving your dreams despite hardships.

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      • Fever 1793

        by Laurie Halse Anderson Year Published: 2000 Fiction

        During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook lives above the family coffee shop with her widowed mother and grandfather. Mattie spends her days avoiding chores and making plans to turn the family business into the finest Philadelphia has ever seen. But then the fever breaks out.

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      6th Grade Book List

      • Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

        by Jason Reynolds Year Published: 2019 Fiction

        This story was going to begin like all the best stories. With a school bus falling from the sky. But no one saw it happen. They were all too busy—

        Talking about boogers.
        Stealing pocket change.
        Skateboarding.
        Wiping out.
        Braving up.
        Executing complicated handshakes.
        Planning an escape.
        Making jokes.
        Lotioning up.
        Finding comfort.
        But mostly, too busy walking home.

        Jason Reynolds conjures ten tales (one per block) about what happens after the dismissal bell rings, and brilliantly weaves them into one wickedly funny, piercingly poignant look at the detours we face on the walk home, and in life.

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      • Hatchet

        by Gary Paulsen Year Published: 1992 Fiction

        More than a survival story, Hatchet is a tale of tough decisions. When all is stripped down to the barest essentials, Brian discovers some stark and simple truths. Self-pity doesn't work. Despair doesn't work. And if Brian is to survive physically as well as mentally, he must discover courage.

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      • White Bird: A Wonder Story

        by R.J. Palacio Year Published: 2019 Fiction

        Palacio makes her graphic novel debut with Grandmère's heartrending story: how she, a young Jewish girl, was hidden by a family in a Nazi-occupied French village during World War II.

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      Last Modified on May 27, 2021