Middle School Summer Reading List

Do your junior high homeschoolers LOVE to read? Here are ten books they are bound to enjoy!

1. “The Giver” by Lois Lowry

This haunting story centers on Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he’s given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community.

2. “The City of Ember” by Jeanne DuPrauMany hundreds of years ago, the City of Ember was created

by the Builders to contain everything needed for human survival. It worked...but now the storerooms are almost out of food, crops are blighted, corruption is spreading through the city and worst of all--the lights are failing. Soon Ember

could be engulfed by darkness….

But when two children, Lina and Doon, discover fragments of an ancient parchment, they begin to wonder if there

could be a way out of Ember. Can they decipher the words from long ago and find a new future for everyone? Will the

people of Ember listen to them?

3. “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. TolkienIf you care for journeys there and back, out of the comfortable Western world,

over the edge of the Wild, and home again, and can take an interest in a humble hero (blessed with a little wisdom and a little courage and

considerable good luck), here is a record of such a journey and such a traveler. The period is the ancient time between the age of Faerie and the

dominion of men, when the famous forest of Mirkwood was still standing, and the mountains were full of danger. In following the path of this humble

adventurer, you will learn by the way (as he did)--if you do not already know about all these things--much about trolls, goblins, dwarves, and elves, and get

some glimpses into the history and politics of a neglected but important period. For Mr. Bilbo Baggins visited various notable persons; conversed with the dragon, Smaug the Magnificent; and was present, rather unwillingly, at the

Battle of the Five Armies. This is all the more remarkable, since he was a hobbit. Hobbits have hitherto been passed over in history and legend,

perhaps because they as a rule preferred comfort to excitement. But this account, based on his personal memoirs, of the one exciting year in the

otherwise quiet life of Mr. Baggins will give you a fair idea of the estimable people now (it is said) becoming rather rare. They do not like noise.

4. “Bentwhistle the Dragon in a Threat from the Past” by Paul CudeBentwhistle the Dragon in a Threat from the Past is an adventure

story children and adults alike will love, about the present day world in which dragons disguised as humans have infiltrated the human race at almost every level, to guide and protect them. Three young dragons in their human guises become caught up in an evil plot to

steal a precious commodity, vital to the dragon community. How will the reluctant hero and his friends fare against an enemy of his race from far in the past? Fascinating insights into the dragon world are

interspersed throughout the book. Ever wondered how dragons travel below ground at almost the speed of sound? Or how they use

magical mantras to transform their giant bodies into convincing human shapes? In an action packed adventure that features both human and dragon sports, you’ll get a dragon-like perspective on

human social issues…. You’d be flamin’ mad to miss it.

5. “Culloo” by Murielle CyrTough and resourceful Tala will be 13 soon, and no one will

tell her what to do. On one fateful day in the forest, however, she has to find her endangered father and protect her younger brother from a trio of murderous poachers. All the while, she and her brother may have to face the forest’s

legendary keepers--the deceptively playful characters known as the Stone People, and a giant black bird known

and feared as Culloo.

6. “Stargirl” by Jerry Spinelli

From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, hallways hum “Stargirl.” She captures Leo Borlock’s heart with one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with one cheer. The students of Mica High are

enchanted. Until they are not. Leo urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her--normal.

7. “Where the Red Fern Grows” by Wilson RawlsBilly has long dreamt of owning not one, but two, dogs. So when he’s finally able to save up enough money for two pups to call his own--Old Dan and Little Ann--he’s

ecstatic. It doesn’t matter that times are tough; together they’ll roam the hills of the Ozarks.

Soon Billy and his hounds become the finest hunting team in the valley. Stories of their great achievements

spread throughout the region, and the combination of Old Dan’s brawn, Little Ann’s brains, and Billy’s sheer will

seems unbeatable. But tragedy awaits these determined hunters--now friends--and Billy learns that hope can grow out of despair, and that the seeds of the future can come

from the scars of the past.

8. “Hoot” by Carl Hiaasen

The story takes place in Coconut Cove, Florida, where new arrival Roy makes a bad enemy, two oddball

friends, and joins an effort to stop construction of a pancake house which would destroy a colony of

burrowing owls who live on the site.

9. “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler” by E.L. KonigsburgWhen suburban Claudia Kincaid decides to run away, she knows

she doesn’t just want to run from somewhere, she wants to run to somewhere--to a place that is comfortable, beautiful, and

preferably, elegant. She chooses the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Knowing her younger brother Jamie has money

and thus can help her with a serious cash-flow problem, she invites him along.

Once settled into the museum, Claudia and Jamie find themselves caught up in the mystery of an angel statue that the museum

purchased at auction for a bargain price of $225. The statue is possibly an early work of the Renaissance master, Michelangelo,

and therefore worth millions. Is it? Or isn’t it?

Claudia is determined to find out. Her quest leads her to Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the remarkable old woman who sold the

statue, and to some equally remarkable discoveries about herself.

10. “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’EngleIt was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother

Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a

most disturbing stranger.

“Wild nights are my glory,” the unearthly stranger told them. “I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me be on my way. Speaking of way, by the way, there is such a thing

as a tesseract.”

Meg’s father had been experimenting with this fifth dimension of time travel when he mysteriously disappeared. Now the time

has come for Meg, her friend Calvin, and Charles Wallace to rescue him. But can they outwit the forces of evil they will encounter on their heart-stopping journey through space?

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