PTMS Summer Reading
Books to grab before heading poolside!
Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the Selma Voting Rights March
Lowery, Lynda Blackmon. Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the Selma Voting Rights March. Dial Books, 2015.
Lynda Blackmon Lowery recounts her experiences as the youngest marcher on the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Jailed nine times before her fifteenth birthday, Lowery fought alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. for the rights of African-Americans. In this memoir, she shows today's young readers what it means to fight nonviolently and how it felt to be part of changing American history.
AR Info: B.L. 5.1; Points 1
Legend
Lu, Marie. Legend. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2011.
What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem. From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect.
AR Info: B.L. 4.8; Points 11
From Ant to Eagle
Lyttle, Alex. From Ant to Eagle. Central Avenue Publishing, 2017.
It's the summer before grade six and Calvin Sinclair is bored to tears. He's recently moved from a big city to a small town and there's nothing to do. It's hot, he has no friends and the only kid around is his six-year-old brother, Sammy, who can barely throw a basketball as high as the hoop. Cal occupies his time by getting his brother to do almost anything: from collecting ants to doing Calvin's chores. And Sammy is all too eager - as long as it means getting a "Level" and moving one step closer to his brother's Eagle status. When Calvin meets Aleta Alvarado, a new girl who shares his love for Goosebumps books and adventure, Sammy is pushed aside. Cal feels guilty but not enough to change. At least not until a diagnosis causes things at home to fall apart and he's left wondering whether Sammy will ever complete his own journey...
AR Info: None (yet)
Revenge of the Star Survivors
Merschel, Michael. Revenge of the Star Survivors. Holiday House, 2017.
When Clark Sherman crash-lands on the inhospitable planet of Festus Middle School, he soon learns the natives don't take kindly to newcomers . . . particularly ones who practice Jedi mind tricks and follow nerdy TV shows like Star Survivors. As he faces a conspiring group of violent bullies, browbeaten teachers and a fiendish principal, Clark knows he'll be lucky just to survive eighth grade. Then, hope appears on the horizon: there is Les, the enigmatic boy who seems to disappear at will; Ricki, a fellow Star Survivors fan; and the independent-minded librarian, Ms. Beacon. When Clark and his newfound allies are imperiled, he gathers his courage and the consequences of his actions ripple through the galaxy in life-altering ways.
AR Info: None (yet)
Truce: The Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting
Murphy, Jim. Truce: The Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting. Scholastic Press, 2009.
AR Info: B.L. 8.2; Points 2
Eleven
Rogers, Tom. Eleven. Alto Nido Press, 2014.
Alex Douglas always wanted to be a hero. But nothing heroic ever happened to Alex. Nothing, that is, until his eleventh birthday. When Alex rescues a stray dog as a birthday gift to himself, he doesn't think his life can get much better. Radar, his new dog, pretty much feels the same way. But this day has bigger things in store for both of them. This is a story about bullies and heroes. About tragedy and hope. About enemies with two legs and friends with four, and pesky little sisters and cranky old men, and an unexpected lesson in kindness delivered with a slice of pizza. This is Eleven the journey of a boy turning eleven on 9/11.
AR Info: None
York: The Shadow Cipher
Ruby, Laura. York: The Shadow Cipher. Walden Pond Press, 2017.
It was 1798 when the Morningstarr twins arrived in New York with a vision for a magnificent city: towering skyscrapers, dazzling machines, and winding train lines, all running on technology no one had ever seen before. Fifty-seven years later, the enigmatic architects disappeared, leaving behind for the people of New York the Old York Cipher—a puzzle laid into the shining city they constructed, at the end of which was promised a treasure beyond all imagining. By the present day, however, the puzzle has never been solved, and the greatest mystery of the modern world is little more than a tourist attraction. Tess and Theo Biedermann and their friend Jaime Cruz live in a Morningstarr apartment—until a real estate developer announces that the city has agreed to sell him the five remaining Morningstarr buildings. Their likely destruction means the end of a dream long held by the people of New York. And if Tess, Theo, and Jaime want to save their home, they have to prove that the Old York Cipher is real. Which means they have to solve it.
AR Info: None (yet)
MiNRS
Sylvester, Kevin. MiNRS. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2015.
Christopher Nichols and his family live on a new planet, Perses, as colonists of Melming Mining's Great Mission to save the earth. Dozens of families like Christopher's have relocated, too, like his best friend Elena Rosales. A communications blackout with Earth hits, and all of Perses is on its own for three months. It's okay, though, because the colonists have prepared, stockpiling food and resources to survive. But they never prepared for an attack. Landers, as the attackers are called, obliterate the colony to steal the metal and raw ore. Now in a race against time, Christopher, along with a small group of survivors, are forced into the maze of mining tunnels. The kids run. They hide. But can they survive?
AR Info: B.L. 4.5; Points 9
Wilder Boys
Wallace, Brandon. Wilder Boys. Aladdin, 2015.
Jake and Taylor Wilder have been taking care of themselves for a long time. Their father abandoned the family years ago, and their mother is too busy working and running interference between the boys and her boyfriend, Bull, to spend a lot of time with them. Thirteen-year-old Jake spends most of his time reading. He pours over his father's journal, which is full of wilderness facts and survival tips. Eleven-year-old Taylor likes to be outside playing with their dog, Cody, or joking around with the other kids in the neighborhood. But one night everything changes. The boys discover a dangerous secret that Bull is hiding. And the next day, they come home from school to find their mother unconscious in an ambulance. Knowing they are no longer safe and with nowhere else to go, the Wilder Boys head off in search of their father. They only have his old letters and journal to help them, but they have to make it. It's a long journey from the suburbs of Pittsburgh to the wilderness of Wyoming; can the Wilder Boys find their father before Bull catches up with them?
AR Info: B.L. 4.7; Points 7
About the PTMS Library
Email: stoudenk@pt-sd.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/ptsdwebapps.com/ptmslib/
Location: 625 E McMurray Rd, McMurray, PA, United States
Phone: 7249412688
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PTMSLMC/