UMMS Summer Reading 2019
READ, READ, READ
Requirements for Summer Reading 2019
GRADE 6
Save Me a Seat by Gita Varadarajan and Sarah Weeks
This novel presents the stories of two students trying to find their place during one week of school. One is an immigrant from India and the other suffers from an auditory processing disorder. Both experience bullying and the effects of misconceptions.
Summary from Amazon:
The phrase "save me a seat" is a life preserver. Four words that can make a kid feel safe in a sea of strangers. The story is told from two different points of view: Ravi, who just moved from India, is adjusting to his new American life, and Joe, who has long been a student at Albert Einstein Elementary and is acclimating to a new grade without his best friends. A window for some readers and a mirror for others, this noteworthy book is highly recommended for middle grade collections.GRADE 7
7th Grade Literacy Teachers will continue offering students a variety of books for their summer reading assignment. Each book was chosen for its high interest level, range of complexity and age appropriateness. When reading the selected novel, students should consider the elements of plot, character and theme. These skills will be assessed at the start of the school year through a graded independent project.
Here are the titles to choose from:
Ugly by Robert Hodge
The Million Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica
Rules by Cynthia Lord
Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick
The Bully by Paul Langan
Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements
For Students Who Will Be Taking Single Block Grade 7 Literacy
Students who are entering Humanities or Technotics will have a single period of Literacy this year. These students are required to read and complete a story map for one of the following titles:
Uglies by Scott Westerfield
The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
The Raft by S.A. Bodeen
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick.
There will also be an assessment on the book selection during the first week of school. Along with this required novel, Humanities students must read The Last Wild by Piers Torday. This book will be the focus of a graded essay project in September. Technotics students must read I Will Always Write Back by Caitlin Alfirenka & Martin Ganda, and they must complete the written Technotics Summer Reading Assignment posted online and have it ready to hand in the first day of school.
GRADE 8
Refugee by Alan Gratz
JOSEF is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world . . .
ISABEL is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety in America . . .
MAHMOUD is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe . . .
All three kids go on harrowing journeys in search of refuge. All will face unimaginable dangers -- from drownings to bombings to betrayals. But there is always the hope of tomorrow. And although Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are separated by continents and decades, shocking connections will tie their stories together in the end.
Students are also asked to read a self-selected book. Feel free to jump into your favorite genre. There are also requirements for students and their reading which are listed on the link below:
8th Grade Summer Reading Assignment
For Students Who Will Be Taking Single Block Grade 8 Literacy
Students are required to read Refugee by Alan Gratz. In place of the self-selected book, LEAP Humanities students must read The Last Wild by Piers Torday. This book will be the focus of a graded essay in September. Humanities 8 students must read Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. This book will be the focus of a graded essay in September. Technotics students must read I Will Always Write Back by Caitlin Alfirenka & Martin Ganda, and they must complete the written Technotics Summer Reading Assignment and have it ready to hand in the first day of school.
Grade 7 and Grade 8 LEAP Students
Humanities 7 and Gifted Humanities A with Mr. Klocek:
The Last Wild by Piers Torday
In a world where animals are slowly fading into extinction, twelve-year-old Kester Jaynes feels as if he hardly exists either. He’s been locked away in a home for troubled children and is unable to speak a word. Then one night, a flock of talking pigeons and a bossy cockroach come to help him escape, and he discovers that he can speak—to them. And the animals need him. Only Kester, with the aid of a stubborn, curious girl named Polly, can help them survive. The animals saved Kester. But can he save them?
Humanities 8 with Mr. Klocek:
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.
Technotics with Mrs. Hanssens:
I Will Always Write Back by Caitlin Alfirenka & Martin Ganda
It started as an assignment. Everyone in Caitlin's class wrote to an unknown student somewhere in a distant place. Martin was lucky to even receive a pen-pal letter. There were only ten letters, and fifty kids in his class. But he was the top student, so he got the first one. That letter was the beginning of a correspondence that spanned six years and changed two lives. In this compelling dual memoir, Caitlin and Martin recount how they became best friends --and better people--through their long-distance exchange. Their story will inspire you to look beyond your own life and wonder about the world at large and your place in it.
Where to Get Your Book
Upper Moreland Free Public Library
Barnes & Noble Website
Amazon
Better World Books