MS Summer Reading 2021
Recommendations from the Becker Library Staff
Chill out with great reads this summer!
Below are selections for fun summer reads that take you on fantastic journeys near and far.
2021 Texas Lone Star Reading List
This reading list is chosen by youth librarians across Texas specifically for
Middle School students.
Below are some notable suggestions from this list as chosen by SSES Library Staff.
King and the Dragonflies
by Kacen Callendar
"Twelve-year-old Kingston "King" Reginald James lost his beloved older brother, Khalid, 16, three months before this book's start, though King believes Khalid has become a dragonfly and visits nightly in his dreams. When Charles "Sandy" Sanders--the son of the racist sheriff and King's former friend-- disappears, and King realizes he was the last to see Sandy, he ponders his obligation to tell anyone." (APL Bibliocommons)
City Spies
by James Ponti
"Sara Martinez is a hacker. She recently broke into the New York City juvenile justice system to expose her foster parents as cheats and lawbreakers. However, instead of being hailed as a hero, she finds herself facing years in a juvenile detention facility and banned from using computers. Enter Mother, a British spy who not only gets sara released from jail but also offers her a chence to make a home for herself withing a secret team of your MI6 agents." (APL Bibliocommons)
The Silence Between Us
by Alison Gervais
"Maya has reservations about transferring to a hearing school after studying in a school for the deaf for years, but grows closer to Beau Watson, the student body president, who starts learning sign language to communicate with her."
Wink
"After being diagnosed with a rare eye cancer, twelve-year-old Ross discovers how music, art, and true friends can push him through treatment and survive middle school." (APL Bibliocommons)
The Barren Grounds
"Morgan and Eli, two Indigenous children forced away from their families and communities, are brought together in a foster home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They each feel disconnected, from their culture and each other, and struggle to fit in at school and at their new home -- until they find a secret place, walled off in an unfinished attic bedroom. A portal opens to another reality, Askí, bringing them onto frozen, barren grounds..." (APL Bibliocommons)
Black Brother, Black Brother
"Suspended unjustly from elite Middlefield Prep, Donte Ellison studies fencing with a former champion, hoping to put the racist fencing team captain in his place." (APL Bibliocommons)
Additional Reading Recommendations
Below are some of our current favorites to read all summer long.
Dragon Hoops
by Gene Luen Yang
"Gene understands stories - comic book stories, in particular. Big action. Bigger thrills. And the hero always wins. But Gene doesn't get sports. As a kid, his friends called him "Stick" and every basketball game he played ended in pain. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the high school where he now teaches, it's all anyone can talk about. The men's varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that's been decades in the making. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships. Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he's seen on a comic book page. He knows he has to follow this epic to its end." (APL Bibliocommons)
Everything Sad is Untrue (A True Story)
by Daniel Nayeri
"At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls "Daniel") stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. But Khosrou's stories, stretching back years, and decades, and centuries, are beautiful, and terrifying, from the moment his family fled Iran in the middle of the night with the secret police moments behind them, back to the sad, cement refugee camps of Italy.and further back to the fields near the river Aras, where rain-soaked flowers bled red like the yolk of sunset burst over everything, and further back still to the Jasmine-scented city of Isfahan." (APL Bibliocommons)
Almost American Girl
by Robin Ha
"For as long as she can remember, it's been Robin and her mom against the world. Growing up as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn't always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together. Overnight, her life changes. She is dropped into a new school where she doesn't understand the language and struggles to keep up. She is completely cut off from her friends in Seoul and has no access to her beloved comics. Then one day Robin's mother enrolls her in a local comic drawing class, which opens the window to a future Robin could never have imagined." (APL Bibliocommons)
MORE Resources for Great Reads!
NoveList Plus Database
This online database searches for read-alike titles based on your most loved books.
(User: ststephens, Password: spartans1950!)
Ask a Librarian
Contact Ms. Bartek (cbartek@sstx.org) or Ms. Andrews (mandrews@sstx.org) for more great summer reads.
Or visit your local library online or (hopefully) in person!