Breakfast and Booktalks 2013 -
book recommendations from Wellesley Books
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BOOKS FOR 6th GRADE
Historical Fiction PS, Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia Sequel to: One crazy Summer. After spending the Summer of 1968 with their mother and the Black Panthers, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern return home to Brooklyn with a new feeling of independence, but they discover their father has a new girlfriend, Uncle Darnell has come home from Vietnam a changed man, and Big Ma still expects Delphine to take care of everything. Feeling overwhelmed, Delphine writes to her mother, who reminds her to enjoy being eleven and not grow up too fast. Sugar by Jewel Parker Rhodes In 1870, Reconstruction brings big changes to the Louisiana sugar plantation where spunky ten-year-old Sugar has always lived, including her friendship with Billy, the son of her former master, and the arrival of workmen from China. Ghost Hawk by Susan Cooper At the end of a winter-long journey into manhood, Little Hawk returns to find his village decimated by a white man's plague and soon, despite a fresh start, Little Hawk dies violently but his spirit remains trapped, seeing how his world changes. Seeing Red by Kathryn Erskine When twelve-year-old Frederick "Red" Porter's father dies in 1972, his mother wants to sell their automobile repair shop and move her two sons back to Ohio, but Red is desperate to stop the sale even if it means unearthing some dark family secrets in a Virginia rife with racial tensions. Contemporary Fiction Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking by Erin Dionne Instead of spending a carefree summer exploring downtown Boston with best friend Ollie, thirteen-year-old Moxie must solve a famous art heist in order to protect those she loves from her ailing grandfather's gangster past. Includes facts about the 1990 Gardner Museum art theft. Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Shea Twelve-year-old genius and outsider Willow Chance must figure out how to connect with other people and find a surrogate family for herself after her parents are killed in a car accident. QB 1 by Mike Lupica Jake Cullen, fourteen, lives in the shadows of his father and older brother until he becomes the starting quarterback for the high school football team and finally has his chance to shine. The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata Just when twelve-year-old Summer thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong in a year of bad luck, an emergency takes her parents to Japan, leaving Summer to care for her little brother while helping her grandmother cook and do laundry for harvest workers. National Book Award Winner The League by Thatcher Heldring Fourteen-year-old Wyatt, hoping to impress a girl and ward off a bully, decides to join his older brother's summer football league, "The League of Pain," against the advice of his parents, who think golf is the right sport for him. Sure Signs of Crazy by Karen Harrington Twelve-year-old Sarah writes letters to her hero, To Kill a Mockingbird's Atticus Finch, for help understanding her mentally ill mother, her first real crush, and life in her small Texas town, all in the course of one momentous summer. Fantasy and Science Fiction Pi in the Sky by Wendy MassJoss, the seventh son of the Supreme Overlord of the Universe, must team up with a human girl to re-create Earth, when the planet is accidentally erased from existence. Lost Kingdom by Matt Kirby On the eve of the French and Indian War, Billy Bartram and his naturalist father travel into the American wilderness in an airship--pursued by a party of French soldiers and haunted by a terrifying bear-wolf--on a quest to find the lost kingdom of the Welsh prince Madoc. Texting the Underworld by Ellen Booraem Conor O'Neill faces his cowardice and visits the underworld to bargain with the Lady who can prevent the imminent death of a family member, but first Ashling, the banshee who brought the news, wants to visit his middle school. Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fford In an alternate United Kingdom, King Snodd aims to control the world by controlling magic, and only sixteen-year-old Jennifer Strange, acting manager of an employment agency for sorcerers, stands between Snodd and his plans. The Hypnotists: Book one by Gordon Korman Twelve-year-old Jackson Opus is descended from two powerful hypnotist bloodlines, but he has just begun to realize that he can control other peoples' actions with sometimes frightening results--especially when the head of the Sentia Institute plans to use Jackson for his own benefit. SYLO by D.J. MacHale Pemberwick Island, Maine is occupied by a Navy section called SYLO who claim a virus has been unleashed, but Tucker Pierce, who has seen strange aircraft and experienced the power of the Ruby, realizes something else is going on. Graphic Novels Jane, the Fox, and Me by Fanny BrittHelene seeks solace in the pages of "Jane Eyre" while the kids at school ostracize her, but she finally finds friendship on a school camping trip. Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Big Bad Ironclad World War I set the tone for the 20th century and introduced a new type of warfare: global, mechanical, and brutal. Nathan Hale has gathered some of the most fascinating true-life tales from the war and given them his inimitable Hazardous Tales twist. Primates by Jim Ottaviani and Maris Wicks In graphic novel format, explores the lives and work of scientists Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas, who lived with and studied chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans, respectively, in their natural habitats, creating between them a body of work that greatly improved our understanding of primates, including humans. Bluffton by Matt Phelan The year is 1908 and a troupe of vaudeville performers has arrived in sleepy Muskegon, Michigan, to spend the summer. Young Henry Harrison is fascinated with the animals and performers, but mostly with a slapstick performer his own age named Buster Keaton, who is also a master prankster and loves to play baseball. Nonfiction Ideas that Changed the World by Dorling Kindersley A guide to technological developments that changed the world, describes each invention and explores its place in history and how it influenced civilization, discussing inventions from the wheel to computers. Razia's Ray of Hope by Elizabeth Suneby Razia, a girl in Afghanistan, wants to attend Razia Jan's girls' school the Zabuli Education Center for Girls, but first she must get her father and brother's permission. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder Chronicles the life of Paul Farmer, focusing on his efforts to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring modern medicine to the countries and people who need them most. Byrd and Igloo by Samantha Seiple Discusses the adventures of Richard Evelyn Byrd and his dog Igloo as they raced to the North Pole. |
BOOKS FOR 7th and 8th GRADE
Historical Fiction Invasion by Walter Dean MyersJosiah Wedgewood and Marcus Perry were friends in Virginia, but now that they are both involved in the Normandy invasion, the differences in their positions is uncomfortable, for Josiah is a white infantryman and Marcus is a black transport driver, the only role the segregated army will allow him. If I Ever Get Out of Here by E Gansworth Seventh-grader Lewis "Shoe" Blake from the Tuscarora Reservation has a new friend, George Haddonfield from the local Air Force base, but in 1975 upstate New York there is a lot of tension and hatred between Native Americans and Whites--and Lewis is not sure that he can rely on friendship. *Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys Josie, the seventeen-year-old daughter of a French Quarter prostitute, is striving to escape 1950 New Orleans and enroll at prestigious Smith College when she becomes entangled in a murder investigation. *Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein Companion book to: Code name Verity. When young American pilot Rose Justice is captured by Nazis and sent to Ravensbruck, the notorious women's concentration camp, she finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery, and friendship of her fellow prisoners. Contemporary Fiction Out of Nowhere by Maria Padian Performing community service for pulling a stupid prank against a rival high school, soccer star Tom tutors a Somali refugee with soccer dreams of his own. *Hostage Three by Nick Lane Seventeen-year-old Amy, her father, and her stepmother becomes hostages when Somalian pirates seize their yacht, but although she builds a bond with one of her captors it becomes brutally clear that the price of life and its value are two very different things. The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider Star athelete and prom king Ezra Faulkner's life is irreparably transformed by a tragic accident and the arrival of eccentric new girl Cassidy Thorpe. *Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits--smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. *Reality Boy by AS King An emotionally damaged seventeen-year-old boy in Pennsylvania who was once an infamous reality television show star, meets a girl from another dysfunctional family, and she helps him out of his angry shell. Fantasy and Science Fiction Alex Rider: Russian Roulette by Anthony HorowitzPresented with an unexpected assignment, Alex Rider's greatest nemesis, Yassen Gregoravich, recalls his life and the path that led him to become an assassin while his one-time friend, Alex's uncle, became a spy. Orleans by Sherri L. Smith Set in a futuristic, hostile Orleans landscape, Fen de la Guerre must deliver her tribe leader's baby over the Wall into the Outer States before her blood becomes tainted with Delta Fever. The Lord of Opium by Nancy Farmer Sequel to: House of the scorpion. In 2137, fourteen-year-old Matt is stunned to learn that, as the clone of El Patron, he is expected to take over as leader of the corrupt drug empire of Opium, where there is also a hidden cure for the ecological devastation faced by the rest of the world. The Eye of Minds by James Dashner Michael is a skilled internet gamer in a world of advanced technology. When a cyber-terrorist begins to threaten players, Michael is called upon to seek him and his secrets out. *The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black When seventeen-year-old Tana wakes up following a party, she finds herself in the aftermath of a violent vampire attack, and along with her ex-boyfriend and a mysterious vampire boy, the only other survivors, she travels to Coldtown, a quarantined Massachusetts city full of vampires. *The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey Cassie Sullivan, the survivor of an alien invasion, must rescue her young brother from the enemy with help from a boy who may be one of them Graphic Novels Gris Grimly's Frankenstein by Gris GrisleyRetells, in graphic novel format, Mary Shelley's classic tale of a monster, assembled by a scientist from parts of dead bodies, who develops a mind of his own as he learns to loathe himself and hate his creator. The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet by Gareth Hinds A graphic novel adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic tragedy about Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, two young people whose love for one another is doomed by the long-standing feud between their families, with characters recast as multiracial individuals. Boxers by Gene Luen Yang Companion volume to Saints. In 1898 during the Boxer Rebellion a boy named Little Bao recruits an army of Boxers to rid China of foreign missionaries and soldiers who bully and rob Chinese peasants. Saints by Gene Luen Yang Companion volume to Boxers. In 1898 during the Boxer Rebellion a girl named Vibiana who is unwanted and unwelcome turns to Christianity, but she finds herself torn between her nation and her Christian friends who are being murdered by bands of young men. Nonfiction Navy SEAL Dogs by Mike RitlandNavy SEAL Mike Ritland discusses how he started his own company to train working and protection dogs, and shares the inside story of the elite K9 warriors. Throwing Strikes by RA DIckey Baseball pitcher R.A. Dickey chronicles his life and a career in baseball. Breakfast on Mars and 37 other Delectable Essays edited by Rebecca Stern and Brad Wolfe Contains thirty-eight essays, including persuasive, informative, literary, personal and illustrated essays, written by popular authors that were given a writing prompt on a variety of subjects, such as, the merits of having a tail, time machines, space colonization, superpowers, and more. I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai Describes Malala Yousafzai's fight for education for girls under Taliban rule, the support she received from her parents to pursue an education, and how the Taliban retaliated against her by trying to kill her. (* for mature 8th graders and up) |