SALEM SCHOOL DISTRICT
SUGGESTED READING LIST
Dear Parent(s) and Guardian(s):
Summer fun is just
beginning for your family. As you begin
to plan your child’s summer activities, we hope that you will continue to make
reading a part of the fun. The Salem
School District believes summer reading is a valuable experience for all
students and an important extension of our educational programs. Reading is one of the most important factors
in academic success, a skill that is basic to all areas of the curriculum - a
skill that improves with practice.
Summer reading is intended to be an enjoyable experience. While helping to keep students connected to
learning during the summer vacation, it supports our objective that each
student becomes a life-long reader and learner.
Below
you will find some suggestions of books that we hope your child may enjoy. These books are available at Salem’s Kelley
Library. Please note that these titles are only suggestions. There are many other wonderful books to be
discovered by your child and you. Many
of the suggested authors have written other books in addition to the book
titles listed.
This
summer, Kelley Library will once again be offering a summer reading
program. Local bookstores may also have
programs to support summer reading. We
urge you to take advantage of these opportunities to maintain and enhance your
child’s reading skills.
Wishing you a wonderful summer,
Diane Reynolds
Director of Literacy
Clements, Andrew No Talking The
fifth-grade boys and the fifth-grade girls at Laketon Elementary School don’t
get along very well. But the real
problem is that these kids are loud and disorderly. So it’s a contest – the boys against the girls – to see who can
say the fewest words for two days. The teachers are confused by the sudden silence of their students
until several of them figure out what's going on and Principal Hiatt gets
involved.
Codell, Esme Sahara
Special When Sahara's mother refuses to allow her daughter to continue as a
"special needs" student, Sahara must repeat the fifth grade. With no
reason to believe she will be any more successful the second time around,
Sahara simply stops trying. That is, until Miss Pointy, the new fifth-grade
teacher, begins to teach her students "time travel,"
"puzzling," and other odd subjects,
Creech, Sharon Love that Dog Jack hates poetry. Only
girls write it and every time he tries to, his brain feels empty. But his
teacher, Ms. Stretchberry, won't stop giving her class poetry assignments—and
Jack can't avoid them. But then something amazing happens. The more he writes,
the more he learns he does have something to say.
DeTerlizzi , Tony Nixie’s Song Eleven-year-old Nicholas Vargas's life
is turned upside-down when his father remarries and moves him and his new
family to Florida. An "expedition" to a nearby lake turns
up a little nixie with a giant problem - the huge, lumbering, fire-breathing
variety - and it's up to Nick; his stepsister, Laurie; and his big brother,
Julian to figure out the best way to stop a host of rampaging giants before all
of Florida goes up in smoke.
DiCamillo, Kate The Tale of
Despereaux : Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of
Thread Despereaux Tilling is not like the other mice in the castle. He's
smaller than average, likes to read books, and is in love with a human being:
Princess Pea. When a rat and a young servant kidnap the princess, Despereaux,
armed with a needle and a spool of thread, makes a daring rescue.
Fleishman, Sid The 13th Floor – a
Ghost Story Bud Stebbins has been in the custody of his
sister, Liz, a lawyer, since the death of his parents. When a ghostly relative
from the seventeenth century asks for their help, first Liz and then Buddy
travel back in time. Finding himself on a pirate ship, Buddy eventually makes
his way to Boston, where Liz has found the young girl who called them. Abigail
is being accused of witchcraft, and it's up to Buddy and Liz to save her.
Giff, Patricia Willow Run Meggie’s life has been turned upside down by World War II. The Diillon family must move to Willow Run, Michigan so that her
father can work in a B-24 Bomber factory. Meggie
misses her home, her friends and the German-born Grandpa she left behind. Worst
of all, she misses her brother Eddie, who’s fighting in Europe.
Gutman. Dan The Homework
Machine Meet the D Squad, a foursome of fifth graders made up of genius
inventor Brenton, overachiever Judy, slacker Kelsey, and smart-aleck Sam. They
are bound together by one very big secret: the homework machine. Because the
machine is doing their homework for them, they start spending a lot of time
together, attracting a lot of attention. And attention is exactly what you
don't want when you are keeping a secret.
Haddix, Margaret Among the
Hidden Twelve-year old Luke has never been to school.
He has never had a friend. In a society where family size is strictly limited
to two children, Luke is a third child who lives in an attic bedroom to avoid
being seen by authorities. When Luke looks through an outside vent and sees
another "shadow child" hiding in a nearby home, he risks his life to
begin a secret friendship with Jen, who plans to rebel against the government
system.
Hannigan, Katherine Ida B--: and
her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World Home-schooled
since kindergarten, Ida B is perfectly happy spending all of her free time
alone outdoors, talking to the brook and the trees in the orchard (all of whom
she has named). Then her mother becomes ill, and Ida B's world turns upside
down. Her parents must sell part of her beloved orchard to pay the medical
bills, and Ida B must enroll in public school, something her parents promised
her she’d never have to do.
Hiasson, Carl Hoot Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, tries to find out
the identity of a running, barefoot boy he spots through the window of his
school bus. Meanwhile, plans to build a
pancake house on a vacant lot are disrupted when someone vandalizes the
construction site. Roy discovers that the runaway boy is trying to stop the
construction to save a group of burrowing owls that are nesting on the site. Roy is determined to help, even though his help isn’t wanted.
Horvath, Polly The Pepins
and their Problems Terrible problems always loom over the common-sense challenged
Pepin family: toads lurk in their shoes, or their hot chocolate has grown too
cold to drink. At each chapter's end
the narrator asks readers to "think" their solutions to the problems
directly to her own "unusually large psychic antennae," then shares
the suggestions she receives in the next chapter.
Lord, Cynthia Rules Twelve-year-old
Catherine just wants a normal life, which is nearly impossible when you have a
brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She has
spent years trying to teach David rules in order to stop his embarrassing
behavior. One summer, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything
upside down and forces her to ask: “What is normal?”
Lowry, Lois Gossamer Littlest One, an invisible spirit who is in training to be a
dream-giver, is learning to blend bits of happy memories with details of daily
life for people as they sleep. The Sinisteeds, dark fearsome creatures that
trouble their victims with nightmares, are always at work against the
dream-givers. Littlest begins her training in the home of a lonely old woman
and her angry, unhappy foster child, who are targets of the Hordes of
Sinisteeds.
Lunbar,
David Punished While playing tag at the library with
his friend Benedict, Logan crashes into an elderly patron who tells him that he
should be punished. Suddenly, Logan starts speaking in puns-really awful
puns-and he can't stop. To break the spell Logan has three days to collect
seven oxymorons, seven anagrams, and seven palindromes - or the
"pun"-ishment will continue forever.
Myers, Laurie Surviving Brick Johnson Fifth-grader Alex is showing off,
making fun of Brick, the new, tough-looking kid at school. Unfortunately, Brick
overhears. While Alex is trying to avoid him he learns that Brick volunteers as
a guest reader in the first-grade class and, like Alex, collects baseball
cards. Certain that his classmate is out to get him, Alex signs up for karate
lessons. He is sure he will be able to
protect himself until he finds out that Brick as his new sparring partner.
Nimmo,Jenny Midnight for Charlie Bone The fabulous
powers of the Red King were passed down through his descendants. Charlie Bone, at age ten, discovers that he has an unusual
gift-he can hear people in photographs talking! His aunts and grandmother
decide to send him to Bloor Academy, a school for gifted students, where he
uses his powers to discover the truth about a family mystery.
Paulsen, Gary Hatchet Thirteen- year-old Brian, on his way to visit his father, is the
only passenger on a tiny bush plane.
When the plane crashes and the pilot dies, Brian finds himself alone in
the Canadian wilderness with only his clothes and a hatchet his mother had
given him as a present. Brian must use all his knowledge, determination, and
courage to survive.
Selznick,
Brian The
Invention of Hugo Cabret: a Novel in Words and Pictures Hugo Cabret, an orphan, lives in the walls of a train station in
1931 Paris where he runs the clocks for his uncle, who abandoned him. He
manages to survive by stealing food and keeping his uncle's disappearance a
secret. Hugo steals small toy parts from a shop owner in the hopes of fixing an
automaton (robot). He is convinced that it will write a message from his father
that will save his life.
Chin is a young Chinese immigrant whose father is a
"houseboy" for a banker and his family. He has become friendly with
young Henry Travis, the banker's son. They share an interest in reading. The
stories they read about describe heroic people doing heroic things. While both
boys appreciate their fathers, they don’t think of them as heroes, until the
disaster of the earthquake makes heroes out of otherwise ordinary men.
Armstrong,
Jennifer The American Story : 100 True Tales from American History Contains 100 short stories about
real people and events in American history, arranged chronologically from 1565
to 2000.
Mallory,
Kenneth Swimming with Hammerhead Sharks Follow a marine biologist as he studies
hammerhead sharks in their natural habitats.
Schanzer, Rosalyn. George vs. George: the American Revolution as
seen from both sides There are two
sides to every story and this book describes two leaders, with different views,
who had more in common than is sometimes known.
Sullivan,
George Built to last: building America's amazing bridges, dams, tunnels, and
skyscrapers Describing
seventeen architectural and engineering marvels, Built to Last looks at
the construction of some of America's most famous structures.