This list has been provided to The Spirit of ‘76 bookstore for your convenience. Try having your child form a book club with his/her friends or trading books as they finish them. It’s recommended that students keep a Reading Log to record the title & author of books that they read. Download a copy of the reading list to print (pdf 124 kb).

Please consider purchasing books via the Amazon.com portal on the MCCPS website the school will receive a portion of the sale.

Benton, Jim. Lunch Walks Among Us. Franny K. Stein is a mad scientist who prefers all things spooky and creepy, but when she has trouble making friends at her new school she experiments with fitting in--which works until a monster erupts from the trashcan. The story continues with Attack of the 50 ft. Cupid, Invisible Fran, The Fran that Time Forgot and Franstastic Voyage, Fran with Four Brains. 

Blume, Judy.Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.. Peter finds his demanding two-year-old brother an ever increasing problem. Fudge continues to ruin Peter’s life in Superfudge; Fudge-a Mania; Double Fudge. The character Sheila who appears in the books is featured in a related book, Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great. 

Catling, Patrick Skene. The Chocolate Touch. Everything John touches turns to chocolate. 

Coville, Bruce. My Teacher is an Alien. Peter and his friend Susan discover that aliens have invaded his sixth-grade class. It is Peter’s mission to save the class. The suspense and fast paced adventures will continue to hold readers in My Teacher Fried My Brains, My Teacher Glows in the Dark and My Teacher Flunked the Planet. 

Dahl, Roald. The Witches. A young boy and his Norwegian grandmother, who is an expert on witches, together foil a witches' plot to destroy the world's children by turning them into mice. 

DiTerlizzi, Tony. The Field Guide (The Spiderwick Chronicles) When the Grace children go to stay at their Great Aunt Lucinda's worn Victorian house, they discover a field guide to fairies and other creatures and begin to have some unusual experiences. Books included in this series are, Seeing Stone, Lucinda’s Secret, The Ironwood Tree and The Wrath of Mulgrath. 

Fitzhugh, Louise. Harriet the Spy. Harriet M. Welsch, otherwise known as Harriet the Spy, is an 11-year-old aspiring author. She writes down everything she sees in her notebook, which is very private and ALWAYS at her side. That is until one day, when it ends up in the hands of her classmates! 

McDonald, Megan. Judy Moody Gets Famous! When a third grade classmate gets her picture in the paper for winning a spelling bee, Judy is determined to find a way to become famous herself. 

Pennypacker, Sara. Clementine . Features hilarious stories about the irrepressible eight year old Clementine. There are 3 books in this series. 

Stewart, Paul. Beyond the Deepwoods. Thirteen-year-old Twig, having always looked and felt different from his woodtroll family, learns that he is adopted and travels out of his Deepwoods home to find the place where he belongs. This is the first book in the Edge Chronicles, which continues with Stormchaser, Mightnight over Sanctaphrax, etc. 

Van Draanen, Wendelin. Secret Identity. (Shredderman 1). Fifth-grader Nolan Byrd, tired of being called names by the class bully, has a secret identity--Shredderman! 

Winkler, Henry. Niagra Falls, or Does It? Fourth-graders Hank, Ashley, and Frankie are excitedly preparing for a magic show at the Rock 'N Bowl when Hank's creative alternative to an English essay lands him in detention and grounded the week of the show. Hank Zipzer is a new series that continues with I Got a “D” in Salami, Day of the Iguana, Zippety Zinger, The Night I Flunked My Field Trip, Holy Enchilada, etc.

Adler, David A. Satchel Paige: Don’t Look Back. Harcourt, 2007. Eventually overcoming racism and the social limitations of the early 1940’s, Satchel Paige enjoyed a career in baseball for over 40 years.

Allen, Thomas B. George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War. National Geographic, 2004. This illustrated biography of the Revolutionary War general and first President of the United States, George Washington, focuses on his use of spies to gather the intelligence that helped the colonies win the war.

Asch, Frank. Star Jumper: Journal of a Cardboard Genius. Kids Can Press, 2006. Alex plans to leave planet Earth and his annoying little brother in Star Jumper– the spaceship he designed and built entirely of cardboard, duct tape, and old items from the basement.

Aston, Dianna. A Seed is Sleepy. Chronicle Books, 2007. Beautifully illustrated, this book includes an intriguing array of seed and plant facts.

Avi. Never Mind! : A Twin Novel. HarperCollins, 2004. Twelve-year-old New York City twins Meg and Edward have nothing in common, so they are just as shocked as everyone else when Meg’s hopes for popularity and Edward’s mischievous schemes coincidentally collide in a hilarious showdown.

Babbitt, Natalie. Jack Plank Tells Tales. Michael di Capua Books, 2007. Because he is too nice to be a pirate, Jack Plank looks for a new career, but each night he tells tales of why the one job he looked into that day is wrong.

Barshaw, Ruth. Ellie McDoodle: Have Pen, Will Travel. Bloomsbury, 2007. Armed only with humor, a pen and a sketchbook, eleven-year-old Ellie McDoodle chronicles her adventures and mishaps while camping with her cousins, aunt and uncle.

Bauer, Marion Dane. Secret of the Painted House. Random House, 2007. When her family moves from Chicago to the country, nine-year-old Emily is drawn to a mysterious playhouse she finds in the woods, and she soon meets its sad, lonely inhabitant.

Boniface, William. The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy: the Hero Revealed. HarperCollins, 2006. Ordinary Boy is the only person in Superopolis that doesn’t have superpower, which definitely means trouble when he finds himself in the clutches of arch villain Professor Brain-Drain.

Byrd, Robert. The Hero and the Minotaur. Dutton, 2005. This re-telling follows the Greek hero Theseus as he overcomes challenges on the road, defeats the Minotaur, and becomes the wise and just ruler of Athens.

Carman, Patrick. Atherton. Little Brown, 2007. Edgar, a natural climber, discovers a mysterious book and goes on a fast-paced adventure to discover what is happening to mysterious book and goes on a fast-paced adventure to discover what is happening to Atherton, a man-made multi-level world orbiting earth.

Choldenko, Gennifer. Al Capone Does My Shirts. Putnam, 2004. A twelve-year old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935, when guards’ families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister. Newbery Honor.

Clements, Andrew. No Talking. Simon & Schuster, 2007. The noisy fifth grade class of Laketon Elementary becomes suspiciously quiet when the boys challenge the girls to a “no talking” contest.

Clements, Andrews. Dogku. Simon & Schuster, 2007. Haiku is used to tell the story about a dog named Mooch who rides in a car, barks at the neighbors, and chews on dirty socks.

Dahl, Roald. Matilda. Viking, 1988. Matilda applies her mental powers to rid the school of the evil headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, and restore Miss Honey, her nice teacher, to financial security.

Davies, Nicola. Extreme Animals: the Toughest Creatures on Earth. Candlewick, 2006. This amazing natural history book reveals how animals adapt to and survive the harshest of conditions that would kill any human.

DiCamillo, Kate. Because of Winn-Dixie. Candlewick, 2000. India Opal Buloni, age 10, describes her first summer in Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog, Winn-Dixie. Newbery Honor Book

Frederick, Heather Vogel. For Your Paws Only. Simon & Schuster, 2005. In this “James Bond”-styled story, mice and humans save the world from rats.

Gardiner, John R. Stone Fox. First published 1980. Willie hopes to win the purse in a dog sled race in order to pay the back taxes on his grandfather's farm.

Gutman, Dan. The Homework Machine. Simon & Schuster, 2006. When three classmates of fifth grade computer geek, Brandon, find out that he has invented a machine that does homework in his own handwriting, they all use it secretly with disastrous consequences.

Hansen, Rosanna. Caring for Cheetahs: My African Adventure. Boyds Mill, 2007. Pounce into this colorful photo essay about protecting endangered cheetahs at a nature reserve owned by the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, Africa.

Haven, Paul. Two Hot Dogs with Everything. Random, 2006. Although everyone credits him and his superstitions for the Sluggers’ first winning streak in 108 baseball seasons, eleven-year-old Danny Gurkin believes his discovery of a secret from the team’s past is the real reason for the team’s success.

Hobbs, Valerie. Sheep. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006. A young border collie is sold when his sheep-ranching family falls on hard times, leading him to a series of new owners, new names, and a mixed-bag of new adventures.

Horvath, Polly. The Pepins and Their Problems. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2004. The reader is invited to help solve the Pepin family’s unusual problems, which include having a cow that creates lemonade rather than milk and having to cope with a competitive neighbor.

Ibbotson, Eva. Haunting of Granite Falls. Penguin, 2005. When twelve-year old Alex's Scottish castle of Carra is sold, dismantled, and moved to Texas, the ghosts that raised him from a child have difficulty relocating.

Jackson, Donna. M. ER Vets: Life in an Animal Emergency Room. Houghton Mifflin, 2005. This book discusses the life in an animal ER hospital, from the point of view of the veterinarians, the vet technicians, the owners, and their pets.

Koppes, Steven N. Killer Rocks from Outer Space: Asteroids, Comets, and Meteorites. Lerner, 2004. Describes the role that collisions with meteors, comets, and asteroids have played in the history of Earth and other planets in the solar system and examines what is being done to protect Earth from future collisions.

Kraske, Robert. Marooned: The Strange but True Adventures of Alexander Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe. Clarion, 2005. Presents the story of Scottish mariner Alexander Selkirk and his experiences while marooned on a South Pacific island for four years.

Levine, Ellen. Henry’s Freedom Box. Scholastic, 2007. This is a fictionalized account of how in 1849, a Virginia slave, Henry “Box” Brown escapes to freedom by shipping himself in a wooden crate from Richmond to Philadelphia.

Lubar, David. Punished! Darby Creek, 2006. Because he was playing tag in the reference section of the library, Logan is punished by Professor Wordsworth, who puts a spell on him that is broken only by finding anagrams, palindromes, and oxymorons.

Morgan, Clay. The Boy Who Spoke Dog. Penguin, 2005. After being marooned on an island near New Zealand, Jack, an orphaned cabin boy from San Francisco, becomes allied with a group of dogs that protect the local sheep from wild dogs.

Napoli, Donna Jo. The King of Mulberry Street. Wendy Lamb, 2005. When nine- year-old Beniamino, a Jewish boy from Naples, is smuggled onto a ship, he assumes his mother is also on the ship. When he ends up alone in New York, he has to deal with his fear and sadness on the one hand and figure out how to get food and shelter on the other as he makes his way in the New World

Osborne, Mary Pope. Pompeii Lost & Found. Knopf, 2006. This fresco-illustrated book answers questions about the effect of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius on the people of Pompeii and their life before the disaster.

Park, Linda Sue. Archer’s Quest. Clarion, 2006. Twelve-year-old Kevin Kim helps Chu-mong, a legendary king of ancient Korea, return to his own time.

Perry, Andrea. The Snack Smasher and Other Reasons Why It’s Not My Fault. Atheneum, 2007. Sneaky villains cause life’s little annoyances in this collection of poems.

Riordan, Rick. The Lightning Thief. Hyperion, 2005. Percy, expelled from six schools for being unable to control his temper, learns the truth from his mother that his father is literally a Greek god. Percy is sent to Camp Half blood where he is befriended by a satyr and begins a journey to retrieve Zeus’ lightning bolt. First of a series.

Roberts, Willo Davis. Hostage. Simon & Schuster, 2001. When eleven-year-old Kaci interrupts burglars in the process of robbing her house, she and her nosy elderly neighbor Mrs. Banducci are kidnapped and held hostage by the desperate and ruthless criminals.

Rosen, Michael J. Balls! Darby Creek, 2006. This illustrated book includes history, science, records, and some well-rounded trivia about some of your favorite sports balls.

Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Scholastic, 2007. Hugo Cabret, a clever mechanically-minded orphan living in Paris in the 1930’s, has fascinating secrets and amazing adventures in the train station where he lives. Sequences of text and drawings combine to tell this suspenseful tale. Caldecott Medal 2008.

Scieszka, Jon. Oh Say, I Can't See. Penguin, 2005. Samantha, Joe, and Fred time warp to Revolutionary War days where they must convince George Washington and his men to cross the Delaware. Series

St. John, Lauren. The White Giraffe. Dial, 2007. After losing her parents in a tragic fire, eleven-year-old Martine must live with a grandmother she has never met on a wildlife preserve in Africa, where she learns about a mystical white giraffe.

Wiles, Deborah. Each Little Bird that Sings. Harcourt, 2005. Comfort Snowberger is well acquainted with death since her family runs the funeral parlor in their small southern town, but even so, the ten-year-old is unprepared for the series of heart-wrenching events triggered by the sudden death of her beloved great-uncle Edisto.

Sixth Grade

Fantasy

• A Time of Angels by Karen Hesse
• Clockwork: or All Wound Up by Philip Pulman
• Ereth’s Birthday by Avi (fourth book in the Poppy Series)
• Esio Trot by Roald Dahl
• Harry Potter and the Sorcer’s Stone by JK Rowling (first in the series)
• Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
• Cricket in Times Square by George Selder
• Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper (first in a series)
• The Boggart by Susan Cooper
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
• The Twits by Roald Dahl

Realistic Fiction

• Chocolate-Covered Ants by Stephen Manes
• Cracker Jackson by Betsy Byars
• Flip-Flop Girl by Katherine Paterson
• Girl Reporter Snags Crush by Linda Ellerbee (it is part of a series)
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• It’s Not the End of the World by Judy Blume
• Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser
• Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
• Missing May by Cynthia Rylant
• Monkey Island by Paula Fox
• Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers
• The Music of Dolphins by Karen Hesse
• The Wanderer by Sharon Creech

Mystery

• Sang Spell by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
• Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
• Stranger with My Face by Lois Duncan

Historical Fiction

• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
• Ben and Me by Robert Lawson
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
• My Louisiana Sky by Kimberly Willis Holt
• Soldier’s Heart by Gary Paulsen
• True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

Classics

• The Secret Garden by Fances Hodgson Burnett
• By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Adventure/Survival

• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (part of a series)
• Hachet by Gary Paulsen (part of a series)

Short Story Collections

• Baseball in April and Other Short Stories by Gary Soto
• Birthday Surprises edited by Johanna Hurwitz
• The Library Card by Jerry Spinelli

Other Great Books in a Series

• Anastasia Series by Lois Lowry
• Homecoming, Dicey’s Song and other books in this series by Cynthia Voigt
• Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
• The Chronicles of Narnia Series by C.S. Lewis
• Time Warp Trio Series by J. Sciezska

Seventh Grade

Fantasy

• Eragon and Eldest by Christopher Paolini
• Summerland by Michael Chabon
• The Warrior Heir by Cinda Chima
• The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman
• Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen by Garth Nix
• Airborne and Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel
• The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud
• Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer
• Three Wee Men by Terry Pratchet
• Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Science Fiction

• The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick
• Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements
• The Maximum Ride Series by James Patterson
• The Ender Series by Orson Scott Card
• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
• Feed by M.T. Anderson

Realistic Fiction

• Monster by Walter Dean Myers
• Secret Lives of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
• Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
• A Step from Heaven by An Na
• Skellig by David Almond
• Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Series by Ann Brashares
• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
• When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt
• Woman in the Wall by Patrice Kindl

Historical Fiction

• Black Duck by Janet Lisle
• The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
• True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
• Under a War-Torn Sky by Laura Malone Elliott
• The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
• Samurai Shortstop by Alan Gratz
• The Ransom of Mercy Carter by Caroline B. Cooney

Mystery and Horror

• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
• Blue is for Nightmares, White is for Magic, and Silver is for Secrets by Laurie Stolarz
• Operation Red Jericho by Joshua Mowll
• Jade Green: A Ghost Story by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
• The Third Eye by Lois Lowry
• The Face on the Milk Carton, Whatever Happened to Janie, and Voice on the Radio by Caroline B. Cooney
• Thin Ice by Marsha Qualey
• Thirteen by Toyna Pines (editor)
• Cirque du Freak series by Darren Shan
• A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Classics

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
• Call of the Wild by Jack London
• The Pearl by John Steinbeck
• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
• Robin Hood by Howard Pile

Nonfiction

• Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
• Left for Dead by Pete Nelson
• Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
• Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat

Sports

• Travel Team and Heat by Mike Lupica
• Hoops by Walter Dean Myers
• Baseball Card Adventures by Dan Gutman
• Over the Wall by John H. Ritter
• Tangerine by Edward Bloor

Eighth Grade

Along with titles and authors, the entries include associated themes in parentheses.

Non-Fiction

An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy (history, science, politics, public health)

Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex by Nathanial Philbrick (history, whaling, 19^th century America)

Hoop Dreams by Ben Joravski (identity, basketball, urban themes)

When I was Puerto Rican by Esmerelda Santiago (autobiography, identity, girls, Puerto Rico, New York City)

The Greatest: Muhammad Ali by Walter Dean Myers (history, biography)

Always Running by Luis Rodriguez (autobiography, gangs, urban life, Los Angeles)

In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle by Madeleine Blais (basketball, teammates, girls, challenges)

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson (mountaineering, survival)

Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals and Anne Greenberg (school desegregation, politics, race)

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi (graphic non-fiction, autobiography, identity, Iranian society)

Fiction

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexi (identity, Native Americans)

Estrella's Quinceañera by Malín Alegría (race, girls, class, Mexican American culture)

The Middle of Somewhere by J.B. Cheaney (road trip, family, ADHD)

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (class, identity)

Ironman by Chris Crutcher (social issues, identity)

A Long Way from Chicago: A Novel in Stories by Richard Peck (Chicago, early-mid 20^th century, growing up)

Hoops by Walter Dean Myers (identity, character, life path)

Dracula by Bram Stoker (horror)

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (19^th century America, slavery, abolitionism)

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (American revolution)

Lyddie by Katherine Patterson (historical fiction, 19^th century America, Lowell mill girls, industrial revolution)

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines (fictional biography, slavery)

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers (Vietnam War, survival)

American Born Chinese by Gene Leung Yang (graphic novel, identity, Chinese-American culture, race)