Summer Reading - Middle School: Middle School Summer Reading 2023

Mangus the Magician and his thirteen-year-old servant, Fabrizio, are commanded to go to Venice, on pain of death, to find a book by Friar Luca Pacioli which reportedly contains a magical means of making money; but Venice is a strange and dangerous city, and someone else is also after the book--then Mangus is arrested, and taken to the prison, and Fabrizio and Bianca, an orphan he has met, must find a way to secure the book, save Magnus, and themselves.

The resilience of two cousins is tested when one of them is lost at sea and washes up on a deserted island while the other remains at home, holding on to the belief that her beloved cousin is still alive.

A novel in verse about a boy escaping slavers during the nineteenth century.

Crumbling under the pressure at her elite school on the moon, misfit Myra Hodger discovers a lab full of toxic plants and uses her botanical magic to weed out its secrets, but quickly discovers some will do anything to take those secrets to the grave.

In a city where people are divided into Permitteds and Nons, music-loving Adam and his younger sister Leila must navigate the dangers of being second-class citizens and decide how to stand up for their rights.

Four months after the power went out and his father went missing, Henry travels alone to find his father through the lawless world of the Switch, where he learns just how far people will go to survive.

Twelve-year-old Octavia, who grew up believing her town was the only one left after a magical war, meets a girl from outside her town and tries to uncover the truth about her world.

Melanie Gate, a foundling with a peculiar talent for opening the unopenable, agrees to accompany a gearling automaton named Traveler on his quest to find a home, only to be pursued by the most dangerous wizard in the land and, along the way, discover her true powers.

When a child goes missing from the Orphan House in the town of Stone-in-the-Glen, the mayor suggests the kindly Ogress is responsible, but the orphans do not believe that and try to make their deluded neighbors see the real villain among them.

Twelve-year-old Nick loves soccer and hates books, but soon learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams.

Tyler's brain is different. Unlike his friends, he has a hard time paying attention in class. He acts out in goofy, over-the-top ways. Sometimes, he even does dangerous things--like cut up a bus seat with a pocketknife or hang out of an attic window. To the adults in his life, Tyler seems like a troublemaker. But he knows that he's not. Tyler is curious and creative. He's the best artist in his grade, and when he can focus, he gets great grades. He doesn't want to cause trouble, but sometimes he just feels like he can't control himself.

Best friends Pen and Olive live in Cloud Town, an impoverished community on Floating Island, a mysterious landmass that drifts above the earth and happens to sit dangerously close to the Rip--a tear in the fabric of the universe. While Pen is brash and brave, Olive is quiet, kind, and also fearful of bullies at school--until the day they are nearly squashed by a Care Corp Storm Catcher, a giant android built to protect Cloud Town. Care Corp recruits Olive to train as a pilot, so that she can protect Floating Island when the next attack comes. It's a role reversal, for which neither of the girls are prepared.

The year is 1980 and sixth-grader Héctor faces daily challenges growing up in Cuba under a repressive regime. His father, exiled to the U.S. for opposing the government, has been labeled a traitor. Héctor and his family live each day as two versions of themselves—the private and the public—in order to survive under the communist government that demands utmost loyalty. By summer, Héctor's attempts to juggle this duality come to a head when his mother announces they will try to flee Cuba for the U.S., leaving behind the only life they've ever known.

From the assassination that triggers World War I in 1914 to Armistice Day in 1918, the story follows the fates of five young people on both sides of the conflict--each facing their portion of the war with courage, until the end of the war brings them together. Includes information on the history of the war.

On the first night of rioting in the wake of the Rodney King verdict, Jordan's father leaves to check on the family store, spurring twelve-year-old Jordan and his friends to embark on a dangerous journey through South Central and Koreatown to come to his aid, encountering the racism within their community as they go.

Bullied and lonely, Parker Nelson is excited to make a new friend at camp, but then bad, unexplainable things start happening to Parker's tormenters, and she soon discovers that her new friend might not be so friendly--or human--after all.

While taking tourists on a ghost tour on Toronto Island, Gabe comes face-to-face with the dead girl at the center of his story who needs his help in stopping the malevolent spirit responsible for her and her father’s death who is growing ever stronger.

When the cliff beneath the old?—?some say cursed?—?Langdon place is opened up, horror movie fanatic Archie Coomes and friends must save the town from the deadly grip of an ancient, long-buried evil.

Meet Airi Sano. After spending her entire childhood moving from one military base to another, she's excited to be settling down for the long-term in Hawai'i. She's less excited about her new teacher, who's determined to make Airi like school. But she's got a plan: prank her teacher so hard that she gives up on even trying to get Airi to do any work--especially any reading. But Mrs. Ashton won't give up, no matter what Airi does. Airi will need the help of her new classmates--who might even be her new friends--to get Mrs. Ashton to crack. It's time...for a prank war!

JWith no knightly experience but plenty of pluck and an impressive vocubulary, a twelve-year-old peasant, hoping to improve his station in life, volunteers to help a cowardly prince and his not very powerful wizard rescue a princess from an evil, foul-smelling monster.

When he is magically transported back to the seventh grade before he and his best friend had a falling out, science nerd Mason gets a chance to stop the chain of events that made his previous life implode.

Winner of the John Newbery Medal Winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award An Indiebound Bestseller A New York Times Bestseller Award-winning author Amina Luqman-Dawson pens a lyrical, accessible historical middle-grade novel about two enslaved children's escape from a plantation and the many ways they find freedom. Under the cover of night, twelve-year-old Homer flees Southerland Plantation with his little sister Ada, unwillingly leaving their beloved mother behind. Much as he adores her and fears for her life, Homer knows there's no turning back, not with the overseer on their trail. Through tangled vines, secret doorways, and over a sky bridge, the two find
secret community called Freewater, deep in the swamp. In this society created by formerly enslaved people and some freeborn children, Homer finds new friends, almost forgetting where he came from. But when he learns of a threat that could destroy Freewater, he crafts a plan to find his mother and help his new home.

NEWBERY HONOR AWARD WINNER In this timely and moving novel in verse, a preteen girl navigates seventh grade while facing mental health challenges. A hopeful, poetic story about learning to advocate for the help and understanding you deserve.

A Newbery Honor Book A Walter Dean Myers Honor Book Joining an expedition to chart the southern seas, twelve-year-old mapmaker's assistant Sai, posing as a well-bred young lady with a glittering future, realizes she's not the only one on board harboring secrets when she discovers the ship's true destination.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST Eleven-year-old Maizy Chen visits her estranged grandparents, who own and run a Chinese restaurant in Last Chance, Minnesota; as her visit lengthens, she makes unexpected discoveries about her family's history and herself.

Eleven-year-old Chester and his classmate Skye, tasked with a complex puzzle-solving mission, discover the key to their spy assignment is to stop a heist, but cracking the code could mean finding out things are not always what they seem.

Twelve-year-old Spade is a grave thief...He's headed for a lifetime of theft when his father comes up with the audacious plan to rob a grave in the Wyndhail castle cemetery. Spade and his brother get caught in a royal trap, and Spade must find the master of the Woegon: a deadly creature that is stalking the castle by night. Along the way, he meets Ember, the queen's niece, and together they race to solve the mystery of the legendary Deepstones and their connection to the Woegon.

Max and Josie are best friends from vastly different worlds. Max, born to billionaires, obliviously attends an exclusive school with a fleet of students known as Whatnots, modern androids capable of flawless human imitation, thus sparing him from interacting with cruel or greedy children interested only in his wealth. Josie is secretly the only other human child in Max's class, allowed to attend the superior school with the promise of an excellent education if she can keep up the robotic ruse. Max is devastated when Josie seemingly disappears after fifth grade, but she leaves behind a perplexing note: "No matter what anyone tells you, I'm real." A bewildered Max sets out to uncover the truth and find his way back to his best friend, but the stakes are higher than he could possibly imagine.

Thermostats that adjust themselves, refrigerators that notify their owners when the food inside them is about to expire, a robotic assistant that can set alarms and answer almost any question--all of these things would have seemed impossible only a few decades ago. However, thanks to rapidly advancing technological developments, these and more are available to the average citizen. As technology becomes increasingly incorporated in everyday objects, knowing how to use it is becoming a crucial skill.

A young readers adaptation of Sonia Purnell's New York Times bestselling book A Woman of No Importance, the story of Virginia Hall; the unassuming American spy who helped the allies win World War II. Virginia Hall was deemed "the most dangerous of all allied spies" by the Gestapo. Armed with her wits and her prosthetic leg, she was deployed behind enemy lines to inspire resistance in France, providing crucial support to fighting the Nazi occupation. In this largely untold story, Sonia Purnell uncovers the truth behind a Baltimore socialite who was essential to allied victory. Adapted for the elementary to middle school audience, Agent Most Wanted is equal parts an inspiring tale of feminism in a time when women weren't taken seriously, an epic spy story, and, of course, a retelling of winning one of the largest global conflicts in modern history.

The praying mantis is the only animal on Earth with one ear--and it's in the middle of its chest. Aphids are born pregnant. Moths can't fly during an earthquake. If you didn't know these things, you soon will. Packed full of jaw-dropping facts, Buzzkill presents the big picture on bugs. You might think ew, gross. Insects are icky. Or scary. Or dangerous. They can be. But there's so much more you need to know. Insects play a critical role on our planet, from sustenance to pollination to medicines and more. Brenna Maloney tackles both the wacky and weird, as well as threats to insects and their habitats, their possible extinction, and ways that everyday people, like you, can prevent their decline. Find out what all the buzz is about!

Capturing the shock and reverberations of the COVID-19 pandemic . . . [in this novel in verse], as Garvey's life goes into lockdown and his father becomes sick, Garvey must find a way to use his newfound musical skills to bring hope to both his father and himself.

Twelve-year-old Haven channels her anxiety about the climate crisis into a fight against the factory suspected of polluting the river running through her town.

Twelve-year-old Brewster Gaines enlists the help of the charismatic new kid Carly to make a viral video, but things quickly spiral out of control when what started as a simple shoot morphs into a full-fledged movie production.

Cam Walker, the 12-year-old son of the creators of a traveling theme park called Futureland, must stop an unknown enemy from stealing his parent's cutting-edge technology and using it for sinister purposes.

Brought to the flying city of Highgate when he was only five years old, orphan Milo Quick has never known another home. A massive armada has surrounded Highgate's crumbling armaments. Because behind locked doors . . . the once-great flying city protects a powerful secret, hidden away for centuries. One small airship, the Halcyon, has slipped through the ominous blockade on a mission to collect Milo--and the rich bounty on his head--before the fighting begins.

After moving with her family to Florida, twelve-year-old Abby is having a hard time coping, so when she meets two boys from the future she decides to escape the seemingly depressing present by traveling to their time with them.

Twelve-and-a-half year old Emelyn Ethrige lives with her father in South Carolina, dreams of wheelchair motocross, and makes custom chair bags trying to earn enough money to buy a serious set of wheels; she has been in a wheelchair all her life, and is just fine getting around without help, but it seems that since her mother was killed in an accident everyone (father, grandparents, teachers, and classmates) have started treating her differently: urging caution and trying to "help" and for an independently-minded girl who loves speed and big air tricks it is frustrating--so Emelyn and her best friends come up with a plan to change their minds.

After the death of his friend, Tony must work to make the basketball team, but when he gets the chance to join the squad as statistician, he must grapple with honoring the memory of his basketball-loving friend while also trying to fit in on the team.

Seventh-grader Bea is the star short stop on her softball team, which is going to the league championship, but her world has just been turned upside down by the news that her father has been suspended from his law practice because he used some of his clients' money to pay bills; worse the news has been spread by another lawyer online, and that lawyer happens to be the father of Bea's almost boyfriend, Xander; now her fielding skills are slipping, and Bea does not know which is more difficult--dealing with either pity or snickering from her schoolmates, learning to throw again, or forgiving her father.