Eagleview Middle School: Incoming 6th

Grade Reading & Project List

Book #1 Required: All sixth grade students are required to read the following book by the first day of school:

Title/Lexile Author/Genre Overview

Chasing Vermeer

770

Blue Balliett - Mystery A puzzling art theft is solved by two sixth grade detectives.

Book #2 Choice: Select one of these titles or another book by the same author, and complete your “It’s in the Bag” project by August 27, 2015.

(The recommended Lexile range for 6th grade is 800 – 1100.)

A Wrinkle in Time

740

Madeleine L’Engle - Timeless Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly

strangers and a search for Meg’s father.

Esperanza Rising

750

Pam Munoz Ryan – Timeless Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their wealth and

privilege in Mexico to work in the labor camps of southern

California.

The Midnighters: The Secret Hour

740

Scott Westerfeld – Mystery A selected few call themselves “midnighters”. Dark things

haunt this midnight hour. The question… why?

Theodore Boone - Kid Lawyer

790

John Grisham - Mystery A perfect murder A faceless witness A lone courtroom

champion knows the whole truth . . and he's only thirteen years

old

Everest

690

Gordon Korman – Nonfiction A thrilling adventure trilogy from Gordon Korman about a

number of kids competing to be the youngest person to ever

reach the top of Mt. Everest Four kids. One mountain.

Hanging around with Bats

800

Lauren Weidenman – Nonfiction Learn about different types of bats, their body features and their

ability to echolocate.

Jason’s Gold

860

Will Hobbs – Historical Fiction Fifteen year old Jason embarks on a 10,000 mile journey to

strike it rich.

Bud, Not Buddy

950

Christopher Paul Curtis – Historical

Fiction

It's 1936, in Flint, Michigan, and when 10-year-old Bud decides

to hit the road to find his father, nothing can stop him.

Make Lemonade

890

Virginia E. Wolff - Poetry Written in free verse, inner-city, 14-year-old LaVaughn earns

money for college by babysitting for a teenage mom.

Witness

Not available-poetry

Karen Hesse - Poetry When a small Vermont town turns against its own in 1924 as the

Ku Klux Klan moves in, no one is safe, especially 12-year-old

Leonora, an African American girl, and 6-year-old Esther, who is Jewish.

Swindle

710

Gordon Korman - Humor After a mean collector named Swindle cons him out of his most

valuable baseball card, Griffin Bing must put together a band of

misfits to break into Swindle's compound and recapture the

card.

Outcast of 19 Schuyler Place

840

E.L. Konigsburg - Humor Freshly rescued from a miserable experience at camp ,Margaret

is looking forward to spending the rest of her summer with her

beloved great-uncles. Little does she know, the Uncles

themselves are in need of a rescue.

Zach’s Lie

580

Roland Smith – Realistic Fiction Jack is a pretty average kid until the night that changes his life

forever.

So B. It

860

Sarah Weeks – Realistic Fiction Heidi knows that she is approximately 12 years old, but she

doesn’t know her last name, her birthday or the identity of her

father.

Maximum Ride

700

James Patterson – Science Fiction Fourteen-year-old Maximum Ride, better known as Max, knows

what it's like to soar above the world. She and all the members

of the "flock"--Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel--are just

like ordinary kids--only they have wings and can fly.

Only You Can Save Mankind

600

Terry Pratchett – Science Fiction The alien spaceship is in his sights. His finger is on the ‘fire’

button. Johnny Maxwell is about to set the new high score on

the computer game Only You Can Save Mankind.

Sword of the Rightful King

1010

Jane Yolen - Fantasy Trouble arises when someone else removes the sword before

King Arthur.

Dragonriders of Pern

970

Anne McCaffrey – Fantasy A trilogy about Menolly, a gifted musician who dreams of

becoming a harper.

Summer Reading and Project

The teachers and administration of Eagleview Middle School recognize the important role that reading

plays in student achievement. Therefore, each summer, all students are required to read two books from

the summer reading list and complete a project. Students must choose one book from the Choice list and

complete their project on that book. Each student must also read the Required Book. The project will be

turned into the student’s Language Arts teacher on Thursday, August 27, 2015. This project will be part

of the student’s first nine week’s grade in Language Arts. The required novel will be explored and

discussed during the first few weeks of school.

“It’s In the Bag” – Project Requirements

The following are minimum requirements; you may always do more! You will need a large brown paper bag

for this project. To get an understanding of some of the important literary elements of your novel, you are to

choose 5 different objects (3D, handmade, pictures, etc.) to place inside your paper bag that represent the

following literary elements:

Inside the bag: Fiction Inside the bag: Non-fiction

1. Object #1-Setting: choose an object that represents

the setting of your novel.

2. Object #2-Main Character: choose an object that

represents ONE of your main characters in your novel. If

you have more than one main character, just select one

for this project.

3. Object #3-Theme: choose an object that represents

one of the themes of your novel.

4. Object #4-1 Key Event in Plot: choose an object that

represents ONE key event that takes place in your book.

5. Object #5-Author: choose an object that represents

some aspect of your author. Note: you will need to do

a little research on your author in order to choose an

appropriate object. The best place to start is your

author’s webpage.

1. Object #1-Where: choose an object that represents

the most important place and time period that influenced

him/her.

2. Object #2-Who: choose an object that represents the

subject of your reading. If you have more than one

subject, just select one for this project.

3. Object #3-Why: choose an object that represents one

of the reasons this subject relates to the world today.

4. Object #4-1 What:: choose an object that represents

what you learned from your reading.

5. Object #5-Author: choose an object that represents

some aspect of your author. Note: you will need to do

a little research on your author in order to choose an

appropriate object. The best place to start is your

author’s webpage.

Outside of the bag: 1. Title of your novel

2. Author of your novel

3. Student Name

4. Creatively decorate the outside of your brown paper bag so that it symbolizes or represents some

aspect of your novel.

Literary Terms:

1. Main Character: The character the story is mostly about and around whom the main conflict centers.

2. Plot: The events that make up the story. Make sure than the event you select is important to the story.

3. Theme: The lessons about life that the author teaches through the story. You probably know this as the moral

lesson or message. For example: Don’t judge a book by its cover.