The 2011/2012 Entering Seventh Grade Core Su mmer Rea ding Book is:

ALL ST UDE NTS ARE RE Q UI RED T O REA D THI S B OO K

Schooled
by Gordon Korman
All Cap knows is the isolated farm commune where just he and his grandmother, Rain, live. When Rain is hospitalized, Cap is taken in by a social worker and sent to a public middle school. Smart and capable, innocent and inexperienced (he learned to drive on the farm, but has never watched television), long-haired Cap finds it hard to fit in. From chapter to chapter, the first-person narrative switches from everyone from Cap himself, to his social worker, to her daughter, to the coolest kid in school, and so on. Through all their stories we see Caps unique way of dealing with his very unique situation.

All students are required to read the 7th Grade Core Summer Reading Book as well as one other book on the following list.

eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.

Curveball by Jordan Sonnenblick After an injury ends former star pitcher Peter Friedman's athletic dreams, he concentrates on photography which leads him to a girlfriend, new fame as a high school sports photographer, and a deeper relationship with the beloved grandfather who, when he realizes he is becoming senile, gives Pete all of his professional camera gear. Chomp by Carl Hiaasen The difficult star of the reality television show, "Expedition Survival," disappears on location in the Florida Everglades, where they were filming animals from the wildlife refuge run by Wahoo Crane's family, and Wahoo and classmate Tuna Gordon set out to find him, but they must avoid Tuna's gun-happy father. Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner Jaden's summer visit with her meteorologist father, who has just returned from spending four years in Russia conducting weather experiments not permitted in the United States, fills her with apprehension and fear as she discovers that living at her father's planned community Placid Meadows is anything but placid. The False Princess by Jennifer Nielson For sixteen years, Nalia has been raised as the princess of Thorvaldor, but one day she learns that her real name is Sinda and that she is part of a complicated plot that would change the future of her country forever. Diamond in the Desert by Kathryn Fitzmaurice After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, thirteen-year-old Tetsu and his family are sent to the Gila River Relocation Center in Arizona where a fellow prisoner starts a baseball team, but when Tetsu's sister becomes ill and he feels responsible, he stops playing.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government. The Contender by Robert Lipsyte A Harlem high school dropout escapes from a gang of punks into a boxing gym. There, he learns that being a contender is hard and often discouraging work, but that you don't know anything until you try. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor An African-American family living in Mississippi during the Depression of the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which the children do not understand.

Marching for Freedom by Elizabeth Partridge Recounts the three months of protest that took place before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s landmark march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery to promote equal rights and help African-Americans earn the right to vot Secret of the Yellow Death by Suzanne Jurmain Tells the story of the doctors and researchers who worked to track down the cause of yellow fever and find a way to eliminate the disease. Plant Hunters by Anita Silvey Uses primary source materials to introduce explorers from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who traveled the world to discover, collect, and transport new and unusual plants in the name of science. Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming Traces the life of female aviator Amelia Earhart from her childhood to her final flight, discusses the extensive search for her and her missing plane, and includes photographs, maps, handwritten notes by Amelia, and sidebars. Left for Dead by Peter Nelson Recalls the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis at the end of World War II, the Navy cover-up and unfair court martial of the ship's captain, and how a young boy helped the survivors set the record straight fifty-five years later.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African-American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963. The Midwifes Apprentice by Karen Cushman In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship,

home, where, for the first time, he has contact with the outside world and learns about friendship, love, and humanity.

The Academie by Susanne Dunlap Told in separate voices, teenaged Eliza Monroe, the daughter of a future United States President, Hortense de Beauharnais and Caroline Bonaparte, relatives of Napoleon I, and Madeleine, daughter of an actress, come together at L'Academie Nationale a St. Germain in the turmoil of 1799 France. Elephant in the Garden by Michael Morpugo Lizzie and Karl's mother, Mutti, working at a local zoo in Dresden, Germany, during World War II while their father is away fighting in France, brings home Marlene, a baby elephant that is slated to be destroyed as the Allied bombing grows closer, and when they are forced to flee, Mutti feels they must take Marlene with them, adding even more danger to their journey. Anyas War by Andrea Alban Anya Rosen moves with her family from Odessa to Shanghai in order to escape religious persecution from Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, but after Anya discovers a newborn baby abandoned in the middle of the street and her hero, Amelia Earhart, goes missing, Anya fears that there is no safe place for her family. War Games by Audrey Couloumbis What were once just boys' games become matters of life and death as Petros and his older brother Zola each wonder if, like their resistance-fighter cousin, they too can make a difference in a Nazioccupied Greece. Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel In 1973, when a renowned Canadian behavioral psychologist pursues his latest research projectan experiment to determine whether chimpanzees can acquire advanced language skillshe brings home a baby chimp named Zan and asks his thirteen-yearold son to treat Zan like a little brother.

The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney Fifteen-year-old Janie Johnson becomes caught up in a search for her true identity after seeing a picture of her three-year-old self on a milk carton. So B. It by Sarah Weeks After spending her life with her mentally disabled mother and agoraphobic neighbor, twelve-year-old Heidi sets out from Reno, Nevada, to New York to find out who she is. Call Me Maria by Judith Ortiz Cofer A story in poetry and prose, in which fifteen-year-old Maria leaves her mother and their Puerto Rican home to live in the barrio of New York with her father, feeling torn between the two cultures in which she has been raised.

I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I want to be Your Class President by Josh Lieb Twelve-year-old evil genius, Oliver, uses his great brain to become the third richest person in the world, and finds that overthrowing foreign dictators is easier than getting the kids in his middle school to vote him class president. Cinder by Marissa Meyer Cinder, a gifted mechanic and a cyborg with a mysterious past, is blamed by her stepmother for her stepsister's illness while a deadly plague decimates the population of New Beijing, but when Cinder's life gets intertwined with Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle. Real Mermaids Dont Wear Toe Rings by Helene Boudreau Fourteen-year-old Jade's life takes an unexpected turn when she gets into a warm bath after an exhausting, embarrassing day and turns into a mermaid. Maze Runner (series) by James Dashner Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape. Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock A girl is transformed, through instruction in life at court, determination, and magic, from sullen, pudgy, graceless Ben into a Crown Princess, a fit ruler of the kindgom of Montagne as it faces war with neighboring Drachensbett.

Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis A quirky and utterly logical seventh-grade girl named Emma-Jean Lazarus discovers some interesting results when she gets involved in the messy everyday problems of her peers. Alabama Moon by Watt Key After the death of his father, ten-year-old Moon Blake is removed from the Alabama forest where he was raised and sent to a boy's

Stuck on Earth by David Klass On a secret mission to evaluate whether the human race should be annihilated, a space alien inhabits the body of a bullied fourteenyear-old boy. No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman Eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace is sentenced to detention attending rehearsals of the school play where, in spite of himself, he becomes wrapped up in the production and begins to suggest changes that improve not only the play but his life as well. Guys Read: Funny Business by multiple authors A collection of humorous stories featuring a teenaged mummy, a homicidal turkey, and the world's largest pool of chocolate milk. Crazy Weekend by Gary Soto Seventh-grader Hectors and Mandos visit to Uncle Julio in Fresno turns unexpectedly exciting when their photograph of a robbery is published in the newspaper and they are pursued by the hilariously inept thugs. How Lamars Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy by Crystal Allen When thirteen-year-old, bowling-obsessed Lamar Washington finds out that his idol is coming to town, he finds himself involved in some unsavory activities as he tries to change his image to impress people.

Heist Society (series) by Ally Carter Fifteen-year-old Kat schemes her way into the best boarding school, hoping to leave the antics of her family of theives behind her, but Hal, a former co-conspirator, appears on campus to tell Kat that a powerful mobster believes her father stole art from a priceless collection, and in order to save him, Kat will have to recover the paintings. London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd When Ted and Kat's cousin Salim disappears from the London Eye ferris wheel, the two siblings must work togetherTed with his brain that is "wired differently" and impatient Katto try to solve the mystery of what happened to Salim. The Trap by John Smelcer In alternating chapters, seventeen-year-old Johnny Least- Weasel, who is better known for brains than brawn, worries about his missing grandfather, and the grandfather, Albert Least-Weasel, struggles to survive, caught in his own steel trap in the Alaskan winter.

Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale Rapunzel, raised in a grand villa surrounded by towering walls, dreams of a different mother than Gothel, the woman she calls Mother. She climbs over the wall and finds out the truth. Her real mother, Kate, is a slave in Gothel's gold mine. In this Old West retelling, Rapunzel uses her hair as a lasso and to take on outlaws. The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan Eleven-year-old Jack Clark struggles with everyday obstacles while his family and community contend with the challenges brought on by the Dust Bowl in 1937 Kansas.

Cold Case by Julia Platt Leonard When thirteen-year-old Oz Keillor finds a dead body in his family's Santa Fe, New Mexico, restaurant, he is determined to solve the mystery in which his older brother is implicated, but which also involves their long-dead father, who was accused of being a spy. Guys Read: Thriller by multiple authors A body on the tracks A teenage terrorist A mysterious wish-granting machine The world's worst private detective The second volume in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading is chock-full of mystery, intrigue, and nefarious activity. Featuring some of the best writers around, and compiled by certified guy Jon Scieszka, Guys Read: Thriller is a pulse-pounding collection of brand-new short stories, each one guaranteed to keep you riveted until the final page.

Mouse Guard by David Petersen (series) A graphic comic about the world of Mouse Guard, mice with capes and swords defending themselves against their enemies as if they were Knights of the Round Table. Cat Burglar Black by Richard Sala K. Westree arrives at Bellsong Academy, where she hopes to leave her past as a cat-burglar behind, but she quickly learns that the school contains a hidden treasure left by its founder, and as she resumes her old habits, she starts to question whether she really wants a normal life. Satchel Page by James Sturm A graphic novel account of the career of Negro League pitcher Satchel Paige, discussing the show he put on as a popular player, as well as the respect he demanded as an African-American.

Cover Up by John Feinstein (series) More than 95 million fans will be watching the Superbowl, but Steve Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson know that what they'll be watching is a lie. They know that the entire offensive line of the California Dreams failed their doping tests and that the Dreams' owner is trying to cover up the test results. These two teens are sitting on the biggest sports scandal of the decade. How can they prove it? Football Genius by Tim Green Troy, a sixth-grader with an unusual gift for predicting football plays before they occur, attempts to use his ability to help his favorite team, the Atlanta Falcons, but he must first prove himself to the coach and players. Go Big or Go Home by Will Hobbs Fourteen-year-old Brady and his cousin Quinn love extreme sports, but nothing could prepare them for the aftermath of Brady's close encounter with a meteorite after it crashes into his Black Hills, South Dakota, bedroom. Breakaway by Andrea Montalbano When seventh-grade soccer star LJ befriends Tabitha, who could not be more different from her, LJ learns to curb her competitive nature, which has been slowly alienating her friends. Peak by Roland Smith After Peak is arrested for scaling a New York City skyscraper, he's left with two choices: wither away in Juvenile Detention or go live with his long-lost father, who runs a climbing company in Thailand. Peak chooses the latter, but quickly realizes that his fathers reasons for wanting Peak with him arent completely innocent.