READING
Generic Weekly Calendar

Monday
Class work: New Spelling Lesson
Homework: Study Spelling Words

Tuesday
Class work: Begin a new Short Story, Vocabulary & Read
Homework: Study spelling words

Wednesday
Class work: Hand out spelling sheet, Continue reading the Story
Homework: Spelling sheet due Friday

Thursday
Class work: Short Story Activities
Homework: Study spelling words - test tomorrow

Friday
Class work: Go over Spelling Homework, Spelling test, Silent Reading, Check Reading Pages for Reading Challenge
Homework: Have a great weekend!

Summer Reading

Grade 7 - Fiction – Summer Reading List 2008

*Alcott, Louisa May Little Women

Chronicles the fortunes of four sisters as they grow into young ladies in 19^th-century New England.

Anderson, Laurie Halse Fever, 1793

In 1793 Philadelphia, sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick mother, learns about perseverance

and self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of a yellow fever epidemic.

Arrington, Frances Prairie Whispers

Only twelve-year-old Colleen knows that her baby sister died just after she was born and that Colleen put another baby in her place, until the baby’s father shows up and makes trouble for her and her family on the South Dakota prairie in the 1860s.

Avi Wolfrider

After receiving an apparent crank call from a man claiming to have committed murder, fifteen-year-old Andy finds his close relationship with his father crumbling as he struggles to make everyone believe him.

*Balliett, Blue Chasing Vermeer

When seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal.

Bauer, Joan Hope Was Here

Sixteen-year-old Hope and the aunt who raised her move from Brooklyn to Wisconsin to work in a diner and become involved in a political campaign against a corrupt mayor.

Bloor, Edward Tangerine

Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly recalls the incident that damaged his eyesight.

Bunting, Eve The Presence

While visiting her grandmother in California, seventeen-year-old Catherine comes in contact with a mysterious stranger who says he can help her contact a friend who died in a car crash for which Catherine feels responsible.

Clements, Andrew Things Not Seen

When fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes up and finds himself invisible, he and his parents and his new blind friend Alicia try to find out what caused his condition and how to reverse it.

Cooney, Caroline B. Driver’s Ed

Three teenagers’ lives are changed forever when they thoughtlessly steal a stop sign.

Cummings, Priscilla A Face First

Twelve-year-old Kelley decides to cut off contact with her friends and classmates after suffering third degree burns to her face and body in a car accident near her home on Maryland’s Kent Island.

Cummings, Priscilla Red Kayak

Living near the water on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, thirteen-year-old Brady and his best friends, J.T. and Digger, become entangled in a tragedy which tests their friendship and their ideas about right and wrong.

Deaver, Julie Reece Say Goodnight, Gracie

Close friendship between artistic boy and girl who ultimately confronts tragedy.

Deuker, Carl Night Hoops

While trying to prove that he is good enough to play on his high school’s varsity basketball team, Nick must also deal with his parents’ divorce and erratic behavior of a troubled classmate who lives across the street.

DuPrau, Jeanne The City of Ember

In the city of Ember, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.

#Dowell, Frances O’Roarke Dovey Coe

Strong willed Dovey Coe is accused of murdering her sister’s boyfriend – set in 1928 in a North Carolina mountain town.

*Funke, Cornelia Caroline Inkheart

Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can “read” fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service.

Funke, Cornelia Inkspell

When Dustfinger finds a crooked storyteller who can read him back to Inkscape, he leaves his

Apprentice Farid behind. Farid seeks out Meggie and the two follow him back into the enchanted book.

*Funke, Cornelia Caroline The Thief Lord

Orphaned brothers Prosper and Bo, having run away from their cruel aunt and uncle, decide to hide out in Venice where they fall in with the Thief Lord, a thirteen-year-old boy who leads a crime ring of street children. (Fantasy)

Goldman, William Princess Bride

Story of a beautiful young princess who marries a handsome but less than perfect, prince.

Halam, Ann Dr. Franklins Island

When their plane crashes over the Pacific Ocean, three science students are left stranded on a tropical island and then imprisoned by a doctor performing horrifying experiments on humans, involving the transfer of animal genes.

Hesser, Terry Spencer Kissing Doorknobs

Fourteen-year-old Tara describes how her obsessive compulsive disorder begins to take over her life and affect her relationships with her family and friends.

Hiassen, Carl Flush

With their father jailed for sinking a river boat, Noah Underwood and his younger sister, Abbey, must gather evidence that the owner of this floating casino is emptying his bilge tanks into the protected waters around their Florida Keys home.

Hiassen, Carl Hoot

Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy’s attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site.

Ibbotson, Eva Journey to the River Sea

Sent with her governess to live with the dreadful Carter family in exotic Brazil in 1910, Maia endures many hardships before fulfilling her dream of exploring the Amazon River.

Jacques, Brian Redwall Series

Continuing heroic adventures of the mice of Redwall abbey – fantasy.

Keehn, Sally M. I Am Regina

In 1755, ten-year-old Regina is kidnapped by Indians and struggles to hold onto memories of her earlier life as she grows up and starts to assimilate into the Indian.

*Koller, Jackie French The Primrose Way

A recent arrival to the New World in 1633, sixteen-year-old Rebekah, a missionary’s daughter, befriends a Native American woman and begins to question whether these “savages” need saving.

Korman, Gordon No More Dead Dogs

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.

Lester, Julius Day of Tears: a novel in dialogue

Presents an historical fiction written in first-person format that follows Emma, the slave of Pierce Butler, through a series of events in her life as her master hosts the largest slave auction in American history in Savannah, Georgia in 1859 in order to pay off his mounting gambling debts.

*London, Jack White Fang

The adventures in the northern wilderness of a dog that is part wolf.

Lubar, David Hidden Talents

Thirteen-year-old Martin arrives at an alternative school for misfits. He falls in with a group of boys with psychic powers and discovers something surprising about himself.

Lubar, David In the Land of the Lawn Weenies

A collection of short stories about kids who find themselves in some strange situations. These stories originally appeared in two volumes: Kidzilla and The Witch’s Monkey and other tales.

Lupica, Mike Travel Team

Danny Walker is crushed when he doesn’t make the Vikings, the seventh-grade basketball team. He is told that he is too short, but he suspects that the real reason has something to do with the bad blood between his divorced father (a former NBA star whose career was cut short by a car accident) and Mr. Ross, the father of the team’s best player. Then Danny’s father announces that he is starting his own youth team, but unexpected setbacks sideline his dad and the team until Danny steps in and coaches the team himself.

*Mah, Adeline Yen Chinese Cinderella

As “Fifth Younger Sister,” Adeline Yen Mah experiences the harsh life of a stepdaughter at the hands of her father’s new wife.

Martin, Ann A Corner of the Universe

The summer that Hattie turns twelve, she meets the childlike uncle she never knew and becomes friends with a girl who works at a carnival that comes to Hattie’s small town.

McDonald, Joyce Swallowing Stones

Dual perspectives reveal the aftermath of seventeen-year-old Michael Mackenzie’s birthday celebration during which he discharges an antique Winchester rifle with disastrous results.

Meyer, Carolyn Beware, Princess Elizabeth

After the death of her father, King Henry VIII, in 1547, thirteen-year-old Elizabeth must endure the political intrigues and dangers before finally becoming Queen of England.

Meyer, Carolyn Mary, Bloody Mary

Mary Tudor, who would reign briefly as Queen of England during the mid sixteenth century, tells the story of her troubled childhood as daughter of King Henry VIII.

Mikaelsen, Ben Petey

In 1922 Petey, who has cerebral palsy, is misdiagnosed as an idiot and institutionalized. Late in life he finds a friend.

Myers, Walter Dean Hoops

A talented young basketball player and his coach are told to lose a tournament and they must decide what to do.

*Nix, Garth Sabriel

Sabriel, daughter of the necromancer Abhorsen, must journey into the mysterious and magical Old Kingdom to rescue her father from the Land of the Dead. Fantasy.

Peel, John Doomsday

Tritan must stop his evil clone from creating a computer virus that will end the world.

*Pullman, Phillip The Golden Compass

Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua, sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North.

Rees, Celia Witch Child

In 1659, fourteen-year-old Mary Newbury keeps a journal of her voyage from England to the New World and her experiences living as a witch in a community of Puritans near Salem, Massachusetts.

Rinaldi, Ann Girl in Blue

To escape an abusive father and an arranged marriage, fourteen-year-old Sarah, dressed as a boy, leaves her Michigan home to enlist in the Union Army, and becomes a soldier on the battlefields of Virginia as well as a Union spy working in the house of Confederate sympathizer Rose O’Neal Greenhow in Washington, D.C.

*Rinaldi, Ann Wolf by the Ears

Harriet Hemings, rumored to be the daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, one of his black slaves, struggles with the problems presented by freedom.

Riordan, Rick The Lightning Thief

Percy, expelled from six schools for being unable to control his temper, learns the truth from his mother that his father is the Greek god Poseidon, and is sent to Camp Half Blood where he is befriended by a satyr and the demigod daughter of Athena who join him in a journey to the Underworld to retrieve Zeus's lightning bolt and prevent a catastrophic war.

Ritter, John The Boy Who Saved Baseball

The fate of a small California town rests on the outcome of one baseball game, and Tom Gallagher hopes to lead his team to victory with the secrets of the now disgraced player, Dante Del Gato.

Ritter, John H. Over the Wall

Thirteen-year-old Tyler, who has trouble controlling his anger, spends an important summer with his cousins in New York City, playing baseball and sorting out how he feels about violence, war, and in particular, the Vietnamese conflict that took his grandfather’s life.

Shusterman, Neal Downsiders: A Novel

Two worlds conflict when Lindsay discovers the Downsiders world which had evolved from an abandoned subway.

*Shusterman, Neal Full Tilt

When sixteen-year-old Blake goes to a mysterious, by-invitation-only carnival he knows that it could save his comatose brother but soon learns that much more is at stake if he fails to meet the challenge presented there by the beautiful Cassandra.

Sleator, William The Boy Who Couldn’t Die

When his best friend dies in a plane crash, sixteen-year-old Ken has a ritual performed that will make him invulnerable, but soon learns that he had good reason to be suspicious of the woman he paid to lock his soul away.

Sleator, William The Duplicate

Sixteen-year-old David, finding a strange machine that creates replicas of living organisms, duplicates himself and suffers the horrible consequences.

Smelcer, John The Trap

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.

Sorrells, Walter Fake ID

After a lifetime of moving and assuming new identities, sixteen-year-old Chass begins to piece together the past that haunts her and her mother which involves a mysterious tape, a deceased popular singer, and the secrets of several people in a small Alabama town.

Spinelli, Jerry Stargirl

In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever.

Stevenson, Robert Louis Treasure Island

While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, the mistress of the inn and her son find a treasure map.

*Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again

Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to share in an adventure from which he may never return.

Trueman, Terry Stuck in Neutral

Fourteen-year-old Shawn McDaniel, who suffers from severe cerebral palsy and cannot function, relates his perceptions of his life, his family, and his condition, especially as he believes his father is trying to kill him.

VandeVelde, Vivian Heir Apparent

While playing a total immersion virtual reality game of kings and intrigue, fourteen-year-old Giannine learns that demonstrators have damaged the equipment to which she is connected, and she must win the game quickly or be damaged herself.

Van Draanen, Wendelin Flipped

In alternating chapters, two teenagers describe how their feelings about themselves, each other, and their families have changed over the years.

Vance, Susnana Deep

Somewhere in the Caribbean, seventeen-year-old Morgan and thirteen-year-old Birdie, two girls whose lives are worlds apart, are brought together by the maniacal Nicholas.

Weeks, Sarah So B. It: A Novel

After spending her life with her mentally retarded mother and agoraphobic neighbor, twelve-year-old Heidi sets out from Reno, Nevada, to New York to find out who she is.

*Wells, H. G. The Time Machine

A scientist invents a machine that transports him into the future.

Whitemore, Arvella Trapped Between the Lash and the Gun:

A Boy’s Journey

Twelve-year-old Jordan is becoming dangerously involved with a street gang when he is suddenly transported through time to become a slave on the plantation of his ancestors.

#Woodson, Jacqueline Hush

Twelve-year-old Toswiah finds her life changed when her family enters the witness

protection program.

Yolen, Jane Sword of the Rightful King

Merlinnus the magician devises a way for King Arthur to prove himself the rightful king of England – pulling a sword from a stone – but trouble arises when someone else removes the sword first.

Grade 7 – Non-Fiction – Summer Reading List 2008

Adler, David A. B. Franklin, Printer

A biography of Benjamin Franklin which emphasizes his many talents as a printer, writer, scientist, inventor, and statesman.

Armstrong, Jennifer Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World:

The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance

Describes the 1914 Shackleton Expedition to the Antarctic and their perilous nine month adventure.

Calabro, Marian The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party

Uses materials from letters and diaries written by survivors of the Donner Party to relate the experiences of that ill-fated group as they endured horrific circumstances on their way to California in 1846-47.

Dahl, Roald Boy: Tales of Childhood

Presents humorous anecdotes from the author’s childhood which includes summer vacations in Norway and an English boarding school.

Freedman, Russell An Indian Winter

Relates the experiences of a German prince, his servant, and a young Swiss artist as they traveled through the Missouri River Valley in 1833 learning about the territory and its inhabitants and recording their impressions in words and pictures.

Freedman, Russell The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the

Airplane

Follows the lives of the Wright brothers and describes how they developed the first airplane.

Giblin, James Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth

and John Wilkes Booth

Tells the life stories of nineteenth-century actor Edwin Booth and his actor brother John

Wilkes Booth, describing the differences between the two men, chronicling John’s assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and examining the impact of John’s crime on the Booth family for decades afterward.

Herriot, James Favorite Dog Stories

Experiences of an English Veterinarian.

*Isaacs, Anne Torn Thread

In an attempt to save his daughter’s life, Eva’s father sends her from Poland to a labor camp in Czechoslovakia where she and her sister survive the war.

Jiang, Ji-Li Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution

The author tells about the happy life she led in China up until she was twelve-years old when her family became a target of the Cultural Revolution, and discusses the choice she had to make between denouncing her father and breaking with her family, or refusing to speak against him and losing her future in the Communist Party.

Jurmaine, Suzanne The Forbidden Schoolhouse: The True and Dramatic

Story of Prudence Crandell and Her Students

Chronicles the life and struggles of Prudence Crandall who, in the 1830s closed her all-white

Boarding school for girls in Canterbury, Connecticut, and began admitting African-American

Students; and describes the intense opposition from the townspeople

Kennedy, John F. Profiles in Courage

Lawlor, Laurie Helen Keller: Rebellious Spirits

An illustrated biography of Helen Keller, sharing aspects of her personality and sometimes radical beliefs, and discussing her relationship with her teacher Annie Sullivan and other important people in her life and work.

Murphy, Jim Blizzard: The Storm That Changed America

Factual account of 1888 blizzard that hit northeast, focusing on events in New York City.

Murphy, Jim The Great Fire

Photographs and text, along with personal accounts of actual survivors tell the story of the great fire of 1871 in Chicago.

Myers, Walter Dean The Greatest: Mohammed Ali

An illustrated biography of boxing great Mohammed Ali that addresses his politics, his fight against Parkinson ’s disease, and boxing’s dangers.

Pfetzer, Mark Within Reach: My Everest Story

The author describes how he spent his teenage years climbing mountains in the United States, South America, Africa and Asia with an emphasis on his two expeditions up Mount Everest.

#Philbrick, W.R. The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds: The Donner

Party Expedition

Douglas Deeds, a 15-year-old orphan, keeps a journal of his travels by wagon train as a member of the ill-fated Donner Party, which became stranded in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the winter of 1846-47.

Reich, Susanna Clara Schumann: Piano Virtuoso

Describes the life of the German pianist and composer who made her professional debut at age nine, including her relationship with Robert Schumann.

Spinelli, Jerry Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography

of a Kid

This Italian-American Newberry Medalist presents a humorous account of his childhood and youth in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

*Honors

# Easier Read

Grade 7 Novel Facts Sheet

You will be allowed to use this sheet to help you write your essay, so include supporting details.

My Name: __________________________________________

Novel Title: _________________________________________

Novel Author: _______________________________________

Type of Novel (Genre): _________________________________

Main Characters & their descriptions (physical/emotional):

___________________________________________________________________________________

The main problem or conflict in the story was:

___________________________________________________________________________________

The main problem or conflict was overcome when:

___________________________________________________________________________________

The lesson, moral or theme that the author wants the reader to learn from the story and the characters’ experiences could be summed up as:

___________________________________________________________________________________

And, proof supporting this idea from the story is:

___________________________________________________________________________________

Overall, this book was (share your opinions with support):

___________________________________________________________________________________

Please complete 2 of these over the summer and bring them to your 7^th grade English teacher in September. Have fun reading!

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READING Generic Weekly Calendar

READING
Generic Weekly Calendar