Complete the worksheet that was sent home for each required book. Do NOT write on the back or attach additional pages. Your answers must be specific and clear; choose your words carefully. Edit your work so that you do not have spelling and grammar mistakes. This is your first seventh grade assignment, so take your time. In the fall, the class will discuss and be tested on these books.

One key to success in school is to read well, and to read well, you must read often. This summer, I want you to challenge yourself to read more books and to read different types of books. With that in mind, I have attached a list of books you might find interesting and challenging. I have not read all of these books, so be sure to consult your parents as you carefully select you summer reading books.

Of course, you may also read your favorite authors or re-read favorite books. I love reading a book more than once. It can be like visiting an old friend. I often find that I appreciate different qualities of a book each time I read it. Just be sure to read new books along with old favorites.

If you start a book and decide it isn't for you, it is okay to stop and move on to another book. Don't get stuck all summer struggling to finish one book that you are not enjoying. Use the public library, and find books that are right for you. Keep a list (title and author) of everything you read this summer.

To earn a no-uniform pass, read an additional two (2) books from the following list.
Your selections should be from two different categories. To document your reading, please complete the following steps:

• Highlight the book on the list and have one of your parents sign it.
• On a piece of loose leaf paper, list the title, the author, and the type of book.
• Write a (3) sentence summary of the book.
  (Example: Anne of Green Gables is set in turn of the century Prince Edward Island, Canada. Anne Shirley, the imaginative, dramatic, and orphaned main character, is adopted by Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. Adventures, mishaps, education, and friendship with kindred spirit Diana Barry transform Anne's life.)

If you wish to type these mini-reports, you may. Remember to double space, to use Times New Roman or Arial 12 point font, to have one inch minimum margins, and to type your full name, the date, and assignment (summer reading) at the top of the page.

I hope you enjoy your summer. I will look forward to seeing you at the end of August.

Non-fiction:

• 10,000 Days of Thunder: A History of the Vietnam War by Philip Caputo
• Darkness over Denmark: The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of the Jews by Ellen Levine
• Island of Hope: The Story of Ellis Island and the Journey to America by Martin Sandler
• Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance by Jennifer Armstrong
• Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929: A Wall Street Journal Book for Children by Karen Blumenthal
• The Day Lincoln Was Shot by Greg Bishop
• The Good Fight: How World War II Was Won by Stephen Ambrose - A fabulous introduction to World War II. As you read about various battles or events, ask yourself three things: 1) what happened, 2) why did it happen, and 3) what difference did it make?
• The Great Fire by Jim Murphy (Chicago's Great Fire of 1871 )
• The Twentieth Maine by John Pullen
• Exploring the Titanic by Robert Ballard
• Hiroshima by John Hersey
• Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two by Joseph Bruchac
• With God in Russia by Walter Ciszek

Classics:

• Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Don't rely on the movie - read this for yourself!)
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel DeFoe
• Sounder by William Armstrong
• The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann D. Wyss
• The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Fantasy:

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Watership Down by Richard Adams

Biographies:

• Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
• The Chimpanzees I Love: Saving Their World and Ours by Jane Goodall
• Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth, by James Cross Giblin
• The Hiding Place by Corrie Tenboom
• Mother Teresa: Helping the Poor by William Jay Jacobs
• St. Ignatius of Loyola: In God's Service by Peggy A. Sklar
• Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
• Michelangelo by Diane Stanley
• The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

Science Fiction:

• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• Have Spacesuit Will Travel by Robert Heinlein
• The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
• The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Fiction:

• Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
• The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara ("Historical novel" about the Battle of Gettysburg)
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
• The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric Kelly (15th century Poland)
• The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Buddha Boy by Kathe Koja
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
• Charley Skedaddle by Patricia Beatty
• The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss
• The Gadget by Paul Zindel