Teacher Summer Reading 2005 The June 2005 edition of the Innovative Teaching Newsletter will be our third annual teacher summer reading issue! What are the best reads you've enjoyed over the past year? What titles would you strongly recommend for colleagues to take with them to the beach? To submit your recommendations, simply fill out the form at http://surfaquarium.com/summer_reading.htm. Please have your recommendations submitted by Friday, May 27, 2005. Thanks!

 

2005 Student Summer Reading Lists

Thanks to everyone who submitted their recommendations for this inaugural edition of student summer reading recommendations. Your input has helped make this issue a wonderfully comprehensive listing of best books for all ages K - 12! You will find that each title is hot linked to Barnes & Noble for quick online ordering, so that families can easily get their hands on recommended titles all summer. Here's to voracious reading and summers full of stories to remember!

Elementary School

Ruby Holler - Sharon Creech Recommended by Shae Johnson "My students have all enjoyed reading this book (and so have I!)  It is a fun book about two children who find their place in the world in an interesting way.  It includes a mystery.  I higly recommend it."

Hatchet - Gary Paulsen Recommended by Christine Zatell "This is really a great book for strong fourth grade readers on up through sixth grade.  One of my students, who has read over 700 books, said it is the best book she has ever read because of the detail in the adventure.  She stated that she felt like she was in the story."

The Dot - Peter Reynolds Recommended by Maggie Austin "This book is a joy for adults as well as for children. It's that rare combination of great message, great illustrations, and solid story. It provides perfect fodder for rich discussion at all levels about how to empower others."

Because of Winn Dixie - Kate Dicamillo Recommended by Sharon Moder "The story deals with the real issue of fitting in and accepting others for who they are." The book on which the recent movie was based - definitely a worthwhile recommendation for students!

Arthur for the Very First Time - Patricia MacLachlan
Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Job - Willo Roberts
Battle for the Castle - Elizabeth Winthrop
Because of Winn Dixie - Kate Dicamillo
¡Beisbol! Latino Baseball Pioneers - Jonah Winter
Black Bull of Norroway - Charlotte S. Huck
Blackwater - Eve Bunting
Book of Three - Lloyd Alexander
Brush with Magic - William J. Brooke
Bud, Not Buddy - Christopher Curtis
Chameleon Wore Chartreuse - Bruce Hale
Chasing Vermeer - Blue Balliett
Dancing in Cadillac Light - Kimberly Willis Holt
Daphne's Book - Mary Hahn
Day It Rained Forever - Virginia Gross
Day of the Iguana - Henry Winkler
Dot - Peter Reynolds
Double Fudge - Judy Blume
Fight for Life - Laurie Halse Anderson
Flip-Flop Girl - Katherine Paterson
Fossil Fish Found Alive - Sally M. Walker
Gold Cadillac - Mildred Taylor
Gold Dust Letters - Janet Taylor Lisle
Half Magic - Edward Eager
Hatchet - Gary Paulsen
Henry and Mudge (series) - Cynthia Rylant
Honus and Me - Dan Gutman
Horrible Harry Moves Up to Third Grade - Suzy Kline
In the Face of Danger - Joan Nixon
Incident at Hawk's Hill - Alan Eckert
Into the Wild - Erin Hunter
Landry News - Andrew Clements
Left Behind (series) - Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins
Leonardo's Horse - Jean Fritz
Lettuce Leaf Birthday Letter - Linda Taylor
Max and Me and the Time Machine - Gary Greer
Message in the Sky- Sharon Wyeth
Miserable Mill - Lemony Snicket
Picture of Hollis Woods - Patricia Reilly Giff
Plant That Ate Dirty Socks - Nancy McArthur
Players in Pigtails - Shana Corey
Poppy and Rye - Avi
Prince of the Pond - Donna Jo Napoli
Ramona's World - Beverly Cleary
Reaching Tidewater - Noreen Moore
Redwall - Brian Jacques
Richard Wright and the Library Card - William Miller
Ruby Holler - Sharon Creech
Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief - Wendelin VanDraanen
Search for Delicious - Natalie Babbitt
7 x 9 = Trouble! - Claudia Mills
Seven Treasure Hunts - Betsy Byars
Shelter Dogs - Peg Kehret
Sign of the Beaver - Elizabeth George Speare
Skateboard Tough - Matt Christopher
Stone Fox - John Reynolds Gardiner
Summer Reading is Killing Me - John Scieszka
Time Stops for No Mouse - Michael Hoeye
Through My Eyes - Ruby Bridges
Too Close for Comfort - Anne Mazer
Trouble with Tuck - Theodore Taylor
Viking It and Liking It - Jon Scieszka
Walk Two Moons - Sharon Creech
Yang the Youngest and his Terrible Ear - Lensey Namioka

 

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Middle School

Mango-Shaped Space - Wendy Mass Recommended by Patricia Burns "It deals with a little-known problem (synesthesia) as well as grief (death of a grandparent). It is very well-written and moving without being "sappy". it has been very popular with both students and teachers at my middle school."

Heartbeat - Sharon Creech Recommended by Maureen Beyrer "It is written in free verse. The themes of being yourself, family and looking at things from many perspectives is developed beautifully."

Inkheart - Cornelia Funke Recommended by Celeste Robichaux "I am currently reading this book aloud to a mixed grade class of grades 3-12.  They love it!  The imagery is very detailed, and the story keeps you interested from the very first chapter.  At the beginning of each chapter, the author quotes another children's book, foreshadowing what will happen in the chapter.  The children are now interested in reading some of the books quoted in this way!"

Abracadabra Kid: A Writer's Life - Sid Fleischman
All Alone in the Universe - Lynne Rae Perkins
Armageddon Summer - Bruce Coville
Bat 6 - Virginia Euwer Wolff
Because of Anya - Margaret Peterson Haddix
Big Wander - Will Hobbs
Crazy Lady! - Jane Leslie Conly
Dancing in the Streets of Brooklyn - April Lurie
Day They Came to Arrest the Book - Nat Hentoff
Dead Man in Indian Creek - Mary Downing Hahn
Deadly Game of Magic - Joan Lowery Nixon
Doing Time Online - Jan Siebold
Dreadful Acts - Philip Ardagh
Ender's Game - Scott Orson Card
Flight to Freedom - Ana Veciana-Suarez
Flour Babies - Anne Fine
Freak the Mighty - W. Rodman Philbrick
Freshman Flash - Mike Boushell
Ghost in the House - Betty Ren Wright
Guts - Gary Paulsen
Heartbeat - Sharon Creech
Hoot - Carl Hiaasen
Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer
Jack Adrift: Fourth Grade Without a Clue - Jack Gantos
Kids at Work - Russell Freedman
King of Shadows - Susan Cooper
Land of Hope - Joan Lowery Nixon
Lost Years of Merlin - T.A. Barron
Mable Riley - Marthe Jocelyn
Mango-Shaped Space - Wendy Mass
Mick Harte Was Here - Barbara Park
Mister Monday - Garth Nix
My Louisiana Sky - Kimberly Holt
North - Donna Jo Napoli
Numbering all the Bones - Ann Rinaldi
Point Blank - Anthony Horowitz
Rocket Boys (October Sky) - Homer Hickam
Rookie Arrives - Thomas Dygard
Ruby Electric - Theresa Nelson
Running Out of Time - Margaret Haddix
Silent to the Bone - E.L. Konigsburg
Singularity - William Sleator
Something for Joey - Richard Peck
Squashed - Joan Bauer
Stargirl - Jerry Spinelli
Stepping on the Cracks - Mary Downing Hahn
Tangerine - Edward Bloor
Thief Lord - Cornelia Funke
Things Not Seen - Andrew Clements
13 - James Howe
Timothy of the Cay - Theodore Taylor
True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle - Avi
Violet’s Amazing Summer - Martha Finley
We All Fall Down - Robert Cormier
Weasel - Cynthia DeFelice
Whirligig - Paul Fleischman
Wizards of the Game - David Lubar
Wreckers - Iain Lawrence
Yankee Girl - Mary Ann Rodman
Year of Secret Assignments - Jaclyn Moriarty

 

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High School

Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson Recommended by Janet Fitzgerald "Speak has been the favorite on our freshman summer reading list for the last three years.  Young women, especially, respond to the protagonist's struggle of being abandoned by her friends because she ruined a party by calling the cops after being raped by a popular upperclassman.  She is utterly alone and alienated as she begins her freshman year of high school.  The witty, first-person narration powers the novel, as we root for our young heroine's triumph over her fear to speak out about what happened to her and re-gain her dignity."

E=mc² - David Bodinas Recommended by Jake Slodki "This book is a chronical of Enstein's theory of special realtivity. the book is centered on a very clear explanation of the theory along with a wonderfully woven story of the nuclear arms race between Germany and the US for nuclear weapons. In addition it shares a bit about the role the Enstein plays himself in warning the American how close Germany was to developing the atom bomb first."

Hope was Here - Joan Bauer Recommended by Christina Polychronis "This novel is a quick, light novel.  It touches on family relations, politics, and the importance of keeping memories.  My school district assigned this to all incoming 9th graders.  They were assigned written & artistic activities.  It was successful."

American Plague - Jim Murphy
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Be More Chill - Ned Vizzini
Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver
Blood and Chocolate - Annette Curtis Klause
Born Blue - Han Nolan
Born Confused - Tanuja Desai Hidier
Bucking the Sarge - Christopher Paul Curtis
Canning Season - Polly Horvath
Can’t Get There from Here - Todd Strasser
Childhood's End - Arthur Clarke
Confessions of a Not It Girl - Melissa Kantor
Contents Under Pressure - Lara M. Zeises
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
Dealing with Dragons - Patricia Wrede
Deliver Us from Evie - M.E. Kerr
Demon in the Freezer - Richard Preston
Double Helix - Nancy Werlin
E=mc² - David Bodinas
First Part Last - Angela Johnson
Friedrich - Hans Richter
Getting Away with Murder - Chris Crowe
Gothic! Ten Original Dark Tales - Deborah Noyes
Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
Hangman's Beautiful Daughter - Sharyn McCrumb
Heart Divided - Cherie Bennett
Hope was Here - Joan Bauer
House of Stairs - William Sleator
I'll Be Seeing You - Mary Higgins Clark
In the Time of the Butterflies - Julia Alvarez
Leap Day - Wendy Mass
Life in the Fat Lane - Cherie Bennett
Life, the Universe and Everything - Douglas Adams
Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Luna - Julie Anne Peters
Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary - Walter Dean Myers
Matter of Profit - Hilari Bell
Me and Orson Welles - Robert Kaplow
Milkweed - Jerry Spinelli
1984 - George Orwell
Nothing to Lose - Alex Flinn
Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
River Between Us - Richard Peck
Road to Memphis - Mildred Taylor
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson
Sweetgrass - Jan Hudson
Thought of High Windows - Lynne Kositsky
Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale - Holly Black
Touching Spirit Bear - Ben Mikaelsen
True Confessions of a Heartless Girl - Martha Brooks
Ttyl - Lauren Myracle
V Club - Kate Brian
Watchers - Dean Koontz
When the Emperor Was Divine - Julie Otsuka
Where the Heart Is - Billie Letts

 

Click here for a printable Acrobat file of these lists!

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Surfaquarium Digital Community of Practice (CoP) CoPS now underway for Spring 2005! Now registering for CoPs beginning April 25, 2005! Not just an online course - an online learning community! Join a CoP for your own benefit, for recertification hours, or for graduate credits through the University of California, Fullerton: MI Immersion: A Survey of Nine Intelligences (10 weeks) http://surfaquarium.com/CoP/MISurvey/ Ways of Knowing: Multiple Intelligences and Technology (10 weeks) http://surfaquarium.com/CoP/MI&IT/ Building Bridges: Unit Development for the Information Age (5 weeks) http://surfaquarium.com/CoP/BB/ Design Your Own Virtual Field Trip (5 weeks) http://surfaquarium.com/CoP/VFT/ Build Your Own WebQuest (5 weeks) http://surfaquarium.com/CoP/WQ/ Inexpensive ~ Completely Online ~ Project-Based ~ Built for Success!