Overlook Summer Reading Program

Summer Reading Fun

Summer reading is essential for kids! Every educator knows it and so do parents.

Reading experts note that most young readers suffer a backslide in reading skills during summer downtime and educators consider summer reading very important in developing life-long reading habits, in maintaining literacy skills and in promoting reading for pleasure. Studies have repeatedly shown that children who continue to read during the summer months perform better when school resumes in the fall. Research has also shown that when parents are actively involved in learning at home, their children become more successful in and out of school.

As the state and federal government continue to emphasize literacy, state and federal learning standards, and assessments, it is important that the Ashburnham-Westminster community help to foster these beliefs by encouraging learning to be a continual and a life-long process. We feel our summer reading program addresses all of the above. Encouragement, and support of your child’s reading will go a long way toward helping us meet the high student learning goals that we all share.

Click below to find how you can help your child continue to succeed.

Grades 6, 7, and 8 Summer Reading Lists

Text of Summer Reading List

Grade 6

The Year My Parents Ruined My Life. by Martha Freeman, 1999, 192 pp., Reading Level: ages 9-12

Kate hates moving from southern California to Pennsylvania, and her first months there are made worse by unceasing snowstorms and a group of equally cold classmates.

The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli, 1990 reissue, 121pp., Reading Level: ages 9-12

Set in the fourteenth century, the classic story of one boy's personal heroism when he loses the use of his legs.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. 1987 reprint, 358 pp.,Reading Level: ages 9-12

When orphaned Mary Lennox, lonely and sad, comes to live at her uncle's great house on the Yorkshire moors, she finds it full of secrets.

Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix, 1997, 184 pp., Reading Level: ages 9-12

Believing herself to be a frontier child in1840, Jessie is shocked when her mother reveals a secret--it's really 1996.

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary, 1984, 134pp., Reading Level: ages 9-12

In his letters to his favorite author, 10 year old Leigh reveals his problems in coping with his parents' divorce, being the new boy in school, and generally finding his own place in the world.

The Sixth Grade Nickname Game by Gordon Korman, 2000, 160 pp., Reading Level: ages 9-12

Eleven-year-old best friends Jeff and Wiley, who like to give nicknames to their classmates, try to find the right one for the new girl Cassandra, while adjusting to the football coach who has become their new teacher.

Grade 7

Crash by Jerry Spinelli, 1997, 162 pages

Seventh-grader John "Crash" Coogan has always been comfortable with his tough, aggressive behavior, until his relationship with an unusual Quaker boy (Penn Webb) and his grandfather's stroke make him consider the meaning of friendship and the importance of family.

Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen, 1995, 157 pages

This summer will be different. That’s for sure. When an 11 year-old-city boy is dropped off to stay on a farm with relatives, he doesn’t know what to expect.

When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimbery Willis Holt, 2001, 247 pages

Nothing ever happens in Toby's small Texas town. Nothing much until this summer that's full of big changes. It's tough for Toby when his mother leaves home to become a country singer. And Toby takes it hard when his best friend Cal's older brother goes off to fight in Vietnam.

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, 1996, 280 pages

Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle's mother has disappeared. While tracing her steps on a car trip from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents, Salamanca tells a story to pass the time about a friend named Phoebe Winterbottom whose mother vanished and who received secret messages after her disappearance. One of them read, "Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins."

The Clique by Lisi Harrison, 2004, 224 pages

Meet the seventh grade A-listers: Dylan Marvil, Kristen Gregory, Alicia Rivera, and the one and only Massie Block, the uncontested ruler of The Clique. On the surface, these girls are filthy rich, utterly gorgeous, snotty to the max, and unbelievably spoiled. They're also down-and-dirty cruel to anyone who bothers them. Enter Claire Lyons, a total outsider who is temporarily living in Massie's guesthouse. She yearns to be part of the group even though she's not wealthy, gorgeous, snotty, or spoiled. Talk about a mission impossible! Or is it?

The Girls by Amy Goldman Koss, 2000, 121 pages

Maya has been part of the group ever since the day Candace asked her if she wanted to "do lunch" in the cafeteria.Yet when Candace suddenly deems her unworthy, Maya's so-called friends just blow her off. While Maya just wants the girls back like they used to be, she knows that can never happen because whatever Candace wants, Candace gets, no matter who gets hurt. Maya isn't sure exactly where things went wrong for her, but she knows she has to find out who her real friends are, and who among the girls she can trust.

Grade 8

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, 2000, 186 pp.

She was elusive. She was today. She was tomorrow. She was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting shadow of an elf owl. We did not know what to make of her.In our minds, we tried to pin her to a corkboard like a butterfly, but the pin merely went through and away she flew.

The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss, 1972, 179 pp.

Ten- year- old Annie de Leeuw doesn’t understand what’s going on. Ever since the Germans invaded her town, Annie’s life has been in turmoil. Her friends have stopped speaking to her, she’s not allowed in school anymore and now she must leave her family and go into hiding . These horrible things are happening simply because Annie is Jewish!

The Shadow Club by Neal Shusterman, 1988, 199 pp.

The Shadow Club starts simply enough; the kids who are tired of being second get together and, for the first time, talk about how they feel. But soon the members decide to play practical jokes on the first-place winners they envy, and things begin to spin dangerously out of control.

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson, 2000, 243 pp.

August 1793. Fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook is ambitious, adventurous, and sick to death of listening to her mother, Mattie has plans of her own. She wants to turn Cook Coffeehouse into the finest business in Philadelphia, the capital of the new United States. Then tragedy strikes the coffeehouse, and Mattie is trapped in a living nightmare. Suddenly, her struggle to build a better life must give way to something even more important—the fight to stay alive.

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt, 1964, 188 pp.

The coming-of-age story of a boy whose adolescence is marked by the activities and outcome of the American Civil War. Born the youngest of 12 children to an Illinois farm family, Jethro Creighton is nine years old in April of 1861, when military forces of the Southern states fire on Union forces at Fort Sumter. This was the first event of the four-year war, and Jethro’s life and family would never be the same.

Monster by Walter Dean Myers, 1999, 281 pp.

Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon, on trial as an accomplice to a murder, records his trial in the form of a movie script as he tries to sort out who he is and what is real.

Note-Taking Organizer - for grade 6, 7 and 8

Take note of what’s important...

Genre: What type of fictional novel did you read?

____ Realistic ____ Historic ____ Fantasy ____ Mystery

Author’s purpose: Why did the author have for writing the book?

____ to entertain ____ to explain or inform

____ to express an opinion ____ to persuade

Who is telling the story? Is it someone in the story, or outside of it?

_______________________________________________________

Mood: What is the feeling that the novel produces?

_______________________________________________________

Setting: Where and when does the story take place?

_______________________________________________________

Conflict: Describe the struggle in the book and then check the appropriate conflict.

_______________________________________________________

____ character vs. character ____ character vs. society

____ character vs. nature ____ character vs. him/herself

Characters: List the main characters first, followed by minor characters.

_______________________________________________________

Give a brief plot summary of your book.

_______________________________________________________