Beginning in third grade, students must read at least three books during the summer. Students must read the required book for English and at least one book in the other language of study. The third book may be from either language. The books listed below are generally grouped by curriculum area for the upcoming year.

Required

• Babbitt, Natalie, Tuck Everlasting

What will Winnie choose -– to live forever or to take her place in the natural cycle of life? You may look at her choice differently after reading this book.

Extraordinary Things

• DuPrau, Jeanne, The City of Ember

Two hundred years after the City of Ember is built, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. Will the secret message that Lina finds help her save the city?

• Macauley, David, The New Way Things Work

This richly-illustrated book helps us understand precisely how things work - all sorts of things, grouped by type of machine from the least complex to the most complex digital technology.

Place at the Table

• Kurtz, Jane, The Storyteller's Beads

During the political strife and famine of the 1980's, two Ethiopian girls, one Christian and the other Jewish and blind, must make the dangerous journey out of Ethiopia together. They struggle to overcome many difficulties, including their prejudices about each other.

• Reeder, Carolyn, Grandpa's Mountain

This coming-of-age story is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains during the Great Depression. Carrie, who spends the summer in the mountains with her grandparents, is strengthened by the way in which each of her grandparents lives with the crisis of possible loss of their beloved farm.

Connecting the Pieces

• Angelou, Maya (editor), Soul Looks Back in Wonder

A celebration of African-American creativity, draws on the work of 13 African-American authors.

• Ayers, Katherine, Macaroni Boy

In Pittsburgh in 1933, sixth-grader Mike Costa is desperate to find out what is making his grandfather and others in the community very sick. But the only way he can find out the truth about what's happening is to help the class bully.

• Hehner, Barbara, First on the Moon: What It Was Like When Man Landed on the Moon

This book is about the Apollo 11 mission to the moon and includes insights on the thoughts and activities of the family of astronaut Buzz Aldrin during those long days.

• Halperin, Michael and Drucker, Malka, Jacob's Rescue

This book is about a courageous Polish family that protects two Jewish brothers during World War II.

• Harlow, Joan Hiatt, Joshua's Song

A historical novel set in Boston in 1919, this book deals with tough issues of child labor and death. Young Josh must quit school and take a job as a "newsie" when his father dies.

• Lee, Millie, Nim and the War Effort

Nim, a young Chinese-American girl in San Francisco in 1943, is determined to win a newspaper drive and support the war effort.

• Propp, Vera, When the Soldiers Were Gone

The world of Benjamin, a young Dutch boy, is turned upside down when he learns after World War II is over that he is really Henk and that his "Mama" and "Papa" are not his real parents.

• Yep, Laurence, The Earth Dragon Awakes

Eight-year-old Henry and nine-year-old Chin love to read about heroes in popular "penny dreadful" novels. Then they both witness real courage during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Journeys and Discoveries

• Bateman, Teresa, Red, White, Blue and Uncle Who?

Offers the facts and trivia behind 17 well-known symbols of the United States of America.

Moving Right Along

• Parker, Steve, Eyewitness: Human Body

An introduction to human physiology with clear text, good photographs and informative captions.

PYP Attitudes and Profile

• Dahl, Roald, Boy

This is Dahl's autobiographical tale of his own childhood, written in his own inimitable style.

• DiCamillo, Kate, The Tiger Rising

Rob has a lot in common with the tiger in the cage, and its magic and mystery help him break free of sadness and form new relationships with his dad and new friend Sistine.

• Engel, Trudie, We'll Never Forget You Roberto Clemente

Chronicles the life and accomplishments of baseball star Roberto Clemente, his record-breaking baseball career in Pittsburgh as well as his humanitarian efforts.

• Ketchum, Liza, Where the Great Hawk Flies

Inspired by an incident recorded by her own mixed-race ancestors, the author gives us the story of Daniel, a young boy in colonial America who learns to honor the heritage of his Pequot mother as well as his English father, and the relationships between his family and their English neighbors.

• Morganstern, Susie, Secret Letters from 0 to 10

Ten-year-old Ernest lives a boring existence in Paris with his grandmother until a lively girl named Victoria enters his class at school and changes his life for the better.

• O'Dell, Scott, The Black Pearl

Ramon learns the family trade of pearl-diving and challenges a great devilfish to obtain a rare black pearl.

• Sheth, Kashmira, Blue Jasmine

This story of 12-year-old Seema, who moves with her family from India to Iowa City, will resonate with those who have experienced a move from one country to another and also with their classmates.

• Whelan, Gloria, Listening for Lions

The daughter of a missionary doctor and his wife in the early 1900s, Rachel has grown up connected to the African countryside and people, but when her parents die in an influenza epidemic she finds herself in a new life in England. Although she influences and is influenced by her new "grandfather" there, her heart remains in Africa.

Other Good Books

• Amato, Mary, The Word Eater

Lerner Chase discovers a most amazing bookworm who eats words. Only once the word is eaten, the object that it represents disappears!

• Anderson, M.T., Whales on Stilts

Racing against the clock, Lily and her best friends, Katie and Jasper, must foil the wacky, demented plot of her father's conniving boss to conquer the world using an army of whales.

• Balliett, Blue, Chasing Vermeer

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

• Eager, Edward, Half Magic

This adventurous story about four children who find magical coins, time-travel herb gardens, and engage in other unusual encounters, will warm your heart.

• Merrill, Jean, The Pushcart War

A humorous story in which the pushcart drivers of New York City oppose the campaign of the truck drivers to take over the streets of the city.

• Wright, Betty Ren, The Dollhouse Murders

A mysterious dollhouse, hidden in the attic, is home to dolls that move on their own and hold the key to an unsolved murder that Amy's Aunt Claire cannot put to rest.

Poetry

• Carl Sandburg Family Trust, Poems for Children Nowhere Near Old Enough To Vote

Lively prose poems for children by the famous poet only recently discovered among his manuscripts.

• Prelutsky, Jack, The New Kid on the Block

Over a hundred hilarious poems on things you may never have thought about, such as jellyfish stew and underwater wibbles.

• Prelutsky, Jack (editor), The 20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury

The best children's verse from each decade of the 20th century, representing the work of over 100 poets, and lovingly collected by children's poet and anthologist Jack Prelutsky.