Summer Reading

June 2024

Dear Parents/Guardians of Incoming Eighth Graders:

While your children are beginning what is sure to be a wonderful summer vacation, we also want to make sure that our students are able to maintain all of the reading and thinking skills that they have strengthened during this school year. The best way to maintain these gains is through consistent, engaged reading. We also know that you want to help prepare them for a successful start to the next academic year. Since reading is the foundation of all learning, we feel that it is essential for students to spend some time reading this summer. Therefore, to do our best to maintain reading stamina and foundational reading gains and strengths, we are requiring all incoming eighth graders to read at least one book from the attached list.

Although all of the books are worth considering, please make sure your child reads at least one. This MUST be a book that your child has not previously read. It is a good idea to take some notes while reading because students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the book upon returning to school in September.

Books may be found at area bookstores, the public library, our school Sora e-book system, or at Amazon.com. This letter and the summer reading lists may also be viewed on the OPMS library web page.

We hope you enjoy a safe, peaceful, and relaxing summer.

The OPMS English Department

Orchard Park Middle School - Summer Reading List – 2024-2025

Students Entering Grade 8

Please note the following abbreviations:

[RR] – recommended for reluctant readers

[M] - for mature readers; may contain mature themes, or may include occasional use of questionable language.

GRL: Guided Reading Level (Fountas & Pinnell) indicates text complexity A-Z

Nonfiction

Reynolds, Jason and Ibram X. Kendi.  Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You. - Lexile: 1000 GRL: Z+
This remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America, and inspires hope for an antiracist future. It takes you on a race journey from then to now, shows you why we feel how we feel, and why the poison of racism lingers. It also proves that while racist ideas have always been easy to fabricate and distribute, they can also be discredited.

Woodson, Jacqueline. Brown Girl Dreaming - Lexile: 990 GRL: Z
The author shares her childhood memories and reveals the first sparks that ignited her writing career in free-verse poems about growing up in the North and South.

Adventure

Freeman, Megan. Alone - Lexile: 690 GRL: Z
Twelve-year-old Maddie had schemed to host a harmless sleepover, but instead finds herself in a nightmare adventure when she wakes up all alone--not just without her friends, but without anyone in her town at all. Not knowing why everyone was evacuated, Maddie and her only companion--George the Rottweiler--forage for food and find out what happened. 

Marshall, Kate Alice. I Am Still Alive - Lexile: HL690 GRL: n/a
After a car crash kills her mother, Jess goes to live with her survivalist, off-the-grid father--whom she hasn't seen in a decade--in the Canadian wilderness. But just as the two begin to reconnect, a secret from his past arrives leaving him dead and the cabin burned to the ground. Suddenly, Jess finds herself abandoned in the cold Canadian wilderness. With only her dog for company, Jess must find a way to survive the harsh environment if she is to seek revenge on the person who killed her father.

Fantasy

Bayron, Kalynn.  Cinderella is Dead Lexile: n/a  GRL: n/a
It’s 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl’s display of finery. If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from again.

Keller, Tae.  When You Trap a Tiger  - Lexile: 590 GRL: V
When Lily and her family move in with her sick grandmother, a magical tiger straight out of her halmoni's Korean folktales arrives, prompting Lily to unravel a secret family history. Long, long ago, Halmoni stole something from the tigers. Now they want it back. 

Soontornvat, Christina. The Last Mapmaker- Lexile: n/a GRL: Y
As the Mangkon royal navy Master Mapmaker's apprentice, twelve-year-old Sai keeps her lowly born status a secret. If anyone found out her father is a conman from the Fens, she'd lose her position. Though, that's likely to happen anyway, as her thirteenth birthday is approaching and that's when all high-born receive a gold bracelet denoting their lineage. 

Historical Fiction

Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker.  The War That Saved My Life - Lexile: 580 GRL: Z
A young disabled girl and her brother are evacuated from London to the English countryside during World War II, where they find life to be much sweeter away from their abusive mother.

Bruchac, Joseph.  Code Talker  [RR] Lexile: 910 GRL: W
Sixteen-year-old Ned enlists in the U.S Marines during World War II.  He calls upon his Navajo language, traditions, and consciousness to survive the battlefield and radio top secret information by code.

Elliott, L. M. Walls - Lexile: n/a GRL: n/a
In 1960, army brat Drew moves with his family to a post in West Berlin, where he learns his cousin Matthias and relatives are living on the east side of the city. Fifteen-year-old Drew has strong opinions about America's positions and learns they are the opposite opinions of his cousin when they begin spending time together. Over time though, the two forge common ground in music, even though Matthias could be taken away if he was ever caught with it. 

Gratz, Alan. Ground Zero. - Lexile: 690 GRL: T
It's September 11, 2001. Brandon, a 9-year-old boy, goes to work for the day with his dad . . . at the World Trade Center in New York City. When two planes hit the towers, Brandon and his father are trapped inside a fiery nightmare as terror and confusion swirl around them.
In present-day Afghanistan, Reshmina is an 11-year-old girl who is used to growing up in the shadow of war, but she has dreams of peace and unity. When she ends up harboring a wounded young American soldier, she and her entire family are put in mortal danger. 

Hiranandani, Veera.  The Night Diary.  Lexile: 700 GRL: Y
It's 1947, and India, newly independent of British rule, has been separated into two countries: Pakistan and India. The divide has created much tension between Hindus and Muslims, and hundreds of thousands are killed crossing borders.
Half-Muslim, half-Hindu twelve-year-old Nisha doesn't know where she belongs, or what her country is anymore. When Papa decides it's too dangerous to stay in what is now Pakistan, Nisha and her family become refugees.

Hughes, Dean. Search and Destroy [M] Lexile: 740 GRL: W
Recent high school graduate Rick Ward, undecided about his future and eager to escape his unhappy home life, joins the Army and experiences the horrors of the war in Vietnam.

Palacio, R.J. Pony Lexile: 740 GRL: Y
**Challenging read not similar to Wonder.**
Twelve-year-old Silas is left scared and shaken by himself after three mysterious horsemen take his father away in the night. Left with no companionship except that of Mittenwool, a ghost, Silas decides to wait, as instructed, for his father to return in a week. However, when a strange pony one of the men was riding shows up at his door, Silas sees it as a sign from his father to go find him.

Toalson, R.L. The Colors of the Rain [M] Lexile: n/a GRL: n/a
Ten-year-old Paulie Sanders shares his name with his father, who killed a man and crashed his car. Mama is unable to cope, so Paulie and his sister Charlie must move in with Aunt Bee and start at a new school in the Houston School District. However, because it is 1972, desegregation struggles are at their height, and Paulie finds himself picking fights with a black boy at his new school. Written in free verse.

Wolk, Lauren. Echo Mountain - Lexile: 690 GRL: Z
A young heroine in Depression-era Maine is navigating the rocky terrain of her new life on Echo Mountain. There is little joy, for Ellie and her family, as they all struggle with the sorrow and aftermath of an accident that left her father in a coma. Urgent for a cure to bring her father back, Ellie is determined to try anything. Following her heart, and the lead of a scruffy mutt, Ellie will make her way to the top of the mountain, in search of the healing secrets of a woman known only as "the hag." 

Horror

Liparulo, Robert. The House of Dark Shadows - Lexile: 580 GRL: Y
Fifteen-year-old Xander and his family move into an old, abandoned house in the middle of a dense forest outside of a small California town. They soon discover that not only are some of the rooms portals into other places, but that malevolent forces are also at work.

Salisbury, Melinda.  Hold Back the Tide - Lexile: n/a GRL: n/a
When Alva was nine, her father killed her mother, but lack of evidence prevented him from being convicted. Alva has kept a low profile around her father until she can run away, helping him with his duties monitoring the water levels of Loch Lake. When water levels drop too low, deadly creatures emerge from the caves, and her father does nothing to stop them, leaving Alva to warn the villagers and find a way to destroy them.

Schwab, Victoria. Gallant Lexile: n/a GRL: n/a
Even though she's lived there her whole life, the Merilance School for Independent Girls has never felt like home to fourteen-year-old Olivia. The other girls ridicule her because she speaks with sign language, and the teachers treat her as though she's stupid, just because she's mute. And for just as long, she's been seeing the ghouls prowling the school. When a letter arrives from her uncle Arthur Prior, inviting her to live with him at his manor, Gallant, Olivia is thrilled and imagines her life will only get better. 

Mystery

Barnes, Jennifer Lynn.  The Inheritance Games Lexile: n/a GRL: n/a
Homeless teen Avery Grambs is summoned to the will reading of Tobias Hawthorne, a man she's never heard of. Curious, she attends and learns she will inherit the bulk of the billionaire's estate, much to the chagrin of his daughters and grandsons. The only catch is that she will have to live in his mansion, alongside his family, for one year.

Bowler, Tim.  Storm Catchers  [M] Lexile: 560 GRL: V
Filled with guilt over his younger sister Ella’s kidnapping, Fin tries to rescue her and in the process learns about a dark family secret.  Fin comes to realize that Ella is not the only victim and that the real villain may be closer to home than he thought.

Key, Watt.  Hideout Lexile: 630 GRL: n/a
While out exploring the bayou around his home, twelve-year-old Sam finds a lone boy named Davey mysteriously repairing a rundown shack deep in the woods. As the two get to know each other, danger increases for both boys when long-hidden truths come to light.

Priest, Cherie.  I Am Princess X - Lexile: 790 GRL: Z+
Years after writing stories about a superheroine character she created with a best friend who died in a tragic car accident, 16-year-old May is shocked to see stickers, patches and graffiti images of the superheroine appearing all over town.

Realistic Fiction

Mass, Wendy.  A Mango-shaped Space - Lexile: 770 GRL: V
Teenaged Mia has a secret ability that makes her feel like a freak. She embarks on an intense journey of self-discovery, but by the time she realizes she has isolated herself from everyone who cares about her, it’s almost too late. This is realistic fiction with an unusual twist.

Sonnenblick, Jordan.  Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie - Lexile: 940 GRL: Y
When his younger brother is diagnosed with leukemia, 13-year-old Steven tries to deal with his complicated emotions, his school life, and his desire to support his family. Readers will love both brothers, laughing, crying, and rooting for both of them!

Standish, Ali.  The Ethan I Was Before - Lexile: 730 GRL: n/a
Twelve-year-old Ethan Truitt and his family have relocated from Boston to a small town in Georgia after a tragic accident involving his best friend Kacey—an incident that leaves him haunted by guilt. He thinks he might never find joy again until he meets Coralee, a daring girl who helps him feel alive again. But there's more to Coralee than meets the eye—and her secrets could put both their lives at risk.

Swinarski, Claire.  What Happened to Rachel Riley? [M} - Lexile: n/a GRL: n/a
Anna Hunt may be the new girl at East Middle School, but she can already tell there’s something off about her eighth-grade class. Rachel Riley, who just last year was one of the most popular girls in school, has become a social outcast. But no one, including Rachel Riley herself, will tell Anna why. 

Van Draanen, Wendelin.  Runaway - Lexile: 740 GRL: W
After running away from her fifth foster home, Holly, a twelve-year-old orphan, travels across the country, keeping a journal of her experiences and struggle to survive.

Williams, Alicia.  Genesis Begins Again - Lexile: 670 GRL: Y
Thirteen-year-old Genesis keeps a list of all the things she hates about herself--she's up to ninety-six--the last of which is her very dark skin. Her gambling-addict father has once again lost their rent money, so Genesis moves in with her grandmother who claims that none of this would've happened if her mother had married a light-skinned man. 

Science Fiction

Evans, Richard Paul. Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 - Lexile: 500 GRL: Z
Fourteen-year-old Michael discovers he has special electric powers, and with the help of his best friends, realizes there are other teens with similar powers. Then his mother gets kidnapped, and Michael and his friends begin a quest to rescue his mom and save themselves.

Higuera, Donna Barba. The Last Cuentista Lexile: n/a GRL: n/a
As the daughter of prominent scientists, twelve-year-old Petra Peña is among the select few boarding a spaceship to another planet before Earth is decimated by a comet. Petra doesn't take after her parents though, she wants to be a professional storyteller like her grandmother. When she wakes centuries later, she realizes that her family and other passengers have no recollections of Earth or what life was like there. 

Lu, Marie. Skyhunter - Lexile: 870 GRL: n/a
Talin is a Striker, a member of an elite fighting force that stands as the last defense for the only free nation in the world: Mara. A refugee, Talin knows firsthand the horrors of the Federation, a world-dominating war machine responsible for destroying nation after nation with its terrifying army of mutant beasts known only as Ghosts.

Riordan, Rick.  Daughter of the Deep- Lexile: n/a GRL: n/a
As a freshman at the prestigious marine and aquatics science high school Harding-Pencroft, fourteen-year-old orphan Ana Dakkar and her classmates find themselves the school's only survivors when an attack destroys their school while they were en route to their end-of-year trials. Regrouping on a hidden island outpost, the freshmen learn from their teacher that the attack was perpetrated by their rival school, the Land Institute, and that the key to their survival lies in unlocking the technology of Captain Nemo's "Nautilus."

Sanderson, Brandon.  Steelheart - Lexile: 680 GRL: Z
At age eight, David watched as his father was killed by an Epic, a human with superhuman powers, and now, ten years later, he joins the Reckoners- the only people who are trying to kill the Epics and end their tyranny.

Sports

Green, Tim.  Left Out.   - Lexile: 800 GRL: V
Landon Dorch has always felt left out due to his deafness that affects his speech and requires him to have cochlear implants. He finally secures a place on the seventh-grade football team, but it proves harder than he thought. Then Landon gets some help from star players who know all about being different, and he digs deep into himself to fight his way off the bench.

Morrison, Laura.  Up for Air - Lexile: 900 GRL: Z
Thirteen-year-old Annabelle struggles in school, no matter how hard she tries. But as soon as she dives into the pool, she’s unstoppable. She’s the fastest girl on the middle school swim team, and when she’s asked to join the high school team over the summer, everything changes. Suddenly, she’s got new friends, and a high school boy starts treating her like she’s somebody special—and Annabelle thinks she’ll finally stand out in a good way. 

Roberts, Barbara Carroll.  Nikki On the Line - Lexile: 840 GRL: X
Nikki has been the best point guard on her team and dreams of becoming a basketball star. But when she is selected for an elite-level team, she finds she isn't the best point guard; she's not any kind of point guard. With the stress of basketball and a family tree project at school and taking care of her younger brother, Nikki finds that she is losing confidence in herself.

Sonnenblick, Jordan. Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip [M] Lexile: 800 GRL: X
After an injury ends star pitcher Peter Friedman’s athletic dreams, he concentrates on photography, which leads him to a girlfriend, new fame as a sports photographer and a deeper relationship with his aging grandfather, who is developing Alzheimer’s.