Junior High

We believe that reading for pleasure is important; in fact, in Junior High, we devote one and a half hours to pleasure reading each week during the school year. For our summer reading program, all Junior High students are required to read the All-Junior High book which is The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day. Nicholas will visit Paideia to discuss his multi-award winning book on September 11th.

The Mona Lisa Vanishes is the true story of how the Mona Lisa became the most famous painting in the world. It was named one of the best books of the year by NPR, The New York Public Library, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and many more!

Additionally, we ask that each rising 7th and 8th grade student read a minimum of three free-choice books and complete a response for each one. Free choice is just that: each student chooses three books to read that they are interested in. Yes, they can be manga books! Yes, graphic novels count! You can use this guide to help you select your three books, or you can choose them yourself.

In summary, each rising 7th and 8th grader needs to read four books for summer reading: The Mona Lisa Vanishes and three free-choice books.

All-Read Assignment
ForThe Mona Lisa Vanishes, students should choose two options from this choice board and upload their work to the Summer Reading Google Classroom. Instructions are included in the file and the assignment is due by the first day of school.

Responses for Free-Choice Books
All rising 7th and 8th grade students need to fill out one of the forms below for each of their free-choice books. These are due by the first day of school.

7th Grade Response Form

8th Grade Response Form

Paideia's Digital Library
All Paideia students have access to our digital library where they can search through our catalogs for the books we have on campus as well as get access to Sora, our free eBook library, along with our research databases. We've included some book recommendations across all genres on this site, but all students can choose their own free-choice books.