Embedded Files
Choose one fo the books listed below and read it this Summer. Then complete the assignment for your book, and bring it back on the first day of school.
Your assignment is to write a postcard to your fifth grade teacher. The back of the postcard should include the title and author of the book, a brief summary of the book, your favorite part of the book, and whether you would recommend the book to others and why. On the front of the postcard, create a new book cover for the book. It should represent the heart of the book and include the title and author.
All of this information can also be found in the PACKET shared with you at the end of the school year.
On Thin Ice
On Thin Ice
Written by Michael Northrop
The way twelve-year-old Ked Eakins of Norton, Maine, sees it his life has been stolen from him, piece by piece; first by kyphosis, a spinal abnormality which has made him a social outcast at school and a target for the school bully, by his friends who have recently abandoned him, by his mother who left for the West Coast taking the insurance which might have saved him with her, and by his father who is a gambling addict who has lost the rent money--but Ked is a builder, and using the school's Maker Space he intends to build his life back, and maybe make a few real friends, and save his father while he is at it.
Content: Contains intense survival peril and life-threatening situations
Side Tracked
Side Tracked
Written by Diana Harmon Asher
Seventh-grader Joseph Friedman, friendless, puny, and with ADD, spends most of his time hiding in the Resource Room, but when he reluctantly agrees to join the school's cross-country team, he befriends a tough, athletic new student, Heather.
Content: Includes themes of anxiety.
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise
Written by Dan Gemeinhart
Twelve-year-old Coyote and her father rush to Poplin Springs, Washington, in their old school bus to save a memory box buried in a park that will soon be demolished.
Content: Contains emotional themes of grief and loss, with brief references to death
Blended
Blended
Written by Sharon M. Draper
Piano-prodigy Isabella, eleven, whose black father and white mother struggle to share custody, never feels whole, especially as racial tensions affect her school, her parents both become engaged, and she and her stepbrother are stopped by police.
Content: Includes discussions of race, identity, and a racially motivated violent incident.
Lifeboat 12
Lifeboat 12
Written by Susan Hood
In 1940, a group of British children, their escorts, and some sailors struggle to survive in a lifeboat when the ship taking them to safety in Canada is torpedoed. Includes historical notes.
Content: Contains historical wartime peril, including references to death and survival at sea.
Wildfire
Wildfire
Written by Rodman Philbrick
Thirteen-year-old Sam Castine is at summer camp while his mother is in rehab, but when the camp is evacuated ahead of a fast moving wildfire, he makes the mistake of going back for his phone, and finds himself left behind, disoriented, and running for his life, together with a girl, Delphy, from a different camp. Finding an old jeep keeps them going, but in the wilds of Maine, there are only logging roads and the deadly crown fire is everywhere.
Content: Includes intense survival danger and natural disaster-related threats.
The Trail
The Trail
Written by Meika Hashimoto
Following his best friend Lucas's accidental death, Toby determines to hike over four hundred miles of the Appalachian Trail to finish the final item on a list of goals the pair planned to complete together before entering middle school.
Content: Includes depictions of survival danger.
If you have any questions, please reach out to your child's teacher.
You can also contact Jonathan Gilbert, the Director of English Language Arts, at jgilbert@windhamsd.org
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