East Hills Elementary School

Summer Reading 2010

For students entering

Grade 5

Dear Student,

Reading is both enjoyable and important, and the summer months often provide a more relaxed opportunity to pursue some worthwhile titles.

As a student about to enter fifth grade in September, you will be required to read one selection from the following list. Of course, given the many wonderful selections in this booklet, we encourage you to read as many additional titles as you wish.

In the fall, your classroom teacher will evaluate your summer reading.

Sincerely,

Allison Brown

Principal, East Hills

East Hills Elementary School gratefully acknowledges the efforts and expertise of

Nancy Boyd, Suzanne Gerbosi, Barbara Homola and Janet Scheuering,

who were instrumental in compiling this reading list.

Atwater, Richard.  Mr. Popper's Penguins.
Mr. Popper starts out with one penguin in his house, but before he knows it there are twelve.

Birdsall, Jeanne. The Penderwicks : A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy.
While vacationing with their widowed father in the Berkshire Mountains, four lovable sisters, ages four through twelve, share adventures with a local boy, much to the dismay of his snobbish mother.

Clements, Andrew. A Week in the Woods.
The fifth grade's annual camping trip in the woods tests Mark's survival skills and his ability to relate to a teacher who seems out to get him.

Creech, Sharon. Granny Torrelli Makes Soup.
With the help of her wise old grandmother, twelve-year-old Rosie manages to work out some problems in her relationship with her best friend, Bailey, the boy next door.

DiCamillo, Kate. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

Edward Tulane, a cold-hearted and proud toy rabbit, loves only himself until he is separated from the little girl who adores him and travels across the country, acquiring new owners and listening to their hopes, dreams, and histories.

Gantos, Jack. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key.
To the constant disappointment of his mother and his teachers, Joey has trouble paying attention or controlling his mood swings when his prescription meds wear off and he starts getting worked up and acting wired.

Giff, Patricia Reilly. Eleven.
When Sam, who can barely read, discovers an old newspaper clipping just before his eleventh birthday, it brings forth memories from his past, and, with the help of a new friend at school and the castle they are building for a school project, his questions are eventually answered.

Gutman, Dan. Getting Air.
After foiling a terrorist hijacking aboard their airplane, fourteen-year-old Jimmy, his younger sister, and two skateboarding friends crash-land the plane and try to survive in a forest wilderness until help arrives.

Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Running Out of Time.
When a diphtheria epidemic hits her 1840 village, thirteen-year-old Jessie discovers it is actually a 1995 tourist site under unseen observation by heartless scientists, and it's up to Jessie to escape the village and save the lives of the dying children.

Hesse, Karen. The Music of Dolphins.
Using sophisticated computer technology, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been raised by dolphins, records her thoughts about her reintroduction to the human world.

Horvath, Polly. Everything on a Waffle.

Eleven-year-old Primrose, who lives in a small fishing village in British Columbia, recounts her experiences and all that she learns about human nature and the unpredictability of life in the months after her parents are lost at sea.

Konigsburg, E.L. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
Two suburban children run away from their Connecticut home and go to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, where their ingenuity enables them to live in luxury.

Lupica, Mike. Heat.
Pitching prodigy Michael Arroyo is on the run from social services after being banned from playing Little League baseball because rival coaches doubt he is only twelve years old and he has no parents to offer them proof.

Martin, Ann M. The Doll People.
A family of porcelain dolls that has lived in the same house for one hundred years is taken aback when a new family of plastic dolls arrives and doesn't follow The Doll Code of Honor.

Paulsen, Gary. Mr. Tucket.
In 1848, while on a wagon train headed for Oregon, fourteen-year-old Francis Tucket is kidnapped by Pawnee Indians and then falls in with a one-armed trapper who teaches him how to live in the wild.

Rodgers, Mary. Freaky Friday.
A thirteen-year-old girl gains a much more sympathetic understanding of her relationship with her mother when she has to spend a day in her mother's body.

Scieszka, Jon. Knucklehead : Tall Tales & Mostly True Stories About Growing Up Scieszka.
Presents a memoir of what it was like to grow up in the 1950s and other almost true stories by American children's author Jon Scieszka.

Siebold, Jan. Doing Time Online.
After he is involved in a prank that led to an elderly woman's injury, twelve-year-old Mitchell must make amends by participating in a police program in which he chats online with a nursing home resident.

Sleator, William.  Rewind.
Not long after learning that he was adopted, eleven-year-old Peter is hit by a car and then given several chances to alter events that could lead to his death.

Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac Magee : A Novel.
After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee's life becomes legendary, as he accomplishes athletic and other feats which awe his contemporaries.