Summer Reading Lower School 2024

"For Angela, it came on the basketball court--while playing on the boys' team. For Penny, it came on a school field trip to the lake (making for some cringeworthy moments of humor). And to Layla's disappointment, it came at the start of her first fasting Ramadan, meaning that she won't be able to fast after all. Whether it spurs silence or celebration, whether the subjects are well prepared or totally in the dark, the young people in these sixteen stories find that getting a period not only brings change to their bodies, it also brings joy, sorrow, self-discovery, and yes, sometimes even gifts"--OCLC.

"Twelve young Asians Americans cross paths, meeting challenges and victories, in a busy airport"-- Provided by publisher.

Twelve-year-old Natalia's dream of becoming a synchronized swimmer is in jeopardy when her parents decide they are against a sport that emphasizes looks, but Nat is determined to change their minds.

"Seventh-grader Selah Godfrey knows that to be 'normal' she has to keep her feelings tightly controlled when people are around, but after hitting a fellow student, she needs to figure out just what makes her different--and why that is ok"--BTCat.

When an asteroid has an 84.7% chance of colliding with the Earth in four days, eleven-year-old Kemi, who loves scientific facts and probability, assembles a time capsule to capture her family's truth as she tries to come to terms with saying goodbye.

Told in alternating voices, twelve-year-old Sami, from a village along the Bay of Bengal, and fourteen-year-old Yuki, from Northern Canada, strive to protect their homes from the encroaching damage brought on by climate change.

"Ebony and De'Kari (aka Flow) do not get along. How could they when their cafeteria scuffle ended with De'Kari's ruined shoes, Ebony on the ground, and both of them with ten days of at-home suspension? Now Eb and Flow have two weeks to think about and explain their behavior--to their families, to each other, and ultimately to themselves"--Provided by publisher.

Lina Gao adjusts to life in America, traveling from Beijing to reunite with her family in California after five years apart, supporting her family’s bathbomb business to raise their back rent, finding her place at a new school, and discovering the power of books and raising her voice.

Seventh-grader Hercules Beal has to figure out how to fulfill his teacher's assignment of performing the Twelve Labors of Hercules in real life, and discovers important things about friendship, community, and himself along the way.

The unexpected appearance of a dolphin in her backyard creek helps a sixth-grader with cystic fibrosis learn to write her own story.

"Eighth grader Drew Ellis recognizes that he isn't afforded the same opportunities, no matter how hard he works, that his privileged classmates at the Riverdale Academy Day School take for granted, and to make matters worse, Drew begins to feel as if his good friend Liam might be one of those privileged kids and is finding it hard not to withdraw, even as their mutual friend Jordan tries to keep their group of friends together"--Provided by publisher.

Two years after a tragedy saddles him with viral fame, twelve-year-old Simon O'Keeffe and his family move to Grin And Bear It, Nebraska, where the internet and cell phones are banned so astrophysicists can scan the sky for signs of alien life, and where, with the help of two new friends, a puppy, and a giant radio telescope, Simon plans to restart the narrative of his life.

"Eleven-year-old Avery Lee loves living in Hickory Valley, Maryland. She loves her neighborhood, school, and the end-of-summer fair she always goes to with her two best friends. But she's tired of feeling squished by her six siblings! They're noisy and chaotic and the younger kids love her a little too much. All Avery wants is her own room--her own space to be alone and make art. So she's furious when Theo, her grumpy older brother, gets his own room instead, and her wild baby brother, Max, moves into the room she already shares with her clinging sister Pearl! Avery hatches a plan to finally get her own room, all while trying to get Max to sleep at night, navigating changes in her friendships, and working on an art entry for the fair"--Provided by publisher.

When their evil neighbor, also known as the guardian of gloom, lays siege to Treeheart, a kid-forged sanctuary, turning them into pimply teenagers and sullen adults, the survivors of the onslaught call out for Bea Wolf--an unbreakable warrior with a penchant for mischief.

"The origin stories of each Chinese dish told using the framework of Chinese cuisine-oftentimes based in folklore, both ancient and contemporary"--Provided by publisher.

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, thirteen-year-old Matthew discovers a shocking secret about his great-grandmother's past as he learns about her life during the Holodomor famine in Soviet Ukraine.

In 1582 thirteen-year-old Emilia Bassano is a lute player and aspiring playwright who stumbles on a plot to kill Queen Elizabeth, and is recruited by Sir Francis Walsingham to go to the castle where Mary Queen of Scots is being held and discover who is responsible for the plot.

After the death of his best friend and the only other trans boy at school, Noah starts writing letters expressing his feelings to the humanoid creature Mothman and risks everything when he treks into the woods to prove Mothman's existence.

When thirteen-year-old Leandro takes the fall for his sister and is exiled into an ancient drone, he embarks on a perilous journey beyond the city's walls where he encounters mutant monsters, wasteland pirates, and fellow outcasts as he tries to save his sister and fellow Cascabeles from the oppressive regime.

Sixth grader Lucy is brand-new to middle school, and when her older sister GiGi--the undisputed queen bee of eighth grade--humiliates her in the cafeteria, Lucy snaps and challenges her to a fenncing duel.

"After being evicted from their home, thirteen-year-old Katie Wingate and her family move into an Extended Stay America Motel where she tries to lead a normal life, all the while wondering if things would be easier living with her father"-- Provided by publisher.

"Sixteen profiles of scientists who are changing the face of science and the future of Earth through their research"--Provided by publisher.

"This nonfiction book introduces middle-grade readers to grizzly bears. Featuring photos throughout, it discusses their biology, habitats, threats to survival and how scientists, conservationists and young people are working to protect grizzly populations"--Provided by publisher.

"The inspirational true story of how 22-year-old Henny Sinding courageously helped smuggle hundreds of Jewish families in occupied Denmark to safety in Sweden during the Holocaust"--Provided by publisher.

"A narrative nonfiction about how the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, how the robbery made the portrait the most famous artwork in the world-and how the painting by Leonardo da Vinci should never have existed at all"--Provided by publisher.

"An . . . account of the most daring American POW rescue mission of World War II. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, America entered World War II, and a new theater of battle opened up in the Pacific. But US troops, along with thousands of Filipino soldiers who fought alongside them, were overtaken in the Philippines by a fiercely determined Japanese navy, and many Americans and Filipino fighters were killed or captured. These American and Filipino prisoners of war were forced to endure the most horrific conditions on the deadly trek known as the Bataan Death March. Then, the American servicemen who were held captive by the Japanese military in Cabanatuan Camp and others in the Philippines, faced beatings, starvation, and tropical diseases, and lived constantly under the threat of death. Unable to forget their comrades' fate and concerned that these POWs would be brutally murdered as the tides of war shifted in the Pacific, the US Army Rangers undertook one of the most daring and dangerous rescue missions of all time"--Provided by publisher.