6th Grade – Summer Reading List 2009

Academic Language Arts Fiction Book Choices

Ardagh, Philip. A House Called Awful End: Book 1 of the Eddie Dickens Trilogy. Eddie is forced to go live with his crazy aunt and uncle in Awful End. On his way there, Eddie finds himself in many quirky and hilarious situations.

Park, Barbara. The Kid in the Red Jacket. When 10-year-old Howard has to move with his family to a distant state, he is forced to live on a street named Chester Pewe, adjust to a new school, and get used to being shadowed by the little girl in a nearby house.

Spinelli, Jerry. Loser. Donald Zinkoff is a kid everyone will recognize. The one with the stupid laugh who cracks up over nothing, the klutz who trips over his own feet, the overly exuberant student who always raises his hand but never has the right answers. Follow Donald through his awkward middle school years.

Wallace, Rich. Dunk Under Pressure. Cornell Duncan, 12, is a great free-throw shooter, but not the best player, so he mainly warms the bench and watches the starters on his All Star team. Dunk soon realizes he must work towards becoming an all around player if he’s going to contribute to the team.

Non-Fiction Book Choices for All Students

Editors of American Girl. Yikes! A Smart Girl’s Guide to Surviving Tricky, Sticky, Icky Situations. Provides techniques for dealing with embarrassing, emotional, or frightening situations, including forgetting your lines on stage, being threatened by a bully, or losing your parents in a big city.

Hirschi, Ron. Searching for Grizzlies. The author provides a number of beautiful illustrated photographs and drawings describing his encounters with the American grizzly bear.

Hollander, Phyllis. Amazing but True Sports Stories. Contains 87 true stories about amazing moments in a wide variety of sports.

Hoyt-Goldsmith, Diane. Celebrating a Quinceanera: A Latina’s 15th Birthday Celebration. Describes the customs and traditions connected with the celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday.

Markle, Sandra. Outside and Inside: Giant Squid. Plunge into the depths of the ocean and discover some of the strangest, most mysterious creatures on Earth.

Paulsen, Gary. How Angel Peterson Got His Name: And Other Outrageous Tales about Extreme Sports. The popular author of Hatchet has written his memoir outlining the hilarious, and often dangerous stunts Paulsen and his friends pull in order to entertain themselves and impress the young ladies.

Romain, Trevor. Bullies are a Pain in the Brain. A serious yet humorous guide to dealing with bullies.

Savage, Jeff. Play by Play Football. A guide to the history, rules, skills, and strategy of football.

Required Reading for Students in Advanced Language Arts

Balliett, Blue. Chasing Vermeer. When seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, 11-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal.

Grade 6 Listen NJ

Spinelli, Jerry. Loser.
Balliett, Blue. Chasing Vermeer.

Listen NJ

Listen NJ is a free library service that offers downloadable audio books which are playable on computers, iPods, and MP3 players. Accessing ListenNJ is very easy: Click the link on the North Brunswick Public Library home page.
The first time you log in you will need to create an account and download OverDrive. To download OverDrive, simply click on one of the links on the right side of the ListenNJ page under Software Downloads. (If you plan to use an MP3 player, download the OverDrive MP3 Audiobook. It is a very small file but is essential for converting tracks.)
Next, create an account. Click on Audiobook Account. Select your library (which is Libraries of Middlesex Automation Consortium), type in your library card number (on the back of your library card, starts with 29302...) and your PIN (If you don't know your PIN, bring your library card to the library so we can look it up for you).
Next, simply search for a title or author for your summer reading list. Once the list is populated, select ADD TO CART. If you want more than one, click Continue Browsing. At any time, click on My Cart at the top to begin downloading.
Click Proceed to Checkout to finalize the process. Click Download. A box will open with Open with (OverDrive Media Console) select OK. The download will begin filling in your OverDrive Folder. Once it is complete, you can listen to it.