• Summer Reading, Incoming 6th Grade

    5th Grade Summer ReadingIn collaboration with Santa Monica Public Library, Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District is pleased to present this summer reading list prepared by our school librarians.

    Because students’ maturity and reading levels vary, we encourage parents to participate actively in selecting and/or discussing these titles.

    We hope the books listed here will provide knowledge and pleasure for your child. For extra summer fun, visit your local public library for reading programs, many of which offer activities and prizes. Have a fantastic summer filled with reading and adventure! 


    Realistic Fiction

    Out of My Mind, by Sharon Draper
    Eleven-year-old Melody has cerebral palsy and cannot speak. When she gets a talking device, students and teachers learn of her smarts and inner strength. Coretta Scott King Award-winning
    author.

    Hoot    , by Carl Hiaasen
    Roy, who is new to Florida, becomes involved in another boy’s attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site. A Newbery Medal Honor book.

    Crash, by Jerry Spinelli
    Meet Crash Coogan, seventh-grade super-jock. Crash seems to be all brawn and no brains, but he will need more than mere muscles to face the upcoming challenges in his life.

    Smile, by Raina Telgemeier
    As if sixth grade isn’t hard enough, Raina has to overcome braces, retainers, headgear, earthquakes, boy troubles and frenemies.

    George, by Alex Gino
    When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl. When her teacher announces the class play will be Charlotte’s Web, George sees her opportunity to show everyone who she really is, once and for all.


    Non-Fiction

    Escape!: The Story of the Great Houdini, by Sid Fleischman
    An entertaining account of the magician and king of escape artists, Harry Houdini.

    Titanic: Voices from the Disaster, by Deborah Hopkinson
    Tells the story of the Titanic and that fateful April night, drawing on the voices of survivors and archival photographs. A Sibert Award Honor book.

    The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind: Young Readers’ Edition, by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
    William Kamkwamba’s village in Malawi is struck by a terrible drought. By studying old science books at the library, he builds a windmill from scrap metal, which pumps water to the farmland and saves his village.

    Samurai Rising, by Pam Turner
    As a boy, Minamoto Yoshitsune loses his family in a bitter war with a rival clan. But he returns years later to defeat his enemies and become a legendary samurai.


    Historical Fiction

    It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel, by Firoozeh Dumas
    It’s the late 1970s in Southern California, and Zomorod (Cindy) Yousefzadeh must navigate a new town and a new school at a time of rising anti-Iran sentiment in America.

    Buddy, by M. H. Herlong
    Twelve-year-old Li'l T and his family face great losses caused by Hurricane Katrina, including leaving Buddy, their very special three-legged dog, behind when they must evacuate.   The Apothecary, by Maile Meloy
    Follows a fourteen-year-old American girl whose life unexpectedly transforms when she moves to London in 1952 and gets swept up in a race to save the world from nuclear war.

    One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia
    Three sisters travel to Oakland, California in 1968 to spend a month with the mother who abandoned them. Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award Winner.

     
    Fantasy Science Fiction

    The Girl Who Owned a City, by O.T. Nelson
    When a plague sweeps over the Earth killing everyone except children under 12, ten-year-old Lisa organizes a group to build a new way of life.

    Airborn    , by Keneth Opell
    When a plague sweeps over the Earth killing everyone except children under 12, ten-year-old Lisa organizes a group to build a new way of life.

    When You Reach Me    , by Rebecca Stead
    Sixth-grader Miranda receives mysterious notes that predict future tragic events in her New York neighborhood.

    The Hobbi    , by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Hobbit Bilbo Baggins faces adventures in a land inhabited by dwarves, elves, goblins, dragons, and humans. 


    Mystery & Adventure Fiction

    The London Eye Mystery, by Siobahn Dowd
    After Ted and Kat’s cousin, Salim, vanishes from the London Eye ferris wheel, the siblings investigate to solve the mystery of his disappearance. 

    Closed for the Season    , by Mary Downing Hahn
    When thirteen-year-old Logan and his family move to a house in rural Virginia, he discovers that a woman was murdered there and becomes involved in the search to uncover the killer.

    Stormbreaker, by Anthony Horowitz
    After the death of his uncle, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider continues his uncle’s dangerous work for Britain’s intelligence agency, MI-6.

    The False Prince, by Jennifer A. Nielsen
    In a discontented kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, a plan is devised to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince.