Summer Reading – Great Middle Reader Books to Add to Your Summer Shelf
Greetings! It really feels like summer now. The weather has warmed up and we are beginning to enjoy more outside activities.
This also means that school has ended and the concerns of “summer reading slide” have started.
Scholastic has an excellent report called 10 Critical Facts about Summer Reading that addresses the issue of learning or reading skill losses during the summer months are cumulative, creating a wider gap each year between more proficient and less proficient students. By the time a struggling reader reaches middle school, summer reading loss has accumulated to a two–year lag in reading achievement.
We’ve found that the best way to motivate your reader in the summer is to know what inspires them!
Making reading an adventure and not a “task, chore, requirement” during the summer months is a great way to help the desire to read and getting them loving the written word.
Make book reading like a seasonal shift in your wardrobe. One of our first family activities, when school gets out, is to make The Summer Shelf. Off come the passing season’s books and on comes the fun books of summer. Some are old friends and others are new, but The Summer Shelf is a way to herald in the summer reading season.
Great Middle Reader Book to Add to Your Summer Reading Shelf
Willa of the Wood by Robert Beatty
Willa, a young night-spirit forest girl, is her clan’s best thief. Move without a sound. Steal without a trace. Its the mantra her people live by.
Her people are the Faeran, ancient forest dwellers who once lived in harmony with the woods and the Great Smoky Mountains but now struggle to survive in an uncertain world. Once a wise and powerful people, the Faeran have been pushed to the edge of extinction, forced deep into the mountains and stealing from the day-folk to survive.
The only way Willa can help her people from becoming extinct is to creep into the homes of day-folk in the cover of darkness and takes what they won’t miss. It’s dangerous work—the day-folk kill whatever they do not understand. Life for the Faeran is all about survival and unity, but human “day folk” are encroaching on their lives in the forest And now an even stranger new threat is looming; the railroad.
When Willa’s curiosity leaves her hurt and stranded in the day world, she calls upon an ancient, unbreakable bond to escape. Only then does she discover the truth: not all day-folk are the same, and the foundations that have guarded the Faeran for eons are under attack. For ages 8-12.
The Storm Runner by J.C. Cervantes
How can one boy with a limp stop the Maya god of death, disaster, and darkness from destroying the world?
Zane has always enjoyed exploring the dormant volcano near his home in New Mexico, even though hiking it is challenging. He’d much rather hang out there with his dog, Rosie than go to middle school, where kids call him Sir Limps a Lot, McGimpster, or Uno – for his one good leg.
What Zane doesn’t know is that the volcano is a gateway to another world and he is at the center of a powerful prophecy. A new girl at school, Brooks, informs him that he’s destined to release an evil god from the ancient Maya relic he is imprisoned in–unless she can find and remove it first. Together they return to the volcano, where all kinds of crazy happen. Brooks turns into a hawk, a demon attacks them in a cave, and Rosie gives her all while trying to protect Zane. When Zane decides to save his dog no matter the cost, he is thrust into an adventure full of surprising discoveries, dangerous secrets, and an all-out war between the gods, one of whom happens to be his father.
To survive, Zane will have to become the Storm Runner. But how can he run when he can’t even walk well without a cane?
For ages 10-14. Grab a copy of this book on AmazonBarnes & Noble, IndieBound, and on Rick’s website.
Travels with Gannon and Wyatt: Hawaii
When an ancient map is found on a drowning archeologist, the explorers shift their focus to the secrets the map holds and go on an adventure to rarely visited parts of the islands of Hawaii. As the story takes a turn when they discover that the secret the map holds is to the secret burial site of King Kamehameha the Great. The adventure takes a turn as they learn that someone is after the map at any cost, even to them and their lives.
The Complete Pendomus Chronicles Trilogy: Books 1-3 of the Pendomus Chronicles Dystopian Scifi Fantasy Boxed Set Series by Carissa Andrews
A planet out of balance. The rise of an unlikely savior. A betrayal that could derail it all.
An Amazon #1 Bestselling Trilogy…{and one we highly recommend for an exceptional story and end-of-your-seat suspense!}
Can one girl’s lost humanity return to make her the most powerful being on Pendomus? Or will her naivety force those around her to succumb to a horrifying fate?
Only time will tell.
Just when all hope is lost—destiny intervenes and sets a new trajectory. The only question is … who’s pulling the strings?
Delve into the Complete Pendomus Chronicles trilogy, with over 1000 pages chock-full of mystery, magic, and gripping action that will keep you turning the pages until the very end.
The Apothecary by Maile Meloy
When the apothecary is kidnapped, Janie and Benjamin must uncover the secrets of the sacred
Pharmacopoeia in order to find him and save the world. (Grades 6-8)
Secret Scouts and the Lost Leonardo by Mr. and Mrs. Kind.
It’s like The Goonies meets The Da Vinci Code, and even the book cover has a Stranger Things feel to it!
Secret Scouts and the Lost Leonardo
This incredible book trailer brings the whole story to life:
Tom, Lisa, Sophie, and Jack stumble across the find of a lifetime — Leonardo da Vinci’s codex full of sketches, writings, and calculations. Now they have a choice: do they sell it and become richer beyond their wildest dreams, or do they try to decode the journal and figure out what Leonardo was up to? Tom and Jack want to sell the book, but sisters Lisa and Sophie have other ideas. What they discover within the codex is the science behind time travel. But when they put the calculations to the test, they find out just how dangerous this secret can truly be.
For ages 10-16 but don’t worry, parents can read it too
