Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Slice of Life: Summery Middle Grade Titles

I've met monthly for book club with a group of middle school students this past year. We started the year by reading Mock Newbery possibilities and then moved to March Book Madness titles after the Newbery was announced in January. We took a couple of months off while I was traveling and enjoying the arrival of my new grandson. 

Last month, I asked the book club members if they would like to have a meeting before school was out. They were definitely interested. I thought it would be fun to feature titles set in summer or with summer in their titles for this final meeting of the school year. Unfortunately, only three titles (of the many I requested) arrived before our meeting in June. We planned to select a title for our July meeting from these titles. We meet at the public library during July and August.
The Summer of May - "An angry thirteen-year-old girl and her hated English teacher spend a summer school class together, learning surprising things about each other." (Follett)

Summer at Forsaken Lake - "Twelve-year-old Nicholas and his ten-year-old, twin sisters, Hetty and Haley, spend the summer with their Great-Uncle Nick at Forsaken Lake, where he and their new friend Charlie investigate the truth about an accident involving their families many years before." (Follett)

Cosmic - "Twelve-year-old Liam, tall for his age, is often mistaken for an adult, a fact that he uses when he finds himself in a group of children on the first manned spacecraft since Apollo 17. When things go wrong, some quick thinking by the kids averts a disaster. Likable characters, gentle humor, and the far-fetched adventure will hold readers' attention." (Horn Book Guide)

Our group selected Summer at Forsaken Lake. When I stopped by our local indie bookstore, I discovered that it wasn't readily available in paperback. But I learned that Kate Messner's Breakout had just became available in paperback this month.


"In sleepy Wolf Creek, New York, a prison breakout sets the community on edge and brings racial tensions to the surface. Messner tells the story through letters, transcriptions, newspaper articles, and other items the three girl protagonists gather for a school time-capsule assignment. Doses of humor and details about the main characters' everyday lives help leaven the story, which delivers timely and relevant messages." (Horn Book Guide)

The day after our book club meeting, ten more books arrived on my holds shelf at the library. And because I can't resist sharing these books with someone, I decided to write this post. If you're in search of a good middle grade summer read, here's a pic of the stack of titles I picked up. I stacked them in order of publication dates with the oldest publication on top to the more recent titles on the bottom. I've read two of these titles, My Life as a Book and Three Times Lucky (click on the title for my 2012 review).
You may notice an excellent summer title, The Penderwicks, absent from the stack. I didn't include it because most of my book club members have already read it and loved it. I'm adding The Girls of Firefly Cabin which I just read about on Jana's #IMWAYR post. And one more title that I carried upstairs to read because it's about summer and a teen who has to spend her summer vacation volunteering at the library, A Kind of Paradise.

Happy summer reading! If you have a favorite middle grade summer read or if you've read some I've shared and want to recommend them to my book club members, let me know in the comments.
 It’s Slice of Life Tuesday! Click over to Two Writing Teachers to read more slices!

12 comments:

  1. What a fun invitation to summer reading! I have to say that The Summer of May sounds especially intriguing. Three Times Lucky is definitely a compelling, unique read; I had the pleasure of hearing Turnage talk about her writing and revision process (involving reams and reams of paper to get the right sound, she said). I might also add Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus for its Western theme park setting and unforgettable heroine who embraces life with zest and humor despite being born without arms - not to mention her newfound friend with Tourette syndrome. What a story of adventure, overcoming, and sharp wit - worthy reading for summer or any time of year.

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  2. Thank you for the great recommendations! I am looking to read way more this summer. I love that you do a book club in the summer.

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  3. Great list ... have fun reading together.
    Kevin

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  4. Bravo for stoking summer-reading fires, Ramona. To the titles you've shared, I'll add _Summerland_ by Michael Chabon.

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  5. I loved Breakout! I am currently reading Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga. I adore summer reading and have a giant pile of my own. I am now adding titles having seen your pile.

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  6. What a great idea! I might try this next summer. Do you invite kids, or open it to all your students? I'm going to look for some of these books.

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    1. Becky, we open it to any students from the middle school, including the new incoming sixth graders. One of our summer meetings is being held at our local indie bookstore, so they are helping us publicize it. Additionally, our library makes a Tween Book Club flyer.

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  7. Ramona, if I was a middle school student, I would love to be part of your summer reading club. The titles look so intriguing and I am sure that Kate Messner's book is great. How wonderful it is that you do so much to encourage students to be lifelong readers.

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  8. I'm always up for good fiction recommendations for my students! Thanks for the timely post; I've forwarded it to my work email to add to my library shopping cart this fall.

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  9. Thanks for all your recommendations. I love to read too but am nowhere near as accomplished as you!

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    1. Just so you know . . . I haven't read all those books. They featured summer and looked intriguing to me, so I requested them for my Tween book club.

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  10. This is Irishdaybreak, do not know why they have called me unknown

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