William Penn Charter School

English Department

2008 Summer Reading: 6th Grade

 

The goals of summer reading for incoming 6th graders are for your teachers to get to know you as a reader and a writer and for you to experience the joy of reading.

 

Required Reading:

            “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” by Mildred D. Taylor

            “The Titan’s Curse” by Rick Riordan

 

These books will be discussed in class during the first two weeks of school, and students will be assessed on both novels.

 

Required Journal:

You will also need to type two, page-long journal entries per book.  The purpose of these journals is not to summarize the plots of the two novels, but rather to share your observations and thoughts on characters and events.  There are no wrong answers!  Have fun with this and explore!

 

Ideas for topic sentences (you may come up with your own):

 

I wonder what this means…

I really don’t understand this part because…

This character reminds me of someone I know because…

This character reminds me of myself because…

This part is very realistic/unrealistic because…

This section makes me think about…

I think the relationship between _____ and _____is interesting because…

This situation reminds me of a similar situation in my own life…

If I were __________ at this point in the book, I would…

 

  Other Summer Reading Choices:

Students should also keep a list on a separate sheet of paper of any other books that they read over the summer.  This will help us understand what kind of reader you are and what kind of books you like to read.  Here are some favorite authors of sixth graders in the past:

 

Ursula K. LeGuin                               Scott O’Dell                                       Virginia Hamilton

Anne McCaffery                                Gary Soto                                           Lloyd Alexander

Peter Dickinson                                Phillip Pullman                                   William Sleator

Madeline L’Engle                              Lawrence Yep                                   Susan Cooper

Cynthia Voigt                                     Walter Dean Meyers             Brian Jaques