Book Reviews
Summer Reading for Fifth- and Sixth-Graders
Staying strong in the face of adversity is not easy. Retaining one's personality, warts and all, under pressure from others, is tough. But managing to hang on to identity, sanity, and well-being during the rugged years of middle school? Now that's grueling.
As fifth- and sixth-graders prepare themselves for the challenges and thrills that await in the coming years, we hope they'll find solace, humor, and even guidance in the following summer reading books. These books will also help your students bridge their STEPS TO RESPECT skills from elementary to middle school.
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
Jeffrey "Maniac" Magee is an unlikely-looking protagonist with mind-boggling athletic and social abilities. Ingenuously, he manages to confront rivaling racial tensions in his town, shatter long-held prejudices, and tilt the world ever so slightly for everyone he encounters.
The Meanest Girl by Debora Allie
Sometimes it's hard to know who the bad guys are. Especially when you yourself might be the worst of the bunch! Sixth-grader Alyssa is so focused on the supposed foul play of her new classmate, Hayden, that she fails to see the "meanest girl" for who she really is.
Gifted by Beth Evangelista
According to 13-year-old George, he is worshipped by his teachers and misunderstood by his inferior classmates. He is also about to be clobbered by the Bruise Brothers, his chief tormentors, on a school trip. Gifted provides a fresh take on the dynamics of bullying behavior, introducing an insufferable protagonist who needs to resolve his role in social situations, moving beyond his current capacity of condescending, put-upon outsider.
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Bullying behavior is not a twenty-first century invention. In this classic Newbery Medal winning novel, Kit Tyler, transplanted in 1687 from her loving Caribbean home to the austere New England colonies, faces the severe Puritan judgment of her new community. Will she submit to society's need for a scapegoat?
Shredderman: Secret Identity by Wendelin Van Draanen
For reluctant readers and bookworms alike, this light and highly entertaining novel (drolly illustrated with cartoons) features a fifth-grader nicknamed "Byrd-the-Nerd" who creates a cyber-superhero alter ego to combat the offenses of school tyrant, Bubba Bixby.
Happy reading. Don't forget the sunblock!
Emilie Coulter
Book Reviewer
Committee for Children
