Park View Summer Reading 2012 - Grade 6

Newbery Medalist Creech ("Walk Two Moons") masterfully weaves this story, told in free verse, about a young girl finding her identity and learning how it fits within the many rhythms of life. …More

A fascinating history of one of the most successful military leaders of all time. …More

In Afghanistan, a country controlled by the Taliban, a radical religious faction that allows only men to work and forbids women to go to school, work, or even outside their homes without a male escort, a courageous young woman pretends to be a boy in war-torn Kabul in order to support her family. …More

IN HIS MOST compulsively readable sports mystery yet, bestselling and Edgar Award-winning author John Feinstein takes on steroids and drugtesting as he takes readers behind the scenes of the Super Bowl and reveals the big money and even bigger egos that make pro football run. …More

In this witty spoof of fairy tales, Christian, who lives in a cave with a troll for a dad, is clueless about how amazing--and stupefying--love can be. But now that Christian's fallen for Princess Marigold, it's up to him to untwist an odd love triangle and foil a scheming queen who wants to take over the kingdom, even if it means bumping off her own daughter. …More

Sam is almost 11 when he discovers evidence that he was kidnapped. He's desperate to find out who he is, and is haunted by dreams of a big castle and a terrifying escape on a boat. Who can he trust to help him solve the mystery? …More

14-year-old Will Burrows has little in common with his strange, dysfunctional family. In fact, the only bond he shares with his eccentric father is a passion for archaeological excavation. So when Dad mysteriously vanishes, Will is compelled to dig up the truth behind his disappearance. He unearths the unbelievable: a secret subterranean society. "The Colony" has existed unchanged for a century, but it's no benign time capsule of a bygone era--because the Colony is ruled by a cultlike overclass, the Styx. Before long--before he can find his father--Will is their prisoner....

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Once upon a time, in a land you only think you know, lived a little girl and her mother . . . or the woman she "thought" was her mother.

Every day, when the little girl played in her pretty garden, she grew more curious about what lay on the other side of the garden wall . . . a rather enormous garden wall.

And every year, as she grew older, things seemed weirder and weirder, until the day she finally climbed to the top of the wall and looked over into the mines and desert beyond.

Newbery Honor-winning author Shannon Hale teams up with husband Dean Hale and brilliant artist Nathan Hale (no relation) to bring readers a swashbuckling and hilarious twist on the classic story as you've never seen it before. Watch as Rapunzel and her amazing hair team up with Jack (of beanstalk fame) to gallop around the wild and western landscape, changing lives, righting wrongs, and bringing joy to every soul they encounter. …More

After a meteorite crashes through the roof of his house, Brady soon discovers that he's able to do strange and wonderful things that shouldn't be possible. At the same time, Brady is developing some strange symptoms. Could he be infected with long-dormant microbes from space? …More

She's all that and so much more! All kinds of girls -- tomboys and divas, workers and dreamers, sisters and soul mates -- appear in this collection. Eighty poems from writers such as Maya Angelou, Aileen Fisher, Eloise Greenfield, Jack Prelutsky, and Janet S. Wong tackle the themes that really matter to girls, from family and best friends to boys, body image, having fun, and dreaming about the future. Lively illustrations by Susan Hellard dance across the pages, complementing the diverse poetic moods and styles. …More

An Egyptian pharaoh vanishes. An airplane disappears moments before landing. Find out how modern science sheds new light on nine mysteries from ancient and modern times. Learn the fascinating stories behind these high-tech investigations, accompanied by photos, maps and illustrations. …More

In Ancient Egypt, the pharaoh is the supreme ruler and overseer of every aspect of life--a living god. From the moment of his coronation, he is busy with the construction of elaborate temples, the conquering of foreign lands, and the creation of beautiful jewelry and art, all of which are done to worship the great Egyptian gods and to expand the pharaoh's eternal legacy. Yet Pharaoh is ever mindful of his eventual journey into the afterlife and his final transformation into a complete god. Through such funerary rites as embalming and organ removal, the pharaoh's soul will move on to paradise, while his body remains on earth in one of his ornately decorated temples. Full of fascinating, little-known details about Ancient Egypt all brought to life by David Kennett's stunning graphic novel-style artwork, "Pharaoh" shines a jewel-toned light on the lives and afterlives of Seti I and Ramesses II--and the powerful civilizations they built. …More

2007 Scott O'Dell Award Winner
In this remarkable debut novel, 11-year-old Dewey Kerrigan is traveling west on a train to live with her scientist father, but no one will tell her exactly where he is. It is 1943 and her destination is Alamos, New Mexico, where scientists are working on the Manhattan Project. …More

Always cast in a supporting role in the many books about Marco Polo, the great Kubla Khan takes center stage in a splendid picture-book biography. Full color. …More

Texas Lone Star Reading List 2007-2008
2008-2009 Sunshine State Young Readers Award Master List Grades 6-8

When Ruben and Jed find a dead body on the Rhode Island shore, they are certain it has something to do with smuggling liquor. Suddenly, the boys find themselves caught in a war between two Prohibition gangs. …More

Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think about life before the war. But it's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching in their town.
The Nazi won't stop. The Jews of Denmark are being "relocated," so Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be part of the family.
Then Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission. Somehow she must find the strength and courage to save her best friend's life. There's no turning back now. …More

Unable to deal with her uncaring family, Cleo runs away to a deserted island in Canada where she hopes to prove herself. But when she finally decides to return home, her canoe has been destroyed, and she faces the ultimate challenge in surviving the Canadian winter. Ages 12 and up. Reissue. …More

Good. Evil. Dangerous. Glamorous. Will the real Cleopatra please stand up? Almost everything we know about the last queen of Egypt came from her enemiesthe Romans. Now its time to meet the real Cleopatra, a ruler more complex, brilliant, and powerful than we ever knew. Cleopatra didnt just rock the boat when she became queen at seventeen. She rocked the world with brilliant alliances that kept her in power and in control. When Mark Antony tried to put Egypt under his thumb, she negotiated forand wonmore territory than any Egyptian ruler had snagged in generations. Cleopatra didnt just play by the rules. She made them up as she went along. She bowed to no one, including Octavianthe future Caesar Augustuswho never missed an opportunity to pump out anti-Cleopatra propaganda. The queen of Egypt has fascinated the world for thousands of years. Its time to find out why. …More

Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth, and what follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached. …More

Seven boys in Ancient Rome solve strange crimes in this new history mystery series. Rufus admits he wrote "Caius is a dumbbell" on his tablet at school, but he denies breaking in the schoolroom. Rufus is doomed unless his classmates can find out who's really responsible. Illustrations. …More

Inspired by real events, this fascinating novel sheds light on a little-known aspect of the Nazi agenda and movingly portrays a young Czech girls struggle to hold on to her identity and her hope in the face of a regime intent on destroying both. …More