Summer Reading List ALSC 2021 (Gr. 6-8)

Created on May 30, 2021, 3:44 pm

Last Updated October 15, 2021, 12:32 pm

Titles on the 2021 Summer Reading Lists were compiled and annotated by members of ALSC's Quicklists Consulting Committee. ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children), a division of ALA (American Library Association), reading lists are created as a resource for children's librarians to share with patrons. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to explore these titles to find resources that may match or spark their child's interest. https://www.ala.org/alsc/publications-resources/book-lists/2021-summer-reading-list

1) All thirteen: the incredible cave resuce of the Thai boys' soccer team

Author

Soontornvat, Christina

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

"On June 23, 2018, twelve young players of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach enter a cave in northern Thailand seeking an afternoon's adventure. But when they turn to leave, rising floodwaters block their path out. The boys are trapped! Before long, news of the missing team spreads, launching a seventeen-day rescue operation involving thousands of rescuers from around the globe. Combining firsthand interviews of rescue workers with in-depth...

2) Almost American girl: an illustrated memoir

Author

Description

"For as long as she can remember, it's been Robin and her mom against the world. Growing up as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn't always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together. So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation--following her mother's announcement that she's getting married--Robin is devastated. Overnight, her life changes. She is dropped into a new...

3) Amari and the night brothers

Author

Series

Amari volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

Thirteen-year-old Amari, a poor Black girl from the projects, gets an invitation from her missing brother to join the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs and join in the fight against an evil magician.

4) Ancestor approved: intertribal stories for kids

Description

"Edited by award-winning and bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of intersecting stories by both new and veteran Native writers bursts with hope, joy, resilience, the strength of community, and Native pride."--Publisher's description.

5) Beetle & the Hollowbones

Author

Description

Twelve-year-old goblin and witch-in-training Beetle enlists her former best friend, Kat Hollowbones, to help stop Kat's sorceress aunt from demolishing the mall where Beetle's friend Blob Ghost is trapped.

6) Cece Rios and the desert of souls

Author

Series

Cece Rios volume 1

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

"When a powerful desert spirit kidnaps her sister, Cece Rios must learn forbidden magic to get her back. Living in the remote town of Tierra del Sol is dangerous, especially in the criatura months, when powerful spirits roam the desert and threaten humankind. But Cecelia Rios has always believed there was more to the criaturas, much to her family's disapproval. After all, only brujas--humans who capture and control criaturas--consort with the spirits,...

Author

Description

Moving to Vermont the summer after seventh grade, a young gymnast hides a secret as she makes new friends and investigates her grandmother's claim that someone is trying to destroy her cricket farm.

8) Efrén divided

Author

Cisneros, Ernesto

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

While his father works two jobs, seventh-grader Efrén Nava must take care of his twin siblings, kindergartners Max and Mia, after their mother is deported to Mexico. Includes glossary of Spanish words.

9) Everything sad is untrue: (a true story)

Author

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

"At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls "Daniel") stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. To them he is a dark-skinned, hairy-armed boy with a big butt whose lunch smells funny; who makes things up and talks about poop too much. But Khosrou's stories, stretching back years, and decades, and centuries, are beautiful, and terrifying, from the moment his...

10) Fighting words

Author

Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, Playaway

Description

"Ten-tear-old Della has always had her older sister, Suki: When their mom went to prison, Della had Suki. When their mom's boyfriend took them in, Della had Suki. When that same boyfriend did something so awful they had to run fast, Della had Suki. Suki is Della's own wolf--her protector. But who has been protecting Suki? Della might get told off for swearing at school, but she has always known how to keep quiet where it counts. Then Suki tries to...

11) From the desk of Zoe Washington

Author

Series

Zoe Washington stories volume 1

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

"Avid baker Zoe Washington receives a letter on her twelfth birthday from her biological father, who is in prison for a terrible crime"--

12) King and the dragonflies

Author

Callender, Kacen

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, Playaway

Description

"In a small but turbulent Louisiana town, one boy's grief takes him beyond the bayous of his backyard, to learn that there is no right way to be yourself"--

13) Legacy: women poets of the Harlem Renaissance

Author

Description

"From Children's Literature Legacy Award-winning author Nikki Grimes comes a feminist-forward new collection of poetry celebrating the little-known women poets of the Harlem Renaissance--paired with full-color, original art from today's most talented female African-American illustrators."

Author

Description

"It's 1963, and things are changing for Jezebel Turner. Her beloved grandmother has just passed away. The local police deputy won't stop harassing her family. With school integration arriving in South Carolina, Jez and her twin brother, Jay, are about to begin the school year with a bunch of new kids. But the biggest change comes when Jez and Jay turn eleven-- and their uncle, Doc, tells them he's going to train them in rootwork. Jez and Jay have...

15) The shape of thunder

Author

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

Estranged from the best friend whose brother killed her sister in a school shooting, a grieving Cora receives a message on her twelfth birthday from her friend, asking for her help with creating a time portal to prevent the tragedy.

16) Show me a sign

Author

LeZotte, Ann Clare

Series

Show me a sign volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, Playaway

Description

It is 1805 and Mary Lambert has always felt safe among the deaf community of Chilmark on Martha's Vineyard where practically everyone communicates in a shared sign language, but recent events have shattered her life; her brother George has died, land disputes between English settlers and the Wampanoag people are becoming increasingly bitter, and a "scientist" determined to discover the origins of the islands' widespread deafness has decided she makes...

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

Bullied and shamed her whole life for being fat, twelve-year-old Ellie finally gains the confidence to stand up for herself, with the help of some wonderful new allies.

18) Tracking pythons: the quest to catch an invasive predator and save an ecosystem

Author

Formats:

Description

Describes the process of tracking Burmese pythons, an invasive species to the United States.