ROYSTERSUMMERREADING
2023
Royster Summer Reading Program
Welcome to the Royster Summer Reading program! Each book on our summer reading list has been hand-picked by a middle school teacher. Each student in the middle school will need to read THREE books from this list over the summer. As you choose your books, please keep these guidelines in mind:
1)Students and parents should look over the list together to select books that are a good fit for the student’s interests and abilities.
2)If you will be in the 7th grade next year, you will need to choose books listed for grades 7-9. Rising 8th graders may choose books for grades 7-9 or 8-9. Rising ninth graders may choose any books on the list.
3)We ask that you select books that you have not read before.
Students will use each book within the first month of school.
Group Discussion Selection: In August, a group of students who read the same book will meet with the sponsoring faculty member for a discussion and an activity based around the book. In the fall you will be assigned to a discussion group for one of the books you've signed up to read. You may choose which of your other two books will be used for English class and which will be used for the community activity.
English Class Selection: When they return to school, students will use one summer reading book to complete a writing exercise in English class. The specifics of the assignment will vary depending on the student’s class. Any of the books on the list will work for this activity.
Middle School Community Selection: The entire middle school community will participate in a group activity based on a summer reading book. Any book on the list will work.
How Do I Submit My Book Choices?
Current Bulldogs
All book selections will be submitted through Canvas. 6th graders will receive submission instructions from Mr. Robertson on May 4. 7th and 8th graders will receive submission instructions during H Bell on May 19th.
New Bulldogs
You will submit your book selections through this Google Form.
How do I get copies of my books?
If you pre-order books online through the Norfolk Academy Book Store before May 27, the books will be distributed to students before the end of the school year. You are also welcome to acquire the book from the library or bookstore of your choice.
I have a question about Summer Reading that is not answered here. What should I do?
Contact the Middle School Office at 757.452.6829 and we will help you find an answer!
Title Author Gradelevels AllMyRage Tahir,Sabaa 9 TheAssassinationofBrangwainSpurge Anderson,MT 7-9 TheBetrothed Cass,Kiera 8-9 BloodandGerms:TheCivilWarBattleAgainstWounds andDisease Jarrow,Gail 7-9 BoardwalkEmpire:TheBirth,HighTimes,andCorruptionof AtlanticCity Johnson,Nelson 9 TheCuriousIncidentoftheDogintheNight-time Haddon,Mark 8-9 TheDemonKing Chima,CindyWilliams 7-9 DiscoveringWesMoore Moore,Wes 7-9 Don'tPutMeinCoach Titus,Mark 7-9 TheDownstairsGirl Lee,Stacey 8-9 Einstein'sDreams Lightman,Alan 7-9 Fallout Sheinkin,Steven 7-9 TheFinalFour Volponi,Paul 8-9 FrontLines Grant,Michael 8-9 GolfisNotaGameofPerfect Rotella,Bob 7-9 HouseintheCeruleanSea Klune,TJ 7-9 InsignificantEventsintheLifeofaCactus Bowling,Dusti 7-9 Legendborn Deonn,Tracy 8-9 TheLightinHiddenPlaces Cameron,Sharon 8-9 Monster Myers,WalterDean 8-9 NewKid Craft,Jerry 7-9 TheObstacleistheWay Holiday,Ryan 7-9 TheOutsiders Hinton,S.E. 7-9 RacismExplainedtoMyDaughter TaharBenJalloun 7-9 SandmanVol 1 Gaiman,Neil 7-9 ShadowandBone Bardugo,Leigh 7-9 Skyward Sanderson,Brandon 7-9 TrainingCamp Gordon,Jon 7-9 TreasureIsland Stevenson,RobertLouis 7-9 Unbroken Hillenbrand,Lauren 7-9 TheUnlikelyThruhiker Lugo,Derick 7-9 Unwind Shusterman,Neal 8-9 WarHorse Morpugo,Michael 7-9 WisdomoftheBullfrog McRaven,James 7-9
ALLMYRAGE SABAATAHIR GRADE:9
Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding.
Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah’s health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle’s liquor store while hiding the fact that she’s applying to college so she can escape him and Juniper forever.
THE ASSASSINATION OF BRANGWAIN SPURGE
M.T.ANDERSON GRADES7-9
Uptight elfin historian Brangwain Spurge is on a mission: survive being catapulted across the mountains into goblin territory, deliver a priceless peace offering to their mysterious dark lord, and spy on the goblin kingdom from which no elf has returned alive in more than a hundred years.
Brangwain’s host, the goblin archivist Werfel, is delighted to show Brangwain around. They should be the best of friends, but a series of extraordinary double crosses, blunders, and cultural misunderstandings throws these two bumbling scholars into the middle of an international crisis that may spell death for them and war for their nations.
THEBETROTHED KIERACASS
GRADES8-9
A would-be queen. A handsome young king. A perfect match…or is it? When King Jameson declares his love for Lady Hollis Brite, Hollis is shocked and thrilled. After all, she’s grown up at Keresken Castle, vying for the king’s attention alongside other daughters of the nobility. Capturing his heart is a dream come true. But Hollis soon realizes that falling in love with a king and being crowned queen may not be the happily ever after she thought it would be. And when she meets a commoner with the mysterious power to see right into her heart, she finds that the future she really wants is one that she never thought to imagine.
BLOOD AND GERMS GAILJARROW GRADES7-9
The Civil War took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans and left countless others with disabling wounds and chronic illnesses. Bullets and artillery shells shattered soldiers' bodies, while microbes and parasites killed twice as many men as did the battles. Yet from this tragic four-year conflict came innovations that enhanced medical care in the United States. With striking detail, this book by acclaimed writer Gail Jarrow reveals battlefield rescues, surgical techniques, medicines, and patient care, and celebrates the men and women of both the North and South who volunteered to save lives.
NELSONJOHNSON GRADE9
This riveting and wide-reaching history explores the sordid past of Atlantic City forever a freewheeling town long-dedicated to the fast buck from the city's heyday as a Prohibition-era mecca of lawlessness to its rebirth as a legitimate casino resort in the modern era. A colorful cast of powerful characters, led by “Commodore” Kuehnle and “Nucky” Johnson, populates this stranger-than-fiction account of corrupt politics and the toxic power structure that grew out of guile, finesse, and extortion.
BOARDWALK EMPIRE
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME
MARKHADDON GRADES8-9
Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.
This improbable story of Christopher's quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.
THE DEMON KING
CINDAWILLIAMSCHIMA GRADES7-9
One day Han Alister catches three young wizard setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea. Han takes an amulet away from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, to ensure the boy won't use it against him. The amulet once belonged to the Demon King, who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago. With a magical piece so powerful at stake, Han knows that the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.
DISCOVERING WES MOORE
WESMOORE GRADES7-9
The story of “the other Wes Moore” is one that the author couldn’t get out of his mind, not since he learned that another boy with his name just two years his senior grew up in the same Baltimore neighborhood. He wrote that boy now a man a letter, not expecting to receive a reply. But a reply came, and a friendship grew, as letters turned into visits and the two men got to know each other Eventually, that friendship became the inspiration for Discovering Wes Moore, a moving and cautionary tale examining the factors that contribute to success and failure and the choices that make all the difference.
DON'T PUT ME IN COACH
MARKTITUS GRADES7-9
In2006,MarkTitusarrivedonOhioState's campusasaformerhighschool basketballplayerwhoaspiredtobean orthopedicsurgeon.Somehow,hewas addedtotheeliteBuckeyebasketball team,givenascholarship,andplayed alongsidesevenfutureNBAplayersonhis waytosettingtherecordformost individualcareerwinsinOhioState history.Thinkthat'simpressive?Infour years,hescoredagrandtotalofnine yes,nine points.
THE DOWNSTAIRS GIRL STACEYLEE
GRADES8-9
By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady's maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, "Dear Miss Sweetie." When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society's ills, but she's not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender. While her opponents clamor to uncover the secret identity of Miss Sweetie, a mysterious letter sets Jo off on a search for her own past and the parents who abandoned her as a baby.
EINSTEIN'S DREAMS ALANLIGHTMAN
GRADES7-9
Einstein’s Dreams is a fictional collage of stories dreamed by Albert Einstein in 1905, about time, relativity and physics. As the defiant but sensitive young genius is creating his theory of relativity, a new conception of time, he imagines many possible worlds. In one, time is circular, so that people are fated to repeat triumphs and failures over and over. In another, there is a place where time stands still, visited by lovers and parents clinging to their children. In another, time is a nightingale, sometimes trapped by a bell jar.
FALLOUT STEVENSHEINKIN GRADES7-9
As World War II comes to a close, the United States and the Soviet Union emerge as the two greatest world powers on extreme opposites of the political spectrum. After the United States showed its hand with the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, the Soviets refuse to be left behind. With communism sweeping the globe, the two nations begin a neck-and-neck competition to build even more destructive bombs and conquer the Space Race. In their battle for dominance, spy planes fly above, armed submarines swim deep below, and undercover agents meet in the dead of night.
THE FINAL FOUR
PAULVOLPONI GRADES8-9
March Madness is in full swing, and there are only four teams let in the NCAA basketball championship. The heavily favored Michigan Spartans and the underdog Troy Trojans meet in the first game in the seminfinals, and it's there that the fates of Malcolm, Roko, Crispin, and M.J. intertwine. As the last moments tick down on the game clock, you'll learn how each player went from being a kid who loves to shoot hoops to a powerful force in one of the most important games of the year. Which team will leave the Superdome victorious? In the end it will come down to who has the most skill, the most drive, and the most heart.
FRONTLINES MICHAELGRANT GRADES8-9
World War II, 1942. A court decision makes women subject to the draft and eligible for service. The unproven American army is going up against the greatest fighting force ever assembled, the armed forces of Nazi Germany. Three girls sign up to fight. Rio Richlin, Frangie Marr, and Rainy Schulterman are average girls, girls with dreams and aspirations, at the start of their lives, at the start of their loves. Each has her own reasons for volunteering: Rio fights to honor her sister; Frangie needs money for her family; Rainy wants to kill Germans. For the first time they leave behind their homes and families to go to war.
OFPERFECT
BOBROTELLA GRADES7-9
What Rotella does here in this extraordinary book, and with his clients, is to create an attitude and a mindset about all aspects of a golfer's game, from mental preparation to competition. The most wonderful aspect of it all is that it is done in a conversational fashion, in a dynamic blend of anecdote and lesson And, as some of the world's greatest golfers will attest, the results are spectacular. Golfers will improve their golf game and have more fun playing.
GOLFISNOTAGAME
HOUSEINTHE CERULEANSEA
T.J.KLUNE GRADES7-9
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.
When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.
INSIGNIFICANT EVENTSINTHELIFE OFACACTUS DUSTIBOWLING GRADES7-9
Aven Green loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she’ll have to answer the question over and over again.
Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. It’s hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears But Aven’s about to discover she can do it all . . . even without arms.
LEGENDBORN TRACYDEONN GRADES8-9
After her mother dies in an accident, sixteenyear-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.
A flying demon feeding on human energies.
A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down.
And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts and fails to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.
THELIGHTIN HIDDENPLACES
SHARONCAMERON GRADES8-9
It is 1943, and for four years, sixteen-year-old Stefania has been working for the Diamant family in their grocery store in Przemysl, Poland, singing her way into their lives and hearts. She has even made a promise to one of their sons, Izio -- a betrothal they must keep secret since she is Catholic and the Diamants are Jewish.
But everything changes when the German army invades Przemysl. The Diamants are forced into the ghetto, and Stefania is alone in an occupied city, the only one left to care for Helena, her sixyear-old sister. And then comes the knock at the door.
MONSTER WALTERDEANMYERS
GRADE8-9
Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon is on trial for murder. A Harlem drugstore owner was shot and killed in his store, and the word is that Steve served as the lookout.
Guilty or innocent, Steve becomes a pawn in the hands of "the system," cluttered with cynical authority figures and unscrupulous inmates, who will turn in anyone to shorten their own sentences. For the first time, Steve is forced to think about who he is as he faces prison, where he may spend all the tomorrows of his life.
NEW KID JERRYKRAFT
GRADES7-9
Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade.
As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself
THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY
RYANHOLIDAY GRADES7-9
The book draws its inspiration from stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy of enduring pain or adversity with perseverance and resilience. Stoics focus on the things they can control, let go of everything else, and turn every new obstacle into an opportunity to get better, stronger, tougher. As Marcus Aurelius put it nearly 2000 years ago: “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”
Ryan Holiday shows us how some of the most successful people in history from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs have applied stoicism to overcome difficult or even impossible situations. Their embrace of these principles ultimately mattered more than their natural intelligence, talents, or luck.
THE OUTSIDERS
S.E.HINTON GRADES7-9
No one ever said life was easy. But Ponyboy is pretty sure that he's got things figured out. He knows that he can count on his brothers, Darry and Sodapop. And he knows that he can count on his friends true friends who would do anything for him, like Johnny and Two-Bit. But not on much else besides trouble with the Socs, a vicious gang of rich kids whose idea of a good time is beating up on “greasers” like Ponyboy. At least he knows what to expect until the night someone takes things too far.
RACISM EXPLAINED TO MY DAUGHTER
TAHARBENJALLOUN GRADE7-9
When Tahar Ben Jelloun took his ten-year-old daughter to a street protest against antiimmigration laws in Paris, she asked question after question: "What is racism? What is an immigrant? What is discrimination?"
Out of their frank discussion comes this book, an international bestseller translated into twenty languages. Ben Jelloun has created a unique and compelling dialogue in which he explains difficult concepts from ghettos and genocide to slavery and anti-Semitism in language we can all understand, and adds an all-new chapter for this edition.
1:PRELUDES& NOCTURNES
NEILGAIMAN GRADES7-9
An occultist attempting to capture the physical embodiment of Death to bargain for eternal life traps her younger brother Dream instead. After his seventy-year imprisonment and eventual escape, Dream, also known as Morpheus, goes on a quest for his lost objects of power to reclaim his reign. From there, one of the greatest series in the history of the graphic novel genre begins...
Gaiman creates an unforgettable tale of the forces that exist beyond life and death by weaving ancient mythology, folklore and fairy tales with his own distinct narrative vision.
SANDMANVOL.
SHADOWAND BONE
LEIGHBARDUGO GRADES7-9
Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Orphaned and expendable, Alina Starkov is a soldier who knows she may not survive her first trek across the Shadow Fold a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. But when her regiment is attacked, Alina unleashes dormant magic not even she knew she possessed.
Now Alina will enter a lavish world of royalty and intrigue as she trains with the Grisha, her country’s magical military elite and falls under the spell of their notorious leader, the Darkling. He believes Alina can summon a force capable of destroying the Shadow Fold and reuniting their war-ravaged country, but only if she can master her untamed gift.
SKYWARD
BRANDONSANDERSON
GRADES7-9
Spensa's world has been under attack for decades. Now pilots are the heroes of what's left of the human race, and becoming one has always been Spensa's dream. Since she was a little girl, she has imagined soaring skyward and proving her bravery. But her fate is intertwined with her father's--a pilot himself who was killed years ago when he abruptly deserted his team, leaving Spensa's chances of attending flight school at slim to none.
No one will let Spensa forget what her father did, yet fate works in mysterious ways. Flight school might be a long shot, but she is determined to fly And an accidental discovery in a long-forgotten cavern might just provide her with a way to claim the stars.
TRAINING CAMP
JONGORDON GRADES7-9
Training Camp is an inspirational story filled with invaluable lessons and insights on bringing out the best in yourself and your team. The story follows Martin, an un-drafted rookie trying to make it in the NFL. He’s spent his entire life proving to the critics that a small guy with a big heart can succeed against all odds. After spraining his ankle in the pre-season, Martin thinks his dream is lost when he happens to meet a very special coach who shares eleven lifechanging lessons that keep his dream alive and might even make him the best of the best.
TREASURE ISLAND ROBERTLOUIS STEVENSON
GRADES7-9
For sheer storytelling delight and pure adventure, Treasure Island has never been surpassed. From young Jim Hawkins’s first encounter with the sinister beggar Pew to the climactic battle with the most memorable villain in literature, Long John Silver, this novel has fired readers’ imaginations for generations. A rousing tale of treachery, greed, and daring, Treasure Island continues to enthrall readers of all ages.
UNBROKEN LAURENHILLENBRAND GRADES7-9
On a May afternoon in 1943, an American military plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary sagas of the Second World War
THEUNLIKELY THRUHIKER
DERICKLUGO GRADES7-9
Derick Lugo had never been hiking. He certainly couldn't imagine going more than a day without manicuring his goatee. But with a job cut short and no immediate plans, this fixture of the New York comedy scene began to think about what he might do with months of free time. He had heard of the Appalachian Trail, but he had never seriously considered attempting to hike all 2,184 2 miles of it Suddenly he found himself asking, Could he do it?
UNWIND NEALSHUSTERMAN GRADES8-9
After America’s Second Civil War, the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life armies came to an agreement. According to their Bill of Life, human life may not be terminated from the moment of conception until the age of thirteen. But between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, the child may be gotten rid of by their parent through a process called “unwinding.”
By repurposing a teen’s organs and other body parts in living recipients, the unwound child’s life doesn’t technically end. According to society’s leaders, unwinding leads to a healthier and safer community, as troublesome and unwanted teens are used for the greater good.
WARHORSE MICHAELMORPUGO GRADES7-9
It is 1914, and Joey, a farm horse, is sold to the army and thrust into the midst of World War I on the Western Front. When Joey is dragged away, his heart aches for Albert, the farmer's son he is forced to leave behind.In the army the beautiful red-bay horse is trained to charge the enemy, drag heavy artillery, and carry wounded soldiers not much older than Albert off the battlefields. Amongst the clamoring of guns, and while plodding through the cold mud, Joey wonders if the war will ever end. And if it does, will he ever find Albert again?
WISDOMOF THEBULLFROG JAMESMCRAVEN GRADES7-9
The title “Bullfrog” is given to the Navy SEAL who has served the longest on active duty. Admiral McRaven was honored to receive this honor in 2011 when he took charge of the United States Special Operations Command. When McRaven retired in 2014, he had 37 years as a Navy SEAL under his belt, leading men and women at every level of the special operations community The Wisdom of the Bullfrog draws on these and countless other experiences from Admiral McRaven’s incredible life, including crisis situations, management debates, organizational transitions, and ethical dilemmas, to provide readers with the most important leadership lessons he has learned over the course of his forty years of service.
