Mark Twain Intermediate School for the Gifted & Talented
Karen Ditolla, Principal
Dear Parent / Guardian.
Your child has a 25 book reading goal to complete this year. While books read for school courses count toward this goal, the majority of the books will come from your child’s independent reading.
As it is important for your child to be exposed to a variety of literature, the following lists are sorted by genre in order to facilitate a broader choice. Please encourage your child to explore the different genres.
One list is for Academic classes and the other is for the Accelerated class. Students in the Academic classes may choose to read books from either list and respond accordingly using the Be A Critic Blog on my faculty page. Students in the Accelerated class are to select books from the Accelerated Reading List and respond accordingly using the Be A Critic Blog.
Please go over the lists with your child. Be aware that some
books are more advanced than others and you may want to
discuss and guide your child’s choices accordingly.
In addition to the required reading lists, I have also included
information about participating in the Scholastic Book Club.
Please contact me via email with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Ms. Robles
Please return by Friday, September 11, 2015
_____ I am aware that my child has a 25 book reading goal to complete by
the end of the year.
_____ I am aware that my child has to complete and turn in an assigned number of
Be a Critic Blogs before the end of each semester.
_____ I have reviewed both reading lists with my child.
Parent Signature ______
Please print student’s name______
HR/ID ______
Reasons to Read:
- Mental Stimulation
Keeping your brain active prevents it from losing power. Just like any other muscle in the body, the brain requires exercise to keep it strong and healthy.
- Knowledge
Everything you read fills your head with new pieces of information. The more knowledge you have, the better equipped you are to tackle a challenge.
- Vocabulary Expansion
The more you read, the more words you gain exposure to, and the more you will use them in your writing and everyday vocabulary.
- Better Writing Skills
Exposure to published, well-written work has a noted effect on one’s own writing, as observing the cadence, fluidity, and writing styles of other authors will invariably influence your own work.
- Memory Improvement
Reading a novel requires you to keep track of characters, plot, setting, and more. As your brain does this, new synapses are forged and existing ones are strengthened.
- Stronger Analytical Thinking Skills
Critical and analytical thinking skills are put to work by taking note of all the details provided and sorting them.
- Improved Focus and Concentration
Reading allows the brain to focus on fine details which will then extend to other tasks. Reading 15-20 minutes before school or tackling work will help your focus throughout the day.
- Improved Empathy
Literary fiction improves a reader’s capacity to understand what others are thinking and feeling. This in turn improves interpersonal skills and communication.
- Stress Reduction
The stresses of daily life can slip away when engaged in reading.
Modified from 10 Benefits of Reading: Why You Should Read Every Day by Lana Winter-Hebert
Academic Reading List (ID 1 & ID 4 English)
Choose books you have not already read!!!
Adventure
The Call of the Wild – Jack London CL
The Cay – Theodore Taylor CL
The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp – Rick Yancey
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson CL
Classics
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain CL
Jacob Have I Loved – Katherine Paterson CL
The Pearl - John Steinbeck ^ CL
Sounder – William H. Armstrong
When the Legends Die – Hal Borland CL
Where the Lilies Bloom – Vera Cleaver
Where the Red Fern Grows – Wilson Rawls CL
The Yearling – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Fantasy
The Blue Sword – Robin McKinley CL
Boneshaker – Cherie Priest CL #
The Dark is Rising – Susan Cooper ^ CL #
The Forest of Hands and Teeth – Carrie Ryan CL #
The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman CL
The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien ^ CL
Leviathan – Scott Westerfeld CL #
continued
Historical Fiction
Across Five Aprils – Irene Hunt CL
Code Talker – Joseph Bruchac CL
A Day No Pigs Would Die – Robert Newton Peck CL
Fever 1793 – Laurie Halse Anderson CL
Girl in a Cage – Jane Yolen CL
A Long Way from Chicago and A Year Down Yonder – Richard Peck * CL
Milkweed: A Novel – Jerry Spinelli CL
My Brother Sam is Dead – James Lincoln Collier, et al CL
Night John and Sarny – Gary Paulsen * CL
Out of the Dust – Karen Hess CL
The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano – Sonia Manzano CL
Rifles for Watie – Harold Keith
Memoirs
Bad Boy: A Memoir – Walter Dean Myers CL
Death Be Not Proud – John Gunther
Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter – Adeline Yen Mah CL
The Glass Castle: A Memoir – Jeannette Walls
This Boy’s Life: A Memoir – Tobias Wolff CL
Travels With Charley – John Steinbeck
Mysteries
The Arm of the Starfish – Madeleine L’Engle ^ #
Hound of Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Death on the Nile – Agatha Christie
The Ruby in the Smoke – Philip Pullman CL #
Realistic Fiction
Bang! – Sharon Draper
The Circuit – Francisco Jimenez
Cuba 15 – Nancy Osa
Homecoming – Cynthia Voigt CL ^ #
Let the Circle Be Unbroken – Mildred D. Taylor CL
A Mango-Shaped Space – Wendy Mass CL
Miracle’s Boys – Jacqueline Woodson CL
Monster – Walter Dean Myers CL
The Pigman – Paul Zindel CL
Rumble Fish – S.E. Hinton ^
Twerp – Mark Goldblatt CL
Science Fiction
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams (series) CL #
Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes CL
Journey to the Center of the Earth – Jules Verne
Matched – Ally Condie CL #
War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells CL
A Wrinkle in Time – Madeline L’Engle ^ CL #
Accelerated Reading List (ID 2 & ID 3 English)
Choose books you have not already read!!!
Adventure
The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway ^ CL
Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
Terrier – Tamora Pierce ^
20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne CL
Classics
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain CL
Animal Farm – George Orwell CL
Bless Me, Ultima – Rudolfo Anaya CL
A Day No Pigs Would Die – Richard Peck CL
Death of a Salesman – Arthur Miller
Great Expectations – Charles Dickens ^ CL
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte CL
Lord of the Flies – William Golding CL
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck ^ CL
The Once and Future King – T.H. White
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen ^ CL
Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith CL
Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte CL
Fantasy
The Golden Compass – Phillip Pullman CL #
Howl’s Moving Castle – Diana Wynne Jones ^ CL #
Inkheart – Cornelia Funke # CL
The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint Exupery CL
The Princess Bride: S. Morgentern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure – William Goldman CL
Sabriel – Garth Nix CL #
Watership Down – Richard Adams CL
The Wee Free Men – Terry Prachett ^ CL #
continued
Historical Fiction
All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque CL
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman – Earnest J. Gaines CL
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak CL
Catch 22 – Joseph Heller CL
Code Name Verity – Elizabeth Wein CL
The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck ^
The Red Badge of Courage – Stephen Crane
The Jungle – Upton Sinclair CL
Fallen Angels – Walter Dean Myers CL
Horror
Dracula – Bram Stoker CL
Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley CL
Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury ^ CL
Memoirs
Angela’s Ashes – Frank McCourt ^
Brown Girl Dreaming – Jacqueline Woodson CL
The Color of Water – James McBride
The Diary of Anne Frank – Anne Frank CL
The Effects of Knut Hamsun on a Fresno Boy – Gary Soto CL
Farewell to Manzanar - Jeannette Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston CL
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius – Dave Eggers
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood – Marjane Satrapi CL
When I Was Puerto Rican – Esmerelda Santiago CL
Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand CL
Mysteries
The Body of Christopher Creed – Carol Plum-Ucci
Killing Mr. Griffin – Lois Duncan CL
Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie ^ CL
Realistic Fiction
The Age of Miracles - Karen Thompson Walker CL
Does My Head Look Big in This – Randa Abdel-fattah CL
The Fault In Our Stars – John Green CL
Handbook for Boys – Walter Dean Myers CL
The House on Mango Street – Sandra Cisneros CL
A Lesson Before Dying – Earnest J. Gaines CL
Ordinary People – Judith Guest CL
A Separate Peace – John Knowles CL
Shine – Lauren Myracle CL
Speak – Laurie Halse Anderson CL
Wintergirls – Laurie Halse Anderson CL
continued
Science Fiction
Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card ^ # CL
Dune – Frank Herbert #
Foundation - Isaac Asimov CL
Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury CL
The Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury
The Invisible Man – H.G. Wells
1984 – George Orwell CL