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ADVANCED LANGUAGE ARTS 7-SUMMER READING REQUIREMENTS!

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First, students are to choose (1) of the realistic fiction books, from the list " below, to read in its entirety."

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While reading the book, students are to be keeping a Double-Entry ! Journal reflecting on what they’re reading along the way. They are to be " noting things read and responding to them in this format. (see attached " forms/samples of this type of journaling). **Journals must have a ! ! minimum of (25-30) reflections/entries, TOTAL, making sure to ! ! include information from their book’s beginning, middle, and end with well-thought out -beyond one-or-two word responses.!

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Finally, all the books in the list deal with a realistic issue or concern that " exists today. Students need to: A) research, B) print out, and " " " C)summarize, at least TWO non-fiction current events OR informational " articles on the topic(s) dealt with in their chosen book. These will then be " used as a “springboard” for our informational report writing during the " school year. Please make sure to provide reference information, from ! a valid source, to include copyright, entire web URL, publisher or ! author.!

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ADVANCED LANGUAGE ARTS 7 - SUMMER READING BOOK CHOICES !

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Life Unaware by Cole Gibsen" Regan Flay is on the cusp of achieving her control-freak mother's "plan" for high school success?cheerleading, student council, the Honor Society—until her life gets turned horribly, horribly upside down. Every bitchy text. Every bitchy email. Every lie, manipulation, and insult she's ever said have been printed out and taped to all the lockers in school. Now Regan has gone from popular princess to total pariah. The only person who even speaks to her is her former best friend's hot but socially miscreant brother, Nolan Letner. Nolan thinks he knows what Regan's going through, but what nobody knows is that Regan isn't really Little Miss Perfect. In fact, she's barely holding it together under her mom's pressure. But the consequences of Regan's fall from grace are only just beginning. Once the chain reaction starts, no one will remain untouched... " Especially Regan Flay."

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So B. It by Sarah Weeks" Heidi knows her mom loves her. But because of her mother's mental disability, she is unable to care for herself or her daughter. Their loving neighbor, Bernadette, helps out and is a vital part of their family. Bernadette finally manages to teach Mama how to

2 of 4 open cans, but tying shoes is beyond her capabilities. Mama can't read or tell time. She knows 23 words. One of Mama's words, "soof," is a mystery --- no one knows what it means, and Mama is unable to define it."

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One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt" Twelve-year-old Carley Connors can take a lot. Growing up in Las Vegas with her funloving mother, she's learned to be tough. But she never expected a betrayal that would land her in a foster care. When she's placed with the Murphys, a lively family with three boys, she's blindsided. Do happy families really exist? Carley knows she could never belong in their world, so she keeps her distance."

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The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen " Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She’s not comforted by the news that she’ll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run? As she struggles to cope, Jessica feels that she’s both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don’t know what to say act like she’s not there. Jessica’s embarrassed to realize that she’s done the same to a girl with CP named Rosa. A girl who is going to tutor her through all the math she’s missed. A girl who sees right into the heart of her. With the support of family, friends, a coach, and her track teammates, Jessica may actually be able to run again. But that’s not enough for her now. She doesn’t just want to cross finish lines herself—she wants to take Rosa with her."

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Bluefish by Pat Schmatz " Travis is missing his old home in the country, and he's missing his old hound, Rosco. Now there's just the cramped place he shares with his well-meaning but alcoholic grandpa, a new school, and the dreaded routine of passing when he's called on to read out loud. But that's before Travis meets Mr. McQueen, who doesn't take "pass" for an answer--a rare teacher whose savvy persistence has Travis slowly unlocking a book on the natural world. And it's before Travis is noticed by Velveeta, a girl whose wry banter and colorful scarves belie some hard secrets of her own. With sympathy, humor, and disarming honesty, Pat Schmatz brings to life a cast of utterly believable characters-and captures the moments of trust and connection that make all the difference."

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Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone" Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off. Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn't help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she'd be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam's weekly visits to her psychiatrist."

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3 of 4 Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper" Melody is not like most people. She cannot walk or talk, but she has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her and smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom—the very same classmates who dismiss her as mentally challenged, because she cannot tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by cerebral palsy. And she’s determined to let everyone know it…somehow."

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Sounds of Letting Go by Stasia Ward Kehoe" For sixteen years, Daisy has been good. A good daughter, helping out with her autistic younger brother uncomplainingly. A good friend, even when her best friend makes her feel like a third wheel. When her parents announce they’re sending her brother to an institution—without consulting her—Daisy’s furious, and decides the best way to be a good sister is to start being bad. She quits jazz band and orchestra, slacks in school, and falls for bad-boy Dave. But one person won’t let Daisy forget who she used to be: Irish exchange student and brilliant musician Cal. Does she want the bad boy or the prodigy? Should she side with her parents or protect her brother? How do you know when to hold on and when—and how—to let go? "

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Mockingbird byKathryn Erskine " Caitlin has Asperger's. The world according to her is black and white; anything in between is confusing. Before, when things got confusing, Caitlin went to her older brother, Devon, for help. But Devon was killed in a school shooting, and Caitlin's dad is so distraught that he is just not helpful. Caitlin wants everything to go back to the way things were, but she doesn't know how to do that. Then she comes across the word closure--and she realizes this is what she needs. And in her search for it, Caitlin discovers that the world may not be so black and white after all."

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Unfriended by Rachel Vail" In middle school, nothing is more important than friendship. When Truly is invited to sit at the Popular Table with the group she has dreamed of joining, she can hardly believe her luck. Everyone seems so nice, so kind to one another. But all is not as it seems with her new friends, and soon she’s caught in a maelstrom of lies, misunderstandings, accusations and counter-accusations, all happening very publicly in the relentless, hyperconnected social media world from which there is no escape. Six eighth-graders, four girls and two boys, struggle to understand and process their fractured glimples into one another’s lives as they find new ways to disconnect, but also to connect, in Rachel Vail’s richest and most searching book."

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Blind by Rachel DeWoskin" When Emma Sasha Silver loses her eyesight in a nightmare accident, she must relearn everything from walking across the street to recognizing her own sisters to imagining colors. One of seven children, Emma used to be the invisible kid, but now it seems everyone is watching her. And just as she's about to start high school and try to recover her friendships and former life, one of her classmates is found dead in an apparent

4 of 4 suicide. Fifteen and blind, Emma has to untangle what happened and why - in order to see for herself what makes life worth living."

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Colin Fisher by Ashley Edward Miller" Colin Fischer cannot stand to be touched. He does not like the color blue. He needs index cards to recognize facial expressions. But when a gun is found in the school cafeteria, interrupting a female classmate's birthday celebration, Colin is the only for the investigation. It's up to him to prove that Wayne Connelly, the school bully and Colin's frequent tormenter, didn't bring the gun to school. After all, Wayne didn't have frosting on his hands, and there was white chocolate frosting found on the grip of the smoking gun...Colin Fischer is a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, and his story--as told by the screenwriters of X-Men: First Class and Thor--is perfect for readers who have graduated from Encyclopedia Brown and who are ready to consider the greatest mystery of all: what other people are thinking and feeling."

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Total Constant Order by Crissa-Jean Chappell "

Fin can't stop counting. She's always heard a voice inside her head, ordering her to listen, but ever since she's moved to the Sunshine State and her parents split up, numbers thump like a metronome, rhythmically keeping things in control. When a new doctor introduces terms such as "clinical depression" and "OCD" and offers a prescription for medication, the chemical effects make Fin feel even more messed up. Until she meets Thayer, a doodling, rule-bending skater who buzzes to his own beat—and who might just understand Fin's hunger to belong, and her struggle for total constant order."

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(Summaries used from www.amazon.com 2016)