During the course of this school year, sixth graders will be required to complete an outside reading requirement each quarter. Each student will have to read at least three books outside of class per quarter, for a total of twelve (12) books read between August 25, 2008 and May 15, 2009. Books chosen must be fiction and must be at least 150 pages in length. At least one book per quarter (or a total of four for the year) should be from the list below (Battle of the Books list):

Al Capone Does My Shirts - Gennifer Choldenko *

Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer *

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - John Boyne *

Children of the River - Linda Crew *

Cuba 15 -Nancy Osa *

Dovey Coe - Frances O’Roark Dowell *

Elijah of Buxton - Christopher Paul Curtis

Fever 1793 - Laurie Halse Anderson *

Gentle’s Holler - Kerry Madden *

The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn - Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler *

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! - Laura Amy Schlitz

Good Night, Mr. Tom - Michelle Magorian *

The House of the Scorpion - Nancy Farmer *

Johnny Tremain - Esther Forbes *

Journey to the River Sea - Eva Ibbotson *

Kira-Kira - Cynthia Kadohata *

LeRoy and the Old Man - W. E. Butterworth *

Letters from Rifka - Karen Hesse * 

The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan *

My Life in Dog Years - Gary Paulsen *

The Other Side of Truth - Beverley Naidoo *

Romiette and Julio - Sharon M. Draper *

A Single Shard - Linda Sue Park *

Something Upstairs – Avi *

Tangerine - Edward Bloor *

Treasure Island (unabridged) - Robert Louis Stevenson

The Wright 3 - Blue Balliett *

* in Mrs. Dekle’s classroom library

In addition to reading the books, students must also:

1)       Create a bibliography of the books he or she has read each quarter.  This must be typed in correct bibliographic form (don’t forget: alphabetical order by author’s last name!). The bibliography due dates are indicated on the calendar.

2)       Complete a “book report” of some type for each book. A packet of the twelve “formats” will be distributed at least one week before the first book report is due. Students may use each “format” once. 

The due dates are indicated on the calendar in the format “Book 1-1” due. The first number indicates the quarter and the second number indicates the book, so that book 1-1 would be the first book of quarter 1, book 1-2 would be the second book of quarter 1, and so on. No matter which option you choose, it should be done creatively to the best of your ability and should include the following, in addition to whatever additional information is necessitated by that option.

·         Title

·         Author

·         Plot summary – Identify setting, main characters, and significant events in your own words.

·         Brief review – Indicate whether or not you enjoyed the book and why or why not.

The reading requirement will comprise 20% of the literature grade. Each book completed correctly can yield a possible 33 points--13 for a correctly done bibliographical entry (1) and 20 for the “book report” (2)--for a total of 99 points. An additional point will be earned for the bibliography being in correct order (again, don’t forget: alphabetical order by author’s last name!).

Bibliographic form for a book with one author (MLA):

Author’s last name, author’s first name. Title. Place of publication: publisher, publication date.

Example:

       Finkel, Clytemnestra. Revolt of the Spinach-Eaters. 

                  Batavia:  Greenleaf Press, 2007.