Summer Reading for NCCS Upper School Students 2022: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror and Supernatural

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, and brujeria is a terrible crime. When her older sister, Juana, is kidnapped by El Sombrerón, a powerful dark criatura, Cece is determined to bring Juana back. To get into Devil's Alley, though, she'll have to become a bruja herself--while hiding her quest from her parents, her town, and the other brujas. Thankfully, the legendary criatura Coyote has a soft spot for humans and agrees to help her on her journey. With him at her side, Cece sets out to reunite her family--and maybe even change what it means to be a bruja along the way. Grade 4-8

Eleven-year-old Thom Ngho is keeping a secret: she's strong. Like suuuuper strong. Freakishly strong. And it's making it impossible for her to fit in at her new middle school.
In a desperate bid to get rid of her super strength, Thom makes a deal with the Monkey King, a powerful deity and legendary trickster she accidentally released from his 500-year prison sentence. Thom agrees to help the Monkey King get back his magical staff if he'll take away her strength.
Soon Thom is swept up in an ancient and fantastical world in where demons, dragons, and Jade princesses actually exist. But she quickly discovers that magic can't cure everything, and dealing with the trickster god might be more trouble than it's worth. Grade 4-7

This is the story of a creature who is both strange and unique. When he hatches down in the vast underground lair where monsters dwell, he looks just like a human boy – much to the disgust of everyone watching. Even the grumpy gargoyles who adopt him and nickname him 'Imp' only want him to steal chocolate for them from the nearby shops. He's a child with feet in both worlds, and he doesn't know where he fits.

But little does Imp realise that Thunderguts, king of the ogres, has a great and dangerous destiny in mind for him, and he'll stop at nothing to see it come to pass …Grade 5-7

When Clo's father goes missing, she takes the mysterious items he left behind and journeys across the sea to find him, but is stranded on a strange island and must learn to spin fish into yarn to unravel the secret of all that has happened. Grade 5-8

Six disgruntled teens are forced to spend their winter break at fat camp during Flagstaff, Arizona's worst blizzard in a century, only to find that Camp Featherlite is even worse than expected because it is crawling with genetically-modified monsters. Grade 8-11

When a deadly Fly Flu sweeps the globe, it leaves a shell of the world that once was. Among the survivors are eighteen-year-old Nico and her dog, on a voyage devised by Nico's father to find a mythical portal; a young artist named Kit, raised in an old abandoned cinema; and the enigmatic Deliverer, who lives Life after Life in an attempt to put the world back together. As swarms of infected Flies roam the earth, these few survivors navigate the woods of post-apocalyptic New England, meeting others along the way, each on their own quest to find life and love in a world gone dark. Grade 7-12 (Lexile: 850)

Inheriting First Uncle's home after he dies tragically and unexpectedly, eleven-year-old Meixing and her family immigrate to the New Land, where it will take all of Meixing's resilience and bravery to finally find her place of belonging in this new world. Grade 4-7 (Lexile: 870)

On his fifteenth birthday, Malcolm Gravenhurst is preparing to take on the mantle of Guardian, like many Gravenhursts before him. The Guardians are tasked with defending the city of Porthaven, and his family is the only one to possess the superpowers necessary to battle the frequent alien invasions of robotic klek. But power has brought the Gravenhursts more than just responsibility―it has also brought them fame and wealth. When Malcolm meets some teens living and working in secret, he learns that underneath their heroic facade, the Gravenhurst family is hiding some very dark secrets. With the threat of annihilation on the horizon, soon Malcolm must choose between family loyalty and doing the right thing, Grade 5-8 (Lexile; 680)

Six disgruntled teens are forced to spend their winter break at fat camp during Flagstaff, Arizona's worst blizzard in a century, only to find that Camp Featherlite is even worse than expected because it is crawling with genetically-modified monsters. Grade 8-11

When Glennon McCue moves into a lighthouse on a mysterious island not found on any maps, he must figure out why those who visit are never heard from again before he and his family fall victim to the island's curse. Grade 4-7

Bran's taking the recycling down to the basement when the lights go out and the elevator stalls.

Bran's phone's dead, he can hear screaming, but he can't get out. Eventually, he manages to pry the doors open to find that something's very wrong. His own mother can't remember his name, there is this black slime dripping out of her ear and then she kills their cat. Bran runs. Outside, Vancouver is teeming with people acting strangely, and they all have the same black slime in their ears. What is going on and how can Bran stop it? Grade 7-10 (Lexile: 490)

Vera Martinez wants nothing more than to escape Roaring Creek and her parents' reputation as demonologists. Not to mention she's the family outcast, lacking her parents' innate abilities, and is terrified of the occult things lurking in their basement. Maxwell Oliver is supposed to be enjoying the summer before his senior year, spending his days thinking about parties and friends. Instead he's taking care of his little sister while his mom slowly becomes someone he doesn't recognize. Soon he suspects that what he thought was grief over his father's death might be something more...sinister.
When Maxwell and Vera join forces, they come face to face with deeply disturbing true stories of cults, death worship, and the very nature that drives people to evil. Grade 7-10 (Lexile: 690)

Maeve Chambers doesn't have much going for her. Not only does she feel like the sole idiot in a family of geniuses, she managed to drive away her best friend Lily a year ago. But when she finds a pack of dusty old tarot cards at school, and begins to give scarily accurate readings to the girls in her class, she realizes she's found her gift at last. Things are looking up - until she discovers a strange card in the deck that definitely shouldn't be there. And two days after she convinces her ex-best friend to have a reading, Lily disappears. Can Maeve, her new friend Fiona and Lily's brother Roe find her? And will Maeve's new gift be enough to bring Lily back, before she's gone for good? Grade 8-10

Thirteen-year-old Jadie lives in 4-space and works as an Agent for the four-dimensional beings who adopted her after being abandoned as an infant, but when Jadie learns her origin story is a lie she works to uncover the truth. Grade 4-8

Six disgruntled teens are forced to spend their winter break at fat camp during Flagstaff, Arizona's worst blizzard in a century, only to find that Camp Featherlite is even worse than expected because it is crawling with genetically-modified monsters. Grade 8-11

Bran's taking the recycling down to the basement when the lights go out and the elevator stalls.

Bran's phone's dead, he can hear screaming, but he can't get out. Eventually, he manages to pry the doors open to find that something's very wrong. His own mother can't remember his name, there is this black slime dripping out of her ear and then she kills their cat. Bran runs. Outside, Vancouver is teeming with people acting strangely, and they all have the same black slime in their ears. What is going on and how can Bran stop it? Grade 7-10 (Lexile: 490)

Bones Malone feels like he can’t do anything right in his new small town: He almost punched the son of the woman who babysits him and his brothers, he’s one of the only Black kids in Langille, and now his baseball team (the one place where he really feels like he shines) just lost their first game. To make matters worse, things in town are getting weird. His mom isn’t acting like herself at all—she’s totally spaced out, almost like a zombie. And then he and his brothers have the same dream—one where they’re running from some of their deepest fears, like a bear and an eerie cracked mirror that Bones would rather soon forget. Kyle Specks feels like he can never say the right thing at the right time. He thinks he might be neurodivergent, but he hasn’t gotten an official diagnosis yet. His parents worry that the world might be too hard for him and try to protect him, but Kyle knows they can’t do that forever. Even though he’s scared, he can’t just stand by and do nothing while things in this town get stranger and stranger, especially not after he and Bones find a mysterious scientist’s journal that might hold answers about what’s going on. But when faced with seemingly impossible situations, a shady corporation, and their own worst nightmares, will Kyle and Bones be brave enough to admit they're scared? Or will the fear totally consume and control them? Grade 5-7

In the real world, Bugz is a shy and self-conscious Indigenous teen who faces the stresses of teenage angst and life on the Rez. But in the virtual world, her alter ego is not just confident but dominant in a massively multiplayer video game universe.

Feng is a teen boy who has been sent from China to live with his aunt, a doctor on the Rez, after his online activity suggests he may be developing extremist sympathies. Meeting each other in real life, as well as in the virtual world, Bugz and Feng immediately relate to each other as outsiders and as avid gamers. And as their connection is strengthened through their virtual adventures, they find that they have much in common in the real world, too: both must decide what to do in the face of temptations and pitfalls, and both must grapple with the impacts of family challenges and community trauma. But betrayal threatens everything Bugz has built in the virtual world, as well as her relationships in the real world, and it will take all her newfound strength to restore her friendship with Feng and reconcile the parallel aspects of her life: the traditional and the mainstream, the east and the west, the real and the virtual. Grade 7-10

Playing in the Blazewrath World Cup with Team Puerto Rico and the Sol de Noche dragons had been Lana Torres's dream come true...To rid the world of the dragon supremacists, Lana and her friends had to cancel the games forever...Someone is kidnapping dragons...To keep their dragons safe, Team Puerto Rico has to take down an underground cabal of evil magic users who are fighting stolen dragons to the death. Grade 7-10

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Graci Kim's thrilling debut about an adopted Korean-American girl who discovers her heritage and her magic on a perilous journey to save her witch clan family. Riley Oh can't wait to see her sister get initiated into the Gom clan, a powerful lineage of Korean healing witches their family has belonged to for generations. Her sister, Hattie, will earn her Gi bracelet and finally be able to cast spells without adult supervision. Although Riley is desperate to follow in her sister's footsteps when she herself turns thirteen, she's a saram--a person without magic. Riley was adopted, and despite having memorized every healing spell she's ever heard, she often feels like the odd one out in her family and the gifted community.
Then Hattie gets an idea: what if the two of them could cast a spell that would allow Riley to share Hattie's magic? Their sleuthing reveals a promising incantation in the family's old spell book, and the sisters decide to perform it at Hattie's initiation ceremony. If it works, no one will ever treat Riley as an outsider again. It's a perfect plan!
Until it isn't. When the sisters attempt to violate the laws of the Godrealm, Hattie's life ends up hanging in the balance, and to save her Riley has to fulfill an impossible task: find the last fallen star. But what even is the star, and how can she find it?
As Riley embarks on her search, she finds herself meeting fantastic creatures and collaborating with her worst enemies. And when she uncovers secrets that challenge everything she has been taught to believe, Riley must decide what it means to be a witch, what it means to be family, and what it really means to belong. Grade 5-8

Eleven-year-old Ella Durand is the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute, a magic school in the clouds where Marvellers from around the world practice their cultural arts. Despite her excitement, Ella discovers that being the first isn't easy--some Marvellers mistrust her magic. Eventually, she finds friends in elixirs teacher, Masterji Thakur, and fellow misfits Brigit and Jason. When a dangerous criminal escapes prison, supposedly with a Conjuror's aid, Ella becomes the target of suspicion. Worse, Masterji Thakur mysteriously disappears while away on a research trip. With the help of her friends and her own growing powers, Ella must find a way to clear her family's name and track down her mentor before it's too late. Grade 5-7

To free himself from an ancient curse, thirteen-year-old Shinji Takahashi must team up with a secret organization of explorers, find a magical font hidden in the jungles of Mexico, and replace a stolen idol. Grade 5-8

The arrival of Superintendent Tiltersmith threatens to upset the balance of nature unless four intrepid classmates can free the Lady of Spring and bring an end to winter in Brooklyn. Grade 5-8

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, and brujeria is a terrible crime. When her older sister, Juana, is kidnapped by El Sombrerón, a powerful dark criatura, Cece is determined to bring Juana back. To get into Devil's Alley, though, she'll have to become a bruja herself--while hiding her quest from her parents, her town, and the other brujas. Thankfully, the legendary criatura Coyote has a soft spot for humans and agrees to help her on her journey. With him at her side, Cece sets out to reunite her family--and maybe even change what it means to be a bruja along the way. Grade 4-8

A breathtaking work of Indigenous futurism. Darcie Little Badger draws on traditional Lipan Apache storytelling structure to weave an unforgettable tale of monsters, magic, and family. It is not to be missed.

Nina is a Lipan girl in our world. She's always felt there was something more out there. She still believes in the old stories. Oli is a cottonmouth kid, from the land of spirits and monsters. Like all cottonmouths, he's been cast from home. He's found a new one on the banks of the bottomless lake. Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli's best friend, will drive their worlds together in ways they haven't been in centuries. And there are some who will kill to keep them apart. Grade 7-12

Marya Lupu's parents has always believed that her older brother Luka is destined to be a sorcerer and make the family's fortune, so when the day he is tested turns into a disaster, and the Guild declares that he has no magical talent, they find it easier to blame Marya for upsetting the test than admit the truth, and she is sent to the Dragomir Academy, a school for wayward girls--but a school where she finds friendship and ultimately discovers her own talents. Grade 5-8

From one of Mexico's foremost authors comes a wondrous adventure story of a boy who goes to live with his kooky, book-obsessed uncle in a library where books have a supernatural power all their own. Grade 6-8 (Lexile: 750)

Much to their initial dismay, a twelve-year-old boy and girl discover they are destined to become knights of King Arthur's legendary Round Table, but first they must find and reforge Excalibur and break a curse that has weakened the magic of the Twenty-Five and a Half Realms. Grade

Maeve Chambers doesn't have much going for her. Not only does she feel like the sole idiot in a family of geniuses, she managed to drive away her best friend Lily a year ago. But when she finds a pack of dusty old tarot cards at school, and begins to give scarily accurate readings to the girls in her class, she realizes she's found her gift at last. Things are looking up - until she discovers a strange card in the deck that definitely shouldn't be there. And two days after she convinces her ex-best friend to have a reading, Lily disappears. Can Maeve, her new friend Fiona and Lily's brother Roe find her? And will Maeve's new gift be enough to bring Lily back, before she's gone for good? Grade 8-10

Pinki hails from a long line of rakkosh resisters, demons who have spent years building interspecies relationships, working together to achieve their goal of overthrowing the snakey oppressors and taking back their rights. But she has more important things to worry about, like maintaining her status as fiercest rakkosh in her class and looking after her little cousins. There is also the teeny tiny detail of not yet being able to control her fire breathing and accidentally burning up school property. Then Sesha, the charming son of the Serpentine Governor, calls on Pinki for help in defeating the resistance, promising to give her what she most desires in return--the ability to control her fire. First she'll have to protect the Moon Maiden, pretend to be a human (ick), and survive a family reunion. But it's all worth it for the control of her powers--right? Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 790)

Twelve-year-old Octavia, who grew up believing her town was the only one left after a magical war, meets a girl from outside her town and tries to uncover the truth about her world. Grade 5-8

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Graci Kim's thrilling debut about an adopted Korean-American girl who discovers her heritage and her magic on a perilous journey to save her witch clan family. Riley Oh can't wait to see her sister get initiated into the Gom clan, a powerful lineage of Korean healing witches their family has belonged to for generations. Her sister, Hattie, will earn her Gi bracelet and finally be able to cast spells without adult supervision. Although Riley is desperate to follow in her sister's footsteps when she herself turns thirteen, she's a saram--a person without magic. Riley was adopted, and despite having memorized every healing spell she's ever heard, she often feels like the odd one out in her family and the gifted community.
Then Hattie gets an idea: what if the two of them could cast a spell that would allow Riley to share Hattie's magic? Their sleuthing reveals a promising incantation in the family's old spell book, and the sisters decide to perform it at Hattie's initiation ceremony. If it works, no one will ever treat Riley as an outsider again. It's a perfect plan!
Until it isn't. When the sisters attempt to violate the laws of the Godrealm, Hattie's life ends up hanging in the balance, and to save her Riley has to fulfill an impossible task: find the last fallen star. But what even is the star, and how can she find it?
As Riley embarks on her search, she finds herself meeting fantastic creatures and collaborating with her worst enemies. And when she uncovers secrets that challenge everything she has been taught to believe, Riley must decide what it means to be a witch, what it means to be family, and what it really means to belong. Grade 5-8

Eleven-year-old Ella Durand is the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute, a magic school in the clouds where Marvellers from around the world practice their cultural arts. Despite her excitement, Ella discovers that being the first isn't easy--some Marvellers mistrust her magic. Eventually, she finds friends in elixirs teacher, Masterji Thakur, and fellow misfits Brigit and Jason. When a dangerous criminal escapes prison, supposedly with a Conjuror's aid, Ella becomes the target of suspicion. Worse, Masterji Thakur mysteriously disappears while away on a research trip. With the help of her friends and her own growing powers, Ella must find a way to clear her family's name and track down her mentor before it's too late. Grade 5-7

When his mother accidentally kills a Quidhunk in the woods, Osmo Unknown must embark on a quest to find the Eightpenny Woods--the mysterious kingdom where all wild forest creatures go when they die--and make amends. Grade 5-8

To free himself from an ancient curse, thirteen-year-old Shinji Takahashi must team up with a secret organization of explorers, find a magical font hidden in the jungles of Mexico, and replace a stolen idol. Grade 5-8

Pip lives by his wits in the city of Clarel. When he picks the wrong pocket, he finds himself in possession of a strange dried heart in a silver casket--and those who lost it will stop at nothing to get it back. With assassins on his trail and the ominous heart beginning to whisper to him, Pip and his childlike older sister El are drawn deeper into the forbidden world of magic. Now they must seek the help of the secret witches of Clarel and Princess Georgette to wage revolution against a chilling king, a power-hungry church cardinal, and an ancient evil they don't truly understand. Grade 5-8

The arrival of Superintendent Tiltersmith threatens to upset the balance of nature unless four intrepid classmates can free the Lady of Spring and bring an end to winter in Brooklyn. Grade 5-8

Every year, in the magical town of Ravenskill, Witchlings who participate in the Black Moon Ceremony are placed into covens and come into their powers as full-fledged witches. And twelve-year-old Seven Salazar can't wait to be placed in the most powerful coven with her best friend! But on the night of the ceremony, in front of the entire town, Seven isn't placed in one of the five covens. She's a Spare! Spare covens have fewer witches, are less powerful, and are looked down on by everyone. Even worse, when Seven and the other two Spares perform the magic circle to seal their coven and cement themselves as sisters, it doesn't work! They're stuck as Witchlings--and will never be able to perform powerful magic. Seven invokes her only option: the impossible task. The three Spares will be assigned an impossible task: If they work together and succeed at it, their coven will be sealed and they'll gain their full powers. If they fail... Well, the last coven to make the attempt ended up being turned into toads. Forever ..Grade 4-7

When a child goes missing from the Orphan House in the town of Stone-in-the-Glen, the mayor suggests the kindly Ogress is responsible, but the orphans do not believe that and try to make their deluded neighbors see the real villain among them. Grade 4-8

Sylvie and her mother and grandmother are beloved, trusted healers in their medieval French village, though some whisper that fifteen-year-old Sylvie and her grand-mere deal in more than herbs and medicines...After her grandmother dies, and an attempt to use magic to heal her mother's grief brooks tragic consequences, Sylvie leaves her village in search of a teacher. Grade 5-8

Fished from the river as an infant and raised by a roving band of street urchins who call themselves the Crowns, eight-year-old Duck keeps her head down and her mouth shut. It’s a rollicking life, always thieving, always on the run—until the ragtag Crowns infiltrate an abandoned cathedral in the city of Odierne and decide to set down roots. It’s all part of the bold new plan hatched by the Crowns’ fearless leader, Gnat: one of their very own will pose as an apprentice to the local baker, relieving Master Griselde of bread and coin to fill the bellies and line the pockets of all the Crowns. But no sooner is Duck apprenticed to the kindly Griselde than Duck’s allegiances start to blur. Who is she really—a Crown or an apprentice baker? And who does she want to be? Meanwhile, high above the streets of Odierne, on the roof of the unfinished cathedral, an old and ugly gargoyle grows weary of waiting to fulfill his own destiny—to watch and protect. Told in alternating viewpoints, this exquisite novel evokes a timeless tale of love, self-discovery, and what it means to be rescued. Grade 5-8