Summer Reading for NCCS Middle School Students 2023: Animals

Chernobyl, 1986. Without humans, how will dogs survive? As humans fled the nuclear disaster, they were forced to leave their pets behind. Without people, nature began to return to the woods surrounding the power plant--lynx, bear, and wolves. But the overgrown forest is no place for dogs. Can Zoya, and her pups Misha and Luka, learn to survive in the deadlands? And will Zoya ever find her way home to her beloved owner? Grade 6-8

Free dog Johannes' job is to observe everything that happens in his urban park and report back to the park's three bison elders, but changes are afoot, including more humans, a new building, a boatload of goats, and a shocking revelation that changes his view of the world. Grade 4-7 (790 Lexile)

Mott's life becomes complicated when the abandoned puppy she found turns out to be a mythical Norse wolf who is partly responsible for bringing about the end of the worlds. Grade 4-6

When fifteen-year-old Iranian American Marjan discovers her murdered father was secretly a veterinarian to magical creatures, she realizes she must take up his mantle, despite the many dangers. Grade 6-9

Told together three perspectives: Malia, who is prepared to risk anything for her activism, Ari, who knows the right path but fears what it will cost, and Ginger Juice, the caged orangutan who still remembers the forest and her mother. The choices the young people make will have consequences for themselves, for Ginger Juice, and for others, if they are brave enough—or reckless enough—to choose. Grade 4-7 (Lexile: 760)

Ruby's story picks up a few months after the events of The One and Only Bob. Now living in a wildlife sanctuary, Ruby's caretaker from the elephant orphanage in Africa where she grew up is visiting. Seeing him again brings back a flood of memories both happy and sad of her life before the circus, and she recounts the time she spent in the African savannah to Ivan and Bob. Grades 3-6

When the delicate balance between the mythical rabbits and the people of Montpeyroux breaks down, runt Quincy and twelve-year-old Fleurine learn to trust each other to ensure their respective community's survival. Grade 4-7

An unlikely group of dinosaur misfits discover a deadly secret and must band together to save their herbivore kingdoms from doom at the hands of ruthless carnivores, Grade 4-7

When ten-year-old Indian American Geetanjali, part of a family of classical Hindustani music singers, believes her neighbor has become an ichchaadari naagin, a cobra that can turn human, she must overcome her fears and harness the power of her voice before the naagin changes the whole town into snakes. Grade 4-7