Summer Reading for NCCS Middle School Students 2024

At the turn of the new year in 1948, Amil and his family are trying to make a home in India, now independent of British rule. Both Muslim and Hindu, twelve-year-old Amil is not sure what home means anymore. The memory of the long and difficult journey from their hometown in what is now Pakistan lives with him. And despite having an apartment in Bombay to live in and a school to attend, life in India feels uncertain. Nisha, his twin sister, suggests that Amil begin to tell his story through drawings meant for their mother, who died when they were just babies. Through Amil, readers witness the unwavering spirit of a young boy trying to make sense of a chaotic world, and find hope for himself and a newly reborn nation. Grades 4-6

Max Bretzfeld doesn't want to move to London. Leaving home is hard and Max is alone for the first time in his life. But not for long. Max is surprised to discover that hes been joined by two unexpected traveling companions, one on each shoulder, a kobold and a dybbuk named Berg and Stein. Germany is becoming more and more dangerous for Jewish families, but Max is determined to find a way back home, and back to his parents. He has a plan to return to Berlin. It merely involves accomplishing the impossible: becoming a British spy. Grades 3-6

Spanning over five hundred years, a novel telling the stories of four girls from different generations of a Jewish family, many of them forced to leave their country and start a new life. Grades 5-8 (Lexile: 830)

The gripping story of a boy's escape by boat from Communist Vietnam in 1980. Eleven-year-old Thọ Phạm lives with his family in South Vietnam. He spends his afternoons playing soccer and cricket fighting, but life is slowly changing under the Communists. His parents are worried, and Thọ knows the Communist army will soon knock on their door to make his brother, and them him, join them. Still, it shocks him when his father says he's arranged for Thọ to leave, immediately. Thọ tries to be brave as he sets out on a harrowing journey toward the unknown. A survival story drawn from real-life experiences enrich this riveting refugee story. Grades 5-7 (Lexile: 930)

The gripping story of a boy's escape by boat from Communist Vietnam in 1980. Eleven-year-old Thọ Phạm lives with his family in South Vietnam. He spends his afternoons playing soccer and cricket fighting, but life is slowly changing under the Communists. His parents are worried, and Thọ knows the Communist army will soon knock on their door to make his brother, and them him, join them. Still, it shocks him when his father says he's arranged for Thọ to leave, immediately. Thọ tries to be brave as he sets out on a harrowing journey toward the unknown. A survival story drawn from real-life experiences enrich this riveting refugee story. Grades 5-7 (Lexile: 930)

December 6, 1941: Best friends Frank and Stanley have it good. Their dads are Navy pilots stationed at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the boys get a front-row view of the huge battleships and the sparkling water. Yes, World War II is raging in Europe and in Asia, but the US isn't involved in the war, and the boys are free to dream about becoming comic book creators. They've even invented a superhero of their own, in the style of Batman, Superman, Captain America, and other stars of the Golden Age of Comics. Maybe they'll even get their comic published someday. December 7th, 1941: Everything explodes. That morning, Frank and Stanley are aboard the battleship the USS Utah when Japanese planes zoom overhead and begin dropping bombs on the ships below. Chaos ensues as everyone scrambles to dive for safety. Frank and Stanley realize what's happening: Japan is attacking America! The war has come to them. As the boys fight to make their way home amidst the carnage, it's clear that everything has changed. Stanley's mother is Japanese American and he is suddenly facing a terrible prejudice that he's never known before--he's now seen as the "enemy," and Frank, who's white, cannot begin to understand what Stanley will now face. Can their friendship--and their dreams--survive this watershed moment in history? Grades 4-7

Fourteen-year-old Myung-gi flees North Korea with his family during the height of the devastating Korean War, beginning an epic struggle for survival that pushes them to the brink. Grades 4-8

Max Bretzfeld doesn't want to move to London. Leaving home is hard and Max is alone for the first time in his life. But not for long. Max is surprised to discover that hes been joined by two unexpected traveling companions, one on each shoulder, a kobold and a dybbuk named Berg and Stein. Germany is becoming more and more dangerous for Jewish families, but Max is determined to find a way back home, and back to his parents. He has a plan to return to Berlin. It merely involves accomplishing the impossible: becoming a British spy. Grades 3-6

Spanning over five hundred years, a novel telling the stories of four girls from different generations of a Jewish family, many of them forced to leave their country and start a new life. Grades 5-8 (Lexile: 830)

en-year-old Alice Atherton is sent by her father to spend the summer with his dear friends the Murphys who live with their three children and pet monkey in the French Riviera. There, Alice will meet and learn from some of the most extraordinary luminaries of the time. She visits a junk yard with Pablo Picasso looking for objects to make into art, performs a dance inspired by celestial bodies with the renowned Ballet Russes, and imagines magical adventures with Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Grades 4-6

In 1937 rural Kentucky, Cora Mae starts a school newspaper to rally support for the Rural Electrification Act, but the town's resistance to change is not easy to overcome. Grades 5-8