ZMSummer Reading for NCCS Middle School Students 2024

Abeni, a reluctant magical apprentice, and a team of spirit kids set out to save their village from the evil Witch Priest who captured and marched off everyone toward ghost ships bound for distant lands. Grades 4-6

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, Grades 4-7

When twelve-year old Ivy attends West Archer Academy, she is determined to graduate in two years and eventually follow her hero Ruth Bader Ginsberg to the Supreme Court, but after her roommate introduces her to a group of students who are hundreds of years old, she is forced to reexamine her priorities. Grades 4-7 (Lexile: 600)

Eleven-year-old Daisy Thistledown is on the run. Her mother has been keeping big, glittering secrets, and now she has vanished. Daisy knows it's up to her to find Ma--but someone is hunting her across London. Someone determined to stop her from discovering the truth. So when Daisy flees to safety through a mysterious hidden doorway, she can barely believe her eyes--she has stepped out of the city and into another world. This is the Greenwild. Bursting with magic and full of amazing natural wonders, it seems too astonishing to be true. But not only is this land of green magic real, it holds the key to finding Daisy's mother. And someone wants to destroy it. Daisy must band together with a botanical genius, a boy who can talk with animals, and a cat with an attitude to uncover the truth about who she really is. Only then can she channel the power that will change her whole world ... and save the Greenwild itself. Grades 4-7

Noah Prime discovers he can exhibit the traits and access the abilities of animals and must use them to fight back against those who are hunting him. Grades 5-8

As twelve-year-old aspiring taekwondo champion Modesty "Mo" Seto faces off against her nemesis in a movie audition, she uncovers a mysterious book and embarks on an adventure to rescue her missing father and discover hidden martial art secrets. Grades 4-7

An outsider in her village above the cloud sea, 12-year-old orphan Yeung Zhi Ging's only hope of escape is to win the single invitation to train as a Silhouette: an apprentice to the immortals. After her ill-fated attempt to impress the Silhouette scout leads to a dragon attack on the jade mountain, Zhi Ging is sure that her chances, and her life, are over. But the scout spots her potential and offers her protection and a second chance. She's in. Grades 5-8 (Lexile: 940)

Eight singular middle schoolers from across America find belonging in a series of escape room-type challenges. Each sixth grader assumes that winning a coveted spot to spend three days at the Octagon Valley Institute led by Willy Wonka-esque Onasander Octagon--an ethnically ambiguous multiracial tech genius--means winning a 'golden ticket to the rest of your life.' However, they soon realize that instead of an academic conference, they will each have to utilize their particular skills to find eight puzzle pieces in a high-stakes scavenger hunt. Grades 5-7 (Lexile: 680)

Eleven-year-old Roswell Johnson is obsessed with conspiracies about extraterrestrial life, an interest he inherited from his late father, who aptly named Roswell after the infamous UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico. 

When Roswell is accidentally abducted by aliens, his biggest dream comes true—he learns that aliens are real! But when he discovers Earth is in grave danger, he must join forces with a team of quirky extraterrestrials, including two bickering Grays, a humorless Cyborg, a germophobic Mantis, an overly confident Furgarian, and an over achieving Pleiadean to save his planet from a tyrannical invasion. But can Roswell restore his own faith in humanity and Earth in time to save the world? Grades 4-7

Deep in the forest, a curious pair reside: a young girl Mira, whose affliction leads her to call forth darkness whenever she's in distress; and her physician Rei, determined to seek a cure. Each day, she works to remember the light and bring back the person she used to be. But a sudden visit from Rei's friend, who harbors an interest in Mira's illness may be end of their peaceful days... Grades 6-11

Portico Reeves--or Stuntboy, the greatest superhero people have never heard of--tries to manage his frets and navigate his new normal with divorced parents, bullies in his building, and a newfound friend. Grades 3-5

In this conclusion to the series, the Vanderbeekers are looking forward to the wedding of two of their favorite people. But when one of the siblings receives a dire diagnosis, instead of preparing for a celebration, the family is suddenly spending their time at the hospital. And soon they are helping a critically ill friend, even as they struggle with how their own lives have turned upside down. Grades 4-7