ZM Summer Reading for NCCS Middle School Students 2018: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror

While working in a mine on another planet, Daniel Coldstar finds a powerful relic that may help him escape from the masters who have stolen his memories. Gradde 4-7 (Lexile: 760)

Accidentally connected most of his life to a fourth-dimensional being whose presence would prevent him from reaching adulthood, 13-year-old Felix records in his secret blog their last shared month before a procedure that will separate or kill them. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 940)

Twelve-year-old Ada is a Chimera, one of a number of children born with human and animal DNA thanks to a genetic experiment gone wrong. When she is shipped off to a quarantined school for other kids like herself, she senses that the facility is keeping a secret, which, if discovered, could upend everything the world knows about how Chimeras came into being, Grade 5-7 (Lexile: 750)

While waiting to leave Mars before it burns up just like the Earth before it, Liam and his friend Phoebe discover some facts about time and space and realize that the human race is just one of the races trying to survive in space. Grade 5-8

Esper and Starn are twin boys who live in a grim world that has been almost laid waste by massive volcanic explosions. Very little grows in Orchard, which used to be a fruit-growing area, but with the death of insects and birds, pollination of the fruit trees is a tedious and precarious undertaking. When the boys discover an intriguing old manuscript in a locked room in their apartment, which tells of gold on one of the forbidden islands the people can see from the coastline, they determine to go on a gold-hunt, Grade 4-6

rphaned and homeless, fourteen-year-old twins Vick and Tara, who is autistic, go up against a crime lord and her four-legged robotic army, with help from their robotic dog Daisy. Grade 4-6 (Lexile: 740)

Oscar Indigo has never been good at baseball, so naturally he's nervous when he has to fill in for his team's injured All-Star, Lourdes. Luckily, Oscar has a mysterious gold watch that can stop time, which he uses to fake a game-winning home run. Now Oscar's the underdog hero of his town and even Lourdes wants to be his friend. But the universe is a precarious place, and you can't just steal time without any consequences. If Oscar doesn't find a way to return the time he stole, the universe will unwind completely.
Grade 3-7 (Lexile: 720)

Many surprises await twelve-year-old Edwy Watanaboneset when the Freds return him to Cursed Town, including that he has siblings in Refuge City who he will join in boarding school. Sequel to Children of Exile. Grade 4-8 (Lexile: 690)

When Alice is suddenly bundled off to her estranged grandmother's Nell's house, there's nothing good about it, except the beautiful Darkling Wood at the end of the garden--but Nell wants to have it cut down. Alice feels at home there, at peace. She even finds a friend, a girl named Flo. But Flo doesn't go to the local school, and no one in town has heard of her. When Flo shows Alice the surprising secrets of Darkling Wood, Alice starts to wonder: what is real? And can she find out in time to save the wood from destruction? Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 550L)

An old red oak tree tells how he and his crow friend, Bongo, help their human neighbors get along after a threat against an immigrant family is carved into the tree's trunk.Grade 4-8 (Lexile: 590)

Whisked away to a magical historical land of their own invention as they are about to depart for boarding school, sisters Charlotte and Emily Brontë find themselves fighting Napoleon to obtain a potion that raises the dead, a situation that is complicated by the abduction of their siblings. Grade 4-7

he story of twelve-year-old Alice, a misfit who is ignored by her own family and shipped off to boarding school. She'd love a friend, and one day she rescues mysterious Millie Maximus from drowning in a lake. Millie, it turns out, is a Bigfoot, part of a clan that lives deep in the woods. Alice swears to protect Millie and her tribe, and the two girls try to find a place where they both fit in. Grade 4-6

Twelve-year-old Emily accidentally releases Gorgo, a carnivorous demon, from the magic Spellstone to which he is bound, and must join him in protecting the Stone from villains planning world domination. Grade 4-6 (Lexile: 700)

nne and her friends Penelope and Hiro are tasked with a quest that could start a war between the Hierarchy and the dragon clan, and so to avoid disaster, the three friends must face dragon trials, defeat robots, and circumvent bureaucracy. Grade 3-6

A shy and neglected girl moves to her father's family home in the aftermath of her mother's abandonment and struggles to be patient with her fearless friend, Zenobia, who becomes increasingly obsessed with solving the mystery of a family member's disappearance.Grade 4-7 (Lexile 670)

Running away after freezing up during a theater camp audition, Olive finds herself at a beautiful old theater that inspires her to sing on its stage before a glamorous actress who overhears her recruits her into a cast of eclectic misfits for an increasingly unsettling, history-inspired production. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 800)

Award-winning author Frank Cottrell Boyce returns with another one-of-a-kind story of heart, humor, and finding one's place in the universe.
Prez knows that the best way to keep track of things is to make a list. That's important when you have a grandfather who is constantly forgetting. And it's even more important when your grandfather can't care for you anymore and you have to go live with a foster family out in the country.

Prez is still learning to fit in at his new home when he answers the door to meet Sputnik--a kid who is more than a little strange. First, he can hear what Prez is thinking. Second, he looks like a dog to everyone except Prez. Third, he can manipulate the laws of space and time. Sputnik, it turns out is an alien, and he's got a mission that requires Prez's help: the Earth has been marked for destruction, and the only way they can stop it is to come up with ten reasons why the planet should be saved.
Thus begins one of the most fun and eventful summers of Prez's life, as he and Sputnik set out on a journey to compile the most important list Prez has ever made--and discover just what makes our world so remarkable. Grade 4-7 (Lexile: 520L)

Pinmei's gentle, loving grandmother always has the most exciting tales for her granddaughter and the other villagers. However, the peace is shattered one night when soldiers of the Emperor arrive and kidnap the storyteller.
Everyone knows that the Emperor wants something called the Luminous Stone That Lights the Night. Determined to have her grandmother returned, Pinmei embarks on a journey to find the Luminous Stone alongside her friend Yishan, a mysterious boy who seems to have his own secrets to hide. Together, the two must face obstacles usually found only in legends to find the Luminous Stone and save Pinmei's grandmother--before it's too late.

An 11-year-old from a family that possesses unique magical abilities joins a traveling circus with an evil ringmaster who steals talents, forcing her to choose between forfeiting her powers and sacrificing her family. By the author of Baker's Magic. Grade 4-6 (Lexile: 630)

Coming of age on an island where people prepare for the afterlife before entering a turbulent whirlpool from which nobody returns, orphan Wren dreams of escaping her home on a trading boat only to be accidentally sucked into the whirlpool, where she discovers a reality beyond the abyss that is worse than anyone could have imagined. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 690)

The magically inept son of a wizard king and the magic-possessing daughter of a warrior queen meet on the wildwood trail of a deadly witch before embarking on an adventure that changes the fabric of their worlds. By the best-selling author of How to Train Your Dragon. Grade 4-6 (Lexile 890)

cursed child destined to die on her eleventh birthday is rescued and whisked away to a secret realm called Nevermoor and given the chance to compete for a place in a prestigious organization called the Wundrous Society. Grade 5+ (Lexile: 790)

Sequel to: The wild robot.
After being captured by the Recons and returned to civilization for reprogramming, Roz is sent to Hilltop Farm where she befriends her owner's family and animals, but pines for her son, Brightbill.

Byx is the youngest member of her dairne pack. Believed to possess remarkable abilities, her mythical doglike species has been hunted to near extinction in the war-torn kingdom of Nedarra.

After her pack is hunted down and killed, Byx fears she may be the last of her species. The Endling. So Byx sets out to find safe haven, and to see if the legends of other hidden dairnes are true.

Along the way, she meets new allies--both animals and humans alike--who each have their own motivations for joining her quest. And although they begin as strangers, they become their own kind of family--one that will ultimately uncover a secret that may threaten every creature in their world. Grade 4-7

Halan is a powerless princess. She is heir to the Magi Kingdom, a blazing desert land ruled by ancient magic. But unlike every royal before her, Halan has no magical powers of her own. Nalah is a powerful pauper. The glassblower's daughter, she lives in the land of New Hadar, where magic is strictly outlawed. But Nalah has a powerful force growing within her, one she can't always control. When a legendary mirror connects them, Nalah and Halan finally meet and must work together to save their two worlds, before everything they know is shattered forever. Grade 3-6

Twelve-year-old Emmeline possesses the unique ability to manipulate shadows. When her magical powers are threatened by a noble family, she desperately turns to Dar, her shadow friend, who offers to save her if Emmeline makes Dar flesh again, but this bargain only puts Emmeline's life in further jeopardy. Grade 5-8 (Lexile:730)

An enchanting, exciting fantasy about a real-world girl searching for her sister in a land full of magic and strange creatures, blending the timeless feel of A Wrinkle in Time with Frozen 's powerful themes of identity, enchantment, and sisterhood.

Claire Martinson still worries about her older sister Sophie, who battled a mysterious illness last year. But things are back to normal as they move into Windermere Manor . . . until the sisters climb a strange ladder in a fireplace and enter the magical land of Arden.

There, they find a world in turmoil. The four guilds of magic no longer trust each other, the beloved unicorns have disappeared, and terrible wraiths roam freely. Scared, the girls return home. But when Sophie vanishes in the night, it will take all of Claire's courage to climb back up the ladder, find her sister, and uncover the unicorns' greatest secret. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 790)

Repeatedly landing in trouble at her finishing school because of her preference for practicing magic instead of manners, Chantel enlists her friends to protect the kingdom when her teacher goes missing along with the city's protective magic. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 660L)

When visited by a fairy, fifteen-year-old Peregrine learns she is not Lakti-born, so she begins to free her people from tyranny, even if it means fighting monsters-both magical and human. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 670)

Esper and Starn are twin boys who live in a grim world that has been almost laid waste by massive volcanic explosions. Very little grows in Orchard, which used to be a fruit-growing area, but with the death of insects and birds, pollination of the fruit trees is a tedious and precarious undertaking. When the boys discover an intriguing old manuscript in a locked room in their apartment, which tells of gold on one of the forbidden islands the people can see from the coastline, they determine to go on a gold-hunt, Grade 4-6

Sent away in disgrace after failing her witch's assessment, Arianwyn learns that the remote community where she works as a magic apprentice is under the shadow of a dark hex infestation, a situation that is further complicated by a spiteful rival and mysterious dark elements that affect her magic. Grade 4-8 (Lexile: HL760)

Twelve-year-old Alli Rosco escapes her orphanage only to be hit with a deadly curse by a magic-wielding, law-enforcing Protector, and with nowhere else to turn and days to live, learns to steal from a street thief named Beck and follows him back to the legendary Thieves Guild, where she hopes to find a home and the means to save herself. Grade 4-6

Twelve-year-old Ada is a Chimera, one of a number of children born with human and animal DNA thanks to a genetic experiment gone wrong. When she is shipped off to a quarantined school for other kids like herself, she senses that the facility is keeping a secret, which, if discovered, could upend everything the world knows about how Chimeras came into being, Grade 5-7 (Lexile: 750)

Running away after freezing up during a theater camp audition, Olive finds herself at a beautiful old theater that inspires her to sing on its stage before a glamorous actress who overhears her recruits her into a cast of eclectic misfits for an increasingly unsettling, history-inspired production. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 800)

Whisked away to a magical historical land of their own invention as they are about to depart for boarding school, sisters Charlotte and Emily Brontë find themselves fighting Napoleon to obtain a potion that raises the dead, a situation that is complicated by the abduction of their siblings. Grade 4-7

Traveling between camps in the magical forests of the Hinterlands, a young girl with gold-flecked eyes and hair as white as summer snow survives on items pillaged by her gang of bandits while being tracked by a witch hunter who wants to cleanse the forest of anyone who is different. Grade 5 - 8 (Lexile: 700)

Wanting to be a part of her family's Dia de los Muertos preparations, Leonora sneaks out of school to discover her mother, aunt, and older sisters have been keeping a secret. Grade 3-6 (Lexile: 850)

n a foggy archipelago called the City of Islands, twelve-year-old Mara has always been fascinated by the magic that drifts on the air as songs. But as a servant for the powerful Lady of the Tides, Mara must earn her keep by searching for magical treasures deep in the murky ocean.Then Mara finds the skeletons of strange hybrid creatures that haven't existed in the city for centuries--all humming with a powerful spell-song. Convinced her discovery will earn her the opportunity to study magic, Mara shares them with the Lady. But instead of a reward, the Lady gives Mara a new challenge: to sneak into the island fortress, the Winter Blade. Now Mara must dive deeper than ever before to survive her mission. The chilling truths that Mara uncovers along the way, about her past as well as about the secrets of her beloved city, are more dangerous--and magical--than she ever imagined. Grade 4-7

Available: July 24, 2018
A boy is imprisoned by a witch and must tell her a new scary story each night to stay alive. This thrilling contemporary fantasy from J. A. White, the acclaimed author of the Thickety series, brings to life the magic and craft of storytelling.

Alex's original hair-raising tales are the only thing keeping the witch Natacha happy, but soon he'll run out of pages to read from and be trapped forever. He's loved scary stories his whole life, and he knows most don't have a happily ever after. Now that Alex is trapped in a true terrifying tale, he's desperate for a different ending--and a way out of this twisted place.

This modern spin on the Scheherazade story is perfect for fans of Coraline and A Tale Dark and Grimm. With interwoven tips on writing with suspense, adding in plot twists, hooks, interior logic, and dealing with writer's block, this is the ideal book for budding writers and all readers of delightfully just-dark-enough tales. Grade 4-6

Alberto, the town's coffin maker, and Tito, a runaway boy, both lonely after suffering tragic losses, learn the power of friendship as they try to escape the shadows of their pasts. Grade 3-6 (Lexile: 740)

Seven paths, seven unlikely friends, and one extraordinary adventure featuring magicians, secret passages, conspiracies, hidden treasures, a black cat with green eyes and a sealed parchment which predicts the future.
At the end of every schoolday, new teacher Mr Van der Steg entertains his pupils with tall tales of incredible events, which he claims really happened to him - involving hungry lions and haunted castles, shipwrecks and desert islands. One day, when he can't think of anything suitably exciting to tell them, he invents a story about a very important letter which he's expecting that evening, with news of a perilous mission. Evening arrives and so, to his surprise, does an enigmatic letter...
And so Mr Van der Steg is drawn into a real-life adventure, featuring a grumpy coachman, a sinister uncle, eccentric ancestors, a hidden treasure, an ancient prophecy and Geert-Jan, a young boy who is being kept prisoner in the mysterious House of Stairs. Grade 6-9

cursed child destined to die on her eleventh birthday is rescued and whisked away to a secret realm called Nevermoor and given the chance to compete for a place in a prestigious organization called the Wundrous Society. Grade 5+ (Lexile: 790)

In one of the last cities standing after the world fell to monsters, best friends Zed Kagari and Brock Dunderfel have high hopes for the future. Zed desperately wishes to join the ranks of the Mages Guild, where his status as Freestone's only half elf might finally be an asset. Brock, the roguishly handsome son of merchants, is confident he'll be welcomed into the ranks of the Merchants Guild. But just as it seems the boys' dreams have come true, their lives take a startling turn... and they find themselves members of the perilous Adventurers Guild.Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 790)

Grisha the dragon is born in the Black Forest in 1803, the last year any dragon was born, and while young he was trapped by the emperor's sorcerer, and turned into a teapot, which was frustrating but kept him alive while magic and other dragons were disappearing--until one day he meets Maggie, a poet's daughter, and the two of them set out to discover what happened to all the other dragons. Grade 4-6 (Lexile: 900)

An enchanting, exciting fantasy about a real-world girl searching for her sister in a land full of magic and strange creatures, blending the timeless feel of A Wrinkle in Time with Frozen 's powerful themes of identity, enchantment, and sisterhood.

Claire Martinson still worries about her older sister Sophie, who battled a mysterious illness last year. But things are back to normal as they move into Windermere Manor . . . until the sisters climb a strange ladder in a fireplace and enter the magical land of Arden.

There, they find a world in turmoil. The four guilds of magic no longer trust each other, the beloved unicorns have disappeared, and terrible wraiths roam freely. Scared, the girls return home. But when Sophie vanishes in the night, it will take all of Claire's courage to climb back up the ladder, find her sister, and uncover the unicorns' greatest secret. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 790)