ZM Summer Reading for NCCS Middle School Students 2018: Series

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

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)

Twelve-year-old Abigail's shocked to discover her elite boarding school is really a cover for a huge spy ring, and must undergo Spy Training 101 in order to save her mother--who happens to be the spy ring's top agent. Grade 4-8 (Lexile: 630)

Aspiring to join other lucky finalists who are testing Mr. Lemoncello's fabulous new game, Kyle researches interesting facts about notable Americans only to stumble on a few less-than-encouraging truths about his hero. Grade 3-6 (Lexile: 750)

When thirteen-year-old Max Tilt happens upon his great-great-great-grandfather Jules Verne’s unfinished, unpublished manuscript, The Lost Treasures, he doesn’t realize that he’s found the answers to all his problems. And Max has a lot of problems—his mother is sick, his father is out of work, and his home is about to be foreclosed on. But when Max and his cousin Alex discover that Verne’s last work reveals everything he wrote was fact, not fiction, they realize that the book holds the key to something incredibly valuable. A treasure that can save his house—and maybe his entire family.

But Max and Alex aren’t the only ones who know about Verne’s clues. Spencer Niemend, a strange skunk-haired man who has spent his life researching Verne’s works, is bent on reshaping the world with the hidden treasure. To find it first, Max and Alex must go on an adventure that’ll take them from the broken remains of an underwater city to the very jaws of a giant squid to the edges of a whirlpool from which no one has ever emerged alive. Grade 4-6

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)

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

Twelve-year-old Abigail's shocked to discover her elite boarding school is really a cover for a huge spy ring, and must undergo Spy Training 101 in order to save her mother--who happens to be the spy ring's top agent. Grade 4-8 (Lexile: 630)

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)

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.

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)

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)

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

yx 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

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