Summer Reading List

As a learning community, WCDS focuses on reading skills. Because much is to be gained or lost during the summer months, a continuation of reading is required by both the Lower and Upper school.  An investment of quality time is vital for the success of summer reading. A student might spread the reading out over the summer and then review the texts in the week before schools starts. Upper school students might find that keeping a reading journal helps. Simply write a brief summary at the end of each chapter or section.
If a student is multi-tasking while reading—watching television, writing IM or text messages, talking on the phone, or engaging in any number of other activities—reading comprehension will drop dramatically. The only way to improve reading comprehension is to read increasingly more difficult texts. Even the most skilled readers find re-reading necessary. Summer is a time when the enhancement of reading skills becomes possible.  Encourage your child to discover the joys of reading

Seventh

  • To Kill a Mockingbird – Lee
  • Farewell to Manzanar – Houston
  • War of the Worlds – Wells
  • A Pocket Style Manual – Hacker

Eighth

  • D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths – D’Aulaire
  • Of Mice and Men  – Steinbeck
  • Death Be Not Proud  – Gunther
  • A Pocket Style Manual – Hacker

Ninth

  • Hot Zone – Preston
  • The Good Earth  – Buck
  • Silas Marner – Eliot
  • A Pocket Style Manual – Hacker

Tenth

  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Skloot
  • Tale of Two Cities – Dickens
  • Siddhartha = Hesse
  • A Pocket Style Manual – Hacker

Eleventh

  • All the King’s Men  -  Warren
  • The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind -..Kamkwamba & Mealer
  • The Alchemist  =.Coelho
  • A Pocket Style Manual – Hacker

Twelfth

  • Dracula – Stoker
  • The White Tiger  – Adiga
  • Candide – Voltaire
  •  A Pocket Style Manual – Hacker