Middle School Academics: Summer Reading 2013

study skills summer activities

middle school academics

The Middle School Maze is back with a 2013 summer reading list!

With July and August just ahead of us, the summer is rife with opportunity to read. While you’re not in school, reading can take on a life of it’s own. Books become openings to new worlds, not the sign of dreaded after-school tasks. 

The good news about reading is that it can as pleasurable as it is a valuable study skill.

Reading will keep your mind sharp during the sleepy summer months, and maybe even awaken you to a new subject. As an academic tutor, I once worked with a student who, after reading a book about slavery, started to pay more attention in history class. Today she is a history teacher, all thanks to her summer reading.

In addition, reading is one the most portable hobbies.

Many students leave their homes in the summer to attend sleep away camp, to take family trips or to visit relatives. These days with kindles, ipads and even smart phones, you can take your reading on the road without lugging around 5 lbs of books!

With that, take a look at our 2013 summer reading list: 

  • Out of Time, Caroline Cooney
  • The Midwife’s Apprentice, Karen Cushman
  • You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton?, Jean Fritz
  • The Van Gogh Café, Cynthia Rylant
  • The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
  • The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
  • And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie
  • Diary of Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney
  • Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery, Peter Abrahams
  • Throwing Like a Girl, Weezie Kerr Mackie
  • Keeper, Mal Peet

Challenge yourself this summer to read! 

You can even set a communal goal with a friend or sibling. Set up a reading race and see who has read more books by Labor Day. You'll wind up having fun AND feel really proud of yourself when the school year kicks back into gear. Set your summer goal and pick a realistic, but ambitious, # of books and dive in.

For help choosing books or learning about active reading study skills talk to a Cambridge Coaching middle school tutor. In all likelihood, he or she will have read the book before and will have a good sense of how you can improve your reading and writing skills over the summer, while keeping it low-key.

Click here to sign up for a  free writing consultation.

Sophie holds an MPA in Public Administration from NYU and a BA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth College. Outside of teaching, Sophie has spent her career working at the intersection of the public, private and nonprofit sectors to promote access to healthcare, education and employment.

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