High School ESOL

Suggested Summer Reading List

June 2008

Level 1 Students

Fiction

Boegehold, Betty D. A HORSE CALLED STARFIRE. Wolf Cub befriends a lone horse and changes the ways of the Native American tribe.

Bulla, Clyde Robert. THE POPPY SEEDS. In a Mexican village young Pablo finds a way to reach the bitter old man who controls the only water supply.

Bulla, Clyde Robert. WHITE BIRD. A lonely boy is found and reared by a hermit in the wilderness of the Tennessee mountains in the 1880s. A Stepping Stone book.

Choi, Sook Nyul. THE BEST OLDER SISTER. A sequel to Halmoni and the Picnic in which Sunhi must adjust to sharing her grandmother’s attention with a new sibling.

Choi, Sook Nyul. HALMONI AND THE PICNIC. A story of a Korean grandmother and granddaughter and their adjustment to life and customs in America.

Coerr, Eleanor. THE JOSEFINA STORY QUILT. While traveling west with her family in 1850, a young girl makes a patchwork quilt which reflect the experiences of the trip. An I-Can-Read book.

Haskins, Lori. SPOOKY AMERICA: FOUR REAL GHOST STORIES. Recounts four fact-based tales of haunting, including a ghost horse on the coast of Massachusetts, a haunted painting at a Virginia plantation, a skeleton in Colorado, and a ghostly sea captain of California.

Heide, Florence Parry & Gilliand, Judith. SAMI AND THE TIME OF TROUBLES. A poetic story of a family’s survival and a boy’s optimism in war-torn Lebanon.

Hooks, William. PEACH BOY. A favorite folktale of Japanese children in which magic, ogres, and animals help a young hero triumph and save his poor family.

Kesey, Ken. SEA LION. A magical tale of life among the Pacific Northwest Indians as a crippled boy proves his worth.

Levinson, Nancy Smiler. CLARA AND THE BOOKWAGON. Clara’s dream of enriching her rough life on the family’s farm is fulfilled when a horse-drawn book wagon visits with the country’s first traveling library. An I-Can-Read book.

Love, Anne. DAKOTA SPRING. After their mother dies and their father has a serious accident, Caroline and Jess must adjust to life with their stern grandmother running the household.

McCully, Emily Arnold. THE BATTLE FOR ST. MICHAELS. In the War of 1812 the small ship-building town in Maryland is threatened by the British Fleet. A young girl plays a role in protecting her home by carrying messages for the soldiers.

McCully, Emily Arnold. BEAUTIFUL WARRIOR: THE LEGEND OF THE NUN’S KUNG FU. A story of two legendary female warriors.

Miles, Miska. ANNIE AND THE OLD ONE. Annie comes to accept the impending death of her grandmother when she understands the cycle of life. A Newbery Honor Book.

Mohr, Nicholasa. ALL FOR THE BETTER: A Story of El Barrio. During the dark days of the Great Depression, 11 year old Evelina Lopez leaves Puerto Rico to live with an aunt in New York City. Part of the Stories-in-America Series.

Mohr, Nicholasa. THE MAGIC SHELL. A young Hispanic boy who struggles to live in two cultures: his home in the Dominican Republic and his new home in New York City.

Rockwell, Anne. ROMULUS AND REMUS. This story tells about twin brothers who lived in Rome long ago and became builders. Read to find out what they built.

Turner, Pamela S. HACHIKO. This is the legend of a famous dog who waited faithfully for ten years outside a Tokyo train station for his owner to return.

Vaughan, Marcia. THE SECRET TO FREEDOM. After their parents are sold to another plantation, Lucy’s older brother begins helping slaves escape until he is discovered and must also flee. Will Lucy ever see him again?

Vaughan, Marcia. UP THE LEARNING TREE. A young slave boy overhears a teacher reading to her students and makes up his mind that he will learn to read even though it is forbidden.

Nonfiction

Brenner, Barbara. ONE SMALL PLACE BY THE SEA. Visit a high tide basin to see what lives there. Much more than first meets the eye!

Donnelly, Judy. A WALL OF NAMES. Tells the history of the Vietnam War and the building of the Vietnam Memorial. A Step-into-Reading - Step 4 book.

Foran, Eileen. EL SALVADOR IS MY HOME. This is the story of twelve-year-old Andres Navarro Aquino who lives in San Salvador. A special reference section presents facts about many aspects of the country. (Adapted from EL SALVADOR, Children of the World series)

Kendall, Russ. ESKIMO BOY: LIFE IN AN INUPIAQ ESKIMO VILLAGE. Life in an Eskimo village as seen through the eyes of a village boy.

Lauber, Patricia. SNAKES ARE HUNTERS. Describes physical characteristics of different types of snakes and tells how they hunt, catch and eat their prey. A Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out book.

Levinshon, Nancy Smiler. DEATH VALLEY A DAY IN THE DESERT. Learn lots of facts about one of the hottest places on earth, Death Valley.

Little, Emily. THE TROJAN HORSE. Tells how the Greeks used a wooden horse to win the Trojan War. A Step-into-Reading - Step 4 book.

Munsch, Robert. FROM FAR AWAY. The story of a little girl who enters a new country and a new school when her family flees from war-torn Lebanon.

Soeol, Richard. AN ELEPHANT IN THE BACKYARD. The story of an Elephan who lives in a village in Thailand. Read to learn what this unique elephant loves to play.

Level 2 Students

Fiction

Ada, Alma Flor. WHERE THE FLAME TREE BLOOMS. A collection of powerful stories from the author’s childhood in Cuba that show the importance of family and human values.

Buck, Pearl. THE BIG WAVE. A Japanese boy learns the joys of living after surviving a tragic tidal wave that destroys his family and village.

Bulla, Clyde Robert. POCAHONTAS AND THE STRANGERS. Story of the American Indian princess who helped the early English settlers survive in Jamestown. A Scholastic biography.

Byars, Betsy. TROUBLE RIVER. A thrilling historical adventure about young Dewey and his grandmother fighting for their lives on a river raft. An ALA Notable Book.

Houston, Gloria. MOUNTAIN VALOR. Valor is left to defend her home against renegade soldiers when all the men leave to fight in the Civil War.

Kerley, Barbara. THE DINOSAURS OF WATERHOUSE HAWKINS: A TRUE DINOSAUR STORY IN THREE AGES. The true story of Victorian artist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, who built life-sized models of dinosaurs in the hope of educating the world about what these awe-inspiring ancient animals and what they were like.

McKay, Hilary. SAFFY’S ANGEL. After learning that she was adopted, 13-year-old Saffron’s relationship with her excentric, artistic family changes, until they help her go back to Italy where she was born to find a special memento of her past.

Paulsen, Gary. HOW ANGEL PETERSON GOT HIS NAME: AND OTHER OUTRAGEOUS TALES ABOUT EXTREME SPORTS. Author Gary Paulsen relates tales from his youth in a small town in northwestern Minnesota in the late 1940s and early 1950s, such as skiing behind a souped-up car and imitating daredevil Evel Knievel.

Paulsen, Gary. THE VOYAGE OF THE FROG. 14 year old David inherits a sailboat and while voyaging to Ventura, CA must endure a storm with little food, no radio and the threat of sharks.

Perkins, Mitali. THE SUNITA EXPERIMENT. The moving story of a teenage girl from an Indian family growing up in the United States and the conflicts that she feels between the two cultures and generations.

Peterson, P.J. WHITE WATER. Half-brothers. Greg and James, must work together to save their father after he’s bitten by a rattlesnake on a rafting expedition.

Rhoads, Dorothy. THE CORN GROWS RIPE. A young Mayan boy struggles to support his family. A Newbery Honor Book.

Robinet, Harriet Gillem. CHILDREN OF THE FIRE. The story of a young girl born into slavery in Mississippi who moves with her family to Chicago in the 1870s.

Ross, Lillian Hammer. SARAH, ALSO KNOWN AS HANNAH. The story of a Jewish teenager’s journey from Eastern Europe to America in 1910.

Trevino, Elizabeth Borton de. EL GUERO. El Guero and his family were sent into exile with very few possessions. They traveled from Acapulco to Baja, CA experiencing many adventures.

An NCSS-CBC Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies.

Vos, Ida. ANNA IS STILL HERE. Anna comes to terms with her experiences in World War II, which she spent hiding out from the Nazis in Holland.

Whelam, Gloria. LISTENING FOR LIONS. A young girl is orphaned in East Africa when her missionary parents die. She lives through an incredible adventure as she works to claim a life for herself that reflects who she really is.

Zaunders, Bo. FEATHERS, FLAPS & FLOPS: FABULOUS EARLY FLIERS. This is a look at the wonderful world of flight and people like Jimmy Doolittle, Beryl Markham and “Wrong Way” Corrigan whose colorful exploits helped advance the airplane flight.

Nonfiction

Bealer, Alex W. ONLY THE NAMES REMAIN: THE CHEROKEES AND THE TRAIL OF TEARS. This is an account of the forced march of the Cherokee from their homelands in Georgia to exile in Arkansas from 1837 to 1838.

Cummins, Ronnie. EL SALVADOR. From the Children of the World series. The story of Andres Navarro Aquino, a young artist from San Salvador. A reference section at the end gives factual information about the country.

Fritz, Jean. WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS?

A humorous telling of the life and explorations of the great explorer.

Fritz, Jean. WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA, BEN FRANKLIN? A brief biography of the famous inventor and statesman.

Graff, Nancy Price. WHERE THE RIVER RUNS: A PORTRAIT OF A REFUGEE FAMILY. A photo essay about a Cambodian family in the United States.

Pettit, Jayne. A PLACE TO HIDE. True stories of courageous people who helped victims of the Holocaust.

Level 3/4 students should follow the recommended reading selections from the general high school 9th and 10th grades.