Watertown Summer Reading Middle School

"Simon O'Keeffe's biggest claim to fame should be the time his dad accidentally gave a squirrel a holy sacrament. Or maybe the alpaca disaster that went viral on YouTube. But the story the whole world wants to tell about Simon is the one he'd do anything to forget: the story in which he's the only kid in his class who survived a school shooting. Two years after the infamous event, twelve-year-old Simon and his family move to the National Quiet Zone...

Twelve-year-old Lyla sets out to write the perfect fantasy novel in her creative writing class, but discovers some unexpected twists and turns, both on and off the page. Includes twenty-five ways to overcome writer's block.

"Love at first sight isn't a myth. For seventh graders Olivia and Eden, it's fate. Olivia is a capital-P Poet, and Eden thinks she wants to be a musician one day, but for now she's just the new girl. And then Eden shows up to Poetry Club and everything changes. Eden isn't out, and she has rules for dating Olivia: don't call. Don't tell her friends. And don't let anyone know they're together. But when jealousy creeps in, it's Olivia's words that push...

Liz Lighty has always done her best to avoid the spotlight in her small, wealthy, and prom-obsessed midwestern high school, after all, her family is black and rather poor, especially since her mother died; instead she has concentrated on her grades and her musical ability in the hopes that it will win her a scholarship to elite Pennington College and their famous orchestra where she plans to study medicine--but when that scholarship falls through...

"When otherworldly forces descend on their town of Whispering Pines, conspiracy theorist Rae, who's searching for her lost father, and Caden, who's haunted by the ghost of his brother, must band together to save their home"--

"With a Thai mother and an American father, Kathy lives in two different worlds. She spends most of the year in Bangkok, where she's secretly counting the days till summer vacation. That's when her family travels for twenty-four hours straight to finally arrive in a tiny seaside town in Maine. Kathy loves Maine's idyllic beauty and all the exotic delicacies she can't get back home, like clam chowder and blueberry pie. But no matter how hard she tries,...

"Pedro Martin's grown up in the U.S. hearing stories about his legendary abuelito, but during a family road trip to Mexico, he connects with his grandfather and learns more about his own Mexican identity in this moving and hilarious graphic memoir."--Provided by publisher.

"What was the first message sent over the internet? How much water does a single person use every day? How was the electric light invented? For every utility people use each day, there's a hidden history below the surface - a story of intrigue, drama, humor, and inequity. This graphic novel provides a guided tour through the science of the past - and how the decisions people made while inventing and constructing early technology still affect the way...

When Cameron and his best friends are magically transported through the pages of an ancestral book to the fabled West African country Chidani, they find a kingdom in extreme danger and have to find a way to save the Igbo people.

Thirteen-year-old Elio is struggling with "coming of age"--first love, first heartbreak, first real fight (which lands him in the hospital), and what it means to be a "man", a true friend, and an ally, as well as how to overcome a culture of toxic masculinity.