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Summer Reading 2020: Magic, New Worlds, & Adventure
Summer reading information and booklists for WSA students in grades 6-12 in Fall, 2020.
Interested in stories with lots of action and adventure? How about books with some magic or fantasy blended into the story, or ones that are set in new worlds very different than our own? Consider one of these books!
Clay and his friends have grown up under a mountain, secretly raised by the Talons of Peace to fulfill a mysterious prophecy. The five young dragons are destined to end the war that's been raging between the tribes of Pyrrhia -- but how they'll do this, none of them knows. But not every dragonet wants a destiny. When one of their own is threatened, Clay and his friends decide to escape. Maybe they can break free and end the war at the same time.
Young Emily discovers that mythological beings are real when Pegasus crashes onto a Manhattan roof during a terrible storm and draws her into a fierce battle between the Roman gods and a terrifying stone warrior race. She must team up with a thief named Paelen, the goddess Diana, and a boy named Joel in order to return Pegasus to Olympus and rescue the gods from a certain death.
The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies—humans with extraordinary abilities—who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice—and in Nova. But Nova's allegiance is to the villains who have the power to end them both.
When a rakkhosh demon attacks her family on the morning of her 12th birthday, Kiranmala discovers that her parents' fantastical stories about their ties to royalty are true, and she is whisked away by two crush-worthy princes to a parallel dimension filled with magic, winged horses, moving maps and talking birds.
Zane would much rather explore the dormant volcano near his home in New Mexico than go to school with kids who bully him for his limp. But what Zane doesn't know is that the volcano is a gateway to another world, a world he's thrust into with his dog, Rosie, and the new girl at school, Brooks - kicking off an all-out war between the Mayan gods. To survive, Zane will have to become the Storm Runner. But how can he run when he can't even walk well without a cane?
Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial. Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail. All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him. So he tries his best to do his worst – and fails at failing. Now, the Magisterium awaits him. It’s a place that’s both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.
Thirteen-year-old Sal prides himself on being an excellent magician, but for some of his sleights of hand, he relies on a talent no one would guess . . . except maybe Gabi, editor of the school newspaper, whose sharp eyes never miss a trick. Gabi learns that Sal's capable of reaching through time and space and retrieving anything he wants--including his dead mother. There's only one slight problem: their manipulation of time and space could put the entire universe at risk.
Embroiled in a cruel immortal king's palace politics in spite of having spent three years in exile, Keestra, the daughter of a high-ranking official is kidnapped by a group of rebels who require her to search for a lost weapon capable of destroying the throne, a plan that she endeavors to sabotage despite conflicting loyalties.
Haunted by the bus accident that ended his best friend’s life, seventh grader Tristan Strong dreads a visit to his grandparents’ Alabama farm before a bizarre living doll snatches away his friend’s notebook and draws him into a world of burning seas, iron monsters and exhausted black folk heroes John Henry and Brer Rabbit. In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky. But bartering with the trickster Anansi always comes at a price.
In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. In the evenings, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man on the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life's questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man on the Moon to ask him how she can change her family's fortune.
Twig leaves the safety of the Deepwoods, where he lives among the Woodtrolls, to discover his true heritage and encounters some unforgettable, and dangerous, characters along the way. Always watching out for the horrible Gloamglozer, whose presence haunts the thoughts of all the inhabitants of The Edge, Twig steadfastly pursues his quest until he discovers his roots, not among the trees, but in the skies. . . .
Longing for adventure in the Thousand Worlds, away from the strict rules that force her to hide her descendancy from fox spirits, 13-year-old Min embarks on a quest to find her brother, who has been accused of abandoning his post to search for a mystical object of power – the Dragon Pearl.
Twelve-year-old Sophie has never quite fit into her life. The reason? Sophie’s a Telepath, someone who can read minds. The day Sophie meets Fitz, a mysterious boy, she learns she’s not alone, and she is forced to leave behind her family for a new life in a place that is vastly different from what she has ever known. What is her true identity, and why was she hidden among humans? The truth could mean life or death—and time is running out.
When Gran and his family move to Carousel, little does he suspect that mysterious forces lurk mere inches beneath his feet, tearing up the earth like mini-hurricanes and causing the town to slowly but surely sink. When Gran's friend, Catalina Catalan, presses a silver handle into a hillside and opens a doorway to underground, he knows that she is extraordinary and brave, and that he will have no choice but to follow wherever she leads. With luck on their side Gran and Catalina might just find a way to lift their town--and the known world--out of danger.
Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, twins Alex and Connor leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about. But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.