Overview

  • Summer Reading Requirements

    All scholars are required to read three books and complete a log or summary for each book during the summer months. Scholars in Grades PreK-3 must read the required summer reading book and select two titles from a list of ten and complete a log or summary of each book read during the summer months. Scholars in grades 4-12 must read the required summer reading book and select to read by choice or preference from a list of categories of books from any source and complete a log or summary of each book read during the summer months. 

    Examples of Different Types of Text

    • SJ       Social justice
    • GF      Graphic Fiction  
    • GN     Graphic Nonfiction                              
    • FAN    Fantasy, Romance              
    • MO     Moral Lesson     
    • LA      Local Authors 
    • HU      Funny, Humor
    • SP       Skills to practice with adult supervision (cookbooks, knitting, gardening) 
    • $$      Recommended for aspiring entrepreneurs.

     

    After completing the minimum of three books, scholars are encouraged to continue reading and writing logs or summaries. Summer reading is fun and helps students grow academically.

    Scholars who read and write logs/summaries on more than three books will earn additional incentives.

Required Titles for Grades K-12

  • PRE-K - Kindness Makes Us Strong | Sophie Beer

  • K - Goodbye, Friend! Hello, Friend! | Cori Doerfield

  • GRADE 1 - The Day You Begin | Jaqueline Woodson

  • GRADE 2 - Me & Mama | Cozbi A. Cabrera

  • GRADE 3 - The Ember Stone | Katrina Chapman

  • GRADE 4 - A Boy Called Bat | Elana Arnold

  • GRADE 5 - Becoming Naomi Leon | Pam Munoz Ryan

  • GRADE 6 - March:Book One | John Lewis

  • GRADE 7 - Clayton Byrd Goes Underground | Rita Williams-Garcia

  • GRADE 8 - The Seventh Most Important Thing| Shelley Pearsall

  • GRADE 9 - Fahrenheit 451 | Ray Bradbury

  • GRADE 10 - All American Boys | Jason Reynolds

  • GRADE 11 - Born A Crime | Trevor Noah

  • GRADE 12 - Sing, Unburied, Sing | Jesmyn Ward


Required Titles for J-TECHS

  • Grade 9 - The Cost of Knowing | Brittney Morris

  • Grade 10 - Promise Boys| Nick Brooks

  • Grade 11 - The Vanishing Half | Brit Bennett

  • Grade 12 - Sing, Unburied, Sing |Jesmyn Ward


  • Required Titles for Advanced Learning Programs & Services

    (Casey, Barack Obama, McWillie, Power, Bailey, Northwest, Forest Hill, Jim Hill, and Murrah)

    GRADE

    TITLE

    AUTHOR

    K

    Lola Loves Stories

    Anna McQuinn

    1

    Daniel Finds A Poem

    Micha Archer

    2

    My Name is Yoon

    Helen Recorvits

    3

    Wedgie & Gizmo

    Suzanne Selfors

    4

    The Crossover

    Kwame Alexander

    5

    Firegirl

    Tony Abbott

    6 (APAC/IB)

    Look Both Ways

    Jason Reynolds

    7 (APAC/IB)

    Flying Lessons & Other Stories

    Ellen Oh

    8 (APAC/IB)

    Animal Farm

    George Orwell

    9 (AP)

    I am Malala

    Malala Yousafzai

    9 (AP)

    Long Way Down

    Jason Reynolds

    9 (AP)

    The Moon is Down

    John Steinbeck

    9 (IB)

    Speak

    Laurie Halse Anderson

    9 (IB)

    Long Way Down

    Jason Reynolds

    10 (AP)

    Gathering of Old Men

    Ernest Gaines

    10 (AP)

    The Poet X

    Elizabeth Acevedo

    10 (AP)

    Persepolis, Book 1

    Marjane Satrapi

    10 (IB)

    Kindred

    Octavia Butler

    11 (AP)

    1984

    George Orwell

    11 (AP) Nonfiction Choice

    11 (AP)

    The Jungle

    Upton Sinclair

    11 (AP)

    Fast Food Nation

    Eric Schlosser

    11 (AP)

    The New Jim Crow

    Michelle Alexander

    11 (AP)

    The Beauty Myth

    Naomi Wolf

    11 (AP)

    In Cold Blood

    Truman Capote

    11 (AP) Memoir Choice

    11 (AP)

    Becoming

    Michelle Obama

    11 (AP)

    Between the World and Me

    Ta-Nehisi Coates

    11 (AP)

    Born A Crime

    Trevor Noah

    11 (AP)

    Long Way Gone

    Charles Martin

    11 (AP)

    Memorial Drive

    Natasha Trethewey

    11 (IB)

    Required

     

    11 (IB)

    How To Read Literature Like a Professor

    Thomas C. Foster

    11 (IB)

    Siddhartha

    Herman Hesse

    12 (AP)

    The Poisonwood Bible

    Barbara Kingsolver

    12 (AP)

    World of Wonders

    Aimee Nezhukumatathil

    12 (AP) AP Classic Novel Choice

    12 (AP)

    Wuthering Heights

    Emily Bronte

    12 (AP)

    Go Tell It on the Mountain

    James Baldwin

    12 (AP)

    The Color Purple

    Alice Walker

    12 (AP)

    Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    Mark Twain

    12 (AP)

    Pride and Prejudice

    Jane Austen

    12 (AP)

    Invisible Man

    Ralph Ellison

    12 (IB) Required

    12 (IB)

    King Lear

    William Shakespeare

    12(IB)

    Woman at Point Zero

    Nawal El Saadawi

    Note: Program schools may recommend that additional books are read during the summer in preparation for coursework during the upcoming school year.  Those listed above are the minimum books required by the District for each grade level and program school. 

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Summer Reading Links

  • Read On jackson

    630 South State Street
    Jackson, MS 39201
    Phone: (601) 960-8320

    Dr. Samecia Stokes
    TRC/Director of Library Services

District eBook Collection

  • JPS District e-book collection

  • Audio Book

    Families and students may use the following links to search for the audiobook version of the summer reading book.

    Please note THERE MAY BE A CHARGE to download or access audiobooks and NOT all summer reading books may be available in an audio format.

Last Modified on October 2, 2024