The MMS Summer Reading List

01

The Inquisitor's Tale

By Adam Gidwitz

France, 1242. Many travelers cross paths at an inn on a dark night, all of their stories compile a tale about Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog. All of the storytellers (including an omniscient nun, a child Jongleur, a butcher etc.) construct a complex tale of a young girl who has visions of the future, Jeanne, William, a huge young oblate seeking to run away from his past, and Jacob, a Jewish boy who has the miraculous power to heal using the natural world around him. 

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02

I Am Malala

By Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick

The Taliban has taken over Swat Valley, Pakistan, and Malala spoke out. She spoke out for the right to women's education, and she refused to be silenced. But on October 9, 2012 she almost paid the ultimate price for her outspokenness. A Taliban supporter shot her in the head, and nobody expected her to survive. However, after an incredible medical procedure, Malala was recovered. She became the youngest nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.

03

Masterminds

By Gordon Korman

Eli Friedman lives in the perfect town, with no crime whatsoever. It’s also the most boring town! Welcome to Serenity, New Mexico. One day, Eli and his friend Randy bike to the city borders, where Eli is struck with an agonizing headache and his friend Randy is gone, taken by what the kids call the Serenity security guards, the Purple People Eaters. Eli and his friends investigate the disappearance to shocking results about Serenity, which is not such a perfect town after all.

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04

My Diary from the Edge of The World 

By Jodi Lynn Anderson

Spirited Grace and her family lived in Cliffden, Maine. Her life is pretty monotonous (excepting the occasional dragon attacks and the ghost that got out from the underworld on Halloween) until a Dark Cloud appears over her town. The Dark Cloud is a sign of death, and it soon becomes obvious that the Cloud is heading for her sickly little brother, Sam. When this happens, Grace’s family decides they are going in search of the Extraordinary World, a world without witches or sasquatches or dragons.

05

The Apothecary

By Maile Meloy

Fourteen year old Janie is anything but happy to be moving from the bright, colorful Los Angeles, and into the seemingly black and white world of London in 1952. With a new social order to decode, bomb damage in the streets of her neighborhood and a dismal apartment, Janie feels that her new life is destined to be anything but good. Janie soon becomes friends with the son of an apothecary, Benjamin Burrows, and a ray of hope for a good life in London peeks through the cloudy sky. But Benjamin's father is kidnapped, and Russian spies and nuclear weapons contribute to the urgent nature of their quest to rescue him.

 

06

The School for Good and Evil
By Soman Chainani

Agatha is a gloomy person and perfect for the School for Evil. Sophie is a good person who is obsessed with fashion, perfect for the School for Good. Every four years two kids are kidnapped to be taken to the school for good and evil, one child is put in evil while the other is put in good. Sophie really wants to be put in the school for good and Agatha just wants to be pretty. Who will get their wish?

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07

Olivia Kidney and the Secret Beneath the City
By Ellen Potter

Olivia Kidney is not your average New York girl. Being able to speak to ghosts definitely complicates some matters for her, but her life is about to get a whole lot more hectic when her father enrolls her in the most prestigious arts school in New York City. Little does Olivia know, her school troubles are about to get pushed aside by an age old mystery that she and her friend Frannie are almost obligated to solve. 

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08

Chasing Vermeer

By Blue Balliett

When a famous Johannes Vermeer painting, A Lady Writing, is stolen when it is on the way to the Art Institute of Chicago, two kids, Petra Andalee and Calder Pillay work to find the thief. The mystery thief publishes newspaper advertisements saying that he will return the painting if the citizens of Hyde Park can find out how many paintings by Vermeer were actually created by Vermeer. Petra, Calder and the rest of Hyde Park learn to examine art more carefully and find the hidden messages.

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09

The Mysterious Benedict Society

By Trenton Lee Stewart

Through a test, a group of four very talented children are selected by Mr. Benedict, a genius who can "predict" the upcoming emotions/actions of certain children. They have to use their talents to resist sinister groups such as the Ten Men and even Mr. Benedict's twin brother, Mr. Curtain. 

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10

The Falcon's Malteser

By Anthony Horowitz

The world's dimmest detective Tim Diamond and his younger brother Nick (who is actually smart) set out to solve a peculiar mystery. Their latest mystery involves a man who pays them 200 pounds to keep a measly box of chocolates safe. 

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11

Poison Most Vial
​By Benedict Carey

Friends Ruby and Rex are 13 years old. When Ruby's dad is accused of murder, Ruby and Rex become mini-investigators. Together, they go deep beneath their school to find the clues that they hope will save Ruby's dad. ​​

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12

The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide
By Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

After their parents’ divorce, the Grace children are forced to move from their New York apartment to their aunt's creepy Victorian mansion. There are three children, Mallory, the older sister, and Jared and Simon, the twins. Jared finds an old book in the attic called The Field Guide which tells stories of mythical creatures, what they were like, and where they lived. All of a sudden things start to go crazy and the three children end up running away from an ogre and having many more magical adventures in the deep, dark, forest.

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13
Sylo

By D.J. Machale

Thirteen year old Tucker Pierce lives in Pemberwick, Maine. One day something mysterious lands on the island, is this the start of the end of the world? Suddenly the military comes out of nowhere on parachutes ready to invade Tucker Pierce's little island. The village is even more surprised when in the boat race a man mysteriously dies. The military tells the islanders that a plague is spreading on the island, and they are all quarantined!

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14

The Green Bicycle

By Haifaa al-Mansour

Wadjda, 12, lives in the small Muslim Arab town of Riyadh, and she attends an all girls school. Rules about fraternizing with the other gender are very strict in her town, but Wadjda has a male friend named Abdullah who owns a bicycle. Abdullah races through the streets of Riyadh daily, and Wadjda longs to own a bicycle just like his. Even though it is not considered proper for girls to have a bike, Wadjda spots a green bicycle in a storefront one day, and she falls in love with it. Despite the gender barriers and the discriminatory comments, Wadjda will do anything to get “her” bicycle!​

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15

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
​By E. L. Konigsburg

After a train ride and a very long walk, Jamie and Claudia get settled in their new home, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They sleep in an antique bed, they bathe in the fountain, and they collect coins from this fountain to obtain money. Jamie and Claudia find a beautiful masterpiece, an angel statue that they think was made by Michelangelo but it has a secret behind it. Claudia and Jamie have two problems now. They need to continue hiding from their parents, and they have a mystery to solve.