This document provides summaries and recommendations for several children's and middle grade books that could be used for summer reading inspiration. It describes the plots of The Last Kids on Earth and the Cosmic Beyond by Max Brallier, Gabby Garcia's Ultimate Playbook by Iva-Marie Palmer, Front Desk by Kelly Yang, The Serpent's Secret by Sayantani DasGupta, Finding Mighty by Sheela Chari and provides the ages each book is intended for. It encourages signing up for the Pasadena Public Library's Summer Reading Challenge to receive one of these books as a prize for participating.

1. Kids’ Writing Workshop: Summer
Reading Inspirations!
AnnMarie Kolakowski
Pasadena Public Library
7/3/20

2. The Last Kids on Earth and the Cosmic
Beyond by Max Brallier (vol. 4 in Last Kids on Earth series)
AGES 8-12
It's the first winter after the Monster Apocalypse. For Jack and his
buddies, that means sled catapults, epic snowball battles, and
one monstrous Christmas celebration. But their winter
wonderland turns dark when a villainess begins hunting them.
And this villainess is different—she’s a human.
When the villainess steals Jack's prized monster-slaying tool, the
Louisville Slicer, he vows to get it back. But it won’t be easy. Jack
and his friends soon discover that the Louisville Slicer is the key
to a dark plan that threatens the entire world—and beyond...

3. What The Last Kids on Earth can teach us
about the HOOK
CLOSE READING
Chapter One
So, we are about to be astro-blasted. Catapulted and launched.
Propelled off the roof of our tree house by something called the
Sled-Shot.
Why? Why load ourselves into a massive slingshot and blast
ourselves off the roof?
Why did some old guy climb Mount Everest? BECAUSE IT’S
THERE!!
Actually, that’s not the reason at all. The Sled-Shot was of course
not just “there.” My best friend, Quint Baker, built it.
“Quint, are you sure this is safe?” I ask.

4. What The Last Kids on Earth can teach us
about the HOOK
ANALYZE IT:
Max Brallier doesn’t start his book with, “Well, once there was a
Zombie Apocalypse and there were four kids left on their own to
battle monsters and befriend good monsters…” He starts us with
something exciting and scary that is just about to happen.

5. What The Last Kids on Earth can teach us
about the HOOK
APPLY IT:
“Once Upon a Time” is so yesteryear!
Let’s take some fairytales and write a better first sentence for
them. Start in the middle of the action, right when or right before
something scary happens.
1. Once upon a time, there were three bears…
2. Once upon a time, there was a little girl who always wore a
red riding hood…
3. Once upon a time, there was a boy named Jack…
4. Something else! We’ll see if we can guess it!

6. Gabby Garcia’s Ultimate Playbook by Iva-
Marie Palmer
AGES 8-12
When her school is shut down due to an
asbestos problem, all-star pitcher Gabby
Garcia is sent to an upscale private school
that already has a star pitcher, and to make
matters worse, she has trouble making
friends and finding her place. Can she make
the perfect plays to score friends, a spot on
the team, and achieve middle school
success?

7. What Gabby Garcia can teach us about
CHARACTER and MOTIF
CLOSE READING:
[S]tew shouldn’t be in a lunch bag with cookies. It was really WITH the cookies too,
as in just everywhere inside the bag…
Judy: Bob, I can’t look.
Bob: Oh, you’re right Judy.
But Bob and Judy were just imaginary voices inside my head. With my very real eyes,
I could see the goo land on Mario.
Bob: Mario’s getting up. He’s running to the garbage can.
Judy: His face is halfway in the garbage can. Yes! Mario Salamida just hurled!...
My appetite was totally gone because I could definitely chalk up the day as another
loss. One more and my winning streak would officially be a losing streak.
(Ch. 2)

8. What Gabby Garcia can teach us about
CHARACTER and MOTIF
ANALYZE IT:
[S]tew shouldn’t be in a lunch bag with cookies. It was really WITH the cookies too,
as in just everywhere inside the bag…
Judy: Bob, I can’t look.
Bob: Oh, you’re right Judy.
But Bob and Judy were just imaginary voices inside my head. With my very real eyes,
I could see the goo land on Mario.
Bob: Mario’s getting up. He’s running to the garbage can.
Judy: His face is halfway in the garbage can. Yes! Mario Salamida just hurled!...
My appetite was totally gone because I could definitely chalk up the day as another
loss. One more and my winning streak would officially be a losing streak.
(Ch. 2)

9. What Gabby Garcia can teach us about
CHARACTER and MOTIF
APPLY IT:
Write a character who is obsessed with a certain hobby. Write three
things the character does or says that will show us what hobby
he/she is obsessed with.
Here are some ideas:
1. Basketball
2. Music
3. Science
4. Anime
5. Video games
6. Any hobby you know a lot about!
Consider the words people with this hobby often use, and the kinds
of clothes they wear, and the things they do.
Bonus: Can you think of a way your character could use that
obsession to solve a problem? Now you have a story!

10. Front Desk by Kelly Yang
AGES 8-12
Mia Tang has a lot of secrets. Number 1: She lives in
a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her
immigrant parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia
manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and
tends to its guests. Number 2: Her parents hide
immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao,
finds out they've been letting them stay in the empty
rooms for free, the Tangs will be doomed. Number 3:
She wants to be a writer. But how can she when her
mom thinks she should stick to math because English
is not her first language? It will take all of Mia's
courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this
year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the
immigrants and guests, escape Mr. Yao, and go for
her dreams?

11. What Front Desk can teach us about TONE
and PERSPECTIVE
COMPARE AND CONTRAST: EXCERPTS ON POVERTY
We only had enough money for one hamburger, so we had to
share. But, man, what a burger. It was a mile high with real
bacon and mayonnaise and pickles!
My mom likes to tease that I devoured the whole thing in one
gulp, leaving the two of them only a couple of crumbs. I’d like
to think I gave them more than that.
The other thing that was great about that space center was the
free air conditioning. We were living in our car that summer,
which sounds like a lot of fun but actually wasn’t, because our
car’s AC was busted. So after the burger, my dad parked
himself in front of the vent and stayed there the entire rest of
the time. It was like he was trying to turn his fingers into
Popsicles.
(Ch. 1)

12. What Front Desk can teach us about TONE
and PERSPECTIVE
COMPARE AND CONTRAST: EXCERPTS ON POVERTY
Now, when I played the dramatic section, my chin quivered. I felt a
sob building within me as I thought about Mr. Yao and how he just
took and took and took. How he refused to spend twenty-five
dollars a square foot to protect us even though twenty-five dollars
was nothing to him; it was probably what he paid for dinner. I
thought about my father, robbed of sleep, jolted awake by
customers, night after night. And my mother, the way her eyes
twitched at the supermarket checkout counter every time the
cashier scanned a new item and the total price jumped. I thought
about Hank and his saltine burgers, and Uncle Ming and the loan
sharks, and before I knew it, tears were streaming down my
cheeks. As my feelings coursed through my fingers into the sad
music, I suddenly heard a sound from the back. Someone was in
the auditorium listening to me.
(Ch. 14)

13. What Front Desk can teach us about TONE
and PERSPECTIVE
APPLY IT:
Take one of the following scenarios and write about that same thing
in either a happy/funny tone, or a sad/somber tone. Let your choice
of words show us how the character feels.
1. Leaving your school, job, or town, forever
2. Visiting rescue dogs at an animal shelter
3. Becoming famous overnight
You might be surprised at how different writers see the same
situations! One person will see joy while another might see sorrow.

14. The Serpent’s Secret by Sayantani DasGupta
(book 1 in Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond series)
AGES 10-12
Up until her twelfth birthday, Kiranmala
considered herself an ordinary sixth-grader
in Parsippany, New Jersey, but then her
parents disappear and a drooling rakkhosh
demon shows up in her kitchen, and soon
she is swept into another dimension, full of
magic, winged horses, talking birds (very
annoying), and cute princes--and somehow
Kiranmala needs to sort it all out, find her
parents, and basically save the world.

15. What The Serpent’s Secret can teach us
about HUMOR and FANTASY
CLOSE READING:
“Now, if you’ve never flown on the
back of a winged horse like that, I
don’t recommend it. It’s not just the
ungraceful butt-in-air aspect; it’s the
mouthful of sweaty horse hair you
get in the bargain.” (Ch. 5)

16. What The Serpent’s Secret can teach us
about HUMOR and FANTASY
ANALYZE IT:
In just two sentences, DasGupta
takes something that would
normally be considered pretty
cool (riding a Pegasus) and
shows us how it might not be so
cool after all!

17. What The Serpent’s Secret can teach us
about HUMOR and FANTASY
APPLY IT:
Write a sentence or two explaining how one of the following
“cool” things would NOT be so cool after all!
 Riding a dolphin, a dragon, or a unicorn…etc
 Getting a real-life monkey for a pet (or any wild animal
either living or extinct)
 Growing a set of your own wings to fly
 Having the power to climb walls like Spider-Man
 Something else? Any other ideas, go for it!

18. Finding Mighty by Sheela Chari
AGES 10-14
Along the train lines north of New York City,
twelve-year-old neighbors Myla and Peter
search for the link between Myla’s necklace and
the disappearance of Peter’s brother, Randall.
Thrown into a world of parkour, graffiti, and
diamond-smuggling, Myla and Peter encounter
a band of thugs who are after the same thing
as Randall. Can Myla and Peter find Randall
before it’s too late, and their shared family
secrets threaten to destroy them all? Drawing
on urban art forms and local history, Finding
Mighty is a mystery that explores the nature of
art and the unbreakable bonds of family.

19. What Finding Mighty can teach us about
MYSTERY and SUSPENSE
CLOSE READING:
“One last thing, and this one’s important, Petey. That uncle of yours. Don’t trust him.”
“Wh-wh-what?”
“I don’t know what rock he crawled out from, but people don’t just show up, hear?”
I stared at Nike’s baby eyes. I remembered the times I’d seen him with the crew, his
quiet way of whispering his tag in the dark—a wing for victory.
He had a little brother, and parents who spoke Spanish. I didn’t know a single other
thing about him except he was Randall’s only real friend.
“Listen, this is my last day at the store,” he said. “So don’t come back here, okay?”
He turned to go when I stopped him.
“Who is he, Nike?” I whispered. “My uncle, that is.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Just don’t tell him nothing about Mighty. Nothing.” Then
he disappeared inside the store.
(Ch. 25)

20. What Finding Mighty can teach us about
MYSTERY and SUSPENSE
ANALYZE IT:
Here’s some background: Petey’s father died mysteriously when he was
small. His brother Randall just went missing. Petey’s mom insisted on
moving them to another town but Petey’s still looking for Randall, AKA
“Mighty.” An uncle whom he barely knows has just shown up out of
nowhere, telling him of a bad guy called “Tops.” Now Randall’s best
friend tells Petey not to trust his uncle.
In a good mystery, you don’t really know anyone and you can’t trust
anyone!

21. What Finding Mighty can teach us about
MYSTERY and SUSPENSE
APPLY IT:
Fill in the rest of these story starters!
1. I didn’t know Uncle Todd had died… And that’s not even the weird
part. The weird part is the inheritance he left me.
2. I always thought I was an only child. Until now.
3. The note stared back at me, its hastily-scribbled urgency chilling my
blood: “Meet me in the park at 6. Don’t be late.”

22. You can get one of these books as your
summer reading prize if you sign up!

23. Go to Pasadena.beanstack.org to sign up for
the Summer Reading Challenge