Summer vacation is finally here, and with that comes long, lazy summer days ripe for reading in the shade.

Students entering grades 6-12 for the 2013-2014 school year are required to read three books and complete a reading log for each. RCPS middle and high school students are provided lists to choose from.

The reading lists for Grades 6-12 are:

Grade 6:
Barbara O'Connor, Greetings from Nowhere
Christopher Paul Curtis, The Watsons Go to Birmingham
Fred Gipson, Old Yeller
Scott O'Dell, Sing Down the Moon
Katherine Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia
Lesley M. M. Blume, The Rising Star of Rusty Nail

Grade 7:
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles
Eric Berlin, The Puzzling World of Winston Breen
Walter Dean Myers, Won't Know till I Get There
Wilson Rawls, Where the Red Fern Grows
Pam Muñoz Ryan, Esperanza Rising
Jacqueline Woodson, Locomotion

Grade 8:
Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game
Christopher Paul Curtis, Elijah of Buxton
Cynthia Kadohata, Kira-Kira
Richard Peck, Long Way From Chicago
Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Gary Schmidt, The Wednesday Wars

Grade 9:
Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Ray Bradbury, The Illustrated Man
Ayn Rand, Anthem In a future world
Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Mary Stewart, The Crystal Cave
Walter Myers, Dean Autobiography of My Dead Brother
Francisco Jimenez, The Circuit

Grade 10:
Richard Adams, Watership Down
Rudolfo Anaya, Bless Me Ultima
Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers
Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha
John Gunther, Death Be Not Proud

Grade 11:
Crane Stephen, The Red Badge of Courage
Ernest J. Gaines, A Gathering of Old Men
Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms
Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club

Grade 12:
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Jane Austen, Emma
Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile
H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines
James Hilton, Lost Horizon
Yann Martel, Life of Pi

For more information, click here or go to http://portal.rockdale.k12.ga.us/about/tl/cs/langarts/Pages/Summer-Reading-Lists.aspx?RootFolder=%2Fabout%2Ftl%2Fcs%2Flangarts%2FSummer%20Reading%20Lists%2FMiddle%20School%20Summer%20Reading&FolderCTID=0x012000A8A553A16F0390448CF5194A474E31E1&View={18777432-A995-4212-85D9-067B72FE3747}

For pre-K to fifth grade age students, the Nancy Guinn Memorial Library holds a reading program and contest with prizes.

Saturday, May 26 was the first day to sign up for the library's "Dream Big, READ!" Summer Reading Program. Participants will receive a reading log to record reading time. By accumulating reading time, participants can win prizes.

The library will hold an End of the Summer Reading Program Party on July 19, 3 p.m. - 5 p.m. in the downstairs Meeting Room, with indoor games and cool treats. Grand prize winners for the Summer Reading Program will be awarded.

Reading logs must be turned in by 2 p.m., Thursday, July 19 to be entered for the Grand Prize drawings. Reading logs turned in after 2 p.m., will be eligible for reading level prizes only. Friday, July 20 is the last day to turn in reading logs for prizes.