Summer Reading Assignment
2015
After reading a book from the “Summer Reading List,” complete ONE of the
following assignments using the guidelines below. This assignment is due on
Friday, September 4th, 2015.
Choice 1: Create a Google Slides or PowerPoint presentation about
your book. You must include at least one slide for each of the following:
● Plot-describe the plot of your book with important details and
information from the beginning, middle and end. You may include
pictures and videos if you choose for any of your slides!
● Main Characters-Include one slide for each of the main
characters. Include a picture of what you believe the character
looks like, a description of his/her character traits, and any
interesting information you’d like to share. You must include a
minimum of two main characters.
● Conflict and Resolution-What is the main conflict in your book?
How, if at all, was it resolved?
● Your thoughts and opinions-Did you love this book? Why or why
not? Your final slide should be your critique of the novel and
whether or not you’d recommend it to a friend.
**This presentation must be emailed to your teacher’s (English
teacher for MMS) islandtrees.net account by the due date. Please
see your teacher for the correct email address.
Choice 2:
Compare and contrast the themes and characters from your book with
another you have read for class this year. Be descriptive in both the
similarities and the differences. Be sure to include specific details from
both books.
Choice 3:
Write a letter to the author. Tell him/her what you liked or perhaps did
not like about the book. You must include specific details from the
beginning, middle and end of the text and at least three insightful
questions you have about the story.
** Whichever assignment you choose, you must show evidence from the book.
Credit will not be given for vague or general responses.
Island Trees Memorial Middle School
8th Grade Summer Reading List
2015
The choice books listed below have been recommended by your Library Media Specialist, Mrs. Lauber. Please
select from this list to complete your summer reading assignment. They are available through the Public Library
System –
* titles are available in audio format.
*The Boy Who Dared – Susan Campbell Bartoletti
In October, 1942, seventeen-year-old Helmuth Hübener, imprisoned for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets, recalls his past
life and how he came to dedicate himself to bring the truth about Hitler and the war to the German people.
Little Blog on the Prairie – Cathleen Davitt Bell
Thirteen-year-old Genevieve's summer at a frontier family history camp in Laramie, Wyoming, with her parents and
brother is filled with surprises, which she reports to friends back home on the cell phone she sneaked in, and which
they turn into a blog.
*Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival
competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss' skills
are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.
Code Orange – Caroline Cooney
While conducting research for a school paper on smallpox, Mitty finds an envelope containing 100-year-old smallpox
scabs and fears that he has infected himself and all of New York City. [Enjoy other titles by this author].
*I Am the Cheese – Robert Cormier
A young boy desperately tries to unlock the past yet knows he must hide those memories if he is to remain alive.
*Watsons Go to Birmingham – Christopher Curtis
The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan,
are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.
*Maze Runner – James Dashner [series]
Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the
community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.
*The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
Nobody Owens is a normal boy, except that he has been raised by ghosts and other denizens of the graveyard.
*Baseball Great – Tim Green
All twelve year old Josh wants to do is play baseball but when his father, a minor league pitcher, signs him up for a
youth championship team, Josh finds himself embroiled in a situation with potentially illegal consequences. [Enjoy
other Tim Green books for young adults].
*Lost Boy - Tim Green
After a near-fatal car accident, twelve-year-old Ryder's mother needs an operation they cannot afford and while a new
friend tries to raise funds, Ryder travels with a grouchy, disabled neighbor, from Yankee Stadium to Turner Field
seeking the major league baseball player who might be Ryder's father.
*Caught – Margaret Peterson Haddix
When Jonah and Katherine travel to early 1900s Switzerland and Serbia to return to Albert Einstein’s daughter Lieseri,
to history, her mother Mileva seems to understand quite a bit about time travel and has an agenda of her own. [enjoy
other titles by this author]
*Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family and Fighting to Get Back on the Board – Bethany Hamilton
Bethany Hamilton, a teenage surfer lost her arm in a shark attack off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. Not even the loss of
her arm keeps her from returning to surfing, the sport she loves.
*Crocodile Tears [series] – Anthony Horowitz
Alex Rider does battle with a charity broker con artist who has invested millions of dollars in a form of modified corn
that can release an airborne strain of virus capable of knocking out an entire country in one day.
Case Closed? Nine Mysteries Unlocked by Modern Science – Susan Hughes
Examines how developments in modern science, such as DNA analysis and spectroscopy, have helped to reopen
archaeological mysteries about ancient cities, Egypt's first female pharaoh, a missing expedition to find the Northwest
Passage, and more, with illustrations, maps, and photographs.
Fish in a Tree- Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her
inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure
dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his
help, Ally learns that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, she discovers that there is a lot
more to her and to everyone than a label, and that great minds donâ
alike.
€™t always think
Abduction – P. Kehret
Thirteen-year-old Bonnie has a feeling of foreboding on the very day that her six-year-old brother Matt and their
Pookie are abducted. She becomes involved in a major search effort as well as a frightening adventure.
*Born to Rock – Gordon Korman
High school senior Leo Caraway, a conservative Republican, learns that his biological father is a punk rock legend.
*Ungifted – Gordon Korman
A hilarious and heartfelt novel in which one middle-school troublemaker accidentally moves into the gifted
and talented program—and changes everything. For fans of Louis This funny and touching underdog story is
a lovable and goofy adventure with robot fights, middle-school dances, live experiments, and statue-toppling
pranks!
*The False Prince [series] – Jennifer Nielsen
In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises
a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans
are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are
more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point -- he must be chosen to play the prince or he will
certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.
*Wonder – R. J. Palacio
Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes
from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the
taunts and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.
Define Normal – Julie Anne Peters
When she agrees to meet with Jasmine as a peer counselor at their middle school, Antonia never dreams that this girl
with the black lipstick and pierced eyebrow will end up helping her deal with the serious problems she faces at home
and become a good friend.
*The Golden Compass – Phillip Pullman
Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from
becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North.
*Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus) – Rick Riordan
Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for three days, and her vivid nightmares reveal that he's in
terrible danger. Now her boyfriend Jason doesn't recognize her, and when a freak storm and strange creatures attack
during a school field trip, she, Jason, and Jason’s friend Leo are whisked away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood.
What is going on? [Enjoy other titles in this series]
*A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith
Young Francie Nolan is armed with her idealism and determination, as she struggles to escape from the poverty of life
in a Brooklyn tenement during the early 1900s.
*Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream – Tanya Lee Stone
What does it take to be an astronaut? : excellence at flying, courage, intelligence, resistance to stress, top physical
shape. But when America created NASA in 1958, there was unspoken rule: you had to be a man. Here is the tale of
thirteen women who proved that they were not only as tough as the toughest man but also brave enough to challenge
the government. This is the story of thirteen true pioneers of the space age.
*The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien
Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard
Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return.
*The Uglies [series]– Scott Westerfield
Just before their sixteenth birthdays, when they will will be transformed into beauties whose only job is to have a great
time, Tally's best friend runs away and Tally must find her and turn her in, or never become pretty at all.
* I am Malala - Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai was only ten years old when the Taliban took control of her region. They said music was a crime.
They said women weren't allowed to go to the market. They said girls couldn't go to school. Raised in a
once-peaceful area of Pakistan transformed by terrorism, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes. So she
fought for her right to be educated. And on October 9, 2012, she nearly lost her life for the cause.