Summer Reading and Writing- 7th and 8th Grade
Please read at least one book over summer vacation. Below is a list of the "Teen Nutmeg Book
Award Nominees" for 2009 that are great choices. There are numerous other book options on
Carol Hurst's website (http://www.carolhurst.com), where you can search titles by grade level,
read reviews of the books, and find book links and additional resources. Teachers also encourage
students to do some nonfiction reading, so there is a list of topics that relate to the Social Studies
and Science themes studied next year. You might consider selecting a graphic novel. Many of the
classics, such as The Invisible Man and Black Beauty, are now available in graphic novel form.
When you have finished reading your book, please complete the assignments that follow the
suggestions.
Teen Nutmeg Nominees 2010
Accidental Love by Gary Soto
Boy meets girl (accidentally), girl falls for boy (love). But they're from two different schools,
two different neighborhoods, and truly two different worlds. The odds of them making it are
slim to none in this well-crafted story of young love.
Code Orange by Caroline Cooney
While completing his infectious disease report for science class, Mitty fears he may have
contracted smallpox. When he searches the internet for information about this disease, he alerts a
terrorist group who plans to kidnap him and use him as a biological weapon against the people of
New York City.
Crackback by John Coy
Miles can't remember why football was fun after being sidelined by a new coach, criticized
by his father, and shunned by his best friend for avoiding performance-enhancing drugs.
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick
What is the most annoying thing in the world? For Steven, the answer is obvious; his little
brother Jeffrey. When Steven finds out that Jeffrey is sick, however, he must use all of his skills
as a drum-playing, girl-crushing, friend-finding, parent-manipulating teenager to help his family
keep laughing through this heartbreaking year.
Epic by Conor Kostick
Epic is a fantasy role-playing game that is more than just a game—-it's New Earth's government
and economy. Everyone has always played Epic the same way, by slowly accumulating wealth,
but no one can rival the Committee, the world's tyrannical ruling group. But Erik, a risk taker,
thinks he and his friends may be able to change all that.
Eves of the Emperor by Graham Salisbury
It is 1941. Eddy Okubo is 16 years old, a Japanese American, and enlists in the US Army to
protect the country he loves. The Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, and suddenly Eddy is the
enemy. He and 24 other Japanese American soldiers are sent on a terrifying secret mission that
will test their loyalty and courage.
Jeremy Fink and The Meaning of Life by Wendy Maas
If before your 13th birthday, you received a quadrupled-locked, mysterious box engraved "The
Meaning of Life", lovingly handcrafted by your dead father, what do you do? You run around
all of Manhattan with your best friend, trying to find the missing four keys.
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Miranda, a sixteen-year-old high school sophomore, is looking forward to getting her license,
junior year, and just being a teenager. She doesn't give a second thought to the news of a meteor
speeding towards the moon, until it hits. Life as she knew it will never return.
Pieces of Georgia by Jen Bryant
Artistic loner Georgia McCoy writes a series of letters to her dead mother in the hope of
understanding her father's sadness, her friend's curiosity about drugs, and her own feelings of
loneliness. When she receives an anonymous membership to the local art museum, Georgia's life
changes dramatically.
Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
When Stephenie's uncle dies and includes her in his will, she meets Skulduggery Pleasant and
quickly enters a world of secrets, magic, and danger. Can Stephenie and Skulduggery work
together to defeat the evil powers of Serpine?
CHARACTER EDUCATION READING LIST
As part of our continuous effort to improve the quality of our school environment, we are adding a character education summer reading list as a new choice for your summer enjoyment. Next year we will be focusing on character traits each month and the lessons explained in the following books below; will be a great lead-­‐in to our character education focus. While we currently hold the Connecticut Association of Schools’, ‘School Climate Award”, we are always striving to improve the education of our students and the feeling of the Mystic Middle Community. Also, with the addition of the Dean of Students who will focus on student life, these books will help prepare you with great mind frame with which to start the 2010-­‐2011 school year. As a community of teachers and learners it has always been our goal to provide new and different learning experiences for you to practice and our character education reading list is just one more example of us striving towards fulLilling this goal. Enjoy the summer reading selections!
7th Grade Character Education Topics:
So B. It by Sarah Weeks
Heidi and her mother have lived in an apartment that adjoins with their neighbor, Bernadette,
since the 12-year-old was probably no more than a week old. Bernadette accepted and loved
them from the moment they arrived at her door but could never ask questions since Heidi's
mentally challenged mother simply "didn't have the words to answer them." Bernadette's
agoraphobia further isolates the child. Heidi struggles with knowing nothing about her father
or her family history, and never having a real last name.
The Misfits by James Howe
Bobby Goodspeed, an overweight seventh grader who lives with his underachieving father,
narrates the book. He works part-time as a tie salesman in a department store. He and his
unpopular friends, known as the "Gang of Five," decide to run for student council on an
alternative platform called the "No-Name-Party." The candidates must face-off with the
administration and opposing parties, and convince their fellow classmates of the damage
caused by name-calling. In the process, members of the group learn about love, loss, and the
true meaning of diversity.
Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass
The lives of three young people intersect and transform against the backdrop of a total solar
eclipse. Homeschooled Ally has grown up at the remote Moon Shadow Campground, which
her family runs. An eclipse, which can be viewed only from this site, is approaching, and
ahead of it come Bree, an aspiring model obsessed with popularity, and Jack, a reclusive artist
and avid sci-fi reader. Ally's sheltered world is about to open up as she discovers that her
parents plan to cede management of the campground to Bree's parents after the event.
Schooled by Gordon Korman
Home schooled on an isolated "alternate farm commune" that has dwindled since the 1960s to
2 members, 13-year-old Cap has always lived with his grandmother, Rain. When she is
hospitalized, Cap is taken in by a social worker and sent—like a lamb to slaughter—to middle
school. Smart and capable, innocent and inexperienced (he learned to drive on the farm, but
he has never watched television), long-haired Cap soon becomes the butt of pranks. He reacts
in unexpected ways and, in the end, elevates those around him to higher ground.
7th Grade Nonfiction Reading Topics:
Social Studies: slavery, indentured servitude, Underground Railroad, Civil War,
Reconstruction, Civil Rights
Science: Human Body,'Energy: Simple Machines, Forces That Shape the Earth; Food and
Preservation and Conservation
8th Grade Character Education Topics:
Speak by Laurie Anderson
Speak is an absorbing story of a 9th Grade girl, Melinda. She has entered high school and
very rarely speaks to anyone... not her peers, teachers, and least of all her parents. Something
deep inside Melinda is haunting her and keeping her voice trapped within. Transforming from
a normal, happy middle-school girl to a lone, outsider with very little friends and failing
grades, her teachers and family do not know what to do to help her. This is because she won't
tell them what has caused her to climb within her walls and hide there.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Exploring Indian identity, both self and tribal, Alexie's first young adult novel is a semiautobiographical chronicle of Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, a Spokane Indian from Wellpinit,
WA. The bright 14-year-old was born with water on the brain, is regularly the target of
bullies, and loves to draw. He says, "I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods,
and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats." He expects disaster when he transfers from the
reservation school to the rich, white school in Reardan, but soon finds himself making friends
with both geeky and popular students and starting on the basketball team.
8th Grade Nonfiction Reading Topics:
Social Studies: Spanish American War, The Gilded Age, Roaring Twenties, World War I,
and II, Africa
Science: Robotics, Genetics, Forces of Motion: Bridges, Rocketry; Earth, Sun and Moon
Summer Reading Assignment
After reading your book, choose any 2 of the topics below to write about. On a separate
sheet of paper, write a short paragraph for each, using details from the book to support your
answer.
Explain....
• what surprised you or that you found interesting. Why did you find it interesting?
• you favorite or least favorite parts of the book and why you think so.
• what you noticed about the characters and how they changed?
• what you thought about the ending- was it surprising or not? Why?
• why you chose the book. Did it live up to your expectations? Why or why not?
• whether you would recommend this book to another reader. Tell why or why not.
• how the author captured your interest and pulled you into the book.
• how this book reminds you of yourself, or people you know or of something that
happened in your life.
At the top of the paper remember to write:
1. your name
2. the title
3. author
Also, parents, consider possible summer writing activities
Here are simple ways to engage your student in writing activities over the summer.
Travel
Journaling — for nature
walks, beach walks,
travel diary
Writing to others emails
postcards
writing captions for digital photo albums (or regular photo albums) Find
a Pen Pal - on line or snail mail Games
Online word games,
Scrabble, Mad Libs, crossword puzzles