2016 SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT
8 GRADE
th
Dear SAAS Student:
This summer, we are asking you to do some reading in preparation for the start of the new school year.
Our objectives for the summer reading are to have you read and enjoy at least one good book. We
know most of you will read many books over the summer, but we want to make sure all of you read at
least one. This year will be choice based. The list below offers a range of choices and styles, and all
stories will allow us to examine the theme of identity. If you’ve read some of the choices below,
challenge yourself by picking something new. Your teachers next year will have a variety of activities
planned so that you can show what you know about the book, and yes, some of these activities will be
graded. If you completed your reading early in the summer, be sure to review your notes before the
start of school so that they are fresh in your mind. Be ready to go on the first day of school.
If you would like ideas for other excellent books to read this the summer—either classics or
contemporary titles—we recommend that you consult your local librarian or references such as The
New York Times Parent’s Guide to the Best Books for Children. You could also consult your
classmates who read a lot or your parents and older siblings. One link you might explore through the
Seattle Public Library, has you enter your name and email address, and answer a question about what
books you have liked, and ones you have not, and then the library will send you a list of possibilities.
If you have any questions about this assignment or 8th grade English, please contact Lauren Lee at
[email protected].
Happy Reading!
The Middle School Faculty
List of Book Options:
Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Princess Bride by William Goldman
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Highest Tide by Jim Lynch
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson
Please annotate your chosen novel with a pencil or pen and bring the annotated copy with you to the
first day of school.
Choose 3-5 elements to track and annotate from this list:
-Summarize important ideas in your own words
-Add connections made (to another book, time period, current event)
-Explain the historical context or traditions/social customs used in the passage.
-Mark passages that you find confusing with a ???
-Write questions you might be about the reading, for the author, or society itself
-Brainstorm questions that you might have for later discussion in class
-Comment on the actions or development of characters
-Comment on things that intrigue, impress, surprise, disturb, etc.
-Note how the author uses language
-Feel free to draw picture when a visual connection is appropriate
-Theme of 8th grade (Identity, interaction, and myself)
-Reoccuring motifs or trends within the arc of the narrative
-Define new words to you
8th grade Writing Assignment:
Use either this New York Times list or the book 642 Things to Write About and select 10 of the
prompts (your choosing) to respond to in an electronic Google Doc or in a hard copy composition
notebook.
This is a summer writing journal. You may respond to more than 10 prompts if you choose. You may
think of this assignment as something you do throughout your summer, periodically checking back in
and recording your ideas and thoughts. It is not intended to be a burdensome and overwhelming
summer assignment, but instead something that will encourage you to exercise your writing and brain
muscles during the few months away from SAAS. We will revisit the journal when school begins in the
Fall.
Please bring your writing and journal to first day of school.
Hello, from your new SAAS Librarian!
Summer is here and so often the instinct for Middle School students is to turn their brains off. To keep
those brains school-ready for the fall, the best things kids can do is read! While they will all be reading
Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game (one of my all-time favorites), see the next page for some other
ideas for fun summer reading. If you’d like more information about the books on that list, or would like to
see other suggestions, visit my list on Good Reads: http://bit.ly/1XAdyQP.
I also encourage every family to make sure your child has public library cards for both Seattle Public
Library and King County Library System. These two systems have a reciprocal borrowing agreement,
meaning even if you live outside Seattle Public’s or King County’s service areas, you may have a library
card at both places. They offer different things, so I encourage you to get both. This will not only help
your child keep reading this summer but will give them access to valuable services once school starts
in the fall, like free online homework help. Both systems offer a range of summer programming for
teens and tweens as well.
If you’re traveling a lot this summer and can’t get to a physical branch, remember that both systems
have huge downloadable collections of e-books and audio books that can be enjoyed on an e-reader
(Kindle, Nook, Kobo), an iPad or other tablet, smartphone, or even on a laptop. With downloadable
materials, you can get them anywhere you have an Internet connection. I like to put audio books on my
phone for road trips. One other benefit to using e-resources this summer is that a lot of the SAAS
library collection is downloadable. If your child learns to use that technology this summer, accessing
school resources will be a snap come fall.
If you have any questions about what SAAS library offers, you may always e-mail me
([email protected]) or visit our SAAS Library web site.
Have a great summer and I look forward to seeing you all at SAAS in the fall!
Meredith Hale
A Few Summer Reading Suggestions for SAAS Middle Schoolers
Graphic Novels
Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Bone by Jeff Smith
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks
Cardboard by Doug TenNapel
Runaways Deluxe, Vol. 1 by Brian K Vaughan
Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke
Contemporary Krampus by Mike Drake
Funny Misshapen Body by Jeffrey Brown
A Study in Scarlet by Ian Edginton
Cartoon History of the Universe Series by Larry Gonick
Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind by Hayao Miyazaki
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Other Good Reads
The City of Ember (trilogy, book #1) by Jeanne DuPrau
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Uglies (trilogy, book #1) by Scott Westerfeld
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
How to be Human: Diary of an Autistic Girl by Florida Frenz
Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
The Wee Free Men (Tiffany Aching series book #1) by Terry Pratchett
Beyond the Deepwoods (Edge Chronicles book #1) by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
Inkheart (trilogy, book #1) by Cornelia Funke
Interstellar Pig by William Sleator
Flight by Sherman Alexie
Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
Larklight (trilogy, book #1) by Philip Reeve
Once and Future King by T.H. White
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl
Sabriel by Garth Nix
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
Mister Monday (Keys to the Kingdom series book #1) by Garth Nix