Suggestions
...from our teachers’ bookcases
Suggestions
...from our students’ bookcases
1. Amazing Gracie: a Dog’s Tale, by Dye & Beckloff
1. Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rawling
2. Lone Survivor, by Mark Luttrell
2. Tossing Heat: The Ken Ryan Story, by Ken Ryan
3. Comeback, by Dave Dravecky
3. Miracle’s Boys, by Jacqueline Woodson
4. Hungry Ocean, by Linda Greenlaw
4. Slam, by Walter Dean Myers
5. Winter Dance, by Gary Paulson
5. Lord of the RIngs Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
6. The Last Best League, by Jim Collins
6. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
7. The Call of the Running Tide, by Nancy Price Graff
7. The Host, by Stephanie Meyer
8. The City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau
8. Loch, by Paul Zindel
9. The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan
9. The Wanderer, by Sharon Creech
10. Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech
10. Eragon series, Christopher Paolini
11.Tangerine, by Edward Blor
11. Found, Margaret Peterson Haddix
12. The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton
12. Firestorm, David Klass
13. Escape From Slavery, by Francis Bok
13. Cirque du Freak, by Darren Shan
14. Night, by Elie Wiesel
14. Kaleidoscope Eyes, by Jen Bryant
15. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie
15. My Life in Dog Years, by Gary Paulsen
16. Bleachers, by John Grisham
16. Night Hoops, by C. Deuker
17. 3 Nights in August, by Buzz Bissinger
17. Silent to the Bone, E. L. Konigsburg
18. Shoeless Joe Jackson, by W.P. Kinsella
18. Eldest, Christopher Paolini
19.The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd
19. The Lemonade War, by Jacqueline Davies
20. Brunelleschi’s Dome, by Ross King
20. Horns and Wrinkles, by Joseph Helgerson
21. Snow in August, by Pete Hamill
21. The Cardturner, by Louis Sachar
22. Wisdom of Our Fathers, by Tim Russert
22. The Prince of Mist, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
23. The Mayflower, Nathaniel Philbrick
23. Buried Onions, by Gary Soto
24. Same Kind of Different As Me, Ron Hall & Denver
24. To Be A Slave, by Julius Lester
DR. KEVIN M. HURLEY
MIDDLE SCHOOL - 8TH GRADE
September 2010 8th Grade Summer Reading
Dr. Kevin M. Hurley Middle School
650 Newman Avenue
Seekonk, Massachusetts
508 - 761- 7570
† Personal Choice Novel ¢
It is strongly recommended that you take notes on the books or
use sticky notes to mark passages you find significant, confusing, amusing, or interesting. Think about themes and messages;
characters and relationships; settings and the contribution of the
settings to the action, conflicts, plot, imagery. and figurative
language.
Bring your novels and notes to class on
the first day of school in September
Ask Questions & Find Study Guides
Massachusetts Department of Education
Definitions: http://www.doe.mass.edu
Helpful Definitions:
Author’s Style: It is the writer’s unique way of communicating
ideas. Elements contributing to style include word choice, sentence length, tone, figurative language, and use of dialogue.
Tone: It is an expression of a writer’s attitude toward a subject.
Unlike mood, which is intended to shape the reader’s emotional
response, tone reflects the feelings of the writer. Tone can be
serious, humorous, sarcastic, playful, ironic, …
Setting: It is the time and place of the action in a novel.
2010 - 2011 8th Grade Students
Personal Choice Novel Suggested Journal Entries
It is strongly recommended that you take notes on the books
or use sticky notes to mark passages you find significant,
confusing, amusing, or interesting. Think about themes,
messages, characters and relationships, settings, conflicts,
imagery, and figurative language.
Suggestions for Taking Notes
Mood: It is the feeling or atmosphere (setting) the writer creates
for the reader. The use of connotation, details, dialogue, imagery, figurative language, foreshadowing, setting, and rhythm
can help establish mood.
Keep a journal as you read.
• Bring your summer reading journal with you on the first day of
school in September.
Imagery: Words and phrases that create vivid sensory experiences for the reader. Most images are visual, but imagery may
appeal to the senses of smell, hearing, taste, or touch.
• Each journal entry must include a quote from the novel that
inspired your response. Use the sample rubric below to help
you write your journal entries.
Character Development: The method a writer uses to develop
characters. There are four basic methods:
• The writer may describe the character’s physical characteristics and appearance
• A character’s nature may be revealed through his/her
own speech, thoughts, feelings, or actions
• The speech, thoughts, feelings or actions of other character’s can be used to develop a character
• The narrator can make direct comments about another
character
• Identify the copyright date. Learn something about that time in
history.
Plot: The plot is the action or sequence of events in a story.
Plot is usually a series of related incidents that build to develop
the story. There are five basic elements in a plot line: conflict,
rising action, climax, falling action, denouement.
Theme: The theme is a central idea, primary action, or abstract
concept that is made concrete in person, action, and image.
Sometimes the theme is directly stated in the work, and sometimes it is given indirectly. There may be more than one major
theme in a given work, but there can be minor themes.
Symbol: A symbol is a person, place, or thing that represents
something beyond itself. Symbols can succinctly communicate
complicated, emotionally rich ideas.
Figurative Language: Figurative Language is language that
communicates ideas beyond the ordinary or literal meaning of
the words. For example: author’s use simile, metaphor, personification, and/or hyperbole, etc., to convey a deeper meaning to the audience.
Bookmark for educational purposes only!
Sample Journal Entry Rubric
Suggested Journal Entries:
• Entry 1: Personal Choice Novel
Why did you choose the novel?
Did someone recommend the novel to you?
Did you like your choice after you read the novel?
Would you recommend the novel to someone else?
• Entry 2: Identify the setting of your novel:
World maps/history and geography
Where in the world is the setting?
When was the novel written? (copyright date)
• Entry 3: Identify the genre of your novel:
Fiction
Nonfiction
Poetry
Drama
• Entry 4: Novels and Ecology:
Define “recycled materials.”
Publishing Novels With Recycled Materials
4
3
2
1
The entry includes a relevant quote that the student clearly explained.
Exceeds the
Standard
Meets the
Standard
Approaching
the Standard
Below the
Standard
The entry shows exemplary self-reflection and analytical thinking.
Exceeds the
Standard
Meets the
Standard
Approaching
the Standard
Below the
Standard
The entry clearly connects ideas from the novel to events in the student’s
life or to people and the events in the real world.
Exceeds the
Standard
Meets the
Standard
Approaching
the Standard
Below the
Standard
The entry identifies the copyright date. The student uses the copyright
date to learn one fact about the author and this time in history.
Exceeds the
Standard
Meets the
Standard
Approaching
the Standard
Below the
Standard
The entry follows the rules of language usage, punctuation, and spelling.
Exceeds the
Standard
Meets the
Standard
Approaching
the Standard
Below the
Standard