8th Grade English -- Summer Reading Assignment
For the summer, I want you to read well-written, FUN books recommended for your age group. PICK TWO.
DOs and DON’Ts:
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Do find books you haven’t read before. If you’ve read one of these titles, don’t pick that as one of your books
because that would be deceptive.
Don’t read two books from the same series for the same reason as above: this list is fun and designed to get you
to read something new. While I would love for you to read all the books in a series, do your writing assignment
on two books not in the same series.
Do pick a book that looks interesting. A short book that bores you will be much harder to read than a long book
with themes and characters you enjoy.
Do pick a book with your parents’ guidance. Not every book is appropriate for every family.
Don’t wait until just before school to complete this assignment. You will probably not enjoy a book that you’re
panicking to read. Don’t wait more than 2 weeks between finishing a book and doing the writing assignment or
the writing portion will be much more difficult because you’ll forget important parts.
Do email me at [email protected] if you have questions.
RULE OF 3: If you’ve read 30% of the book, or 3 chapters, or at least 30 pages and you still don’t like it, FIND
SOMETHING ELSE! You don’t have to read every book you start. For that reason, borrowing from a friend or the library
is a good idea so you can ditch a book without financial consequences.
Assignment:
I.
II.
Read at least two of these books this summer. Write a story arc for both. Use the description below. These will
be due on the first day of school.
For both books, write a summary that traces the story arc. Mechanics: typed, double-spaced, 12 pt Times New
Roman or Calibri font. EDIT YOUR WORK. Do not turn in work with many grammar or spelling errors. Include
the title (in italics) and author in the first sentence.
Story arc: a way of looking at the plot, in which you answer the questions:
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Who are the main characters?
What do they want? (Beginning)
What obstacles do they face to getting what they want? (Middle)
How do they overcome these obstacles? (End)
Example: Cinderella
Story Arc: (Characters) Cinderella, a classic tale by the Brothers Grimm, follows a young girl enslaved by her
mean stepmother, who not only prefers her own lazy daughters to Cinderella, but denies her stepdaughter all privileges.
(What they want) One day, Cinderella and the stepdaughters are invited to a ball thrown by the Prince at which he will
select a wife. (Obstacles) Cinderella wants to go, but is forbidden by her cruel stepmother, who uses Cinderella’s finery
to dress her own girls. (Resolution) Cinderella, aided by a magical godmother, is outfitted in the finest gown and
attends the ball, where the Prince falls in love with her. Required by magic to be home by midnight, Cinderella must flee
the Prince, but leaves behind one tiny glass shoe, which the Prince uses to find the special girl from the ball and make
her his wife.
Summer Reading Choices
Look these up on Amazon.com for more details. “Coming of age” is the theme underlying nearly all of these stories: it
means they’re about kids having a particular crisis that brings about some maturity. In no particular order:
Leonardo’s Shadow, Christopher Grey. Servant and orphan Giacomo, age 14, performs chores and errands for his
master, the famous Leonardo da Vinci as the latter struggles with poverty, politics and technical obstacles to completing
his famous painting “The Last Supper.” Quick reading as Giacomo’s saga unfolds.
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, Gary Schmidt. A wonderful author; this is about small-town hypocrisy and
bigotry, finding your place in the world and interracial friendships.
The Testament, John Grisham. A thriller by this best-selling author, this story revolves around the lives of three people:
an exceedingly rich man on his death bed, the missionary hidden deep in the jungle to whom he wants to give his
inheritance, and the lawyer contracted to make the transaction. Few bestsellers make Christians “good guys”; this one
does.
So B. It, Sarah Weeks. A fascinating story about the daughter of a mentally disabled mother and her adventures seeking
her father.
No Promises In the Wind, Irene Hunt. Two brothers, struggling with the fallout from the Great Depression at home, take
off by themselves to find food, jobs and adventure.
Up A Road Slowly, Irene Hunt. Coming –of-age, “chick lit” that’s much better in terms of writing style and values than
most of what is offered to girls.
The Wednesday Wars, Gary Schmidt. A funny, dramatic story about growing up, meeting girls, playing sports and getting
through school.
90 Minutes in Heaven, Don Piper. Chronicles Don’s experience in heaven followed by his miraculous return to live and
his pain-filled recovery.
Beneath a Marble Sky, John Shors. A fictionalized account of the Emperor who built the Taj Mahal, told through his
daughter’s eyes. A love story and a story about families. Very interesting about a place and time most Americans know
little about.
Payback Time, Carl Deuker. Mitch, overweight and unpopular, dreams of breaking a huge newspaper story. When he
discovers a highly-talented but mysterious new football player, Angel, he thinks he’s found the scoop of a lifetime.
Interesting twists and well-drawn characters.
Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25. Michael seems like an ordinary 14 year old, but he harbors special, secret powers,
and discovers he’s not the only person like himself. A thriller with a positive world-view.
Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer. The underground fairy world is clever, and Colfer writes some of the most entertaining
characters found in young adult fiction.
The Supernaturalists, Eoin Colfer. Set in the future, in a place called Satellite City, fourteen year old Cosmo Hill escapes
from a horrible orphanage. He escapes with the help of “the Supernaturalists,” a motley group of kids attempting to
save humanity by extinguishing the Parasites, which only these kids can see.
Shooting Kabul, NH Senzai. Fadi and his family flee the Taliban in Afghanistan, but during the confusion, Fadi’s six year
old sister gets separated from the family. This is Fadi’s story dealing with his guilt even as he and his family restart their
lives in California. Based on a true story.
Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie, Jordan Sonnenblick. Contemporary, sad and very funny both, about a high school boy
dealing with a crisis, and being saved emotionally by a girl and his drums. A sequel from the younger brother’s
perspective was released this year, called After Ever After. A similar tone, wry and real, though with quite a few scenes
in which Jeffery is obsessed with girls.
Firegirl, Tony Abbott. Contemporary, thought-provoking story about friendship and being on the outside of the
“popular” or even “normal” people.
Nick of Time, Ted Bell. About a boy who travels in time, defeats Nazis, assists Lord Nelson on the high seas, and saves his
sister’s life. Nicely drawn relationships between Nick and his family make this not-great-written story worthwhile.
Notes from the Dog, Gary Paulsen. Fifteen-year-old Finn is a loner, living with his dad and his amazing dog, Dylan. As he
befriends a neighbor, he begins to see his strengths in connecting with people in his own way.
Jim the Boy, Tony Early. Simple, lovely sentences and unsentimental responses to difficult times propel this book about
a 10-year-old boy's growing up in the wake of his father’s death in the 1930s. His relationships with his grandfather and
uncles are some of the best-drawn male friendships I’ve ever read, but the pacing is deliberate (i.e., an absorbing story
but with little action).
A Charmed Life Series, Jenny Jones. (3 titles are options: So Not Happening, I’m So Sure, So Over My Head). Bella is a
typical witty, even sometimes sassy, teenager who finds personal struggles and mysteries to solve in these charming
stories. Light summer reading, and expressly Christian characters, but not serious or challenging.
The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Emmuksa Orczy. This classic novel is hard to categorize except to call it unexpectedly
delightful. It is part romance, part adventure, part spy thriller, and part superhero fiction. All of these elements went
into the pot and the resulting stew is extremely entertaining. Please note the word “d---“ is used frequently. Students
will enjoy this much more if they do a quick web search on the guillotine victims during the French revolution so they
understand the setting.
Eva, Peter Dickinson. Following a terrible car crash, Eva, 14, has had her functioning brain removed from her crushed
body and put it into the able body of a chimpanzee. A dark, futuristic, unusual book about the meaning of being human.
Similar tone and setting as The Hunger Games, but not as fast-paced.
The #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith. People either love or hate this series; their pacing and welldrawn relationships make them some of my favorites. Set in modern Botswana, Mma (aka Precious) Ramotswe,
Botswana's one and only lady private detective, solves mysteries in her small town.
Chosen, Ted Dekker. Though often labeled as “Christian,” these aren’t Christian novels except that his worldview is
from a Christian viewpoint. Chosen is part of a much longer series; any of the books in the series, except for the graphic
novels, are acceptable.
The Apothecary, Maile Meloy. Janie, forced to move to London by her Communist Hollywood screenwriting parents,
meets an unusual apothecary and his son. Drawn into their lives, she’s swept into a race to save the world. Instead of
attributing the powers demonstrated in the story to magic, it attributes them to scientific advances hidden from the
public.
The Heart of the Samurai, Margi Preus. A true story. In 1841, 14 year old Manjiro and four Japanese friends are
stranded on a deserted island by a storm. Manjiro tells of his rescue by an American whaling ship captain, his brief time
living in America, and his desire to return to his native Japan.
Navigating Early, Clare Vanderpool. After his mother’s death, Jack Baker’s Navy captain father moves him from Kansas
to a Maine boarding school. Suffering, Jake is only able to befriend Early, an Asperger’s boy obsessed with the number
pi; in fact, Early has created a story based on the numbers in pi that mimics a quest Early and Jack go on. Not a fastmoving story, but very thoughtful and interesting, especially for kids who feel like outsiders or who know Asperger’s
kids.
An Invisible Thread, Laura Schroff. In the 1980’s, Scroff encounters Maurice Maczyk panhandling in Manhattan and they
embark on a unique friendship that has lasted to this day. Part of this book is about Schroff’s own abusive childhood
(mostly verbal abuse from her father), but the best scenes are descriptions of Maurice’s chaotic, drug-ridden life. Would
be good for kids who have done service for the homeless or care about the downtrodden, though it includes a scene
about how Maurice’s mother makes extra money for drugs that might be offensive to some families.
Divergent (also Insurgent), Veronica Roth. A current obsession with many of the junior high girls, this is a very fastpaced, exciting and thought-provoking story. Some scenes will be too graphic for some families – the violence is PG-13
and the romance is PG (hugging and kissing). If you’ve read these already, pick another title! 