8th Grade Summer Reading Program
Dear 8th grade students,
We are excited to announce this year’s summer reading program! The purpose of the
summer reading program is two-fold:
1. To encourage students to read for pleasure.
2. To provide students with a common reading experience that will be used to start
the year in English class.
Students should expect to participate in class discussions and activities around our
common read, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein. All students will need to bring copies of the
books they have read to school. In the past, some students have found it helpful to read
their texts toward the end of the summer, or to review them at this time, as doing so has
kept the narratives fresh in their minds throughout our early work together.
Before the start of the 2014-2015 academic year, please:
1. Read The Hobbit by J. R.R. Tolkein.
2. Read at least one book from the list below.
3. Use your choice book to write a one-page response to the writing prompt below.
Happy reading,
Mr. Pariano and Mr. Schwartz
Choice Book Writing Assignment:
Once you have finished reading your choice book, write one double-spaced typed page
using the following prompt as your guide. Remember, this is the first piece of writing
that your English teacher will see from you in the fall, so try to show off your best work.
This writing assignment is due on the first day of school, Tuesday, September 2, 2014.
1. Introduction: Include the title and author of the book and a brief summary (1-2
sentences) of the plot.
2. Body: Choose a central character in your book. You may answer all of the
following questions or focus on one or two in detail:
i. What would you identify as the major success or downfall of that
character?
ii. What personality traits led to that success or downfall?
iii. What influenced this character as they were making decisions?
iv. How does this character’s experience contribute to the overall
impact the story had on you?
3. Conclusion: Answer the following questions: How would you rate the text overall
and would you recommend it to a future reader? If you recommend it, what type
of reader would enjoy this text? Use evidence from the text to support your
thinking.
Required reading for all incoming 8th graders:
The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again
J.R.R. Tolkien Houghton Mifflin Paperback Edition (1999) ISBN 0618002219
If you care for journeys there and back, out of the comfortable Western world, over the
edge of the Wild, and home again, and can take an interest in a humble hero (blessed
with a little wisdom and a little courage and considerable good luck), here is a record of
such a journey and such a traveler. The period is the ancient time between the age of
Faerie and the dominion of men, when the famous forest of Mirkwood was still standing,
and the mountains were full of danger. In following the path of this humble adventurer,
you will learn by the way (as he did)—if you do not already know all about these things—
much about trolls, goblins, dwarves, and elves, and get some glimpses into the history
and politics of a neglected but important period.
For Mr. Bilbo Baggins visited various notable persons; conversed with the dragon,
Smaug the Magnificent; and was present, rather unwillingly, at the Battle of the Five
Armies. This is all the more remarkable, since he was a hobbit. Hobbits have hitherto
been passed over in history and legend, perhaps because they as a rule preferred
comfort to excitement. But this account, based on his personal memoirs, of the one
exciting year in the otherwise quiet life of Mr. Baggins will give you a fair idea of the
estimable people now (it is said) becoming rather rare.
(Adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien's own description of the original edition.)
Choice books for incoming 8th graders (please choose one to read
and write about):
The 8th grade English teachers are ecstatic that the incoming 7th graders are such
voracious readers. After reviewing the blog posts from the R.I.C. (Reading is Cool)
program, we have decided to revamp the summer choice book reading list to reflect the
interests and abilities of the rising 8th graders. Our library specialist, Jan, has selected
the following books to challenge and inspire you throughout the summer months.
Happy reading!
ACTION/THRILLER
Evil Genius / Catherine Jinks: A child prodigy and computer hacker discovers his true
identity when he enrolls as a first–year student at an advanced crime academy.
Peak / Roland Smith: After Peak is arrested for scaling a New York City skyscraper, he's
left with two choices: wither away in Juvenile Detention or go live with his long-lost
father, who runs a climbing company in Thailand and who has some big plans for him.
Mt Everest?
The Chaos Code / Justin Richards: Fifteen-year-old Matt and his new friend Robin
travel the globe on a quest to retrieve an ancient code--rumored to have brought down
the ancient civilization of Atlantis--from the hands of a madman who is bent on
destroying the modern world.
Dark Side of Midnight (Spy Girl Series) / Carol Hedges: Jazmin is a super-cool secret
agent with hi-tech kit and a hi-octane life of crime busting... in her dreams! In reality,
she’s a girl with a serious snack habit, whose biggest battles are with her math
homework. But then everything changes....
Mortal Stakes / Robert B. Parker: This is the third in a series of crime books featuring P
I Spenser who is hired by the Red Sox organization to find out if their ace pitcher, Marty
Rabb, is throwing games or allowing hits.
What I Saw and How I Lied / Judy Blundell: Murder and intrigue surround a girl in
this mystery set in America in the aftermath of WWII
Jurassic Park / Michael Crichton: If you like Dan Brown (DaVinci Code) you’ll love
Michael Crichton. Don’t miss his other bestsellers: Congo, The Lost World and Sphere.
We have Always Lived in the Castle / Shirley Jackson: One of the three living
Blackwoods murdered all the rest. But can you guess who? A wonderfully creepy classic
by the acclaimed author of “The Lottery.”
Lord of the Flies / William Golding: A group of schoolboys are the sole survivors from a
plane crash on an uninhabited island. When they form their own society, dissent
descends into chaos and death in this classic novel.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY/ MEMOIR
My Story / Rosa Parks and Jim Haskins: Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a
segregated bus in December, 1955, sparking the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott.
With courage and determination, she became one of only two women activists with the
Montgomery NAACP long before the boycott, and she was also a speaker for the civil
rights movement long afterward.
Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood / Oliver Sacks: Before he became a
neurologist and bestselling author, Oliver Sacks was a small English boy fascinated by
metals, chemical reactions, photography, cuttlefish, H.G. Wells, and the periodic table.
Twenty Chickens and a Saddle: The Story of an African Childhood / Robyn Scott: For
a white child in Botswana on the borders between South Africa and Zimbabwe in the
1980s and 1990s, home is an adventure in paradise, with horses, snakes, crocodiles,
baobab trees, starry nights, and more. A funny, exciting family memoir.
The Radioactive Boy Scout: The True Story of a Boy and His Backyard Nuclear
Reactor / Ken Silverstein: Growing up in suburban Detroit, David Hahn was fascinated
by science and while working on his Atomic Energy badge for the Boy Scouts, his
attention turned to nuclear energy. He began a new project: building a nuclear breeder
reactor in his backyard garden shed.
The Diary of a Young Girl / Anne Frank: Anne writes the story of her refuge from the
Nazis, which began in July 1942 in a back apartment in Amsterdam. Anne and her
family remained in this apartment until August 4, 1944 when the police made a raid on
the apartment and Anne’s family was sent to German and Dutch concentration camps.
Only her father survived, and it was he who saw that Anne’s diary was published.
October Sky / Homer Hickam: Looking back after a distinguished NASA career that
fulfilled his boyhood ambition, Hickam shares the story of his youth, taking readers into
the life of the little mining town and the boys who came to embody both its tensions and
its dreams. With the help – and sometimes hindrance – of the people of Coalwood, the
Rocket Boys learn not only how to turn mine scraps into rockets that soar miles into the
heavens, but also how to find hope in a town that progress is passing by.
CONTEMPORARY FICTION
After Ever After / Jordan Sonnenblick: Although Jeff and Tad, encouraged by a new
friend, Lindsey, make a deal to help one another overcome after effects of their cancer
treatments in preparation for eighth-grade graduation, Jeff still craves advice from his
older brother, Stephen, who is studying drums in Africa.
The Adventures of Blue Avenger / Norma Howe: On his sixteenth birthday, still trying
to cope with the unexpected death of his father, David Schumacher decides--or does he-to change his name to Blue Avenger, hoping to find a way to make a difference in his
Oakland neighborhood and in the world.
The Gospel According to Larry / Janet Tashijan: Seventeen-year-old Josh, a lonerphilosopher who wants to make a difference in the world, tries to maintain his secret
identity as the author of a web site that is receiving national attention.
American Born Chinese / Gene Luen Yang: A smart, witty graphic novel about growing
up Taiwanese in America. Woven with a touch of the Monkey King’s magic thrown in for
fun.
The Lucy Variations / Sarah Zarr: Lucy Beck-Moreau once had a promising future as a
concert pianist. The right people knew her name, her performances were booked
months in advance, and her future seemed certain. That was all before she turned
fourteen. Now she’s lost her chance at fame.
Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter / Adeline Yen Mah:
After her mother dies giving birth to her, Adeline’s powerful family considers her bad
luck. When her father remarries, she is subject to her stepmother’s distain. She yearns
for the love and understanding of her family.
The Secret Life of Bees / Sue Monk Kidd: The story of Lily Owens, whose life has been
shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's
fierce-hearted "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the town's fiercest racists,
Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the
secret to her mother's past. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black
beekeeping sisters who introduce Lily to a mesmerizing world of bees, honey, and the
Black Madonna who presides over their household.
FANTASY/SCI-FI
The Knife of Never Letting Go / Patrick Ness: Todd, one month away from an
important birthday, learns all the tough lessons of adulthood when he is forced to flee
after discovering a secret near the town where he lives. The first book in the Chaos
Walking trilogy.
Incarceron / Catherine Fisher: To free herself from an upcoming arranged marriage,
Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, a futuristic prison with a mind of its
own, decides to help a young prisoner escape. Sequel: Sapphique.
Boneshaker /Cherie Priest: Sixteen years after inventor Leviticus Blue was
commissioned by Russian prospectors to design a drill powerful enough to break
through Alaska's ice--which destroyed a section of downtown Seattle and unearthed a
toxic gas that turned people into zombies--Blue's teenage son, Ezekiel, will need his
mother's help to survive when he sneaks under the wall that keeps the undead confined
within the city.
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn / Alison Goodman: Sixteen-year-old Eon hopes to become an
apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune and learn to be its main
interpreter, but to do so will require much, including keeping the secret that she is a girl.
Sequel: Eonia.
Star Wars: Heir to the Empire / Timothy Zahn: The first volume of a three-book cycle,
depicting the continuing battle between what is left of the Galactic Empire and the
fledgling New Republic, this novel cleverly mixes the characters from the classic trilogy
with a cast of newly created heroes and villains.
Epic / Conor Kostick: On New Earth, a world based on a video role-playing game,
fourteen-year-old Erik persuades his friends to aid him in some unusual gambits in
order to save Erik's father from exile and safeguard the futures of each of their families.
The Martian Chronicles / Ray Bradbury: The first Earth people to attempt the
colonization of Mars try to build their new world in the image of the civilization they left
behind.
The Golden Compass / Phillip Pullman: In an alternative universe, a young girl, guided
by a truth telling compass, pits herself against the darker forces that are fighting for
domination.
Ender’s Game / Orson Scott Card: With humans almost eradicated from the earth, the
military has bred geniuses at war games. It all comes down to one small boy, a genius
among geniuses, to save the planet from aliens.
HISTORICAL FICTION
The Book Thief / Markus Zusak: Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II,
Death relates the story of a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling
talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding.
When My Name Was Keoko / Linda Sue Park: Inspired by her own family's stories of
living in South Korea during the Japanese occupation in the years preceding World War
II, the author chronicles the story of two siblings and their battle to maintain their
identity and dignity during one of Korea's most difficult and turbulent times.
Little Women / Luisa May Alcott: This is the classic tale of Joe March and her sisters
growing up in New England during the Civil War. This story tells of their adventures and
misadventures as the travel into adulthood.
Revolution / Jennifer Donnelly: Contemporary fiction melded with well-researched
historical fiction and a dollop of time travel for a hefty read that brings together two
young women living a hundred years apart; one in Brooklyn and the other in
revolutionary France.
Code Name Verity / Elizabeth Wein: A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied
France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival.
The other has lost the game before it's barely begun. Just how far will friends go to save
each other?
Climbing the Stairs / Padma Venkatraman: In India, in 1941, when her father becomes
brain-damaged in a non-violent protest march, fifteen-year- old Vidya and her family
move in with her father's extended family and become accustomed to a totally different
way of life
Keeper of the Grail / Michael Spradlin: Life becomes much more exciting for Tristan,
an orphan, after he is chosen to be a squire to one of the Knights Templar and is
entrusted with getting the Holy Grail safely back to England. (Youngest Templar)
Girl with a Pearl Earring / Tracy Chevailer: The Dutch painter, Johannes Vermeer
represents one of the greatest enigmas of 17th century art. When Griet, the novel’s
heroine, is hired as a servant in the Vermeer household, turmoil follows.
Dove and Sword: A novel of Joan of Arc / Nancy Garden: A fictionalized account of a
young woman and healer who serves as a narrator of Joan’s efforts to see the true king
of France crowned.
The Rock and the River / Kekla Magoon: In 1968 Chicago, fourteen-year-old Sam
Childs is caught in a conflict between his father's nonviolent approach to seeking civil
rights for African-Americans and his older brother, who has joined the Black Panther
Party.
The Year of the Hangman / Gary Blackwood
The year is 1777. Fifteen-year-old
Creighton has been kidnapped and taken by force from England to the American
colonies, where he becomes involved in the political unrest that may spell defeat for the
patriots and change the course of history.
Years of Wonder / Geraldine Brooks: An English village infected with the plague
decides to quarantine itself to spare the spread of infection to the rest of the world. The
selfless struggles of the villagers are chronicled in this historical novel set in 1666.
HUMOR
As Easy As Falling off the Face of the Earth / Lynne Rae Perkins: A teenage boy
encounters one comedic calamity after another when his train strands him in the middle
of nowhere, and everything comes down to luck.
Burger Wuss / M.T. Anderson: Hoping to lose his loser image, Anthony plans revenge
on a bully, which results in a war between two competing fast food restaurants, Burger
Queen and O'Dermott's.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy / Douglas Adams: Seconds before Earth is
destroyed to make room for a galactic freeway, a young man is rescued by an alien friend
who whisks him away on a space-traveling adventure.
Slot Machine / Chris Lynch: Elvin goes to a camp where he’s supposed to find a sport
that suits him, with awful yet funny results.
Stuck on Earth / David Klass: On a secret mission to evaluate whether the human race
should be annihilated, a space alien inhabits the body of a bullied fourteen-year-old boy.
SPORTS
The Blind Side / Michael Lewis: The story of University of Mississippi football player
Michael Oher, who was raised by a crack addicted mother and adopted at the age of
sixteen by a wealthy family.
Grace, Gold, and Glory: My Leap of Faith / Michelle Burford & Gabrielle Douglas:
Gabrielle Douglas is a two-time Olympic gold medalist. At the 2012 Summer Olympics,
she made history, becoming the first US gymnast to take home a team and an individual
gold medal in the same Olympics.
Friday Night Lights / H. G. Bissinger: Follows the 1988 season of the Permian
Panthers, a high school football team in Odessa, Texas, exploring the lives of the players
and the impact of the championship team on the small town.
Why a Curveball Curves / Frank Vizard (ed): An exploration of the application of
science in sports that explains how to reduce drag to become a faster swimmer, why
Tiger Woods's golf swing is so effective, why a curveball curves, and other related topics.
The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams / Darcy Frey: For many adolescents on
Coney Island, basketball is their only escape from a life of poverty and crime. The Last
Shot chronicles a group of teenagers playing for one of the best teams in New York, the
Abraham Lincoln Secondary School Railsplitters.