EIGHTH GRADE SUMMER READING LIST

 

Choose one of the following books which have been grouped by genre and read it over the summer.  When you finish reading your book, write a brief summary.  You will complete an additional assignment for the book when you return to school.

 

 

ACTION/ADVENTURE

 

Boy’s Life                                                        McCammon

Cirque de Freak                                      Shan

Deathwatch                                                     White

Dr. Franklin’s Island                                      Halam

Ghost Canoe                                                   Hobbs

Jason’s Gold                                                   Hobbs

Leaving Protection                                           Hobbs

Raven’s Gate                                                  Horowitz

Something Wicked this Way Comes                 Bradbury

Stormbreaker                                                  Horowitz

White Star: A Dog on the Titanic             Crisp

Wolf Rider                                                       Avi

Young Man and the Sea                             Philbrick

 

 

CLASSICS

 

Adventures of Tom Sawyer                            Twain

All Creatures Great and Small               Herriot

Call of the Wild                                         London

Cheaper by the Dozen                                            Gilbreth

Christy                                                                        Marshall

Count of Monte Cristo                           Dumas

Dandelion Wine                                        Bradbury

Gone with the Wind                                        Mitchell

The Good Earth                                       Buck

Great Escape                                                  Brickhill

Gulliver’s Travels                                                Swift

Hound of the Baskervilles                             Doyle

Huckleberry Finn                                         Twain

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings                    Angelou

Little Women                                                   Alcott

Lord of the Flies                                        Golding

The Lottery Rose                                         Hunt

Jane Eyre                                                        Bronte

Old Man and the Sea                                                Hemingway

Profiles in Courage                                              Kennedy

Rebecca                                                           DuMaurier

The Red Pony                                                  Steinbeck

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn                              Smith

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea            Verne

White Fang                                                     London

 

 

 

FANTASY

 

Airborn                                                            Oppel

Alvin Maker Series                                       Card

The Amulet of Samarkand                              Stroud

Book of Merlin                                                White

Chronicles of Prydain Series                          Alexander

City of Ember                                                 DuPrau

Coraline                                                          Gaiman

The Dark Is Rising                                      Cooper

Dragon Riders of Pern Series                           McCaffrey

Dragon’s Egg                                                  Forward

Dune                                                                Herbert

Earthsea Trilogy                                      LeGuin

The Golden Compass                                             Pullman

Have a Hot Time, Hades!                           McMullan

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy                        Adams

On a Pale Horse                                       Anthony

Opal Deception                                            Colfer

Princess Academy                                             Hale

Redwall Series                                      Jacques

Sabriel                                                             Nix

Sword of Shanara                                               Brooks

Watership Down                                       Adams

 

HISTORICAL FICTION

 

Al Capone Does My Shirts                           Choldenko

Ashes for Roses                                       Auch

Assassin                                                           Meyers

Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman           Gaines

B for Buster                                                     Lawrence

Blood on the River; Jamestown, 1607            Carbone

A Boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor            Mazer

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee                Brown

Dear Miss Breed                                       Oppenheim

The Devil’s Arithmetic                               Yolen

Esperanza Rising                                      Ryan

Fever: 1793                                                    Halse

Kira Kira                                                         Kadohata

The Land                                                         Taylor

A Light in the Storm: the Civil War Diary   Hesse

of Amelia Martin…

Mississippi Morning                                              Zee

My Lousiana Sky                                          Holt

Nory Ryan’s Song                                        Giff

Out of the Dust                                         Hesse

The River Between Us                                         Peck

Rodzina                                                           Cushman

The Silent Boy                                                 Lowry

Stillness at Appamatox                             Caton

Summer of My German Soldier             Greene

Trembling Earth                                       Siegelson

The Upstairs Room                                       Rhys

When Legends Die                                           Borland

 

 

NON-FICTION

 

Diary of a Young Girl                                           Frank

Farewell to Manzanar                                            Houston

Getting Away with Murder                            Crowe

Ghandi                                                            Shirer

The Hiding Place                                       ten Boom

How Angel Peterson Got His Name                    Paulsen

Ideas and Opinions                                              Einstein

In Defense of Liberty: the Story of                       Freedman

America’s Bill of Rights

Into Thin Air                                                   Krakauer

Ishi, Last of His Tribe                                             Kroeber

Left for Dead: A Young Man’s Search            Nelson

For Justice for the USS Indianapolis

Old Hickory: Andrew Jackson and the       Marrin

American People

Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story            Fleischman

About Brain Science                                                           

Photo by Brady: A Picture of the Civil War            Armstrong

Shattered: Stories of Children and War            Armstrong, ed.

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman                     Feynman

Up from Slavery                                                Washington

The Voice that Challenged a Nation:                        Freedman

 Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights

West with the Night                                       Markham

 

 

 

 

 

REALISTIC YOUNG ADULT FICTION

 

All Alone in the Universe                            Perkins

Athletic Shorts                                                            Crutcher

The Boy Who Saved Baseball                                   Ritter

Bucking the Sarge                                       Curtis

The Chocolate War                                         Cormier

Crackback                                                      Coy

Crash                                                              Spinelli

Criss Cross                                                      Perkins

The Cuckoo’s Child                                       Freeman

Flipped                                                            Van Draanen

Homecoming                                                   Voigt

Homeless Bird                                                 Whelan

Hope Was Here                                        Bauer

I Am the Cheese                                     Cormier

Joey Pigza Series                                       Gantos

Make Lemonade                                           Wolff

No More Dead Dogs                                        Korman

Pictures of Hollis Woods                           Giff

So B. It                                                                        Weeks

Stargirl                                                            Spinelli

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes                         Crutcher

Stotan!                                                             Crutcher

A Summer to Die                                           Lowry

Travel Team                                                    Lupica

The Truth About Forever                                    Dresden

What My Mother Doesn’t Know             Sones

The Year of Secret Assignments                Moriarty

You Don’t Know Me                                             Klass

 

 

SCIENCE FICTION

 

Brave New World                                      Huxley

Dark Side of Nowhere                                              Shusterman

Doom Stone                                                    Zindel

Eager                                                              Fox

Fantastic Voyage                                                Asimov

Fahrenheit 451                                          Bradbury

Foundation Trilogy                                     Asimov

Gathering Blue                                         Lowry

Hidden Talents                                                Lubar

The House of the Scorpion                            Farmer

Invitation to the Game                                Hughes

The Last Book in the Universe                      Philbrick

Mortal Engines                                               Reeve

Pendragon Series                                       MacHale

Phoenix Rising                                                Hesse

Rendevous with Rama                                           Clark

Singularity                                                       Sleator

Tomorrow When the War Began              Marsden

War of the Worlds                                     Wells

White Mountains                                           Christopher

Z for Zacariah                                                 O’Brien     

              

Suggested Reeding for 8th Graders

* Indicates authors and titles a high school freshman should know well.

Book Title


Book Author

Across Five Aprils

      

Hunt, Irene

    

Adventures of Tom Sawyer

      

Twain, Mark


*

Alice in Wonderland

      

Carroll, Lewis

  

*

All Creatures Great and Small

      

Herriot, James

    

Alvin Maker Series

      

Card, Orson Scott

    

Animal Farm

      

Orwell, George

  

*

Anne of Green Gables

      

Montgomery, L.N.

  

Athletic Shorts

      

Crutcher, Chris

    

Autobiorgaphy of Miss Jane Pittman

      

Gaines, Ernest

    

Black Beauty

      

Sewell, Anna

    

Black Like Me

      

Griffin, John

    

Bless the Beasts and the Children

      

Swarthout, Glendon

    

Book of Merlin

      

White, T.H.

    

Born Free

      

Adamson, Joy

    

Brave New World

      

Huxley, Aldous

  

*

Brian's Song

      

Blinn, William

    

Bridge to Terabithia

      

Patterson, Katherine

  

*

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

      

Brown, Dee

    

Captains Courageous

      

Kipling, Rudyard

  

*

Children of the River

      

Crew, Linda

    

Christmas Carol

      

Dickens, Charles

  

*

Chronicles of Prydain Series

      

Alexander, Lloyd

  

*

Contender, The

      

Lipsyte, Robert

    

Count of Monte Cristo, The
Crispin

      

Dumas, Alexandre
Avi

    
*

Dark is Rising, The

      

Cooper, Susan

    

Death Be Not Proud

      

Gunter, John

    

Deathwatch

      

White, Robb

    

Diary of a Young Girl

      

Frank, Anne

  

*

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

      

Stevenson, Robert

  

*

Dragon Riders of Pern Series

      

McCaffrey, Anne

    

Dragon's Egg

      

Forward, Robert

    

Dune

      

Herbert, Frank

    

Earthsea Trilogy

      

LeGuin, Ursula

  

*

Education of Little Tree, The
Ella Enchanted

        
Gail Carson Levine
    

Ender's Game

      

Card, Orson Scott

    

Fahrenheit 451

      

Bradbury, Ray

  

*

Farewell to Manzanar

      

Houston, Jeanne

   

Fellowship of the Rings

      

Tolkien, J.R.R.

    

Flatland

            

Flowers for Algernon

      

Keyes, Daniel

    

Foundation Trilogy

      

Asimov, Issac

    

Ghandi

      

Shirer

    

Gift from the Sea

      

Lindbergh, Anne Morrow

    

Gone With the Wind

      

Mitchell, Margaret

    

Good Earth, The

      

Buck, Pearl S.

    

Great Escape

      

Brickhill

    

Gulliver's Travels

      

Swift, Jonathan

    

Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates

Hatchet        

     

Dodge, Mary Mapes
Gary Paulsen

    
*

Heidi

      

Spyri, Johanna

    

Hitchhikers' Guide to the Gallaxy

      

Adams, Douglass

    

Hobbit, The
Holes

      

Tolkien, J.R.R.
Louis Sachar

  

*

Homecoming

      

Voigt, Cynthia

    

Homesick, My Own Story

      

Fritz, Jean

    

Hound of the Baskervilles
House of the Scorpion

      

Doyle, Arthur Connan
Nancy Farmer

  

*

Huckleberry Finn

      

Twain, Mark

    

I am the Cheese

      

Cormier, Robert

    

I Heard the Owl Call My Name

      

Craven, Margaret

    

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

      

Angelou, Maya d'

  

*

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

      

Greenberg, Joanne

    

I, Robot

      

Asimov, Issac

  

*

Ideas and Opinions

      

Einstein

    

Incredible Journey, The

      

Bumford, Sheila

    

Jane Eyre

      

Bronte, Charlotte

    

Johnny Tremain

      

Forbes, Esther

    

Jungle Book

      

Kipling, Rudyard

  

*

Karen

      

Killiea

    

Kidnapped

      

Stevenson, Robert

    

Kim

      

Kipling, Rudyard

    

Kon Tiki

      

Heyerdahl, Thor

    

Land I Lost, The

      

Huynh, Quang Nhuon

    

Last of the Mohicans

      

Cooper, James Fennimore

    

Legend of Sleepy Hollow

      

Irving, Washington

  

*

Les Miserables

      

Hugo, Victor

    

Light in the Forest

      

Richter, Conrad

    

Little Men

      

Alcott, Louisa May

    

Little Women
Long Way From Chicago, A

      

Alcott, Louisa May
Richard Peck

  

*

Lord of the Flies

      

Golding, William

    

Lost Horizon

      

Hilton, James

    

Martian Chronicles

      

Bradbury, Ray

    *

Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

      

Pyle, Howard

    

Miracle Worker

      

Gibson, William

    

Mouse on the Moon

            

Mutiny on the Bounty Trilogy

      

Nordhoff, Charles

    

My Antonia

      

Caruthers

    

Night to Remember

      

Lord, Walter

    

Nothing But the Truth

      

Avi

    

Old Man and the Sea

      

Hemmingway

  

*

On a Pale Horse

      

Anthony, Piers

    

Once and Future King
Out of the Dust

      

White, T.H.
Karen Hesse

  

*

Pearl, The

      

Steinbeck, John

  

*

Picture of Dorian Gray

          

*

Pride and Prejudice

      

Austen, Jane

    

Profiles in Courage

      

Kennedy, John F.

    

Rebecca

      

DuMaurier, Daphne

    

Red Pony, The
Redwall Series

      

Steinbeck, John

    

Rendezvous with Rama

      

Clark, Arthur C.

    

Return of the King

      

Tolkien, J.R.R.

    

Rifles for Waite

      

Keith, harold

    

Robinson Crusoe

      

Defoe, Daniel

  

*

Scarlet Pimpernel

      

Orczy, B. Emma

    

Scarlett Letter

      

Hawthorne, Nathaniel

  

*

Something Wicked This Way Comes

      

Bradbury, Ray

    

Sounder

      

Armstrong, William

    

Spitit of St. Louis

      

Lindbergh, Charles

    

Stillness at Appomattox

      

Caton, Bruce

    

Summer of My German Soldier

      

Greene, Bette

    

Surely You'e Joking, Mr. Feynman

      

Feynman

    

Swiss Family Robinson

      

Wyss, Johann

    

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

      

Doyle, Arthur Connan

    

Three Musketeers

      

Dumas, Alexandre

    

To Kill a Mockingbird

      

Lee, Harper

    

To Race the Wind

      

Krentz, Harold

    

Treasure Island

      

Stevenson, Robert

  

*

Tree Grows in Brooklyn

      

Smith, Betty

    

True Confession of Charlotte Doyle

      

Avi

    

Trumpeter of Krakow, The

      

Kelly, Eric

    

Tuck Everlasting

      

Babbitt, Natalie

    

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

      

Verne, Jules

  

*

Two Years Before the Mast

      

Dana, Richard Henry

  

*

Up From Slavery
View from Saturday, The
Walk Two Moons

      

Washington, Booker T.
E.L. Konigsburg
Sharon Creech

  

*
*

War of the Worlds

      

Wells, H.G.

    

Watership Down

      

Adams, Richard

    

West with the Night

      

Markham,

   

When the Legends Die

      

Borland, Hal

    

White Fang

      

London, Jack

  

*

White Mountains

      

Christopher, John

    

Wind in the Willows

      

Grahame, Kenneth

  

*

Wizard of Oz, The

      

Baum, Frank

  

*

Z for Zachariah

      

O'Brien, Robert