Summer Reading/Writing Requirements for Incoming 8th Grade

All students entering the eighth grade must read Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson. This book will be used in Literature class during the first weeks of school. There is no summer writing requirement for this book.

The students must also read two books from the list for their summer reading/writing requirement.

Once they have read their selections, they are required to write a synopsis of one of the books. This synopsis should include the title, the author, the setting, and a list of the main characters, a summary of the story explaining the important events and conflicts, and a sentence stating if you would recommend this book to a friend.

For the second book they must re-write the ending to the story. Using the characters and setting of the story the students will make-up their own ending to the story. Make sure you include the title and author of the book. Students use your imagination and have fun with it! 

Each report must be no longer than one paged typed 12 pt, double spaced. Don’t forget your St. Jude heading. The reports are due the first week of school and the students will receive a grade in both English and Literature.

The books on the list include a wide range of subject material as well as reading level. The books are available from the public library, local bookstores and on-line.

We hope that you will read more than the three books required. Take a book along – anytime you have to wait at a doctor or dentist’s office or at a restaurant as well as on vacation. Get a book on tape for those long car rides. The most important thing is to READ! READ! READ!

 We hope that you have a wonderful summer and we will see you next year.

8th Grade Summer Reading List

Required for all incoming 8^th Grade

Carson, Ben   Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story

An autobiography of a black man who is one of today's leading neurosurgeons. While pursuing his career, Carson encountered prejudice, negative peer pressure, and politics in getting a job. His sense of humor, faith in God, patience, and his belief in the work ethic come through.

Choose two of the following books:

Anderson, Laurie Halse     Fever, 1793

In 1793Philadelphia, sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick mother, learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of a yellow fever epidemic.

Armstrong, Jennifer     Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance     

Describes the events of the 1914 Shackleton Antarctic expedition when, after being trapped in a frozen sea for nine months, their ship, Endurance, was finally crushed, forcing Shackleton and his men to make a very long and perilous journey across ice and stormy seas to reach inhabited land.

Epstein, Vivian    History of Women in Science for Young People    

These are the accounts of Women and their role in Science throughout history.

Hershey, John    Hiroshima      

The story of the first atomic bomb and its effects, told by the survivors.

Houston, Jeanne Watkazuki    Farewell to Manzanar     

Farewell to Manzanar is the true story of one spirited Japanese American family's attempt to survive the indignities of forced detention...and of a native-born American child who discovered what it was like to grow up behind barbed wire in the United States.

Lisle, Janet Taylor    Black duck

Years afterwards, Ruben Hart tells the story of how, in 1929 Newport, Rhode Island, his family and his best friend's family were caught up in the violent competition among groups trying to control the local rum-smuggling trade.

Montgomery, Lucy Maud   Anne of Green Gables (Unabridged Classics Series)  

Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her.

O’Dell, Scott    Island of the Blue Dolphins  

Left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, a young Indian girl spends eighteen years, not only merely surviving through her enormous courage and self-reliance, but also finding a measure of happiness in her solitary life.

Riordan, Rick   The Lightning Thief (or any of the series)

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school again. And that’s the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of MountOlympus seem to be walking out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he’s angered a few of them. Zeus’s lightening bolt has been stolen and Percy is the prime suspect.

Steinbeck, John   The Red Pony  

Book of four related stories that chronicle a young boy's maturation. In "The Gift," the best-known story, young Jody Tiflin is given a red pony by his rancher father. Under ranch hand Billy Buck's guidance, Jody learns to care for and train his pony, which he names Gabilan.

Stevenson, R. L.    Kidnapped    

In 1751 in Scotland, cheated out of his inheritance by a greedy uncle who has him kidnapped and put on a ship to the Carolinas, seventeen-year-old David Balfour escapes to the Highlands with the help of the Jacobite Alan Breck Stewart and there encounters further danger and intrigue as he attempts to clear his name and regain his property.

Stevenson R. L.   Treasure Island     

While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, the mistress of the inn and her son find a treasure map that leads them to a pirate's fortune.

White, Robb    Deathwatch    

An exciting novel of suspense, based on a fight to the finish between an honest and courageous young man and a cynical business tycoon who believes that anything can be had for a price.

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