Mrs. Richter TeacherWeb Update Great Books for 8th Graders

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Magorian         GOOD NIGHT, MR. TOM <o:p></o:p>
    A quiet, abused boy is evacuated from London to the countryside during World War II. With the help of Mr. Tom,he learns to be friendly and not afraid. Then a telegram from his mother says he must return to London immediately. <o:p></o:p>
McKinley          THE HERO AND THE CROWN <o:p></o:p>
Aerin, the only child of the King of Damar and his rightful heir, battles Maur, the Black Dragon, meets the wizard lutl'1e, and faces the evil mage Agsded who has seized the Hero's Crown - the greatest treasure and the strength of Damar. <o:p></o:p>
Myers             BAD BOY, A MEMOIR <o:p></o:p>
Popular young adult author, Walter Dean Myers, shares the story of his own troubled teen years. See also his biography, THE GREATEST: MUHAMMAD ALI. <o:p></o:p>
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Myers             MONSTER <o:p></o:p>
When sixteen·year-old Steve Harmon is charged as an adult accomplice to a murder, he uses his love of film-making and presents his case as a movie. Is Steve the monster the prosecutor says he is, or is he a victim of circumstances? <o:p></o:p>
Myers             A TIME TO LOVE: STORIES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT <o:p></o:p>
Six Old Testament stories, told from the young adult narrator's point of view, explore the meaning of love. <o:p></o:p>
Na                    A STEP FROM HEAVEN <o:p></o:p>
Young Ju emigrates from Korea to the United States believing that America is heaven. The family struggles to adjust to life in America. a new culture, and the difficulty of learning English, and that struggle takes its toll on the family. <o:p></o:p>
Naidoo                         CHAIN OF FIRE <o:p></o:p>
            Naledi learns that her village in South Africa is to be relocated to a "homeland." <o:p></o:p>
When students demonstrate peacefully, the police violently terminate the demonstration. <o:p></o:p>
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Napoli                             STONES IN WATER <o:p></o:p>
Kidnapped from a movie theater in Venice by German soldiers, Roberto is forced to work for the German war effort. Escape becomes his only hope. <o:p></o:p>
Naylor                             WALKER'S CROSSING <o:p></o:p>
Ryan has always wanted to be a working cowboy on the Saddlebow Ranch in Wyoming where he lives with his family; but, when his brother and his best friend Matt become involved in a local militia group run by Matt's dad, Ryan faces some difficult choices. 
 
Nelson                             AND ONE FOR ALL <o:p></o:p>
Geraldine has always had a close relationship with her older brother Wing and his best friend Sam, but that relationship changes when Wing joins the Marines and Sam becomes involved in a peace march against the Vietnam War. <o:p></o:p>
Opdyke                            IN MY HANDS: MEMORIES OF A HOLOCAUST RESCUER <o:p></o:p>
Irene Gut is a Polish patriot, a good Catholic girl, and just seventeen years old and training to be a nurse when war breaks out. Finding herself in the midst of Nazi officers and determined to fight their evil, she takes incredible risks to help the Jews. <o:p></o:p>
  Orlav                              THE MAN FROM THE OTHER SIDE <o:p></o:p>
14-year-old Marek helps a young Jewish man hide from the hated German soldiers in his grandparents' home in the Warsaw ghetto. <o:p></o:p>
  Park                              A SINGLE SHARD <o:p></o:p>
Tree-ear, an orphan living under a bridge in a potters' village in 12th century Korea, watches the potters at work and secretly wishes he too could learn to throw the delicate celadon ceramics himself. His desire leads him on a long and dangerous journey. <o:p></o:p>
  Park                               WHEN MY NAME WAS KEOKO <o:p></o:p>
When the Japanese occupied Korea in World War II, Kim Sun and her brother Tae-yul had to take Japanese names, attend Japanese schools, and give up their Korean identity. <o:p></o:p>
Paterson                          JACOB HAVE I LOVED <o:p></o:p>
In the shadow of her beautiful and talented twin sister Caroline, Louise struggles to find her place and her own identity. <o:p></o:p>
Paterson                          L YDDIE <o:p></o:p>
Working in a 1840's <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:State> mill, young Lyddie endures vile working conditions, illness, and inequality. <o:p></o:p>
Paulsen                           SARNY <o:p></o:p>
In the aftermath of the Civil War, Samy - the slave girl Nightjohn taught to read - flees the plantation in search of her sold-away children. <o:p></o:p>
Paulsen                           A SOLDIER'S HEART <o:p></o:p>
Charley Goddard enters military service at age 15 and, through various Civil War battles, discovers the grim reality of war. <o:p></o:p>
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  Peck                              REMEMBERING THE GOOD TIMES <o:p></o:p>
Kate, the leader Buck, a boy who lives with his father in a trailer parked at a service station, and Trav. a brilliant but troubled son of one of the prominent, affluent families.  They are three best friends, but how well do they know each other? <o:p></o:p>
  Peck                              THE RIVER BETWEEN US <o:p></o:p>
When the Rob Roy steamboat, traveling up the Mississippi River docks in a little town along the river in Illinois, two remarkable young women disembark and change the life of Tilly Pruitt and her family forever. <o:p></o:p>
  Rinaldi                            WOLF BY THE EARS <o:p></o:p>
Harriet Hemmings, rumored to be Thomas Jefferson's daughter, faces the choice of passing as a white or remaining a slave in the sheltered life at Monticello. <o:p></o:p>
  Rostkowski                    AFTER THE DANCING DAYS <o:p></o:p>
In the aftermath of World War I, Annie develops a friendship with a badly disfigured soldier. <o:p></o:p>
  Schmidt                      LIZZlE BRIGHT AND THE BUCKMINSTER BOY <o:p></o:p>
Turner Buckminster. son of the new minister in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Phippsburg</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Maine</st1:State></st1:place>, is miserable until he meets Lizzie Bright, a girl from a community of former slaves. Together they get caught up in a fight for justice. 2005 Newbery Honor book. <o:p></o:p>
  Seabrooke                     JUDY SCUPPERNONG <o:p></o:p>
Deanna, Lola and Stacy are fascinated by Judy and envious of her freedom until they discover a sad truth about her life. <o:p></o:p>
  Sebestyen                     WORDS BY HEART <o:p></o:p>
At the turn of the century, a young black girl struggles to live up to her father's ideals and to make a place for herself in a white Southwestern town. <o:p></o:p>
  Sleator                          HOUSE OF STAIRS <o:p></o:p>
Five 16-year old orphans find themselves alone in an experimental nightmare -where only stairs and landings stretch as far as the eye can see and a strange red light trains them to dance for their food. <o:p></o:p>
  Spinelli                          MILKWEED <o:p></o:p>
Living in the Warsaw Ghetto in World War II, Misha, a homeless and gutsy young boy, desperately seeks an identity. <o:p></o:p>
  Spinelli                          WRINGER <o:p></o:p>
All of Palmer LaRue's friends want to be wringers. Palmer, however, does not; but he is running out of time. <o:p></o:p>
  Staples                         SHABANU, DAUGHTER OF THE WIND <o:p></o:p>
Shabanu, a member of a Nomadic tribe in the Pakistani dessert, is torn between allegiances to her family and its traditions and her own growing independence. <o:p></o:p>
Taylor                              LET THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN <o:p></o:p>
The year is 1935, and this sequel to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry finds the Logan family deep into the problems of the Depression in rural Mississippi. Followed by The Road to Memphis, in which Cassie Logan must help a good friend escape to the North after a violent racial incident on the eve of World War II. <o:p></o:p>
Temple                             THE RAMSAY SCALLOP <o:p></o:p>
14-year-old Elenor and her betrothed, lord Thomas, just returned from a Crusade to the Holy Land, are sent by their priest on a religious pilgrimage acrOS6 France to a shrine in Spain. <o:p></o:p>
Voigt                                 DICEY'S SONG <o:p></o:p>
            When Dicey, James, Sammy, and Maybeth are taken in by their grandmother, Dicey must adjust to being a "kid" again with someone else in charge. <o:p></o:p>
Voigt                                 IZZY WILLY NILL Y <o:p></o:p>
Socially conscious sophomore Izzy dates Marco, a senior, to enhance her popularity. Then Marco drinks too much at a party and on the way home crashes his car into a tree. <o:p></o:p>
Voigt                                 SOLITARY BLUE <o:p></o:p>
A companion book to DICEY'S SONG. Jeff feels confused about his relationship with his parents -- a quiet, intellectual father and a mother who left him when he was very young. <o:p></o:p>
Whelan                            CHU JU'S HOUSE <o:p></o:p>
When Chu Ju is 14-years-old, her mother gives birth to another girl. Chinese law permits a family to have only two children. When this second child is a girl, Ghu Ju's grandmother says they must give the baby up for adoption. To protect her sister, Chu Ju runs away. <o:p></o:p>
White                               DEATHWATCH <o:p></o:p>
Ben agrees to guide Madec on a hunting trip for bighorn sheep in the Desert Mountains because he needs the money, but it almost costs Ben his life. <o:p></o:p>
Woodson                         HUSH <o:p></o:p>
When her father, a Denver police officer, testifies against fellow officers who shot an African-American youth, Toswiah and her sister Cameron and her parents must enter the Witness Protection program, leave their home, and change their identities. <o:p></o:p>
Wyss                               HERE AT THE SCENIC-VU MOTEL <o:p></o:p>
In his journal for English class, senior Jake Callahan tells about his experiences in charge of seven teenagers, who live at the Pineville Motel Sunday night through Friday because their own town is too far away from the school to commute each day. <o:p></o:p>
Yep                                   DRAGON'S GATE <o:p></o:p>
When he accidentally kills a Manchu, Otter is sent from China to America to join his father Squeaky and his Uncle Foxfire and other Chinese men working to build a tunnel through the Sierra Nevada Mountains for the Transcontinental Railroad. <o:p></o:p>
Yolen                                THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC <o:p></o:p>
Hannah wonders why she has to spend every Jewish holiday listening to boring stories of the past. Then, at Passover Seder, she opens the door to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah and suddenly finds herself in a Jewish village in Poland in the 1940's. <o:p></o:p>
Copyright e 2006 by Lorraine Bentley <o:p></o:p>

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