All books are recommended, butstudents must pick one book out of the four which are underlined to read over the summer. Along with titles and authors, the entries include associated themes in parentheses.
For each of the books in the required list – and for many others on the wider list – the authors explore identity. Blais, in her book, explores the identities of: the towns in which the girls live; the various girls on the basketball team itself; and the team as a whole. Walker, in her book, explores the identity of early colonial America by way of investigating the efforts and methods of modern day scientists. Alexi, in his book, explores the complicated identity of his protagonist and, by extension, raises many questions about Native American identity and American identity in general. Na, in her book, tells the story of the shifting identity of a little girl – an immigrant to the United States from Korea – growing into a woman. In so doing, she too – like Alexi – navigates the very big question of just what it means to be an American, of just what our identity as a national community is.
As the students read, they should be paying very close attention to how the author describes and analyzes this very topic of identity.
Students must bring the book to school on the first day.
Non-Fiction
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy (history, science, politics, public health)
Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex by Nathanial Philbrick (history, whaling, 19th century America)
Hoop Dreams by Ben Joravski (identity, basketball, urban themes)
When I was Puerto Rican by Esmerelda Santiago (autobiography, identity, girls, Puerto Rico, New York City)
The Greatest: Muhammad Ali by Walter Dean Myers (history, biography)
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez (autobiography, gangs, urban life, Los Angeles)
In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle by Madeleine Blais (basketball, teammates, girls, challenges)
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson (mountaineering, survival)
Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals and Anne Greenberg (school desegregation, politics, race)
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi (graphic non-fiction, autobiography, identity, Iranian society)
Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland by Sally Walker (colonial history, archaeology)
Fiction
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexi (identity, Native Americans)
Estrella’s Quinceañera by Malín Alegría (race, girls, class, Mexican American culture)
Peak by Roland Smith (mountaineering, family relationships)
The Middle of Somewhere by J.B. Cheaney (road trip, family, ADHD)
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (class, identity)
Ironman by Chris Crutcher (social issues, identity)
A Step from Heaven by An Na (immigration, Korean-American culture)
A Long Way from Chicago: A Novel in Stories by Richard Peck (Chicago, early-mid 20th century, growing up)
Hoops by Walter Dean Myers (identity, character, life path)
Dracula by Bram Stoker (horror)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (19th century America, slavery, abolitionism)
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (American revolution)
Lyddie by Katherine Patterson (historical fiction, 19th century America, Lowell mill girls, industrial revolution)
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines (fictional biography, slavery)
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers (Vietnam War, survival)
American Born Chinese by Gene Leung Yang (graphic novel, identity, Chinese-American culture, race)
Summer Reading
8TH GRADE SUMMER READING LIST
GRADE 8
All books are recommended, but students must pick one book out of the four which are underlined to read over the summer. Along with titles and authors, the entries include associated themes in parentheses.
For each of the books in the required list – and for many others on the wider list – the authors explore identity. Blais, in her book, explores the identities of: the towns in which the girls live; the various girls on the basketball team itself; and the team as a whole. Walker, in her book, explores the identity of early colonial America by way of investigating the efforts and methods of modern day scientists. Alexi, in his book, explores the complicated identity of his protagonist and, by extension, raises many questions about Native American identity and American identity in general. Na, in her book, tells the story of the shifting identity of a little girl – an immigrant to the United States from Korea – growing into a woman. In so doing, she too – like Alexi – navigates the very big question of just what it means to be an American, of just what our identity as a national community is.
As the students read, they should be paying very close attention to how the author describes and analyzes this very topic of identity.
Students must bring the book to school on the first day.
Non-Fiction
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy (history, science, politics, public health)
Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex by Nathanial Philbrick (history, whaling, 19th century America)
Hoop Dreams by Ben Joravski (identity, basketball, urban themes)
When I was Puerto Rican by Esmerelda Santiago (autobiography, identity, girls, Puerto Rico, New York City)
The Greatest: Muhammad Ali by Walter Dean Myers (history, biography)
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez (autobiography, gangs, urban life, Los Angeles)
In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle by Madeleine Blais (basketball, teammates, girls, challenges)
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson (mountaineering, survival)
Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals and Anne Greenberg (school desegregation, politics, race)
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi (graphic non-fiction, autobiography, identity, Iranian society)
Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland by Sally Walker (colonial history, archaeology)
Fiction
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexi (identity, Native Americans)
Estrella’s Quinceañera by Malín Alegría (race, girls, class, Mexican American culture)
Peak by Roland Smith (mountaineering, family relationships)
The Middle of Somewhere by J.B. Cheaney (road trip, family, ADHD)
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (class, identity)
Ironman by Chris Crutcher (social issues, identity)
A Step from Heaven by An Na (immigration, Korean-American culture)
A Long Way from Chicago: A Novel in Stories by Richard Peck (Chicago, early-mid 20th century, growing up)
Hoops by Walter Dean Myers (identity, character, life path)
Dracula by Bram Stoker (horror)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (19th century America, slavery, abolitionism)
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (American revolution)
Lyddie by Katherine Patterson (historical fiction, 19th century America, Lowell mill girls, industrial revolution)
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines (fictional biography, slavery)
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers (Vietnam War, survival)
American Born Chinese by Gene Leung Yang (graphic novel, identity, Chinese-American culture, race)