GRADE 8 – 2008 SUMMER READING LIST
FICTION
Abrahams, Peter Down the Rabbit Hole
Like her idol, Sherlock Holmes, eight grader Ingrid Levin-Hill uses her intellect to solve a murder case in her hometown of Echo Falls.
Adlington, L.J. Diary of Pelly D
Toni V, a construction worker on a futuristic colony, finds the diary of a teenage girl whose life has been turned upside-down by holocaust-like events, and he begins to question his own beliefs.
*Austen, Jane Pride and Prejudice
A mother’s foolish attempts to marry off her five daughters result in humorous and tragic episodes.
Bruchac, Joseph Code Talker: a Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two
After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.
Choldenko, Gennifer Al Capone Does My Shirts
A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards’ families were housed there and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.
Elish, Dan Born Too Short: The Confessions of an Eighth Grade Basket Case
Thirteen-year-old Matt is so envious of his best friend Keith that he wishes things would go badly for him, and when Keith’s fortune changes while at the same time Matt finds his first true girlfriend, Matt is overcome with guilt.
*Card, Orson Scott Ender’s Game
Ender, who is the result of genetic experimentation, may be the military genius Earth needs in its war against an alien enemy.
Coy, John Crackback
Miles barely recalls when football was fun after being sidelined by a new coach, constantly criticized by his father, and pressured by his best friend to take performance-enhancing drugs.
Crowe, Chris Mississippi Trail, 1955
In Mississippi in 1955, a sixteen-year-old finds himself at odds with his grandfather over issues surrounding the kidnapping and murder of a fourteen-year-old African American from Chicago.
Dessen, Sarah Just Listen
Isolated from friends who believe the worst because she has not been truthful with them, sixteen-year-old Annabel finds an ally in classmate Owen, whose honesty and passion for music help her to face and share what really happened at the end-of-the-year party that changed her life.
(M) Dessen, Sarah This Lullaby: A Novel
Raised by a mother who’s had five husbands, eighteen-year-old Remy believes in short-term, no-commitment relationships until she meets Dexter, a rock band musician.
Dessen, Sara The Truth About Forever
The summer following her father’s death, Macy plans to work at the library and wait for her brainy boyfriend to return from camp, but instead she goes to work at a catering business where she makes new friends and finally faces her grief.
Deuker, Carl Gym Candy
Groomed by his father to be a star player, football is the only thing that has ever really mattered to Mick Johnson, who works hard for a spot on the varsity team his freshman year, then tries to hold onto his edge by using steroids, despite the consequences to his health and social life.
Deuker, Carl High Heat
When sophomore Shane Hunter’s father is arrested for money laundering at his Lexus dealership, the star pitcher’s life of affluence begins to fall apart.
Deuker, Carl Runner
Living with his alcoholic father on a broken-down sailboat on Puget Sound has been hard on seventeen-year-old Chance Taylor, but when his love of running leads to a high-paying job, he quickly learns that the money is not worth the risk.
*(M)Donnolly, Jennifer Northern Light
In 1906, a sixteen-year-old Mattie, determined to attend college and be a writer against the wishes of her father and fiancé, takes a job at a summer in where she discovers the truth about the death of a guest. Based on a true story.
Draper, Sharon Copper Sun
Two fifteen-year-old girls – one a slave and the other an indentured servant – escape their Carolina plantation and try to make their way to Fort Moses, Florida, a Spanish colony that gives sanctuary to slaves.
(M) Draper, Sharon Tears of a Tiger
The death of high school basketball star Rob Washington in an automobile accident affects the live of his close friend Andy, who was driving the car, and many others in the school.
*Farmer, Nancy The House of the Scorpion
In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.
Friend, Natasha Perfect
Following the death of her father, a thirteen-year-old uses bulimia as a way to avoid her mother’s and ten-year-old sister’s grief, as well as her own.
Froese, Deborah Out of the Fire
Dayle, a sixteen-year-old girl dealing with the typical teenage problems of relationships, boys, school, and family, is faced with a whole new set of complications when she is badly burned in an accident and a friend seriously injured.
Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters Giles, Gai Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters
Fourteen-year-old Sunny is stunned when a total stranger shows up at her house posing as her older sister, Jazz, who supposedly died out of town in a fire months earlier.
(M)Giles, Gail Shattering Glass
When Rob, the charismatic leader of the senior class, turns the school nerd into Prince Charming, his actions lead to unexpected violence.
Grimes, Nikki Bronx Masquerade
While studying the Harlem Renaissance, students at a Bronx high school read aloud poems they’ve written, (open mike) revealing their innermost thoughts and fears to their formerly clueless classmates.
*Haddon, Mark The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor’s dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.
Henry, April Shock Point
Fifteen-year-old Cassie Streng is determined to expose her stepfather after learning that he is giving a dangerous experimental drug to his teenaged psychiatric patients, but he sends her to a boot camp for troubled teens in Mexico in order to keep her quiet.
Houston, Julian New Boy
As a new sophomore at an exclusive boarding school in the 1950s, Rob Garrett, a young black man, is witness to the persecution of other students and wonders about the growing civil rights movement back home in Virginia.
Hughes, Dean Search and Destroy
Recent high school graduate Rick Ward, undecided about his future and eager to escape his unhappy home life, joins the army and experiences the horrors of the war in Vietnam.
Jaffe, Michelle Bad Kitty
While vacationing with her family in Las Vegas, seventeen-year-old Jasmine stumbles upon a murder mystery that she attempts to solve with the help of her other friends, recently arrived from California.
Jordan, Sherryl Raging Quiet
Suspicious of sixteen-year-old Marnie, a newcomer to their village, the residents accuse her of witchcraft when she discovers that the village madman is not crazy but deaf and she begins to communicate with him through hand gestures.
#Koertge, Ronald Shakespeare Bats Cleanup
When a fourteen-year-old baseball player catches mononucleosis, he discovers that keeping a journal and experimenting with poetry not only helps fill the time, it also helps him deal with life, love, and loss. (Novels in Verse)
Korman, Gordon Born to Rock
High school senior Leo Caraway, a conservative Republican, learns that his biological father is a punk rock legend.
Korman, Gordon Son of the Mob (and sequels)
Eighteen-year-old Vince Luca, son of mob boss Anthony Luca, goes away to college in southern California hoping to escape his past, but soon his brother and a series of “uncles” appear at his dorm, and before long he is caught up in criminal activity once again.
Kostick, Conor Epic
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.
Lawrence, Iain B for Buster
In the spring of 1943, sixteen-year-old Kak, desperate to escape his abusive parents, lies about his age to enlist in the Canadian Air Force and soon finds himself based in England as part of a crew flying bombing raids over Germany.
Lawrence, Iain Lord of the Nutcracker Men
An English boy during World War I comes to believe that the battles he enacts with his toy soldiers control the war his father is fighting on the front.
Les Becquets, Diane Stones of Mourning Creek
In Alabama in the 1960s, fourteen-year-old Francie develops a controversial friendship with a “colored girl” her own age.
Limb, Sue Girl 15, Charming But Insane
Fifteen-year-old Jess, living with her mum, separated from her father in Cornwall, and with a best friend who seems to do everything perfectly, finds her own assets through humor.
Lowry, Lois Gathering Blue
Lame and suddenly orphaned, Kira is mysteriously removed from her squalid village to live in the palatial Council Edifice, where she is expected to use her gifts as a weaver to do the bidding of the all-powerful Guardians.
Lubar, David Sleeping Freshman Never Lie
While navigating his first year of high school and awaiting the birth of his new baby brother, Scott loses old friends and gains some unlikely new ones as he hones his skills as a writer.
Lynch, Chris Slot Machine
When overweight thirteen-year-old Elvin Bishop is sent to camp at St. Paul’s Seminary Retreat Center, he is forced to try out various sports in order to find out which “slot” he belongs in – funny.
*Marsden, John Tomorrow, When the War Began (and sequels)
Seven Australian teenagers return from a camping trip in the bush to discover that their country has been invaded and they must hide to stay alive – several sequels.
#Mazer, Harry A Boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor (and sequels)
While fishing with his friends off Honolulu on December 7, 1941, teenaged Adam is caught in the midst of the Japanese attack and realizes his father is serving on the USS Arizona.
* McKinley, Robin Spindle’s End
The infant princess Briar Rose is cursed on her name day by Pernicia, an evil fairy, and then whisked away by a young fairy to be raised in a remote part of a magical country, unaware of her real identity and hidden from Pernicia’s vengeful powers.
Meyer, Stephenie Twilight(series)
When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human.
McNamee, Graham Acceleration
Stuck working in the Lost and Found of the Toronto Transit Authority for the summer, seventeen-year-old Duncan finds the diary of a serial killer and sets out to stop him.
Morpurgo, Michael Private Peaceful
When Thomas Peaceful’s older brother is forced to join the British Army, Thomas decides to sign up as well, although he is only fourteen years old, to prove himself to his country, his family, his childhood love, Molly, and himself.
Myers, Walter Dean Monster
While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.
Napoli, Donna Jo Zel
A psychological retelling of the fairy tale Rapunzel told in alternating chapters (mother, Zel, prince).
Nix, Garth Shade’s Children
In a savage post nuclear world, four young fugitives attempt to overthrow the bloodthirsty rule of the Overlords with the help of Shade, their mysterious mentor.
Oates, Joyce Carol Big Mouth & Ugly Girl
When sixteen-year-old Matt is falsely accused of threatening to blow up his high school and his friends turn against him, an unlikely classmate comes to his aid.
*Paolini, Christophe Eragon
In Aagaesia, a fifteen-year-old boy of unknown lineage called Eragon finds a mysterious stone that weaves his life into an intricate tapestry of destiny, magic, and power, peopled with dragons, elves, and monsters.
Pearson, Mary E. Scribbler of Dreams
Despite her family’s long feud with the Crutchfields, seventeen-year-old Kaitlin falls in love with Bram Crutchfield and weaves a tangled web of deception to conceal her identity from him.
Pfeffer, Susan Beth Life As We Knew It
Through journal entries, sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family’s struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.
Pratchett, Terry The Wee Free Men (and sequels)
Tiffany, a young witch-to-be in the land of Discworld, teams up with the Wee Free Men, a clan of six-inch-high blue toughs, to rescue her baby brother and ward off a sinister invasion from Fairyland.
Price, Charlie Dead Connection
A loner who communes with the dead in the town cemetery hears the voice of a murdered cheerleader and tries to convince the adults that he knows what happened to her.
Pullman, Philip The Golden Compass (and sequels)
Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North.
Quarles, Heather A Door Near Here
Four siblings struggle to maintain a semi-normal home life when their single mother’s alcoholism becomes debilitating.
Reeve, Philip Mortal Engines: A Novel (and sequel)
Tom, a third class apprentice in a distant future in which technology has been lost and tiered cities move about the Earth on caterpillar tracks, often absorbing smaller locales, has many dangerous adventures after being pushed off London by Thaddeus Valentine, a historian who is trying to resurrect an ancient atomic weapon.
Rennison, Louise Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (and sequels)
The humorous journal of a fourteen-year-old British girl.
Schmidt, Gary D. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
In 1911, Turner Buckminster hates his new home of Phippsburg, Maine, but things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves that the town fathers – and Turner’s – want to change into a tourist spot.
Shusterman, Neal Shadow Club
When a junior high school boy and his friends decide to form a club of “second bests” and play anonymous tricks on each other’s arch rivals, the harmless pranks escalate until they become life-threatening.
Slade, Arthur G Dust
Eleven-year-old Robert is the only one who can help when a mysterious stranger arrives, performing tricks and promising to bring rain, at the same time children begin to disappear from a dust bowl farm town in Saskatchewan in the 1930s.
*Smith, Betty A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
A young girl comes of age in the squalor and poverty of the Brooklyn slums in the early 1900’s.
Smith, Roland Peak
A fourteen-year-old boy attempts to be the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.
#Sones, Sonya One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies
Fifteen-year-old Ruby Milliken leaves her best friend , her boyfriend, her aunt, and her mother’s grave in Boston and reluctantly flies to Los Angeles to live with her father, a famous movie star who divorced her mother before Ruby was born. (M) (Novel in Verse)
Sones, Sonya What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know
Robin Murphy is shocked when the popular Sophie Stein sacrifices her reputation to become his girlfriend. The two of them are falling in love with each other despite being tormented at school by their classmates and former friends. When Robin starts taking an art class at a university, he becomes the object of desire for a college student.
Sonnenblick, Jordan Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie
When his younger brother is diagnosed with leukemia, thirteen-year-old Steven tries to deal with his complicated emotions, his school life, and his desire to support his family.
Sonnenblick, Jordan Notes from the Midnight Driver
After being assigned to perform community service at a nursing home, sixteen-year-old Alex befriends a cantankerous old man who has some lessons to impart about jazz guitar playing, love, and forgiveness.
Sorrells, Walter Fake ID: a Novel
Sixteen-year-old Chass begins to piece together the disturbing past that haunts her and her mother and which involves a mysterious tape, a deceased popular singer, and the secrets of several people in a small Alabama town.
Sorrells, Walter The Silent Room
Suffering his stepfather’s physical and emotional abuse, ninth-grader Oz is sent to the Briarwood School where his mistreatment continues at the hands of abusive and criminal school officials.
Sparks, Nicholas A Walk to Remember
A twist of fate couples Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan for the homecoming dance at school and changes their lives forever.
#Springer, Nancy Blood Trail
After his best friend is murdered, seventeen-year-old Booger realizes he is the only one who has any idea who might have committed the crime – but he doesn’t dare tell anyone.
*Stevenson, Robert Louis Kidnapped
A sixteen-year-old orphan is kidnapped by his villainous uncle, but later escapes and becomes involved in the struggle of the Scottish highlanders against English rule.
*Taylor, Mildred D The Land
After the Civil War Paul, the son of a white father and a black mother finds himself caught between two worlds as he pursues his dream of owning land of his own.
Updale, Eleanor Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman?
In Victorian London, after his life is saved by a young physician, a thief utilizes the knowledge he gains in prison and from the scientific lectures he attends as the physician’s case study exhibit to create a new, highly successful, double life for himself. (Series)
Vande Velde, Vivian Heir Apparent
While playing a total immersion virtual reality game of kings and intrigue, fourteen-year-old Giannine learns that demonstrators have damaged the equipment to which she is connected, and she must win the game quickly or be damaged herself.
#Walters, Eric Juice
When Coach Reeves retired, he was replaced by Coach Barnes, whose own determination to obtain a college post rested on his ability to create a division one high school team; however, to do this involved the illegal distribution of steroids to the team.
Wells, H.G War of the Worlds
Werlin, Nancy Double Helix
Eighteen-year-old Eli discovers a shocking secret about his life and his family while working for a Nobel Prize-winning scientist whose specialty is genetic engineering.
Werlin, Nancy The Killer’s Cousin
After being acquitted of murder, seventeen-year-old David goes to stay with relatives, where he finds himself forced to face his past as he learns more about his strange young cousin Lily.
Westerfeld, Scott Uglies
Tally is faced with a difficult choice when her new friend Shay decides to risk life on the outside rather than submit to the forced operation that turns sixteen year old girls into gorgeous beauties, and realizes that there is a whole new side to the pretty world that she doesn’t like.
*White, Ellen Emerson The Road Home
Rebecca, a young nurse stationed in Vietnam during the war, must come to grips with her wartime experiences once she returns home to the United States.
White, Robb Deathwatch
When Ben agrees to guide a man through bighorn country, he realizes the man is a ruthless killer.
Wolff, Virginia Euwer True Believer
Living in the inner city amidst guns and poverty, fifteen-year-old LaVaughn learns from old and new friends, and inspiring mentors, that life is what you make it – an occasion to rise to.
Woodson, Jacqueline Miracle’s Boys
Twelve-year-old Lafayette’s close relationship with his older brother Charlie changes after Charlie is released from a detention home and blames Lafayette for the death of their mother.
Wulffson, Don L. Soldier X
In 1943 sixteen-year-old Erik experiences the horrors of war when he is drafted into the German army and sent to fight on the Russian front.
Zevin, Gabrielle Elsewhere
After fifteen-year-old Liz Hall is hit by a taxi and killed, she finds herself in a place that is both like and unlike Earth, where she must adjust to her new status and figure out how to “live.”
NON-FICTION
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow
A photo-illustrated look at the youth organizations Adolf Hitler founded and used to meet his sociopolitical and military ends; includes profiles of individual Hitler Youth members as well as young people who opposed the Nazis, such as Hans and Sophie Scholl.
Bernier-Grand, Carmen Frida
Biographical poems about the life and work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
Callahan, Steven Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea
The author recounts how he survived being adrift in a rubber raft in the Pacific ocean for 76 days after his sloop sank.
Fleming, Candace Our Eleanor: a Scrapbook look at Eleanor Roosevelt’s Remarkable Life
Presents a collection of illustrated photographs and stories representing the life and career of Eleanor Roosevelt, and examines her White House years, her years as a delegate to the United Nations, and more.
Freedman, Russell The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and
the Struggle for Equal Rights
Tells the life story of singer Marian Anderson, describing her famous 1939 Lincoln Memorial performance and explaining how she helped end segregation in the American arts after being refused the right to perform at Washington’s Constitution Hall because of the color of her skin.
Gore, Al An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming
An adaptation of the book in which former Vice President Al Gore examines the climate crisis that is threatening the future of the planet, describes what the world’s governments are doing to correct the problem, and explains why the problem should be taken more seriously. Includes photographs, maps, and graphs.
Gottlieb, Lori Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self
Growing up in Beverly Hills in the 1970s, Lori learned to express in her diary her battle with anorexia nervosa.
Gourley, Catherine Flappers and the New American Woman
Looks at the role of women in postwar America, discussing the common perceptions of women at the time – including flappers and housewives – and illustrating how they were reflected in the magazines, catalogs, and films of the time.
Gourley, Catherine Gibson Girls and Suffragists
Presents an illustrated history of the images and issues of women in the early part of the twentieth century with specific emphasis on Gibson Girls and the suffragist movement.
Gourley, Catherine Rosie and Mrs. America
Explores how images in the media, including magazine advertisements and mail order catalogs, influenced how women saw themselves and helped them to be both fashionable and frugal in the 1930’s and 1940’s.
Hoose, Phillip M. We Were There Too!: Young People in U.S. History
Biography of dozens of young people who made a mark in American history, including explorers, planters, spies, cowpunchers, sweatshop workers, and civil rights workers.
Krakauer, Jon Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
A definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest.
Lawlor, Laurie Helen Keller: Rebellious Spirit
An illustrated biography of Helen Keller, sharing aspects of her personality and sometimes radical beliefs, and discussing her relationship with her teacher Annie Sullivan and other important people in her life and work.
McWhorter, Diane A Dream of Freedom
Examines the lives and times of the southern states and its people during the civil rights struggle for equality for African Americans in the 1950’s and 60’s and includes other civil rights facts.
Myers, Walter Dean The Greatest Muhammad Ali
A biography of the famous boxer.
Nelson, Peter Left for Dead: A Young Man’s Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis
Recalls the sinking of the USS Indianapolis at the end of WWII, the navy cover-up and unfair court martial of the ship’s captain, and how a young boy helped the survivor set the record straight fifty-five years later.
Oppenheim, Joanne Dear Miss Breed
True stories of the Japanese American incarceration during World War II and a librarian who made a difference.
Philbrick, Nat In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
Tells the true story of the Essex, a whaleship that set sail from Nantucket in 1819 and was rammed and sunk by an enraged sperm whale in the South Pacific, setting the twenty-man crew adrift in three tiny boats.
Rochelle, Belinda, ed Words With Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art
Pairs twenty works of art by African-American artists with twenty poems by twenty African-American poets.
Tillage, Leon Walter Leon’s Story
Autobiography of Leon Walter Tillage who was a sharecropper in North Carolina in the 1940s.
*Von Drehle, Dave Triangle: The Fire That Changed America
Chronicles the events surrounding the fire at the Triangle shirtwaist factory which broke out on March 25, 1911, killing more than one hundred factory workers who were trapped after the fire broke out, and discusses how the fire changed the work force in America.
Waniek, Marilyn Nelson A Wreath for Emmett Till
This illustrated poetry collection eulogizes Emmett Till, an African American man who was killed in a brutal, racially motivated lynching in 1955.
* Honors
# Easier Read
(M) = For Mature Readers
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