Summer Reading Is the Perfect Time If We Want to Get Students to Read the Rest of Their

Dear 7th & 8th Grade Students & Parents,

Summer reading is the perfect time for our children to just lose themselves in a good book.

The purposes of my summer reading program are to promote continuous reading habits, to encourage reading for pleasure, and to establish a springboard for class discussion in the fall. My goal is to develop independent readers who will continue lifelong reading habits because they find personal value in reading and the sharing of good books.

As students grow and mature, they need to practice continually their reading skills. While early reading skills are basic, when students grow older, they need selections that stimulate them, improve their thinking skills, and enhance their vocabulary to prepare them for high school. In the many workshops and seminars I have gone to over the years, I have learned that the basic rule of increasing reading comprehension and vocabulary in older students is to have them read often and have them read books that are above their reading level. There is a time and place for reading books “just for fun” as we adults all like to do, but we adults aren’t expected to take tests such as high school entrance/placement exams, the ACT, or the SAT. For that reason I have talked to both the incoming 7th & 8th graders about my goals and expectations of them. My goal is to improve their vocabulary by increasing the level of difficulty in the books they read. Their goal is to pick books that they have an interest in. Hopefully this summer we can reach both of our goals.

As the incoming 8th grade class can tell you, I expect them to read “adult level books.” My literature students next year will be reading novels with me and are expected to also read at least one additional adult level novel per quarter for the class. Many of the students read more than this. Hopefully this upcoming year the books they read will also count towards their Reading Counts score. I am working with Mrs. Weilmuenster this year to make that happen. We will evaluate what they read in many different ways, such as: presentations, oral book discussions, quizzes, and essays etc. Below I have listed a variety of books that I would like each 7th & 8th grade student to try to choose from. Any books by the authors below are also acceptable. As you can see there are very many to choose from. If you have read any of these books, you must choose three you have NOT already read. No “Illustrated Classics” are acceptable either. If you are not sure if the book is at an adult level, feel free to e-mail me over the summer, but most of my students pretty well know what I mean. [email protected] At the end of this packet I have attached a sample page that might help your child “take notes” after they read.

My Expectations: At the beginning of next school year I expect each of my 7th & 8th grade literature students to have read at least three adult level books. The incoming 7th graders must choose at least one of those three books from the below list of books and/or authors. The incoming 8th graders must choose at least two of their three books from the below list of books and/or authors. They will be expected to share with me or the class information and opinions about the three books they have read. My suggesttion is to keep a notebook/journal so the students can remember basic things after reading them. Usually just a few basic facts such as characters’ names, setting, and a few key points of the plot will be enough to jog their memory. If you are not sure if the book is at an adult level, feel free to e-mail me over the summer, but most of my students pretty well know what I mean. [email protected] At the end of this packet I have attached a sample page that might help your child “take notes” after they read.

Mrs. Michelle Janes Richard Adams. Watership Down Mitch Albom. The Five People You Meet in Heaven Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Anderson, Laurie. Speak Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Austen, Jane. Emma Bal Ducci, David. Wish You Well Bissinger, H.G. Friday Night Lights Bradbury, Ray. Something Wicked This Way Comes Bradbury, Ray. Dandelion Wine Bragg, Rick. Ava’s Man Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Brown, Dan. Angels & Demons Buck, Pearl S. The Good Earth. Christie, Agatha. And Then There Were None Clancy, Tom. The Hunt for Red October Clark, Mary Higgins, No Place Like Home Colfer, Eoin. Artemis Fowl Conrad, Joseph. Lord Jim. Cooper, James Fenimore. Last of the Mohicans. Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. Delany, Sarah and Elizabeth. Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years. Diamant, Anita. The Red Tent. Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Doctorow, E.L. The March Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment. Du Maurier, Daphne. Rebecca Edwards, Kim. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter Eliot, George. Silas Marner. Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. Faulkner, William. The Sound and the Fury. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Grishom, John. A Time to Kill Grshom, John. Bleachers Grishom, John. Playing for Pizza Gunther, John. Death Be Not Proud. Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Haley, Alex. Roots. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Heinlein, Robert A. Stranger in a Strange Land. Heller, Joseph. Catch 22 Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. Hickman, Homer. October Sky Hillenbrand, Laura. Seabiscuit Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner Hurston, Zora. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World Irving, John. A Prayer for Owen Meany Kidd, Sue. Secret Life of Bees Kingsolver ,Barbara. The Bean Trees Klein, Lisa. Ophelia Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. Krakauer, John. Into the Wild Kring, Sandra. Carry Me Home London, Jack. Call of the Wild Maguire, Gregory. Wicked Malamud, Bernard. The Natural Martel, Yann. The Life of Pi. McCourt, Frank. Angela’s Ashes McCarthy, Cormac. The Road McCullers, Carson. Member of the Wedding. McCullers, Carson. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Melville, Herman. Moby Dick. Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight Meyers, Walter Dean. Fallen Angels Mitchell, Margaret. Gone With the Wind. Orwell, George. 1984. Orwell, George. Animal Farm Paton, Alan. Cry, the Beloved Country. Patterson, James: Piccoult, Jodi. My Sister’s Keeper Poe, Edgar Allan. Complete Tales and Poems. Potok, Chaim. The Chosen. Remarque, Erich Maria. All Quiet on the Western Front. Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Scottoline, Lisa. Think Twiceh Shaara, Michael. Killer Angels Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Shepard, Alan and Deke Slayton. Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Smith, Betty. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck, John. The Pearl. Steinbeck, John. The Red Pony. Stevenson, Robert Louis. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Stockett, Katherine. The Help Stoker, Bram. Dracula Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels. Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. Tan, Amy. The Bonesetter’s Daughter Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five Walker, Alice. The Color Purple Wells, H.G. The War of the Worlds Wells, H.G. The Time Machine Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. Wiesel, Eli. Night

At a glance; forming a life-long reader:

There is a difference between knowing how to read and being an avid reader which should be the goal for the older child. We do a good job in schools at teaching kids how to read, but we've often forgotten to teach them to want to read. Read aloud to your children, or have the older ones read to you. Have a family book club and/or discussion sessions. Show interest in what they are reading. Many parents make the mistake of no longer reading aloud once their children are able to read to themselves. You should read aloud to your children using books that are two or three levels above those the children can read themselves. Have plenty of books in the house. Make buying books a wonderful experience. Books should be integrated into your family's life every day. Keep books in the bathroom, on the bedside table, in the car. If the thought of frequent trips to Borders sounds like a budget-buster, visit a used bookstore. However you choose to stock your house with books, doing so sends a strong message to your children that you value reading. Model reading for your children by being a reader yourself. Make a point of reading a book or the newspaper while your children are in the room. A child who never hears or sees a parent reading, but only sees that parent watching TV, will emulate that behavior. As your child gets older, look for areas of common interest and read together. Help them find things to read that interest them. This creates a direct connection between what they love to do in life and reading. Let your kids be somewhat in charge of what they read. Allow your kids to select their own books. And it's OK if he/she wants to read “junk” once in a while, as long as she's reading a variety of things. Parents who try to exert too much control over the content of their kids' reading risk fueling the perception that reading is a chore. Reading for pleasure, the experts agree, should be the ultimate goal.

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