Summer Reading List 7th and 8th Grade
th 7 Grade REQUIRED ● Girls: Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt ● Boys: No Promises in the Wind by Irene Hunt
th 8 Grade REQUIRED ● The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter
th th 7 and 8 Grade SUGGESTED Reading Realistic Fiction ● Incident at Hawk’s Hill by Allan Eckert ● Angel on the Square or Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan ● October Sky by Homer Hickman Jr., ● Jump into the Sky by Shelly Pearsall ● Stand Tall, Hope was Here, Almost Home, Soar and others by Joan Bauer ● Homecoming, Dicey’s Song, A Solitary Blue (first three in Tillerman series) by Cynthia Voigt ● Kira-Kira or The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata ● Criss Cross L.R. Perkins ● When You Reach Me or Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead ● Three Times Lucky Sheila Turnage ● Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (If you have not read this one yet.... it’s a must!) ● North by Donna Jo Napoli
Fantasy and Science Fiction ● Eldest by Christopher Paolini ● Inkspell, Inkheart by Cornelia Funke ● The Underneath or The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt ● The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, (a true story, told from the eyes of a gorilla) ● Splendors and Glooms Laura Amy Schultz ● The Hero and the Crown or The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley (She has a fan club.) ● The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman ● The Wizard of Earthsea by revered early writer of science fiction, Ursela LeGuin ● The Giver, Gathering Blue, The Messenger by Lois Lowry (science fiction) ● Among the Hidden and others by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Lawless by (science fiction)
Historical Fiction ● The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine ● Bud Not Buddy and anything by Christopher Paul Curtis ● The Crossover and sequels by Kwame Alexander ● Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith and Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (Great Civil War fiction) ● Out of the Dust and Witness by Karen Hesse ● Chickadee by Louis Erdrich (winner of the 2014 Scott O’Dell award for historical fiction) ● Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac (World War II secret code by the Navajo) 1 of 2 rev.5/20/2020
Memoir and Biography ● The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls ● The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Young Readers Edition) - William Kamkwamba ● Up From Slavery - Booker T. Washington ● Helen Keller: The Story of my Life ● I am Malala - Malala Yousafzai ● Mo'ne Davis: Remember My Name:My story from first pitch to game changer ● Breakaway:Beyond the Goal - Alex Morgan ● Abby Wambach (soccer) ● Steve Jobs: the Man who Thought Different
Classics ● Little Women by Louisa May Alcott ● The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett ● The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) ● The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain ● The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas ● A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (Oliver, Great Expectations) ● Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery ● Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë ● The Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings
Nonfiction 1. BOOKS – mythology, chess, dinosaurs, cooking, soccer, football, horskes, computers, poetry ... Whatever interest you have, there are books waiting for you! 2. MAGAZINES – Such a world of fascination in so many magazines for kids. Popular Mechanics, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Cicada, Cricket, Popular Science, Games Magazine, Omni and ... Keep a journal of the topics you read about – build a personal interest data bank! Future Problem Solving – Read on the topics for next year and consider the issues. Begin a scenario? See www.fpsp.org for a description of each topic. Problem #1 Youth in Competitive Sports, Problem #2 Wearable Technology, State Qualifier Human Environmental Impact, State Bowl Personalized Medicine National History Day – The theme for next year is Communication in History: The Key to Understanding. Find the theme sheet on www.nhd.org. Begin by reading short biographies and make a list of possible topics.
Online resources for finding books ❖ Create a free library account: Open Library openlibrary.org (Very good online library resource, we've used this site the most frequently due to its selection and ease of access). ❖ Create a free account: Internet Archive internetarchive.org (Very vast database, but a reliable resource as well. More difficult to sift through, also has a lot of older or difficult to find books/sources). ❖ Ohio Digital Library https://ohdbks.overdrive.com/ ❖ Kindle Editions--sold on Amazon.com Google Books: https://books.google.com/ ❖ Search all local libraries for ebook lending options https://www.worldcat.org/
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