READING LIST FOR RISING 8TH GRADERS
TOTAL OF 4 BOOKS
REQUIRED FOR ENGLISH DEPARTMENT:
A SEPARATE PEACE by Knowles, John
Gene was a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas was a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happened between them at school one summer during the early years of World War II is the subject of A Separate Peace. The novel was published in 1960, 15 years after author John Knowles graduated from Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and was largely based on his experiences at boarding school.
REQUIRED FOR HISTORY DEPARTMENT:
COME ALL YOU BRAVE SOLDIERS - by Clinton Cox is an historical narration depicting the struggles, sacrifice, and heroism of some of the over five thousand black men who fought for colonial independence in the American Revolution. These brave black soldiers were an integral part of our country's fight for freedom, and comprise a chapter of American history that few people know.
Plus two books chosen from the following list of Classics, Contemporary Fiction or Non-Fiction.
DEATH ON THE NILE - Christie, Agatha
Poirot, on vacation in Africa, meets the rich, beautiful Linet Doyle and her new husband, Simon. As usual, all is not as it seems between the newlyweds, and when Linnet is found murdered, Poirot must sort through a boatload of suspects to find the killer before he (or she) strikes again.
THE OX-BOW INCIDENT - Clark, Walter Van Tilburg
Set in 1885, this is a searing study of mob justice in the Old West. It focuses on the lynching of three innocent men and the tragedy that ensues when law and order are abandoned.
OLIVER TWIST - Dickens, Charles
Oliver is a young orphaned boy who escapes the mean and cheerless workhouse and tries to survive in the streets of London during the 19th century.
ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES - Conan Doyle, Arthur
A collection of Doyle’s stories in which his famous detective solves mysteries by means of deduction, outwitting Scotland Yard Detectives.
A STUDY IN SCARLET and THE SIGN OF FOUR
In the first of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Dr. Watson, discharged from military service after suffering wounds, is at loose ends until a chance encounter leads him to take rooms with Sherlock Holmes. When Watson is drawn into the investigation of a bizarre murder in which Holmes is involved, he is unaware that it is the beginning of the most famous partnership in the history of criminal detection.
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO - Dumas, Alexander
Tells the tale of young Edmond Dantes, who, falsely accused of treason and arrested on his wedding day, escapes from prison to seek revenge on his enemies.
LORD OF THE FLIES - Golding, William
Stranded on a deserted island, a group of British schoolboys must learn to recreate a civilization without any adult supervision. Even though they are at first delighted at the freedom, they soon learn that survival is hard work, dangerous, and even frightening.
MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY - Hale, Edward Everett
Tells the story of Philip Nolan, a lieutenant in the US Navy, who, at his court martial for treason, damned the US and cavalierly wished that he might never hear her name again. Nolan’s sentence was to have his wished fulfilled, and for 55 years he was kept at sea and away from any news from home.
FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON - Keys, Daniel
Flowers for Algernon is the journal of Charlie Gordon, a mentally retarded adult who became a genius after undergoing a brain operation.
21 SHORT STORIES - Lass, Abraham Harold (Editor)
A collection of classic short stories by authors such John Steinbeck, Jack London, Edgar Allan Poe.
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER - Lord, Walter
Lord’s book is the classic on the Titanic disaster because he actually interviewed survivors, so it is probably the closest we will ever get to a complete recounting of the events of that awful night. He gives an interesting account of the horrifying class structure of the disaster, where some regarded the lower-class passengers as a “small loss to society.”
BRIDGES AT TOKO RI - Michener, James
Young American fighter pilots get their first taste of the Korean War when assigned to destroy the communist bridges at Toko Ri.
THE TELL-TALE HEART AND OTHER WRITINGS -Poe, Edgar Allan
Suspense, fear, and the supernatural provide the center of these tales by the master short story writer.
FRANKENSTEIN - Shelley, Mary
Forget the Frankenstein from the movies and read the real story of a man, Dr. Frankenstein, who is a brilliant scientist with an obsession: he wants to play God, creating a living human being all by himself. When the creature wakes up to life, he turns out to be a horrible monster, causing Dr. Frankenstein to be terrified.
A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’ S COURT -Twain, Mark
This satirical novel published in 1889 is the tale of a 19th century mechanic who suffers a blow to the head and wakes up in King Arthur’s Britain. He soon realizes that it is not the gallant world of fairy tales, but a cruel, feudalistic society. So he sets out to modernize and improve things in a funny mix of technology and magic.
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA - Verne, Jules
Hold on tight as Captain Nemo takes you on a perilous journey deep beneath the ocean waves, into the incredible underwater world where the crew of the mighty submarine Nautilus lives.
THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING (Any of the series) -White, T.H.
A novel about the court of King Arthur, which was the basis for the movie “ Camelot”. Great for background of the Arthur/Merlin legend and a real plus to add depth to the 8th grade book KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY- Wilder, Thornton
Winner of the 1927 Pulitzer Prize, this short novel begins with the collapse of a footbridge in Peru, where several people die. Brother Juniper is witness to this catastrophe and decides to find out if it is simply an accident or a punishment from God.
HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY - Adam, Douglas
Hapless hero Arthur Dent is grabbed from Earth moments before a cosmic construction team obliterates the plant to build a freeway. Rich in comic detail, Adams is a master of intelligent satire, barbed wit, and comedic dialogue. Sure to please fans of “ Monty Python” type humor.
THIS VAST LAND: A YOUNG MAN’S JOURNAL OF THE LEWIS & CLARK EXPEDITION- Ambrose, Stephen E.
The fictional diary of 19-year-old George Shannon, who was in fact the youngest member of Lewis & Clark’s Corps of Discovery.
ABARAT - Barker, Clive
Candy Quackenbush is growing up in Chickentown, Minnesota, yearning for more--which she finds, quite unexpectedly, when a man with eight heads appears from nowhere in the middle of the prairie, being chased by something really monstrous. And so begins Candy's epic adventure to the islands of the Abarat. Read also the eagerly awaited sequel: Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War
ALONG THE TRACKS - Bergman, Tamar
Based on a true story about the Polish in the USSR during WW II. After the Nazis invade Russia, 8-year-old Tankele is separated from his family and survives four years on his own, as he travels from one RR station to another with bands of other lost and abandoned children.
WARRIORS OF ALAVNA - Browne, N.M.
A mist envelops a school group in the year 2000 and, on the other side, Dan and Ursula find themselves in what looks like the year 75 AD. They come to understand that they have been called through time to battle for the Combrogi, a Celtic tribe nearly wiped out by the bloodthirsty Romans. While becoming Combrogi warriors, Dan and Ursula realize that they have strengths and powers never imagined and they learn to depend on each other and their tribesmen as they battle for the future of Britain.
HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER - Clancy, Tom
Somewhere under the Atlantic, a Soviet sub commander has just made a fateful decision: the Red October is heading west. The Americans want her. The Russians want her back. The most incredible chase in history is on…
I HEARD THE OWL CALL MY NAME - Crave, Margaret
Tells of a young vicar (missionary) sent to a remote Kwakiuti Indian village not knowing he has less than three years to live. Mark comes to understand and love these people, and sees how their traditions are being destroyed by the white man.
PEACE LIKE A RIVER - Enger, Leif
To the list of great American child narrators that includes Huck Finn and Scout Finch, let us now add Reuben “Rube” Land, the asthmatic 11-year-old boy at the center of Leif Enger’s remarkable first novel, Peace Like River. Rube recalls the events of his childhood, in small-town Minnesota circa 1962.
A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY - Bray, Libba
It is 1895, and sixteen-year-old Gemma Doyle’s mother has just committed suicide. Gemma must leave India, where she was raised, and travel to England and go to an all-girls school. Gemma is tormented by strange visions. She finds a diary that describes a mysterious groups called “the Order”. Gemma begins to learn of her own supernatural powers, and her ability to connect to her dead mother and the spirit world.
THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN - Crichton, Michael
Long before JURRASIC PARK and E.R., Michael Crichton was writing medical science fiction. In this story, Nobel-Prize-winning bacteriologist Jeremy Stone urges the President to approve an extraterrestrial decontamination facility in Arizona to sterilize returning astronauts who might carry an unknown biologic agent. SCIENCE FICTION.
THE EAR, THE EYE AND THE ARM - Farmer, Nancy
In Zimbabwe in the year 2194, the military ruler’s 13-year-old son and his younger brother and sister leave their technologically over-controlled home and find themselves on a series of perilous adventures. Also read HOUSE OF SCORPIO by the same author.
APRIL MORNING - Fast, Howard
The story of one day in the life of an American boy in 1775 colonial Lexington, the day on which he joined the militia and saw his father shot down by the British.
THE BLOOD STONE – Gavin, Jamila
Historical fiction blends with fantasy in this tale that takes place in the 17th century as we accompany 12-year-old Filippo Veroneo on his odyssey from Venice to Hindustan. An extremely rare and valuable diamond provides the ransom needed to get Filippo’s father released from prison. The author parallels Filippo’s journey with Ulysses including a sprinkling of quotes from Homer. A gripping and unpredictable story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.
THE PELICAN BRIEF - Grisham, John
Darby Shaw, a brilliant Tulane law student, comes up with an ingenious theory to explain the baffling assassinations of two Supreme Court judges in one day.
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT TIME -Haddon, Mark
Christopher Boone is fifteen and autistic. He’s a math whiz and gets along with animals, but has a great deal of trouble getting along with people. When a neighbor’s dog, Wellington, is found dead, Christopher is blamed for the killing. Christopher draws inspiration from Sherlock Holmes, and sets out to find Wellington’s killer.
HEAR THE WIND BLOW: A NOVEL OF THE CIVIL WAR - Hahn, Mary Downing
The horrors of the Civil War are seen through the eyes of 12-year-old Haswell Colby Magruder in this well-paced tale. Haswell’s agreeing to hide a Confederate soldier on his farm sets off a string of harrowing events that send Haswell off escaping with his little sister and later on a journey to find his older brother, who is fighting in the war. Fully drawn characters lend empathy to this story of this southern farm boy who is forced to use ingenuity to survive and reunite what is left of his family.
PLAINSONG- Haruf, Kent
In PLAINSONG, Haruf describes some of the troubled people in the community of Holt, Colorado. It shows how members of this community (a troubled high school teacher, an un-wed pregnant teen, and two crusty old bachelor brothers) reach out to one another and provide support when it is desperately needed.
ALEUTIAN SPARROW - Hesse, Karen
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Aleuts were transported to relocation centers where their lives were changed forever. Told in unrhymed verse.
THE WHEEL OF TIME SERIES - Jordan, Robert
A fantasy series of 7 books that is often compared to JRR Tolkien’s works. Set in a world where two kinds of magic exist, one female and the other male, the WHEEL OF TIME series features as its hero Rand, who begins the first volume as a simple shepherd. A visitor soon sends Rand on an epic journey to unite the people of his planet against the Dark One, who threatens vast destruction.
RIFLES FOR WATIE - Keith, Howard
Jeff Bussey walked briskly up the rutted wagon road toward Fort Leavenworth on his way to join the Union volunteers. It was 1861 in Linn County, Kansas, and Jeff was elated at the prospect of fighting for the North at last. In the Indian country south of Kansas there was dread in the air; and the name Stand Watie was on every tongue. A hero to the rebels, a devil to the Union man, Stand Watie led the Cherokee Indian Nation fearlessly and successfully on savage raids behind the Union lines. Jeff came to know the Watie men only too well.
MONKEYTOWN: THE SUMMER OF THE SCOPES TRIAL – Kidd, Ronald
Frances, 15 years old in the summer of 1925, is a devoted student of Johnny Scopes. Her sleepy hometown, Dayton, Tennessee, becomes the center of whirlwind worldwide attention, when Scopes is arrested and put on trial for teaching evolution in school. Frances’ father has had a hand in orchestrating this as a publicity stunt, which places Frances in an angst-ridden conflict. Readers will be reminded of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, when a pivotal event in American history converges with a heartwarming coming of age story.
A BULLET FOR LINCOLN - King, Benjamin
The notorious assassin Anderson is hired to stage the final exit of President Abraham Lincoln. An intriguing, speculative twist to the historical facts, King tells the story through the eyes of the assassin.
HANA’S SUITCASE - Levine, Karen
A persistent Japanese educator pieces together the essence of a holocaust victim from remnants of her short life.
A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT - Maclean, Norman F.
Based on Norman Maclean’s childhood experiences, RIVER captivates readers with vivid descriptions of life along Montana’s Big Blackfoot River and its near magical blend of fly fishing and family life.
SCRATCH - McAllister, Troon
This humorous golf-centered caper is the third in McAllister's series featuring the unflappable hustler Eddie Caminetti (The Green; The Foursome). Now the owner of the fabulously cool Swithen Bairn golf course on an idyllic, unnamed "island in some ocean," Caminetti crosses paths with a reclusive Caltech physicist who stumbles upon the formula for the ultimate golf ball. A great choice for golf-lovers.
HOOPS - Myers, Walter Dean
A teenage basketball player from Harlem is befriended by a former professional player who, after being forced to quit because of a point shaving scandal, hopes to prevent other young athletes from repeating his mistake.
BEFORE THE CREEKS RAN RED - Reeder, Carolyn
Three fourteen-year-old boys from South Carolina, Maryland and Virginia must sort out conflicting loyalties at the dawn of the Civil War.
THE KILLER ANGELS - Shaara, Michael
July 1-3, 1863. Michael Shaara’s account of the three most important days of the Civil War at the Battle of Gettysburg. Features Chamberlain’s Maine regiment of volunteers who held the Union’s left flank and helped turn the tide of the war against the rebels.
MAUS: A SURVIVOR’S TALE - Spiegelman, Art
Spiegelman, who was a cartoonist, interviewed his father Vladek, a Holocaust survivor living outside NYC, about his experiences. He then turned this interview into a graphic novel by portraying the true story of the Holocaust in comic form – the Jews are mice, the Germans cats, the Poles pigs, the French frogs, and the Americans dogs.
MILKWEED - Spinelli, Jerry
A young boy wanders the streets of Warsaw, Poland during the Holocaust. He is an orphan who steals to survive, and he can’t remember his own name or the names of his family. A man named Uri ushers the boy into his group of Jewish street kids, names him Misha, and invents a background for him. When the Nazis arrive they are all forced into the ghetto, where life becomes more and more desperate.
SWORD AT SUNSET - Sutcliff, Rosemary
For fourteen centuries the story of Arthur was a legend, misted over by the tradition of romantic hero-tales. But he was real – a man of towering strength, a dreamer and a warrior – who actually lived, and fought, and died for his impossible dream. The man whom legend calls Arthur of Britain combined the best of Roman civilization with the fierce dedication of his Celtic ancestors. Great companion piece to the required summer reading book, KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
MURDER AT THE FBI - Truman, Margaret
Special agent George Pritchard was nobody’s favorite at the FBI. When his murdered body is found though, agents look for answers – only to find the bureau wants questions kept to a suspicious minimum.
CHAMPIONS: STORIES OF TEN REMARKABLE ATHLETES - Littlefield, Bill
A penetrating study of five men and five women athletes who helped to break down the barriers of prejudice: against race for Satchel Paige and Roberto Clemente; against women for Billie Jean King and jockey Julie Krone; against the disabled for skier Diana Golden.
BRIAN PICCOLO: A SHORT SEASON - Morris, Jeannie
This is a book about friendship, football, cancer and courage. Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers were professional football players, competing for the same position. Gale gets the position but then gets hurt, forcing Brian to take over while Gale recovers. A while later, Gale returns the favor a hundred fold as he helps his friend through the most difficult “competition” of his life. Dramatized in the movie “Brian’s Song.”
DANGEROUS WATER: A BIOGRAPHY OF THE BOY WHO BECAME MARK TWAIN - Powers, Ron
Pulitzer Prize winning author Powers grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, enabling him to give the reader an imaginative look at Samuel Clemens’ boyhood years. He explains how Twain drew on these years for the rest of his life as he wrote under the famous name of Mark Twain, the quintessential American author. Eighth grade curriculum includes THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN.
THE ULYSSES VOYAGE: SEA SEARCH FOR THE ODYSSEY -Severin, Tim
Was Homer’s ODYSSEY entirely imaginary or did Ulysses make a real voyage home from the siege of Troy to Ithaca? In a gripping modern detective story, Severin uses his replica of a Bronze Age galley to follow the clues which lead to a startling solution to the puzzle. This book will be a marvelous introduction to THE ODYSSEY, read in eighth grade.
SHADOW OF THE WIND - Zafron, Ruiz
Daniel Sempere, the 10-year-old son of a widowed bookstore owner, discovers a novel that changes his life. This is a book within a book that draws the reader in for its intrigue and mystery. Daniel begins to investigate the life and death of the author of this rare book, Julian Caraz, which leads Daniel deeper and deeper into an underworld peopled with strange and otherworldly characters. This book has been a bestseller in Zafon's native Spain.
EIGHT MEN OUT: THE BLACK SOX AND THE 1919 WORLD SERIES - Asinof, Eliot
Any true baseball lover who seeks the truth of the whole sordid affair of the Black Sox scandal must read this book. When it was published in 1965, Asinof blew the lid off the sanitized version which had been previously available to the public.
BURIED IN ICE or FROZEN IN TIME - Beattie and Geiger
Story about two boats that went to the Arctic to discover the Northwest Passage, but in the process all the crew died. One hundred and forty years later, Beattie and Geiger set out to find out what happened to the crew and find evidence of cannibalism and lead poisoning.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: A TOWN, A TEAM, AND A DREAM - Bissinger, H.G.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bissinger spent 1988 in Odessa, Tex., a town obsessed with its champion high-school football team, the Permian Panthers. Publishers Weekly called this a "superb, if disquieting, portrait of heartland America."
THE GREAT ESCAPE - Brickhill, Paul
With bare hands and homemade tools, 76 American and British P.O.W.’S in Nazi camps built underground railroads, forged passports, drew maps, faked weapons, and tailored elaborate German uniforms and civilian clothes. In this fashion they executed the single largest escape from a Nazi prison camp during WWII. A great example of what humanity can achieve under the most strenuous circumstances.
JACK: THE EARLY YEARS OF JOHN F. KENNEDY - Cooper, Ilene
This account of the life of our 35th U.S. President, told with a storyteller’s voice, incorporates anecdotes and photographs from the time Jack was two and a half until he was 17. Also includes an afterward of his short adult life.
HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS - Eggers, Dave
At the age of 22, Eggers becomes both an orphan and a “single parent” when his parents both die and he is appointed guardian of his 8-year-old brother, Chris. The two live together in semi-squalor and his child-rearing strategy swings between making Chris’s upbringing manically fun and performing bizarre developmental experiments on him.
IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY- Freedman, Russell
A compelling, timely discussion of the Constitution and civil liberties. This is a history of the Bill of Rights, from the time it was first voted on two centuries ago through the ongoing struggle to keep people free. What does that word people mean? For a long time, the term didn't include African Americans, Native Americans, or women. Freedman devotes a chapter to each amendment.
SEABISCUIT: AN AMERICAN LEGEND - Hillenbrand, Laura
He didn't look like much. With his smallish stature, knobby knees, and slightly crooked forelegs, he looked more like a cow pony than a thoroughbred. But looks aren't everything; his quality, an admirer once wrote, "was mostly in his heart." Laura Hillenbrand tells the remarkable story of the horse who became a cultural icon..
ISLAND OF HOPE: The Story of Ellis Islandand the Journey to America - Sandler, Martin W.
What was it like to step off of the gangplanks of a boat and lay a boot on to the land of the free, home of the brave? "Going to America was like going to the moon," was the way Golda Meir described it. Step by step, this well-researched accounting of the overwhelming processing of immigrants on Ellis Island will allow readers to imagine what it was like to be the new kid in the country, and then takes readers a few steps further, describing what newcomers faced in the tenements and in the countryside.
THE PERFECT STORM - Junger, Sebastian
The tale of a doomed ship caught in the middle of what some meteorologists have called the storm of the century. At its heart is a gripping narrative about struggling for survival in a tempest of ferocious winds and 100-foot waves.
MONEYBALL- Lewis, Michael
Billy Beane, general manager of MLB's Oakland A's and protagonist of Michael Lewis's Moneyball, had a problem: how to win in the Major Leagues with a budget that's smaller than that of nearly every other team. But Beane and his staff, buoyed by massive amounts of carefully interpreted statistical data, believed that wins could be had by more affordable methods. Lewis offers highly accessible explanations of baseball stats and his roadmap of Beane's economic approach makes Moneyball an appealing reading experience for business people and sports fans alike.
THE TREE OF LIFE: CHARLES DARWIN - Sis, Peter
The pioneering naturalist who showed how evolution worked. Detailed diagrams, maps and journal entries. Extraordinary illustrations.
THE NIGHT TRILOGY- Wiesel, Elie
If you enjoyed reading NIGHT, follow up with the other two stories in this trilogy: DAWN and THE ACCIDENT. DAWN is about a young man who has survived the Second World War, settled in Palestine and is apprenticed to a Jewish terrorist gang. THE ACCIDENT is Wiesel’s fictional account which questions whether Holocaust survivors can forge a new life without memories of the old.