Grades 7&8 Summer Reading List

Grade 8 Required Reading:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930's. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina and quiet heroism of one man's struggle for justice but the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel—a young German girl whose book stealing and story telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.
 


Grade 7 Required Reading:

Code Orange by Caroline B. Cooney
Walking around New York ity is what Mitty Blake does best. Mitty is a carefree guy, whixh is why he is late handing in his Advanced Bio report. So he considers it good luck when he finds some old medical books in his family's weekend house that focus on something he could write about. But when he discovers an envelope with two scabs in one of the books, the report is no longer about the grade- its about life and death.

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
In 1793 Philadelphia, sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick mother, learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of a yellow fever epidemic.



Additional Recommended Reading Selections:

The Cardturner - Louis Sachar

Hope Was Here – Joan Bauer

House of the Scorpions – Nancy Farmer

Incarceron - Cathrine Fisher

Dairy Queen – Catherine Murdock

Chains - Laurie Halse Anderson

Touching Spirit Bear – Ben Mikaelsen

You Don’t Know Me – David Klass

High Heat – Carl Deuker

Forge - Laurie Halse Anderson

Code Talkers: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two – Joseph Bruchac

Hattie Big Sky – Kirby Larson

Guys Write for Guys Read – Jon Scieszka

Trouble – Gary D. Schmidt

Winter Girls – Laurie Halse Anderson

The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins

Airborn – Kenneth Oppel

Bucking the Sarge – Christopher Paul Curtis

Life As We Knew It - Susan Beth Pfeffer

My Last Skirt - Linda Durrant

Series:

The Hungry Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins

Uglies - Scott Westerfeld

The Dark Materials Trilogy – Philip Pullman

Alex Rider Series – Anthony Horowitz

Cirque du Freak – Darren Shan

Young Royal Series – Carolyn Meyer