Summer Reading List for Incoming

Eighth Graders

Fiction

Farmer, Nancy.  HOUSE OF SCORPION.  Matt is a young child who is a clone, though he does not know it at the beginning of the novel.  He still has the normal concerns and fears that other children have, but he also wants friends and a chance to do what he wants. 

Blackwood, Gary.  THE YEAR OF THE HANGMAN.  What would have happened if we had lost the Revolutionary War?  Jail escapes, duels, and code breaking add to this view of alternative history. 

Draper, Sharon M. FORGED BY FIRE.  This book is based on the life of Gerald Nickelby, one of the characters from Tears of a Tiger. It traces his life from his sad toddler years through his tragic teen years.

Draper, Sharon M. TEARS OF A TIGER.  Andrew Jackson or as his friends called him, Andy was having a great life. Okay, it was not really very great. He had problems with his teachers and his grades, which would cause problems with his parents. Other than that, he had a great girlfriend, Kiesha, and three best friends. They were having fun and joking around, not realizing the important things in life. Well, having too much fun can lead into major trouble. Andy's life changed dramatically ...

Dygard, Thomas.  SECOND STRINGER.  When Kevin replaces the quarterback and football hero who suffers a knee injury, the second stringer needs to prove that he can do the job.

Hiaasen, Carl.  FLUSH.  Noah’s father tries to stop the Coral Queen casino boat from illegally dumping waste into the Florida Keys.  His dad is caught, and put in jail and Noah is determined to succeed where his father failed. 

Johnson, Angela.  HEAVEN.  Sophy fears that she will become like her older sister Nicole who has schizophrenia. She learns both how to cope with her sister's illness and that their love remains strong.

Korman, Gordon.  SCHOOLED.  Capricorn Anderson has never watched a TV show, tasted a pizza, or even heard of a wedgie.  He has never thought of living anywhere but Garland Farm commune, with his hippie caretaker, Rain.

Murphy, Jim.  BLIZZARD.  Come experience the Great Blizzard of 1888 through the eyes and words of survivors and victims alike.  Stories like that of seventeen-year-old Sara Wilson.  Who was on her first trip on a train and her first time away from home on her own.

Paulsen, Gary.  THE TIME HACKERS.  Doros and his best friend set out on a journey through space and time trying to stop the gamesters who are endangering the universe.

Rosen, Michael J.  A SCHOOL FOR POMPEY WALKER. A true narrative of an escaped slave who returned to the South to raise money for a school by selling himself back into slavery again and again. 

Nonfiction

Capuzzo, Mike.  CLOSE TO SHORE: THE TERRIFYING SHARK ATTACKS OF 1916.  During the summer of 1916, just as railroad travel enabled city dwellers to make day trips to the seashore, bathers along the East Coast were frightened away by a series of vicious attacks in the water.

Murphy, Jim.  AMERICAN PLAGUE: THE TRUE AND TERRIFYING STORY OF THE  YELLOW FEVER EPIDEMIC OF 1793.  Drawing on first had accounts, medical and non-medical, Murphy re-creates the fear and panic of the yellow fever epidemic that hit the nation’s capital more than 200 years ago, the social conditions that caused the disease to spread, and the arguments about causes and cures. 

Paulsen, Gary.  GUTS: THE TRUE STORIES BEHIND HATCHET AND THE BRIAN BOOKS.  Paulsen tells the real stories behind the Brian books and Hatchet, the stories of the adventures that inspired him to write from his experiences.

Paulsen, Gary.  MY LIFE IN DOG YEARS.  The author describes some of the dogs that were special to him during his life.