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| Middle Schools Summer Reading Lists 2008 for Grade 8 |
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Please read this note
on viewing the lists.
The reading lists for summer 2008 can be viewed for Elementary
Grade K or Grade 1, Grade 2 or Grade 3,
Grade 4 or Grade 5; Middle School Grade 6,
Grade 7, Grade 8 or
High School Grade 9,
Grade 10, Grade 11,
Grade 12. Also, the reading lists have a printer friendly link for
students to print the list for use at home during the summer or when
returning to school in the fall. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to
read and print the complete list. If you do not already have Adobe Acrobat
Reader, you can
Get Adobe Acrobat Reader for Free Here 
All required books for summer reading will be available for sale at Barnes and
Noble, Borders, independent book stores and on-line. Please be advised that
there may be a limited number of summer reading books available for circulation
at the Middletown Public Library and the smaller branches (Lincroft, Navesink
and Bayshore) due to the volume of readers. If you are planning to visit the
Monmouth County Library (Shrewsbury Branch), you must have a paid membership
card in order to borrow books.
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| Summer Reading for Middle School Students entering Grade 8 in 2008 |
You are viewing this Middle School Summer Reading List displayed in your web
browser.
For a printer friendly link, go to
Middle School Reading List for Students entering Grade 8.
MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP BOARD OF EDUCATION
Office of Curriculum and Instruction for Humanities K-12
c/o Thorne Middle School
70 Murphy Road
Port Monmouth, NJ 07758
(732) 787-1220 x7785
email: mailto:CarriggF@middletownk12.org
Karen L. Bilbao
Superintendent of Schools |
Fred Carrigg
District Director |
May 6, 2008
To: Parents of Middle Grade Students for the 2008-2009 School Year
From: Fred Carrigg, District Director of Curriculum for Humanities, K-12
Re: Summer Reading Guidelines and Novel Choices
Enclosed is the summer reading list for incoming 8th graders. Rather
than giving novel choices that introduce them to next year’s themes and topics,
we shifted the focus to choosing novels based on the background knowledge they
acquired during this past school year. When a child already has the background
knowledge needed for reading, they are able to not only understand it more on
an independent level, but also make deeper connections to the text. For
example, students in 7th grade explored life during colonial times in America.
One novel on the list takes place during that time period and deals with the
yellow fever. Other choices on the list are novels by the same author of novels
read in 7th grade.
Please note that your child must fill out the reader’s response log as
he/she progresses through the book. While all students are required to
read one novel this summer, we always encourage reading more than one
based on interest and motivation. Our goal was to make the list interesting
enough so that there are several options to help foster a love of reading in
all students.
Students will be asked by their language arts teacher to hand in their Reader’s
Response Logs at the beginning of the new school year.
We offer our sincere wishes for a healthy and happy summer.
Middletown Township Public Schools
Mandatory Summer Reading for Middle School Students
Students will read a minimum of one novel during the summer and
complete the Reader’s Response Logs as they read.
For Students Entering Eight Grade:
1. Novels by author Gary Paulsen – Students read Hatchet
during their 7th grade year. These novels focus on themes of survival and
adapting to change. Some choices are:
Brian’s Winter, Brian’s Hunt, The River, Brian’s
Return – all part of the Hatchet series.
DogSong – a young boy
searches to find himself on a lone dogsledding adventure.
Woodsong – Gary
Paulsen’s autobiographical account of his dogsledding adventure.
Tracker – a boy must
hunt deer for his family’s survival, but finds that he cannot bring himself to
do it.
FoxMan – A town boy sent
to live on a remote wilderness farm forms a friendship with an elderly,
disfigured man who teaches him many things.
Canyons – A psychic link
is forged between a 19th-century Apache boy and Brennan, a 15-year-old on a
camping trip who undertakes a grueling journey.
2. Novels by author S.E. Hinton – Students read The
Outsiders during their 7th grade year, providing background knowledge
and vocabulary for this theme of family/self conflict and resolution.
Other novels by this author are:
That Was Then, This Is Now –
one of her most admired novels, S. E. Hinton paints a richly textured portrait
of two boys at a crossroads in their friendship. With careful, intimate
strokes, Hinton reveals a boy struggling over whether to protect his best
friend or whether to follow his own beliefs about right and wrong.
Tex – The love between
two teenage brothers helps to alleviate the harshness of their usually
parentless life as they struggle to grow up.
Taming the Star Runner –
When rebellious adolescent Travis is sent to live on his uncle's farm, he forms
an uneasy friendship with a young riding instructor and a strange kinship with
her restless horse, Star Runner..
Rumblefish – Rusty-James
knows he is a tough teen, but he wants to be even tougher, just like his older
brother, the Motorcycle Boy. He wants to stay calm and laugh when things get
dangerous, to be the strongest street fighter and the most respected guy this
side of the river.
2. Fever 1793 by Laurie
Halse Anderson – Students in 7th grade explored life during
Colonial America, providing plenty of background knowledge for this novel about
the Yellow Fever striking Philadelphia in 1793, killing 5,000 people in three
months. In this riveting and fast-paced novel, one girl must survive with her
elderly grandfather after her mother catches the fever.
Reader Response Journal
Novel Choice: _____________________
Quotes must be throughout ENTIRE book: beginning,
middle, and end.
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