Entering Eighth Grade
Dear Eighth Graders,
Read the required book (The Alchemist ) and two more (one non-fiction, one fiction) from the list below. Following the list is the Writing Requirement.
Required Book:
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Recommended Books:
Fiction (read 1)
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Sabriel, by Garth Nix
"Sabriel, daughter of the necromancer Abhorsen, must journey into the mysterious and magical Old Kingdom to rescue her father from the Land of the Dead."
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by Rowling, J. K.
The seventh book in the Harry Potter series is due out on July 21st. Need I say more?
Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, by Lewis, C. S.
Four children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, are evacuated from London during World War II, and settled with an elderly Professor in a large country-house. The children explore, and Lucy, the youngest of the children, climbs into a wardrobe and finds it leads to a snow-covered land. She meets a faun, Tumnus, who tells her that the land is called Narnia, and that it is ruled over by the ruthless White Witch, who ensures that it is always winter, but never Christmas. Lucy goes back through the wardrobe, which returns to normal, and is unable to convince the other children about her adventure.
Twilight , by Meyer, Stephanie
When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human.
Inkheart, by Funke, Cornelia Caroline
Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service.
Watership Down, by Richard Adams
An allegorical tale of survival about a band of wild rabbits who leave their ancestral home to build a more humane society chronicles their adventures as they search for a safe place to establish a new warren where they can live in peace.
House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer
In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.
The Amazing Maurice & His Educated Rodents, by Terry Pratchett
"A talking cat, intelligent rats, and a strange boy cooperate in a Pied Piper scam until they try to con the wrong town and are confronted by a deadly evil rat king."
Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale
While attending a strict academy for potential princesses with the other girls from her mountain village, fourteen-year-old Miri discovers unexpected talents and connections to her homeland.
Mystery
And Then There Were None, by Christie, Agatha
First, there were ten—a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they're unwilling to reveal—and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. And only the dead are above suspicion.
Chasing Vermeer, by Blue Balliett
When strange and seemingly unrelated events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal.
Thief Lord, by Cornelia Funke
"Two brothers, having run away from the aunt who plans to adopt the younger one, are sought by a detective hired by their aunt, but they have found shelter with--and protection from--Venice's "Thief Lord.""
Historical Fiction
Crispin: the Cross of Lead, by Avi
"Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret."
Slave Dancer, by Paula Fox
Kidnapped by the crew of an Africa-bound ship, a thirteen-year-old boy discovers to his horror that he is on a slaver and his job is to play music for the exercise periods of the human cargo.
When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, by Holt, Kimberly Willis
"During the summer of 1971 in a small Texas town, thirteen-year-old Toby and his best friend Cal meet the star of a sideshow act, 600-pound Zachary, the fattest boy in the world."
Miscellaneous & Realistic Fiction
Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Albom, Mitch
Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "Why was I here?"
Speak, by Andersen, Laurie Halse
Melinda is a friendless outcast at Merryweather High. She busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, and now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. It is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party. It will take another violent encounter to make Melinda fight back. This time she refuses to be silent.
Silent to the Bone, by Konigsburg, E. L.
Connor is sure his best friend, Branwell, couldn't have hurt Branwell's baby half sister, Nikki. But Nikki lies in a coma, and Branwell is in a juvenile behavioral center, suspected of a horrible crime and unable to utter the words to tell what really happened. Connor is the only one who might be able to break through Branwell's wall of silence. But how can he prove Branwell didn't commit the unspeakable act of which he's accused -- when Branwell can't speak for himself?
The Chosen, by Potok, Chiam
It is the now-classic story of two fathers and two sons and the pressures on all of them to pursue the religion they share in the way that is best suited to each. And as the boys grow into young men, they discover in the other a lost spiritual brother, and a link to an unexplored world that neither had ever considered before. In effect, they exchange places, and find the peace that neither will ever retreat from again....
Dicey’s Song, by Cynthia Voight
Now that the four abandoned Tillerman children are settled in with their grandmother, Dicey must decide what she wants for her siblings and herself.
Stargirl, by Spinelli, Jerry
Leo Borlock follows the unspoken rule at Mica Area High School: don't stand out—under any circumstances! Then Stargirl arrives at Mica High and everything changes—for Leo and for the entire school. After 15 years of home schooling, Stargirl bursts into tenth grade in an explosion of color and a clatter of ukulele music, enchanting the Mica student body. But the delicate scales of popularity suddenly shift, and Stargirl is shunned for everything that makes her different. Somewhere in the midst of Stargirl's arrival and rise and fall, normal Leo Borlock has tumbled into love with her. In a celebration of nonconformity, Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the fleeting, cruel nature of popularity—and the thrill and inspiration of first love.
The Red Pony, by Steinbeck, John
Raised on a ranch in northern California, Jody is well-schooled in the hard work and demands of a rancher's life. He is used to the way of horses, too; but nothing has prepared him for the special connection he will forge with Gabilan, a hot-tempered pony his father gives him. With Billy Buck, the hired hand, Jody tends and trains his horse, restlessly anticipating the moment he will sit high upon Gabilan's saddle. But when Gabilan falls ill, Jody discovers there are still lessons he must learn about the ways of nature and, particularly, the ways of man.
The Secret Life of Bees, by Kidd, Sue Monk
Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her harsh, unyielding father, Lily Owens has shaped her entire life around one devastating, blurred memory - the afternoon her mother was killed, when Lily was four. Since then, her only real companion has been the fierce-hearted, and sometimes just fierce, black woman Rosaleen, who acts as her "stand-in mother." When Rosaleen insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily knows it's time to spring them both free. They take off in the only direction Lily can think of, toward a town called Tiburon, South Carolina - a name she found on the back of a picture amid the few possessions left by her mother. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters named May, June, and August. Lily thinks of them as the calendar sisters and enters their mesmerizing secret world of bees and honey, and of the Black Madonna who presides over this household of strong, wise women. Maternal loss and betrayal, guilt and forgiveness entwine in a story that leads Lily to the single thing her heart longs for most.
Non-Fiction (read 1)
Smashed, by Zalickas, Koren
Perhaps the most cautionary aspect of Zailckas' eye-opening account of girlhood alcohol abuse is the fact that her story is surprisingly common. Like many girls, she took her first tentative sips at the age of 14. Two years later, she would remember few details of the night she landed -- bruised, filthy, and completely spent -- in the local emergency room, a couple of drinks away from death by alcohol poisoning.
Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High, by Beals, Patillo Melba
Melba Patillo Beals was one of nine black teenagers chosen to integrate Little Rock, Arkansas's Central High School in 1957. For Melba and her friends it marked their transformation into reluctant warriors--on a battlefield that helped shape the civil rights movement. Warriors Don't Cry is their riveting story.
The Great Escape, by Brickhill, Paul
The story of 76 American and British POWs in Nazi camps built underground railroads, forged passports, drew maps, faked weapons, and tailored elaborate German uniforms and clothes. In this fashion they executed the single largest escape from a Nazi prison camp during WWII.
It Happened to Nancy: A True Story from the Diary of a Teenager,
Sparks, Beatrice (editor)
Presented as a diary edited by the woman who prepared Go Ask Alice for publication, this book is soberly dedicated ``to every kid who thinks AIDS can't happen to him or her'.” The story itself, however, begins on a nearly euphoric note: Nancy, 14, is caught up in her first romance. Breathless exuberance turns to horror, anger and despair after her gentle-seeming boyfriend plies her with spiked wine coolers and rapes her in her own mother's bed. A few months later, blood tests indicate that Nancy is HIV-positive. Nancy succumbs relatively quickly to full-blown AIDS, thus giving readers a rapid-paced and horrific account of the disease's progress. Though the wrenchingly optimistic diarist devotes little space in her journal to the specific details of the various opportunistic infections she suffers.
Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series, by Asinof, Eliot
Any true baseball lover, who seeks the truth of the whole sordid affair of the Black Sox scandal, read this book. When it was published in 1965, Asinof blew the lid off the sanitized version which had been available to the public.
10,000 Days of Thunder, by Caputo, Philip
Featuring hundreds of photos, plus helpful maps and easy-to-digest fact boxes, Caputo's well-organized volume is an excellent introduction (to the Vietnam War) for both kids and adults. (Washington Post)
WRITING REQUIREMENTS
Writing Requirement for the Required book,The Alchemist.
(You are strongly encouraged to type the response, although it is not
required)
Please write one page (at least 250 words) on one of the following topics:
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