This list is a collection of realistic,
historical, graphic, action, adventure,
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
Writing letters to the late Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., seventeen-year-old college-bound Justyce
McAllister struggles to face the reality of race
relations today and how they are shaping him.
Girl, Stolen by April Henry
When an impulsive carjacking turns into a
kidnapping, Griffin, a high school dropout, finds
himself more in sympathy with his wealthy, blind
victim, sixteen-year-old Cheyenne, than with his
greedy father.
House Arrest by K.A. Holt
In this novel in verse, Timothy, who is sentenced
to house arrest for stealing, keeps a journal in
which he documents his fears and frustrations.
Prince of Venice Beach by Blake Nelson
Robert "Cali" Callahan, seventeen, gets swept up
into the private-investigator business and must
deal with the ramifications of looking for fellow
runaways who may not want to be found, and with
falling in love with one of them.
You’re Welcome, Universe by Whitney
Gardner
When Julia finds a slur about her best friend on the
wall of the Kingston School for the Deaf, she
covers it up with a beautiful graffiti mural. She is
found out and expelled, and sent to a mainstream
school in the suburbs where she is the only deaf
student and treated as an outcast. The only thing
she has left is her street art, but when she gets
dragged into a full-blown graffiti war, even Julia’s
not sure what will happen next. foothills and attended a small private school.
Famous Last Words by Katie Alender
High-schooler Willa has just moved to California with
her mother and film director stepfather, and she will
be attending a private school--but her real problem is
that she keeps seeing things that are not really there,
like a dead body in the swimming pool, and her
visions may be connected to a serial killer that is
stalking young girls in Hollywood.
Your Summer Reading Assignment is
on the bottom of the next page.
Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez
Anita, a typically self-absorbed twelve-year-old
living in the Dominican Republic in the early
1960s, is surprised to discover her family is
involved in the underground movement to end
the bloody rule of the dictator, General Trujillo.
Boy at the Top of the Mountain by John
Boyne
When Pierrot becomes an orphan, he must
leave his home in Paris for a new life with his
aunt Beatrix, a servant at the Berghof, the
home of Adolf Hitler. Pierrot is quickly taken
under Hitler's wing and thrown into an
increasingly dangerous new world of terror,
secrets, and betrayal from which he may never
be able to escape.
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
After being sold to a cruel couple in New York
City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels
during the Revolutionary War.
Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
Hannah resents the traditions of her Jewish
heritage until time travel places her in the
middle of a small Jewish village in Nazi-
occupied Poland.
Emma by Jane Austen
A novel of Regency England that centers upon
a self-assured young lady who is determined to
arrange her life and the lives of those around
her into a pattern dictated by her romantic
fancy.
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Abandoned by her drug-addicted mother at
the age of eleven, high school student Taylor
Markham struggles with her identity and
family history at a boarding school in
Australia.
nonfiction, and much more!
Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & the Trial of the
Century by Sarah Miller
Miller takes readers along as she investigates a
brutal crime: the August 4, 1892, murders of wealthy
and prominent Andrew and Abby Borden. The
accused? Their daughter, mild-mannered and
highly respected Lizzie Borden. This book sorts fact
from fiction, and as a legal battle gets under way, a
gripping portrait of a woman and a town emerges.
Bad Girls of Fashion by Jennifer Croll
Explores the lives of ten famous women who have
used clothing to make a statement, change
perceptions, break rules, attract power, or express
their individuality.
One Shot at Forever by Chris Ballard
The inspirational story of a coach, a baseball team,
and the season they'll never forget. The book tells
the story of a small-town baseball team from Illinois
in 1971.
Let Your Voice be Heard: The Life and Times
of Pete Seeger by Anita Silvey
Explores the span of American folk singer Pete
Seeger's musical career and life, from his humble
beginnings in New York to his social activism and
crusade for causes in his music up until his death.
57 Bus by Dashka Slater
If it weren't for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never
would have met. Both were high school students
from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse
cities in the country, but they inhabited different
worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class
Richard, a black teen, lived in the crime-plagued
flatlands and attended a large public one. Each day,
their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes.
Orchards by Holly Thompson
Sent to Japan for the summer after an eighth-
grade classmate's suicide, half-Japanese, half-
Jewish Kana Goldberg tries to fit in with
relatives she barely knows and reflects on the
guilt she feels over a bullying-related tragedy
back home.
Rose Sees Red by Cecil Castellucci
In the 1980s, two teenaged ballet dancers—
one American, one Russian—spend an
unforgettable night in New York City,
forming a lasting friendship despite their
cultural and political differences.
That Inevitable Victorian Thing by EK Johnson
In alternative future Toronto where the British
Empire never fell and chose to diversify instead,
Helena, August, and Margaret are caught off-guard
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
by the discovery of a love so intense they are willing In this wordless graphic novel, a man leaves his
to change the course of the monarchy to keep it. homeland and sets off for a new country, where he
must build a new life for himself and his family.

Gunnerkrigg Court : Volume 1: Orientation

by Thomas Siddell
Antimony Carver is girl starting her first year of
school at gloomy Gunnerkrigg Court, a very British
boarding school. During her orientation year,
Assassin’s Heart by Sarah Ahiers House of the Scorpion by Nancy Antimony experiences and causes strange things
Seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana, a trained assassin, falls Farmer to happen as she and her new friend, Kat, unravel
in love with Val Da Via, a boy from a rival clan, until In a future where humans despise clones, the mysteries of the Court and deal with the
tragedy intervenes and sets her on a course of revenge Matt enjoys special status as the young everyday adventures of growing up.
against the Da Vias family. clone of El Patron, the 142-year-old
leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled Lily Renee by Trina Robbins & Anne
Dream a Little Dream by Kerstin Gier between Mexico and the United States. Timmons
Liv Silver has lived in six countries in eight years and she
A graphic novel biography of Lily Renee Wilheim,
and her sister yearn for a real home and normalcy, but Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older who, at fourteen years old, was forced to travel
soon after moving in with her mother's boyfriend in When the murals painted on the walls of alone from Austria to England to escape the Nazis
London, Liv's dreams turn bizarre, filled with talking stone her Brooklyn neighborhood start to and faced servitude, hardship, and danger before
statues, mysterious corridors, and strange rituals change and fade in front of her, Sierra becoming a pioneer of the comic book genre.
conducted by four boys who happen to be her new Santiago realizes that something strange
classmates. is going on--then she discovers her Puerto
Princess Decomposia and Count Spatula by
Rican family are shadowshapers and finds
The Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke herself in a battle with an evil
Andi Watson
When Ellie Baum accidentally time-travels via red balloon anthropologist for the lives of her family Princess Decomposia, overworked and
to 1988 East Berlin, she's caught up in a conspiracy of and friends. underappreciated, runs the underworld for her
history and magic. She finds an underground guild in East layabout father, but when she hires Count Spatula,
Berlin who use balloons and magic to help people a vampire with a sweet tooth, as the new chef, he
escape over the Wall, but Ellie's time travel is a mystery. not only helps straighten out her life, he may
Someone is using dark magic to change history and Ellie become more than a friend.
must risk everything to stop the process.
The Wendy Project by Melissa Jane
Osborne
Wendy Davies crashes her car into a lake with her
two younger brothers in the backseat. With one of
her brothers missing, Wendy struggles to
negotiate fantasy and reality as people around her
resemble characters from Neverland. Given a
Always Emily by Michaela Maccoll I am Princess X by Cherie Priest sketchbook, Wendy starts to draw “The Wendy
Young Emily and Charlotte Bronte investigate a Years after writing stories about a superheroine Project.”
possible connection between a series of local character she created with a best friend who died
burglaries and rumors that a neighbor's death in a tragic car accident, 16-year-old May is
may not have been accidental. shocked to see stickers, patches and graffiti
images of the superheroine appearing all over
Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe town.
Schreiber
Perry's parents insist that he take Gobi, their Warcross by Marie Lu
quiet, Lithuanian exchange student, to senior • For summer reading, please read TWO
When teenage coder Emika Chen hacks her way
prom but after an incident at the dance he learns into the opening tournament of the Warcross books of your choice.
that Gobi is actually a trained assassin who needs Championships, she glitches herself into the • Fill out the Grade 8 Summer Reading
him as a henchman, behind the wheel of his game as well as a sinister plot with major Assignment (on the next page) and
father's precious Jaguar, on a mission in consequences for the entire Warcross empire. bring it to school with you on the first
Manhattan.
day.
Fallout by Gwenda Bond
Lois Lane is the new girl at East Metropolis High,
and her instinct to ask questions brings her and
her online friend, Smallville Guy, into conflict with
some bullying video gamers called the
Warheads, who are being used in a dangerous
virtual reality experiment.
Name:________________________ Parent signature: ______________________
Summer Reading Grade 8

What was your favorite book this summer? : ____________________________________

Rate that book by coloring in 1 to 5 stars: 1= did not enjoy it and 5=loved it!

Why was this your favorite book? You might discuss character connections, the plot,
or the language.
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Based on what you know about theme, what is the theme of your novel?
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What other books did you read this summer? Rate them as well.

1.  ___________________________

2.  ___________________________

3.  ___________________________

Please print and attach a “selfie” of you and your book