2006
8th Grade Summer Reading List:
*
indicates books that are more challenging reading
What should I
read next?
Colfer,
Eoin. Artemis Fowl. c2001Fantasy/Science fiction
Artemis Fowl is a twelve-year-old genius and heir to the Fowl Empire. When his family experiences hard times Artemis sets about masterminding a plot to win fame and restore his family's fortune. Artemis's world is full of zany characters, wild adventures and mystical creatures.
N.Y.P.L. Books for the Teen Age
Reviews from Amazon.com
ALA's Best Books for Young Adults
Outstanding Books for the College Bound
Crutcher,
Chris. Ironman. c1995 Fiction
A domineering, sadistic father works hard to make a "man" of seventeen-year-old Bo but instead turns him into a young man who resists any and all authority. While training for a triathlon, Bo is forced to attend an anger management group at school after he is thrown off the football team for run-ins with his English teacher and football coach. The classes lead him to examine his relationship with his father.
N.Y.P.L. Books for the Teen Age
Reviews from Amazon.com
*Crutcher,
Chris. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. c1993 Fiction
A social outcast in junior high school due to his excessive weight, narrator Eric Calhoune finds a kindred spirit in Sarah Byrnes, whose face and hands were hideously disfigured in childhood. Their friendship is threatened when Eric begins to lose weight. Sarah escapes from her tortured world by becoming mute. The two misfits become close as they help each other through the pain of past memories.
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
Reviews from Amazon.com
Gantas,
Jack. Joey Pigza Swallowed
the Key. c1998 (Grand Ave. only)Fiction
Joey Pigza has trouble paying attention and controlling his mood swings especially after his medication wears off. He suffers from severe attention deficit disorder. His condition is not helped by the fact that he has been left to live with his abusive grandmother. Joey is suspended from school and is sent to a special education center.
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
Reviews from Amazon.com
Hewett,
Lorri . Dancer. c1999
Fiction
Stephanie has devoted her life to being the best dancer she can be. she
hopes that her hard work will land her the lead as Princes Aurora in her
ballet school's production of Sleeping Beauty. A young blue-eyed Russian
girl enrolls in the school and turns out to be a better dancer than Stephanie.
She wins the lead roll. This causes Stephanie to reconsider, whether as
an African American, she has chosen the wrong career.
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
Books for the Teen Age (NYPL)
Reviews
from Amazon.com
Hinton,
S.E. That Was Then, This Is
Now. First Published 1971 Fiction
Sixteen-year-old Mark and Bryon have been like brothers since childhood, but now, as their involvement with girls, gangs, and drugs increases, their relationship seems to gradually disintegrate. When Bryon discovers that Mark is a drug pusher, he is faced with a difficult decision.
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
Reviews from Amazon.com
*Howe,
James. The Watcher. c1997Fiction
A lonely and troubled adolescent, Margaret, escapes into a fantasy world to relieve the pain of her abusive existence. Her fantasies are recorded in her journal. Chris and Evan, her summer beach friends, become an important part of her life.
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
N.Y.P.L. Books for the Teen Age
Reviews from Amazon.com
Jackson,
Livia. I
Have Lived A Thousand Years: Growing Up in the Holocaust. c1997
Autobiography, Nonfiction
Elli Friedmann, in her memoir, tells about her experiences at Auschwitz concentration camp where she was taken at the age of thirteen in 1944 when the Nazis invaded her native Hungary.
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
N.Y.P.L. Books for the Teen Age
Reviews from Amazon.com
O'Brien,
Robert C. Z For Zachariah.
c1974 Science Fiction
Told in diary form, this is a gripping story about the survivors of a nuclear holocaust. Seemingly the only person left alive after a nuclear war, a sixteen-year-old girl is relieved to see a man arrive in her valley until she realizes that he is a tyrant and she must somehow escape.
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
Reviews from Amazon.com
*Peck,
Richard. A Long Way from Chicago:
A Novel in Stories. c1998
Fiction
These seven stories tell of the seven summers that Joey and his sister
Mary Alice spend with their no nonsense grandmother in rural Illinois
during the Depression. As she interacts with the colorful characters of
her small rural town, Grandma continually astonishes her grandchildren
with her outrageous schemes and humorous antics.
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
Newbery Medal/Honor Book
Reviews
from Amazon.com
Spinelli,
Jerry. Crash. c1996 Fiction
Seventh-grader John "Crash" Coogan has always been comfortable with his tough, aggressive behavior, until his relationship with an unusual Quaker boy and his grandfather's stroke make him consider the meaning of friendship and the importance of family.
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
N.Y.P.L. Books for the Teen Age
Reviews from Amazon.com
Strasser,
Todd.Shark Bite. c1998 Fiction, Adventure
Ian and Talia are happy to accompany Stuart and his father on a sailing trip from Texas to Mexico. During a sudden storm, the mast snaps, the boat begins to sink, and Stuart's father is injured. Ian hurries to get everyone into the rubber raft before the sharks arrive. The biggest shark Ian has ever imagined is soon swimming near the raft; Ian fears that it could be the first of many.
Reviews from Amazon.com
*Verne,
Jules. 20,000 Leagues Under
the Sea. First Published in 1970 Science Fiction
Classic
A French scientist and his companions travel the seven seas in the mid 19th century as prisoners in Captain Nemo's mysterious electric submarine, the Nautilus.
Reviews from Amazon.com
*Wells,
H.G. War Of the Worlds. First published
in 1898 Science Fiction
Classic
An intellectually superior race from Mars invades the Earth and with their superior weapons makes plans to enslave human beings.
Reviews from Amazon.com
Bellmore Memorial Library Merrick Public Library North Bellmore Public Library North Merrick Public Library
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