St. Joseph School
Seventh and Eighth Grade Summer Reading List
Please choose one book from each category and answer the essay question that
follows.
Fiction
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Elizabeth George Speare
Inherit the Wind
Jerome Lawrence
Holes
Louis Sachar
One Fat Summer
Robert Lipsyte
Stargirl
Jerry Spinelli
Call of the Wild
Jack London
The Underneath Dog and Cat
Kathi Appelt
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austin
Mockingbird
Kathryn Erskine
Brian Jack (Science fiction-tech)
Brian Falkner
Hollow Kingdom (Science Fiction)
Claire B. Dunkle)
Autobiography of My Dead Brother (gang)
Walter Dean Myers
Trembling Earth: War Between the States
(historical fiction) Kim Siegelson
Shooting the Moon (historical fiction)
Frances O’Rouk Dowell
Z for Zachariah (Science fiction)
Robert O’Brien
Informational Text
Wounded Knee
(S.S.)
Dee Brow
The Number Devil
(Math)
Hans Magnus Enzensberger
Gorilla in the Mist
(Science)
Dian Fossey
Future Shock
(Tech)
Curtis Mayfield
Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom and Science (S.S.)
Marc Aronson
Chasing Lincoln’s Killer (S.S.)
James Swanson
Washington at Valley Forge (S.S.)
Russell Freedman
The Duel: The Parallel Lives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr (S.S.)
Judith St. George
The Good Fight: How World War 11 Was Won
Stephen E. Ambrose
The Boy Who Dared (S.S.)
Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Informational
1. The way a character learns and grows is a common theme in Literature. In a well planned
out essay (four paragraphs), choose a character and explain how he/she learns and grows
to overcomes a conflict that was faced. Be sure to include at least three references from
the book showing how the character achieves his/her goal.
Fiction
2. Many novels explore the way setting creates action. Other novels tell universal stories
that could have many possible settings. Think about the reasons why the author chose
his/her particular setting for the novel. Write a essay in which you discuss whether or not
the setting was fundamental to the action of the novel. Explain at least three reasons. If
not, how would you change it?
St. Joseph School
Eighth Grade Summer Reading List
Please choose one book from each category and answer the essay question that
follows.
Fiction
Twelve Angry Men
Reginald Rose
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury
Nothing But the Truth
Avi
The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger
The Hobbit
J.R.R. Tolkien
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austin
A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens
Informational Text
Four Perfect Pebbles
Marion Blumenthal
Night
Elie Wiesel
The Phantom Tollbooth
Norton Juster
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
Richard Rhodes
Future Shock
Curtis Mayfield
Informational
3. The way a character learns and grows is a common theme in Literature. In a well planned
out essay (four paragraphs), choose a character and explain how he/she learns and grows
to overcomes a conflict that was faced. Be sure to include at least three references from
the book showing how the character achieves his/her goal.
Fiction
4. Many novels explore the way setting creates action. Other novels tell universal stories
that could have many possible settings. Think about the reasons why the author chose
his/her particular setting for the novel. Write a essay in which you discuss whether or not
the setting was fundamental to the action of the novel