SUMMER READING LIST
RISING 8TH GRADERS
Mary G. Porter Traditional School
Grades 6 – 8 PWCS Summer Reading Program
The purpose of the PWCS Summer Reading Program is to encourage students to enjoy
quality literature and to continue developing their independent reading skills. Student
participation in the program is voluntary. Students who choose to participate in the
program are required to complete a minimum number of readings over the summer.
Students participating in the program in Grades 6 - 8 will complete a list of
books read. The documentation is to include the name of the author, the title
of the book, an explanation of the topic or plot of the book, and a parent or
guardian statement that the student has completed the reading.
Students in Grades 6 - 8 who participate in Prince William County Public
Library's Summer Reading Program, the Public Library documentation will
apply. Students will receive an extra “A” (100) for each book completed, for a
maximum total of two. The summer reading documentation will be submitted
by the student by the end of the second week of school.
Lexile Levels
To help in choosing books that can promote reading growth, this year each child’s 2014
English SOL score will include a Lexile Level. The Lexile Level is based on a student’s
SOL score on the English portion of the SOL and approximates his/her reading level.
This means a child should be able to read and understand books in a Lexile range of
approximately 100 points below to 50 points above the designated score.
Knowing a child’s Lexile range can help to locate books that he/she might enjoy reading.
Student interest and motivation for reading books that are age appropriate are critical
factors to consider as book choices are made. Remember that nothing replaces
conversation with the student, his teachers, and librarians in making great choices.
It is important to note that the Lexile measure does not address the content or quality of
the book. Many other factors affect the relationship between a reader and a book,
including its content, the age and interests of the reader, and the design of the actual
book. The Lexile measure is a good starting point in the book-selection process, but
parents should always consider these other factors when making a decision about which
book to choose.
SUMMER READING
RISING 8TH GRADERS
Mary G. Porter Traditional School
We recommend reading from this list below or the Virginia Readers Choice 2013-2014 nominee list.
Book Reviews are to be turned in the first week of school to the Language Arts Teacher. Please create a
word document that follows the format listed on the first page.
FICTION
Adams, Richard
Watership Down
The adventures of a group of rabbits flee their doomed warren and face many dangers to find and protect
their new home. (Lexile 880)
Asher, Jay
13 Reasons Why
When Hannah Baker ends her life, she leaves cassette tapes identifying 13 reasons why she ended her life.
Each person who influenced her life is to listen to the tape telling their impact on her life, and death.
(Lexile 550)
Auel, Jean M.
The Clan of the Cave Bear
A historical novel about prehistoric times. The first book in the Earth's Children book series. A natural
disaster leaves Ayla wandering alone until she is found by and brought into the Clan of the Cave Bear.
(Lexile 1000)
Christie, Agatha
Murder on the Orient Express
Detective Hercule Poirot has a wealth of suspects to choose from when a wealthy American is stabbed to
death en route to Paris on the Orient Express. (Lexile 640)
Draper, Sharon
Copper Sun
Two fifteen-year-old girls--one a slave and the other an indentured servant--escape their Carolina plantation
and try to make their way to Fort Moses, Florida, a Spanish colony that gives sanctuary to slaves. (Lexile
820)
Feinstein, John
Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery
After winning a basketball reporting contest, eighth graders Stevie and Susan Carol are sent to cover the
Final Four tournament, where they discover that a talented player is being blackmailed into throwing the
final game. (Lexile 760)
Gaiman, Neil
Graveyard Book
When Nobody Owens was a baby, he narrowly escaped the assassin who killed his family. His adopted
family, the ghosts and ghouls of the nearby graveyard, have become all he knows. (Lexile 820)
Higgins, F. E.
The Black Book of Secrets
When Ludlow Fitch runs away from his thieving parents in the City, he meets up with the mysterious Joe
Zabbidou, who calls himself a secret pawnbroker, and who takes Ludlow as an apprentice to record the
confessions of the townspeople of Pagus Parvus, where resentments are many and trust is scarce. (Lexile
830)
Hobbs, Will.
Crossing the Wire
This modern-day adventure story follows the journey of fifteen-year-old Mexican Victor Flores on a
dangerous journey from central Mexico to the United States. The author provides insight to the complex
issue of illegal immigration. (Lexile 670)
Jacques, Brian
Redwall or other books in the series
The book that inspires a legend. The epic story of a bumbling young mouse who rises up, fights back ...
and becomes a legend himself. (Lexile 800)
Kadohata, Cynthia
Weedflower
After twelve-year-old Sumiko and her Japanese-American family are relocated from their flower farm in
southern California to an internment camp on a Mojave Indian reservation in Arizona, she helps her family
and neighbors, becomes friends with a local Indian boy, and tries to hold on to her dream of owning a
flower shop. (Lexile 750)
Korman, Gordon
Pop
Lonely after a midsummer move to a new town, sixteen-year-old high-school quarterback Marcus Jordan
becomes friends with a retired professional linebacker who is great at training him, but whose childish
behavior keeps Marcus in hot water. (Lexile 740)
Magoon, Kekla
The Rock and the River
In 1968 Chicago, fourteen-year-old Sam Childs is caught in a conflict between his father's nonviolent
approach to seeking civil rights for African-Americans and his older brother, who has joined the Black
Panther Party. (Lexile 550)
Mulligan, Andy.
Trash
A group of fourteen-year-old boys, who make a living picking garbage from the outskirts of a large city,
finds something that changes their lives. This thriller involves a murdered houseboy, an orphaned girl, a
treasure map, a secret code, corrupt politicians and missing millions. (Lexile 850)
Osa, Nancy
Cuba 15: The Novel
Violet Paz, a Chicago high school student, reluctantly prepares for her upcoming "quince," a Spanish
nickname for the celebration of an Hispanic girl's fifteenth birthday. (Lexile 750)
Peet, Mal
Keeper
El Gato tells of growing up in the middle of a rain forest and being the worst soccer player in his town. It
isn't until he stumbles into a clearing one day that he meets "the Keeper", a mysterious ghost-like image
that teaches El Gato how to become the world's best goalie. (Lexile 780)
Pfeffer, Susan Beth
Life as We Knew It
Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor
hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. (Lexile 770)
Schmidt, Gary
The Wednesday Wars
During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or
Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the
plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in. (Lexile 990)
Smith, Roland
Elephant Run
Nick's father and others are taken prisoner when his plantation in Burma is invaded by the Japanese in
1941, leaving Nick and his friend Mya to risk their lives in order to free them from the POW camp. (Lexile
750)
Walton, K. M.
Cracked
Victor and Bull have both been bullied their whole life. After taking actions into their own hands, they end
up as roommates in the same psych ward, there's no way to escape each other or their problems. (Lexile
610)
Westerfield, Scott
Uglies
Tally is faced with a difficult choice when her new friend Shay decides to risk life on the outside rather
than submit to the forced operation that turns sixteen-year-old girls into gorgeous beauties, and realizes that
there is a whole new side to the pretty world that she doesn't like. (Lexile 770)
NONFICTION
Hoose, Phillip
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Kroupa Books, 2009
Presents an account of fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin, an African-American girl who refused to give up
her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks,
and covers her role in a crucial civil rights case. (Lexile, 1000) (Newbery Honor, 2010)
Myers, Walter Dean
Bad boy: a memoir
HarperTempest, 2002, c2001
Myers paints a fascinating picture of his childhood growing up in Harlem in the 1940s, with an adult's
benefit of hindsight. What emerges is a clear sense of how one young man's gifts separate him from his
peers, causing him to stir up trouble in order to belong. (Lexile 970)
Robinson, Sharon
Promises to keep: how Jackie Robinson changed America Scholastic, 2004.
Jackie Robinson's daughter tells the story of her father's life and accomplishments, paying particular
attention to the profound effect he had on American culture. Illustrated with copious photographs and
letters from the family's private collection, this is a unique perspective on a man whose story has become so
much the stuff of legend. (Lexile 1030)
Thimmesh, Catherine Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon
Houghton Mifflin 2006
With exciting you-are-there language and stunning historical photographs, this book captures the
excitement of the Apollo mission to the moon. (Lexile 1060)
Read any age appropriate nonfiction.
Virginia Readers Choice Nominees for 2014-2015
Endangered by Eliot Schrefer
One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Bomb - The Race to Build and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
by Steve Sheinkin
Cinder by Marissa Mayer
How They Croaked by Georgia Bragg
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lia
Spy School by Stuart Gibbs
Ungifted by Gordon Korman
On the Day I Died by Candace Fleming
Drama by Raina Telgemeier