SUGGESTED BOOKS FOR INCOMING
8TH GRADERS
FICTION BOOKS
EASY READING
Sharon G. Flake, Money Hungry
All thirteen-year-old Raspberry can think of is making money so that she and her mother never
have to worry about living on the streets again. Sequel: Begging for Change.
Harry Mazer, Boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor
While fishing with his friends off Honolulu on December 7, 1941, teenaged Adam is caught in the
midst of the Japanese attack and through the chaos of the subsequent days tries to find his father, a
naval officer who was serving on the USS Arizona when the bombs fell.
Natasha Friend, Perfect
Following the death of her father, a thirteen-year-old uses bulimia as a way to avoid her mother’s
and ten-year-old sister’s grief, as well as her own.
Walter Dean Myers, Slam
Sixteen-year-old “Slam” Harris is counting on his noteworthy basketball talents to get him out of the
inner city and give him a chance to succeed in life, but his coach sees things differently.
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Neal Shusterman, Dread Locks
Accustomed to a carefree existence, fourteen-year-old Parker Baer meets the girl next door and
finds his life taking a menacing turn as he begins to absorb some of her terrible powers. First book
in Dark Fusion Trilogy.
David Lubar, Dunk
Chad, hoping to work out his frustrations and his anger by taking a summer job as a dunk tank Bozo
on the boardwalk at the New Jersey shore, comes to a better understanding of himself and the uses
of humor as he undergoes training in the fine art of insults.
AVERAGE DIFFICULTY
S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders
The struggle of three brothers to stay together after their parents’ deaths and their quest for
identity among the conflicting values of their adolescent society.
Sheila Moses, The Legend of Buddy Bush
In 1947, twelve-year-old Pattie Mae is sustained by her dreams of escaping Rich Square, North
Carolina, and moving to Harlem, when her Uncle Buddy is arrested for attempted rape of a white
woman and her grandfather is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. Coretta Scott King Honor
Book.
Scott Westerfeld, 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. Sequels: Pretties
and Specials.
Gordan Korman, No More Dead Dogs
Eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace is sentenced to detention attending rehearsals of the
school play where, in spite of himself, he becomes wrapped up in the production and begins to
suggest changes that improve not only the play but his life, as well.
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Stephenie Meyer, Twilight
Seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, where she
meets an exquisitely handsome boy for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she
comes to realize is not wholly human. First book in Twilight series.
Lois Lowry, Gathering Blue
Lame and suddenly orphaned, Kira is mysteriously removed from her squalid village to live in the
palatial Council Edifice, where she is expected to use her gifts as a weaver to do the bidding of the
all-powerful Guardians.
Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game
The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs,
who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance. Newbery
Medal Award.
CHALLENGING
Walter Dean Myers, Monster
While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences
in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the
course his life has taken. Coretta Scott King Award/Honor.
Yann Martel, Life of Pi
Pi Patel, having spent an idyllic childhood in Pondicherry, India, as the son of a zookeeper, sets off
with his family at the age of sixteen to start anew in Canada, but his life takes a marvelous turn
when their ship sinks in the Pacific, leaving him adrift on a raft with a 450-pound Bengal tiger for
company.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Dairy Queen
After spending her summer running the family farm and training the quarterback for her school’s
rival football team, sixteen-year-old D.J. decides to go out for the sport herself, not anticipating the
reactions of those around her. Sequel: The Off Season.
Richard Adam, Watership Down
A group of hardy Berkshire rabbits share many adventures together as they search for a safe place
to establish a new warren after the destruction of their community. First book in series.
Clare Dunkle, Hollow Kingdom
In nineteenth-century England, a powerful sorcerer and King of the Goblins chooses Kate, the elder
of two orphan girls recently arrived at their ancestral home, Hallow Hill, to be his bride and queen.
First book in Hollow Kingdom Trilogy.
NONFICTION BOOKS
Russell Friedman, The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and Struggle for
Equal Rights
Tells the life story of singer Marian Anderson, describing her famous 1939 Lincoln Memorial
performance and explaining how she helped end segregation in the American arts after being
refused the right to perform at Washington's Constitution Hall because of the color of her skin.
Newbery Honor Book.
Russell Friedman, The Adventures of Marco Polo
An illustrated chronicle of the travels of thirteenth-century explorer Marco Polo; includes a
discussion of the controversy over whether he indeed went to China.
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Tanya Bolden, Maritcha: A Nineteenth Century American Girl
Presents the personal memoirs of Maritcha Remond Lyons, who was born in nineteenth-century
New York City, and describes how she and her family escaped to Rhode Island during the 1863
Draft riots and how she overcame prejudice to become the first African-American person to
graduate from Providence High School.
Candace Fleming, Our Eleanor: A Scrapbook Look at Eleanor Roosevelt’s Remarkable Life
Presents a collection of illustrated photographs and stories representing the life and career of
Eleanor Roosevelt, and examines her White House years, her years as a delegate to the United
Nations, and more.
James Giblin, Good Brother, Bad Brother
Tells the life stories of nineteenth-century actor Edwin Booth and his actor brother John Wilkes
Booth, describing the differences between the two men, chronicling John’s assassinating Abraham
Lincoln, and examining the impact of John’s crime on the Booth family for decades afterward.
Walter Dean Myers, The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage
Tells the story of the 369th Infantry, an African American regiment that risked their lives for the
country they loved during World War I and emerged triumphant, in spite of the bigots and racists
who did everything possible to make them fail.
Walter Dean Myers, Bad Boy
Children’s author Walter Dean Myers describes his childhood in Harlem in the 1940s and 1950s,
discussing his loving stepmother, his problems in school, his reasons for leaving home, and his
beginnings as a writer.
Jennifer Armstrong, Photo by Brady: A Picture of the Civil War
Presents an account of the Civil War using photographs taken under the direction of Mathew B.
Brady, a famous New York photographer of the day, and provides information on the life and times
of Brady as well as the Civil War. Includes notes and bibliography.
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Yen Man, Chinese Cinderella
The author tells the story of her painful childhood in China where she lived until the age of fourteen
with her father, stepmother, and siblings, all of whom considered her bad luck because her mother
died shortly after giving birth to her.
James Cross Giblin, Life and Death of Adolf Hitler
Chronicles the life of Adolf Hitler and describes the consequences his quest for German dominance
and his hatred of the Jews brought upon the entire world.
Davis Simpson, We Beat the Street
Shares anecdotes from the childhoods, teen years, and young adult lives of three men from Newark,
New Jersey, who made a pledge to each other in high school to stay safe from drugs, gangs, and
crime, and work to become doctors—a goal they have successfully achieved.
Ryan White, Ryan White, My Own Story
Ryan White describes how he got AIDS, engaged in a legal battle to return to school, and became a
celebrity and spokesman for issues concerning the deadly disease.
Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster
The author relates his experience of climbing Mount Everest during its deadliest season and
examines what it is about the mountain that makes people willingly subject themselves to such risk,
hardship, and expense.
Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
A thirteen-year-old Dutch-Jewish girl records her impressions of the two years she and seven
others spent hiding from the Nazis before they were discovered and taken to concentration camps.
Roald Dahl, Going Solo
As a young man working in East Africa for the Shell Company, Roald Dahl recounts his adventures
living in the jungle and later flying a fighter plane in World War II.
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Spencer Johnson, Who Moved My Cheese
Presents a parable in which two mice, Sniff and Scurry, and two tiny mouse-sized people, Hem and
Haw, try to find a way to deal successfully with unexpected change in their maze.
Jodee Blanco, Please Stop Laughing at Me
The author, a victim of bullying, provides an account of her miserable school career, telling how her
experiences as an outcast affected her life, and sharing her perspective on the events as an adult.
Frank B. Gilbreth, Cheaper by the Dozen
Reveals the family life of the twelve Gilbreth children and their engineer father, who runs the
household with his unique methodology.
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