8th Grade Summer Assignment Language Arts
Let’s get ready for 8th Grade!! Your first grade of the school year will be to
complete this assignment. Please CAREFULLY follow all the directions below. You
must do projects 1 and 2 for complete credit. This will be graded as a major
project, so do your best! Check the attached rubric to ensure you’ve completed
the requirements.
Project 1: Literature
1.
Choose a book to read from the selected titles on the attached summer reading list. Due
to that fact that all students mature at different rates, I strongly suggest that parents
and students collaborate on which book choices best fit the interests and needs of the
students. These titles are available at the Woodstown Library and the Gloucester County
Library (on Route 45 in Mullica Hill). You can also check out Barnes and Noble, Borders, or
Amazon.com!
2. Read the book.
3. You will be depicting the following literary terms below in one of two ways. You have the
choice of showing your understanding through essay format or through a scrapbook.

Essay format: Write a one paragraph essay for each of the items below.
These paragraphs should be 7 GOOD sentences each.

Scrapbook format: Create one scrapbook page for each of the literary terms.
Use pictures/words/written information to demonstrate your knowledge. Be
CREATIVE! Refer to rubric.
i. Characterization: Choose a main character. Discuss his/her dominant
character traits. Describe the character and how he/she changed
throughout the book. Explain what caused the change.
ii. Theme: Theme is the lesson the author is trying to teach the reader.
Discuss one of the themes in the novel. Connect this theme to the realworld or to your personal life.
iii. Author: Research the author of your book using outside resources such as
the Internet or reference materials. Do not just use the book flap.
Discuss the author’s life and their other major works of literature.
iv. Figurative Language: Go through the novel. List examples (10 minimum)
and page numbers of different types of figurative language.
(Personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, simile, metaphor, etc.) Look
for and list examples of compositional risks as well. (Underline, all caps,
flashback, formatting, point of view, etc.) Be sure to also identify the
type of figurative language or compositional risk being used.
Project 2: VFW Essay
1. Read the directions for the VFW essay. Think about the discussion of
the topic in Mrs. Krementz’s class.
2. The topic of this year’s contest is “What Patriotism Means to
Me”. Visit http://www.vfw.org/Community/Patriot-s-Pen/ for more
information.
3. Compose your rough draft of the essay. Your rough draft is to be 4-5
paragraphs with 300-400 words to the essay.
4. It may be typed or handwritten.
5. This is a contest! Do your best!
These projects are due the first day of school. You may turn these
projects in by August 23th for extra credit. If you have the capability,
send the finished word documents via email or share through Google Docs
to kelly.jd@woodstown.org. You may also go to the middle school main
office and place your work in my mailbox.
If you have ANY questions or problems, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Good luck!!
See you in September!!
Grade 8 Summer Reading List
Jay Asher: Thirteen Reasons Why A teenager receives haunting audiotapes after a suicide.
Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 A frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires-they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the
appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place where trivial information is good,
and knowledge and ideas are bad.
Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None The story of 10 strangers, each lured to
Indian Island by a mysterious host. Once his guests have arrived, the host accuses each
person of murder. Unable to leave the island, the guests begin to share their darkest
secrets--until they begin to die.
Suzanne Collins: Mocking Jay Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games
twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is
angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And
what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss's
family, not her friends, not the people of District 12.
Drs. Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt- The Pact: 3 Young Men Make a
Promise and Fulfill a Dream True story of teenagers from a rough part of Newark,
New Jersey, who make a promise to help one another overcome the inner-city obstacles.
Sarah Dessen: The Truth About Forever A teen has to cope with her father’s death.
Sarah Dessen: Dreamland Explores the consequences of having an abusive boyfriend.
E. Lockhart: Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks Over the course of one
summer, Frankie Landau-Banks, a somewhat geeky girl with an unassuming nature, has
developed into a 15-year-old with an attention-grabbing figure, a new attitude, and sights set on
making changes at her elite boarding school.
Lois Lowry: Gathering Blue Companion volume to The Giver which, by contrast, takes place
in a village with only the most rudimentary technology, where anger, greed, envy, and
casual cruelty make ordinary people's lives short and brutish. This society, like the one
portrayed in The Giver, is controlled by merciless authorities with their own complex agendas
and secrets.
Walter Dean Meyers: Fallen Angels Set in the trenches of the Vietnam War in the late
1960s, Fallen Angels is the story of Perry, a Harlem teenager who volunteers for the
service when his dream of attending college falls through. Sent to the front lines, Perry
and his platoon come face-to-face with the Vietcong and the real horror of warfare.
Walter Dean Meyers: Hoops We all have some sort of dream or game plan for our future, as
well does 17 years old Lonnie, But do we all know what it's like to live in a less than
ideal situation?
George Orwell: 1984 In 1984, London is a grim city where Big Brother is always watching
you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston is a man in grave
danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions.
Carol Plum-Ucci: The Body of Christopher Creed The often-tortured class weirdo has
disappeared, leaving an enigmatic note on the school library computer. Is he a runaway, a
suicide, a murder victim?
Michael Shaara: The Killer Angels: Classic Novel of the Civil War Michael Shaara's account
of the three most important days of the Civil War features deft characterizations of all of the
main actors, including Lee, Longstreet, Pickett, Buford, and Hancock.
Mildred Taylor: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Tells the story of one African
American family, fighting to stay together and strong in the face of brutal racist attacks,
illness, poverty, and betrayal in the Deep South of the 1930s.
Nancy Werlin: Impossible Werlin combines magic, romance, and a family curse in this 21stcentury fairy tale based on the ballad "Scarborough Fair."
Virginia Wolff: True Believer At 15, LaVaughn already knows that life is hard and that
getting ahead takes a strong mind and an even stronger will. Surrounded by poverty and
violence, she strives every day not to be just another inner-city statistic.
Paul Zindel: Loch Zindel draws on his scientific background in this story of Luke Perkins, 15,
nicknamed "Loch" after claiming to see a lake monster as a little boy. He and his younger
sister, Zaidee, join their oceanographer father on an expedition searching for enormous
prehistoric creatures sighted in Lake Alban in Vermont.
Nancy Farmer: House of the Scorpion In the future, a scientist brings a number of clones to life.
Veronica Roth: Divergent Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the YA scene with the first book in
the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals,
stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.
Summer Language Arts Assignment
Name ________________________________
Title of book ___________________________
Project
Points
Component
Possible
Characterization
20 points
Breakdown
Mechanics- 6 pts;
Traits/Explanation7 pts;
Change/Explanation7pts.
Theme
20 points
Mechanics- 5
points; Theme- 5
points; Discussion5 points;
Connection- 5
points.
Author
20 points
life info- 10 pts;
other Works- 5
points; Mechanics5 points.
Figurative
20 points
Language
Examples-10 points;
page numbers-5
points; type
identification-5
points.
VFW Rough
20 points
Introduction-5
Points Earned
Draft
points; Body-10
points; Conclusion5 points.