MENDHAMBOROUGHSCHOOLSUMMER READING LIST
Entering Grade 8 - Class of 2014
Dr. Mordente
Required Reading = 2 Historical Fiction Novels
Students may read any two historical fiction novels of their choice.
(ALL STUDENTS MUST READ TWO HISTORICAL FICTION NOVELS OF THEIR CHOICE. TO PREPARE FOR THE EIGHTH GRADE HISTORICAL FICTION GENRE STUDY, THEY WILL COMPLETE ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THEIR SELECTIONSWHEN THEY RETURN TO SCHOOL IN SEPTEMBER.)
The books below are only a suggested list from the 2006-2008 Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Book List(Teachers College). They arein random order to encourage a thorough perusal and final selection.(There are also three historical autobiography books, which may be selected.) With parental permission, students are free to choose historical fiction books that are not on this list.Many historical fiction books are also available from the Mendham Borough Library.
The Book Thief – Marcus Zusak
The Book Thiefis narrated by Death, who tells us the story of Liesel Meminger. It's January 1939, and Liesel, who is about ten-years-old, is traveling by train with her mother and her little brother Werner. It traces their story during World War II and the Holocaust.
The Lily Pond – Annika Thor
A year after Stephie Steiner and her younger sister, Nellie, left Nazi-occupied Vienna, Stephie has finally adapted to life on the rugged Swedish island where she now lives. But more change awaits Stephiewith her constant worry about what her parents are enduring back in Vienna, and with the menacing spread of Nazi ideology, even in Sweden. In these troubled times, her true friends, Stephie discovers, are the ones she least expected.
Dragonwings – Laurence Yep
In this historical novel about the pursuit of dreams, Moon Shadow is a young Chinese immigrant who comes to San Francisco at the turn of the century to join his father Windrider, whom he has never met. They survive the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, but Moon Shadow and his father are forced to move again. With Moon Shadow's help, Windrider begins to pursue some of his long-held dreams.
The Circuit – Jimenez Francisco
This collection of historical fiction stories are linked together and tell the story of the son of Mexican migrant workers during the 1940’s in California.
A Part of the Sky – Robert Newton Peck
A young teen struggles to keep his family together during The Great Depression.
Chains – Laurie Halse Anderson
Set in New York City at the beginning of the American Revolution. This book tells the story of Isabel, a slave who is set free and becomes a spy for the rebels.
Fever – Laurie Halse Anderson
Based on a yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia that killed 10% of the city’s population in three months. This story follows 16 year old Mattie Cook whose life is shattered by the epidemic.
Code Talker – Joseph Bruchac
Novel about the Navajo marines of World War II who used their native language to radio battlefield information and codes that the Japanese could not understand.
A Far Away Island – Annika Thor
The story of two sisters who flee Vienna during the Nazi invasion and take refuge on a small Swedish island. Offers a vivid depiction of life as a World War II refugee.
The Land - Mildred D. Taylor
This book tells the story of the difficult life in the 1870’s of a freed slave and his journey from childhood to adulthood.
Steal Away to Freedom – Jennifer Armstrong
Armstrong, Jennifer Steal Away to Freedom
In the Fall of 1896 Susan McKnight travels with her granddaughter to meet the slave woman who escaped to the North with her. Their story is one of undying friendship and courage.
Good Night, Mr. Tom - Michelle Magorian
As World War II begins Willie Beach, an abused child, is evacuated to the English countryside to live with Mr. Oakly who has no family. Willie makes friends with the neighborhood children and bonds with his host. When his mother calls him back to London he is devastated.
No Promises in the Wind – Irene Hunt
From the Newbery Award winning author of Across Five Aprils and Up a Road Slowly comes a tale of a brave young man’s struggle to find his own strength during the Great Depression.
Fever 1793 – L. H. Anderson
When the Yellow Fever epidemic ravages Philadelphia in the 18th century, 16-year-old Mattie Cook and her grandfather run for their lives.When they return to the ravaged city they take care of the sick and save many lives.
The Bomb – Theodore Taylor
In 1944 after the Americans capture the island of Bikini from the Japanese,they convince the islanders to leave for two years so that atomic weapons can be tested. When 14-year-old Sorry Rinamu and his companions try to stop the testing, terrible tragedy follows.
Rodzina -Karen Cushman
In 1881 Rodzina Brodski , who has lost all of her family, is sent on an orphan train from Chicago to the West. After she is placed into service twice, she runs away, determined to make a life for herself.
I Am an American: A true Story of Japanese Internment – Jerry Stanley
During World War II Japanese Americans wee placed in internment camps in the United States. Shi Nomura was sent to Manzanar when he was a high school senior. What happens to him there is depicted in this carefully researched story.
Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins: A World War II Soldier - Walter Dean Myers
Private Scott Collins prepares for D-Day, crosses the English Channel, and is wounded in battle in France. He survives the horrors of war and must come to terms with the reality of battle and its aftermath.
Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind - Suzanne Staples
Shabanu, a spirited girl growing up in Pakistan among the nomads is much loved by her family. When she defends herself and her sister from a local landowner, he retaliates by threatening to destroy her father unless she marries him.
Beware, Princess Elizabeth- Carolyn Meyer
This book portrays the hardships, mistreatment, and tragedies that occurred between the death of Henry VIII and the death Elizabeth’s half sister, Queen Mary. Elizabeth did not have an easy time of it.
Pretty Pictures: A Child of War– Anita Lobel
The author’s memoir describes the five years she and her brother hid from the Nazis, their capture and march from camp to camp, and their ultimatefate. A terrifying, gripping story of survival.
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
Little Women is the story of The Marches, a family used to hard toil and suffering. Although Father March is away with the Union armies, the sisters Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth keep in high spirits with their mother, affectionately named Marmee.
Red Badge of Courage – Stephen Crane
As The Red Badge of Courage opens, members of a newly recruited regiment are debating a fresh rumor; they are finally going to move out on the next day and engage the enemy. One young soldier named Henry Fleming, does not engage in the debate and instead reflects on what will become of him when he gets to battle. Will he run or will he stand and fight bravely?
Freedom Road – Howard Fast
Gideon Jackson, once a black slave, returns home after the Civil War a free man. The Union has won the war, but, in reality, the country still remains bitterly divided.
The Call of the Wild – Jack London
A gripping, fast-paced tale of adventure, The Call of the Wild focuses on Buck, a pampered sheepdog stolen from a California ranch and transported to the Arctic. Buck's struggle to survive on the Arctic Trail demonstrates the precarious nature of life in the wild.
Across America on an Emigrant Train – Jim Murphy
In 1879, Robert Louis Stevenson, then an obscure Scottish writer, learned that the woman he loved was seriously ill in California. He then set out for California on an emigrant ship. Because he had little money for the journey, he shared the experiences and hardships of the many poor Europeans onboard who were immigrating to the United States in search of a better life.
A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
Lieutenant Frederic Henry, a young American ambulance driver with the Italian army during World War I, takes a winter leave from the front. When he returns, he meets and quickly falls in love with Catherine Barkley, an English nurse's aide in the town's British hospital.
Sounder – William H. Armstrong
The Morgans, a loving and strong family of Black sharecroppers in Louisiana in 1933, face a serious family crisis when the husband and father, Nathan Lee Morgan, is convicted of a petty crime and sent to a prison camp. After some weeks or months, the wife and mother, Rebecca Morgan, sends the oldest son, who is about 11 years old, to visit his father at the camp. The trip becomes something of an odyssey for the boy.
The Well – Mildred D. Taylor
All the wells in David Logan’s part of Mississippi have gone dry, all except for his family’s well. Hardworking landowners, the Logans have been blessed with sweet, plentiful water that they’re glad to share with African American and white neighbors alike.
Dogsong – Gary Paulsen
Dogsong is a rite-of-passage adventure told in three parts: "The Trance," "The Dreamrun," and "Dogsong." In "The Trance," a 14-year-old Eskimo youth prepares to escape the modern-day world and to embrace the old ways. Russel is aided in his quest by Oogruk, an old shaman of the village, who gives him a sled, dogs, and spiritual and practical guidance.
Under the Blood Red Sun - Graham Salisbury
In 1941, a Japanese-American teenager must deal with his changed life and family after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He learns to cope with war and post-war social issues.
The Cay – Theodore Taylor
The Cay is the suspenseful story of a young boy, handicapped by blindness and thrust into an unfamiliar environment, who is forced to grow up quickly. Young readers can identify with Phillip's struggle for independence and his frustration in coping with situations, over which he has virtually no control. Phillip's survival depends upon his learning to follow Timothy's instructions and respecting the power of nature.
The Clay Marble – Miufong Ho
The setting for this historical novel is war-torn Cambodia during the early 1980s. Twelve-year-old Dara and her family have just arrived at a refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border where they make friends with Nea, her cousin Jantu, and their family. Jantu helps Dara cope with the conditions in her makeshift home by telling stories and making toys, including a "magical" clay marble.
Taking Sides – Gary Soto
Lincoln Mendoza is a star basketball player for Franklin Junior High in the barrio of San Francisco, but when his house is burglarized, his mother decides they should move to a better neighborhood, which is the prosperous white suburb of Sycamore ten miles away. Lincoln likes the change at first, but soon he begins to miss his old friends and school.
Historical Autobiography:
Diary of Anne Frank – Anne Frank
From 1942 to 1944, in Nazi occupied Amsterdam, a thirteen year old German Jewish girl, Anne Frank, lives and hides in an attic of a spice factory with her sister, her parents, three members of another family, and an old dentist. For more than two years, she wrote in her diary about her feelings, her fears, and her relationships with the other dwellers.
Zlota’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo – Zlota Fiilipovic
Zlata Filipovic, who wrote this diary when she was 13 years old, has been called the "Anne Frank of Sarajevo." This book was completed in 1991-1992 during the war in Bosnia.
The Spirit of St. Louis – Charles Lindbergh
This is the story behind the story of Lindbergh’s incredible flight to Paris.
Reading Challenge –Option (in lieu of the two novels)
For the avid reader:Author Study on Cynthia Voigt OR Irene Hunt OR any author of your choice – Read at least three historically based novels byyour author.
Author Study on Cynthia Voigt:
Read Homecoming plus your choice of any other selections in the Homecoming series.
Homecoming- Cynthia Voigt – the first of the series
From the moment Momma told Dicey, Maybeth, Sammy, and James that they were going to visit and possibly move in with Great Aunt Cilla, Dicey was suspicious. Then, midway through the trip, Momma suddenly disappears. Dicey, as the oldest sibling, feels it is up to her to care for the others although she is only 13.
Author Study on Irene Hunt:
Read No Promises in the Wind andAcross Five Aprils plus your choice of other selections.
Across Five Aprils – Irene Hunt
The Newbery Award winning author of Up a Road Slowly presents the unforgettable story of Jethro Creighton, a brave boy who comes of age during the turbulent years of the Civil War.