Eighth Grade Humanities Summer Assignment
Reading Assignment:
• Everyone must read All the King's Men by Robert Warren
• Select two books from the list below and read the books by the end of summer. (* indicates that the book offers a more challenging reading assignment)
• Select one book that YOU have always wanted to read – but you must be sure that the author is American and that the topic of the book is “American.”
• THE MINIMUM NUMBER OF BOOKS TO FULFILL THE ABOVE ASSIGNMENTS YOU SHOULD READ IS FOUR – HOWEVER, PLEASE DO NOT STOP THERE…READ AS MANY BOOKS AS YOU CAN FROM THIS LIST (OR YOUR OWN LIST)!
Presentation Assignment: Select a passage that you really liked from one of your books and be prepared to read it out loud to the class. Also, be sure to include an introduction to your presentation that explains why you liked the passage. You should be ready to present for about 3-5 minutes.
Writing Assignment: Write a short story about an incident that takes place this summer. The incident can be one in which you're involved, one you witness or hear about, or one that occurs in a dream. Start in fact and move to fiction. The incident should represent a moment of change in the character's life. The change may be small or large.
Your story should be double-spaced, typed, titled, and between 500 and 1,000 words. At least one paragraph of your story should mimic the writing style of one of the authors you read. Due on Friday of the first week of class.
Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Dorris, Michael. Yellow Raft in Blue Water
*Frazier, Charles. Cold Mountain
*Heller, Joseph. Catch 22
Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms
Kerouac, Jack,.On the Road
Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Kingsolver, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible
Malamud, Bernard. The Natural
*Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick
*Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye
*Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle
Tan, Amy. Joy Luck Club
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse Five
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple
Seventh Grade Humanities Summer Assignment
7th graders should read at least four books this summer – that is only the minimum, so please read, read, read! Don’t stop at just four…
ALL 7th graders must read two required books this summer:
1. Gore, Al (adapted by Jane O'Connor). An Inconvenient Truth
2. Orwell, George. Animal Farm
You must also select TWO (2) books from the following list:
Adams, Richard. Watership Down
Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women
Alvarez, Julia. Before We Were Free
Blume, Judy. Are you There God? It's Me, Margaret
Buck, Pearl. The Good Earth
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea
Kidd, Sue Monk. Secret Life of Bees
London, Jack. Call of the Wild
O'Dell, Scott. Island of the Blue Dolphins
Pattou, Edith. East
St. Exupery, Antoine de. The Little Prince
Steinbeck, John. The Pearl
Yolen, Jane. Devil’s Arithmetic
Assignments:
1. Presentation: Select one passage from each of the books to read to share with the class. In your introduction of the passage, be sure to explain why you found the selection so interesting. Was it the writing? Was it the content? Was it something that got you thinking? Did you have an emotional response to the reading? Then, read the passage out loud to the class. Please practice reading the passage so that you are confident in your presentation.
2. Writing Assignment: Select one of the characters from Animal Farm and explain the significance of his place in the story. Think about metaphors and symbolism – also consider what you already know about history and how governments are formed. Your paper should be a 5-paragraph essay with a strong thesis, supporting evidence, and an argument. You can check the Language Arts pagefor the expository outline format if you need a refresher on the organization and structure of the essay.
Sixth Grade Humanities Summer Reading & Assignment List
A Bone from the Dry Sea by Peter Dickinson
A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer
A Step from Heaven by An Na
Arilla Sun Down by Virginia Hamilton
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
Chain of Fire by Beverley Naidoo
Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah
Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
Freedom Songs by Yvette Moore
Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt
Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
Johnny Tremain by Ester Forbes
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
Last Summer with Maizon by Jacqueline Woodson
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Red Scarf Girl : A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji-Li Jiang
Shade's Children by Garth Nix
Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’Dell
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman
Tangerine by Edward Bloor
The Golden Compass (or others in the series) by Phillip Pullman
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake
The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
When We Were Free by Julia Alvarez
Wolf by the Ears by Ann Rinaldi
Assignment:
Read at least two of the books from the list above. Prepare a representation of one of the books that you read. What you choose to do is ultimately up to you, however, these ideas may help:
1. Write a diary the main character may have written.
2. Write a letter to the author of the book
3. Design a new book cover for the book
4. Prepare a TV commercial about the book
5. Write a sequel chapter to the book
6. Dramatize a scene from book
7. Create a mobile from items related to the book.
8. Design illustrations for the book
Prepare to share your project with the Humanities class during the first week of school.
