8th Grade Summer Reading List: Required Books and Instructions, Schemes and Mind Maps of Christianity

Download 8th Grade Summer Reading List: Required Books and Instructions and more Schemes and Mind Maps Christianity in PDF only on Docsity! Summer Reading List Rising 8 th Grade Each student must read one of the following: R. Adams Watership Down L. M. Alcott Little Women Each student must read one of the following works of fiction: Aeschylus The Oresteia (trilogy of plays) J. Austen Emma R. Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 C. Bronte Jane Eyre J. Bunyan The Pilgrim’s Progress L. Carroll Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass (both) A. Christie Murder on the Orient Express S. Crane The Red Badge of Courage D. Defoe Robinson Crusoe C. Dickens A Tale of Two Cities A. C. Doyle The Hound of the Baskervilles Euripides Medea (play) Homer The Iliad C. Marshall Christy A. Miller Death of a Salesman (play) B. Orczy The Scarlet Pimpernel H. Pyle Men of Iron G. B. Shaw St. Joan (play) W. Shakespeare The Comedy of Errors (play) Henry V (play) A Midsummer Night’s Dream (play) Richard III (play) B. Smith A Tree Grows in Brooklyn J. R. R. Tolkien The Hobbit The Fellowship of the Ring (or any in series) T. H. White The Once and Future King T. Williams The Glass Menagerie (play) P. G. Wodehouse The Code of the Woosters P. Zindel The Pigman Each student must read one of the following works of non-fiction: M. Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings J. H. Griffin Black Like Me J. Herriot All Creatures Great and Small P. Kreeft The Best Things in Life A. Lansing Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage C. S. Lewis Mere Christianity J. Lovell Apollo 13: Lost Moon N. Philbrick In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex M. K. Rawlings Cross Creek Summer Reading List Instructions, 8 th Grade All incoming eighth graders must read three books they’ve never read before. Eighth graders must read one required book and choose two others, one fiction and one non-fiction.  What’s my assignment?  For Watership Down or Little Women, you must take a test on the basic content of the book. See the study guides for more details.  For one of the books of your choice, you must prepare an oral book talk. See the instructions and rubric for more details.  For the other book of your choice, you must complete a written book report. See the instructions for more details.  When are the assignments due? The book report, test, and book talk are due on the first, second, and third day of school, respectively.  Where can I find the books? Any book vendor will do, as long as the books are complete and unabridged. Nothing from the “Illustrated Classics” series is allowed! Most of these books can be found easily online or at your nearest Barnes & Noble. However, to save money, try the public library or one of these used book stores:  The Book Stop (3599 Atlanta Road, Smyrna)  The Book Nook (1547 Roswell Road, Marietta)  What if I don’t like the book? You must read the book from the required list, regardless of how you feel about them. However, feel free to hunt for a book you like from the other lists. If you get to the third or fourth chapter and still can’t get into it, put it aside and choose another.  May I just watch the movie? No! Reading a book and watching a film are two completely different experiences. Don’t be fooled into thinking you know the story just from the movie. Books are much more detailed and often differ greatly from their film versions. Read the book before seeing the movie. Then you can intelligently observe the changes and decide whether or not the filmmakers made good choices in adapting the original. Parents should view the films first for any inappropriate content. BOOK TALK EVALUATION SHEET, 8 th Grade Student: ____________________________________________________________________________ Title of Book: ________________________________________________________________________  Preparation  Introduction (20 points) Points Earned _____ Bring the book with you. Make note cards for your talk. Capture my attention with an interesting hook. Include the title, author, and genre. Describe the setting – both where and when. Name the major characters.  Body (30 points) Points Earned _____ Summarize the story without revealing the ending. Discuss the basic conflict in the story with specific details. Choose a favorite passage from the book to read aloud. End with a cliffhanger to make others want to read the book.  Conclusion (10 points) Points Earned _____ Evaluate the author's style – plot, characters, or dialogue. Make a recommendation about who would or wouldn't like it, and why.  Presentation  Posture (10 points) Points Earned _____  Eye Contact (10 points) Points Earned _____  Enthusiasm, smoothness, and expression (10 points) Points Earned _____  Poise to and from the podium (5 points) Points Earned _____  Gestures and mannerisms (5 points) Points Earned _____ Additional Comments: Final Grade: _____ Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Study Guide, 8 th Grade Little Women is a story about four sisters on the journey to adulthood. Each sister has her own distinct personality, temperament, and talents. They struggle with serious problems, overcome obstacles, and even stumble along the way because of some bad choices, experiencing both success and failure as they grow up. As you prepare for the test, review the key events in the life of each sister, but pay special attention to the following aspects of the novel. First, note that this novel is driven more by the characters than by the plot. Each character is well-defined and speaks with a unique voice. The members of the March family and their friends have their specific likes and dislikes, and they are driven by different passions. These differences are evident in the ways they speak. On the test, you will encounter a series of quotes from the novel. Be prepared to identify the speakers of these quotes based on what they say and how they say it. Second, in Part One of the book, the girls are reading The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, a Christian allegory (a symbolic story) about a man named Christian who is on a journey to the Celestial City (aka Heaven). As Christian – a character who symbolizes all Christians – travels to the Celestial City, he experiences ups and downs just like the March sisters. In fact, Louisa May Alcott uses events from The Pilgrim's Progress to show how the girls' journey to adulthood parallels the Christian's journey to Heaven. Alcott uses Bunyan's book especially in chapters 6-9, when she mentions the Palace Beautiful, the Valley of Humiliation, Apollyon, and Vanity Fair. Use the Internet to research how these four terms from The Pilgrim's Progress relate to what is happening to Beth, Amy, Jo, and Meg, respectively. Finally, consider how the girls have become women in Part Two of the novel. How have they changed and matured? What experiences have they had, and what lessons have they learned about what it means to be a woman instead of a girl? Focus on the journey to womanhood of one sister in particular, and be prepared to explain how she grew from a little girl into a little woman. Watership Down by Richard Adams Study Guide, 8 th Grade Watership Down is a modern epic about a group of rabbits trying to make a home for themselves when their first home is destroyed. Like all epics, there is a hero at the center, someone whom the other characters respect and want to emulate. Recall the heroes of the epics you have read and compare them to the rabbits in this novel. Do they have similar qualities? Do they undergo similar trials? Did you notice the reference to a famous epic hero early in Chapter 22? Remember also the epic conventions we studied last year. Where does Richard Adams use some of those conventions in his story? Each chapter begins with a quote from another book that relates to that chapter. Did you notice the quote at the beginning of the first chapter? From what Greek tragedy is that quote taken? Why do you think Adams used a quote from the Greeks to kick off the novel? As you prepare for the test, consider the questions below and be prepared to defend your answers on the test:  Who's the hero of the story?  Who is the rabbits’ chief god?  Who's the prophet/seer in the story?  Who's the singer/storyteller for the rabbits?  Who is the ancient hero the singer/storyteller talks about? How is he similar to one of the great epic heroes we studied?  Where is an epic simile (see Chapter 23)?  When do the gods intervene in the rabbits' lives (see Chapter 27)?  When does one of the characters move to the realm of the gods? Also, to make his story more authentic, Adams uses specific vocabulary words drawn from The Private Life of the Rabbit by R. M. Lockley (see the glossary at the back of the book). Be prepared to define some of the terms from the rabbit world that are most commonly used throughout the novel. Finally, consider the opening and closing lines of the book. There is a recurring symbol in those lines. What is the symbol and what does it symbolize? What is Adams trying to say about the lives of the rabbits?