Summer Reading List 

Livingston Jr. High School

Reading List—8^th Grade

1.      The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn / Mark Twain

The book tells the adventures of a boy and a runaway slave as they travel down the Mississippi River on a raft.

2.      A Boy at War: a Novel of Pearl Harbor / Harry Mazer

 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 U.S.S. Arizona when the bombs fell.

3.      The Giver / Lois Lowry

Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.

4.      Gulliver's Travels / Jonathan Swift

The voyages of an Englishman carry him to a land of people six inches high, a land of giants, an island of sorcerers, and a land where horses are masters of human-like creatures.

5.      The Jumping Tree: A Novel / Rene Saldana, Jr.

Rey, a Mexican American living with his close-knit family in a Texas town near the Mexican border, describes his transition from boy to young man. Rey’s humorous and honest story follows him from sixth grade through eighth grade in Texas.

6.      Keeper of the Night / Kimberly Willis Holt.

Isabel, a thirteen-year-old girl living on the island of Guam, and her family try to cope with the death of Isabel's mother who committed suicide.

7.      Kidnapped / Robert Louis Stevenson

In 1751, David Balfour, a Scottish boy, is cheated out of his inheritance by his uncle, who has him kidnapped, sold as a slave, and thrown onto a ship--but with the help of a fugitive, David fights his captors, makes a daring escape amidst a shipwreck, and hopes to survive a treacherous journey home.

8.      The Misfits / James Howe.

 Four students who do not fit in at their small-town middle school decide to create a third party for the student council elections to represent all students who have ever been called names.

9.      Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry / Mildred D. Taylor (Sequel: Let the Circle Be Unbroken)

An African-American family living in the South during the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which its children do not understand.

10.  Vanishing / Bruce Brooks

Eleven-year-old Alice is unwilling to return to live with her alcoholic mother and her stern stepfather, so she refuses to eat to the point of slowly starving herself in order to remain in the hospital.