March 19, 2004
Novels for Eighth Grade Students
To prevent overlap in the use of novels that are studied in depth at each grade level, lists have been created. Novels have been chosen for each list because they have a connection to a specific subject at that grade level (i.e., social studies, science, etc), they are included in a grade level anthology or they are considered age appropriate for a particular grade level.
The novels on these lists should not be used at other grade levels. Although students may choose to read a novel independently, the novels listed should not be used as novel sets, read alouds or used in literature circles.
THE PEARL (Anthology)
Prentice Hall Literature Series – Silver
THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (Anthology)
Prentice Hall Literature Series – Silver
THE GIVER
Author: Lowry, Lois
Annotation: 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.
TANGERINE
Author: Bloor, Edward
Annotation: Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.
SEED FOLKS
Author: Fleischman, Paul
Annotation: One by one, a number of people of varying ages and backgrounds transform a trash-filled inner-city lot into a productive and beautiful garden, and in doing so, the gardeners are themselves transformed.
ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY
Author: Taylor, Mildred D.
Annotation: A black family living in the South during the 1930's is faced with prejudice and discrimination which the children don't understand.
A DAY NO PIG WOULD DIE
Author: Peck, Robert Newton
Annotation: To a thirteen-year-old Vermont farm boy whose father slaughters pigs for a living, maturity comes early as he learns "doing what's got to be done," especially regarding his pet pig who cannot produce a litter.
PETEY
Author: Mikaelsen, Ben
Annotation: In 1922 Petey, who has cerebral palsy, is misdiagnosed as an idiot and institutionalized; sixty years later, still in the institution, he befriends a boy and shares with him the joy of life.
HOLES
Author: Sachar, Louis
Annotation: As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.
APRIL MORNING
Author: Fast, Howard
Annotation: Fifteen-year-old Adam Cooper relates the events he witnessed in Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.
FREAK THE MIGHTY
Author: Philbrick, W. R.
Annotation: Learning disabled Max and his friend Freak, whose birth defect has affected his body but not his brilliant mind, find that when they combine forces they make a powerful team.
THE WAVE
Author: Strasser, Todd
Annotation: Dramatization of an actual classroom experiment in establishing a Fascist society. In this account, Laurie tries to persuade Mr. Ross to call off his demonstration about Nazi Germany and the "it can't happen to us" syndrome.
AMONG THE HIDDEN
Author: Haddix, Margaret Peterson
Annotation: In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm, until another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong.
LAST BOOK IN THE UNIVERSE
Author: Philbrick, Rodman
Annotation: After an earthquake has destroyed much of the planet, an epileptic teenager nicknamed Spaz begins the heroic fight to bring human intelligence back to the Earth of a distant future.
CRUSADER
Author: Bloor, Edward
Annotation: After a violent virtual-reality game arrives at the mall arcade where she works, fifteen-year-old Roberta finds the courage to search out the person who murdered her mother.
THE SLAVE DANCER
Author: Fox, Paula
Annotation: Kidnapped by the crew of an Africa-bound ship, a thirteen-year-old boy discovers to his horror that he is on a slaver and his job is to play music for the exercise periods of the human cargo.
THE GLORY FIELD
Author: Myers, Walter Dean
Annotation: Follows a family's 200-year history, from the capture of an African boy in the 1750s through the lives of his descendants.
IF YOU COME SOFTLY
Author: Woodson, Jacqueline
Annotation: After meeting at their private school in New York, fifteen-year-old Jeremiah, who is black and whose parents are separated, and Ellie, who is white and whose mother has twice abandoned her, fall in love and then try to cope with people's reactions.
THE SKIN I'M IN
Author: Flake, Sharon G.
Annotation: Thirteen-year-old Maleeka, uncomfortable because her skin is extremely dark, meets a new teacher with a birthmark on her face and makes some discoveries about how to love who she is and what she looks like.
THE FRIENDS
Author: Guy, Rosa
Annotation: Phyllisia eventually recognizes that her own selfish pride rather than her mother's death and her father's tyrannical behavior created the gulf between her and her best friend.
DRAGONWINGS
Author: Yep, Laurence
Annotation: In the early twentieth century a young Chinese boy joins his father in San Francisco and helps him realize his dream of making a flying machine.
MY ANTONIA
Author: Cather, Willa
Annotation: After a hard childhood on the prairies of Nebraska and the ending of a bad marriage, Antonia struggles to adjust to her new city life.