CAROLINA DAY MIDDLE SCHOOL

2008 SUMMER READING AND WRITING REQUIREMENTS

Rising 6th Grade Students

Rising 6th graders are required to read three books and complete assignments for each.

1. Boys read Parsifal's Page by Gerald Morris.

    Girls read The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale.

Assignment for boys/girls books:

• Write a brief, one page summary of either Parsifal's Page or The Goose Girl so you will remember it when the school year starts.

2 . Read one free choice book; this is a book of your choosing.

Assignment for free choice book: 

• Write a brief, one page summary of your free choice book so you will remember it when the school year starts.

3. Read one book from the group choice list and complete the assignment.

Click for the group choice list and the specific assignment .

Rising 7th Grade Students

Rising 7th graders are required to read three books and complete assignments for each.

1. Read these two books:

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

The Pearl by John Steinbeck

Assignment :

Pick one project for each of these two novels you read. Use a different project for each novel. Feel free to use a fabulously creative idea of your own as well. During our first week back at school, you will be asked to bring in your projects and choose one to present to your class. This is a great opportunity to show us your imaginative and insightful thinking skills.

Ideas:

• Imagine your book being made into a movie. Create a movie poster depicting an important scene.
• Create a collage portraying significant story details
• Make a mobile
• Design a bookmark
• Write a book review presenting your honest interpretation and opinion of the book
• Make a story map
• Create a diorama based on a pivotal scene from the book
• Act out a scene
• Write a poem about a character or the story
• Make a Venn diagram comparing two character (can be from different books)
• Draw a timeline of events in the book
• Create a piece of artwork based on the book
• Write a new chapter trying to imitate the author's style
• Choose a piece of music that evokes an important emotion from the book
• Choose an aspect of the book that connects directly to your personal life. Write a work of poetry or prose that explains the connection.
• Design a book jacket
• Make an ABC book

2. Read one book from the group choice list and complete the assignment.

Click for the group choice list and the specific assignment.

Rising 8th Grade Students

Rising 8th graders are required to read three books and complete assignments for each.

1. Read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton .

  

Assignment:

• Write two paragraphs:  one that summarizes The Outsiders and one that identifies and explains one theme from the book.

2. Read one free choice book; this is a book of your choosing.

Assignment:

• Write two paragraphs:  one that summarizes your free choice book and one that identifies and explains one theme from the book.

3.  Read one book from the group choice list and complete the assignment.

Click for the group choice list and the specific assignment .

  Group Choice Books

Grades 6, 7, and 8

Read one of the following books and do one of the following assignments related to the book.   

Descriptions of the Group Choice Books appear below.

Assignments

•   Illustrate either in a single picture or in a five-frame cartoon one of your favorite scenes and be prepared to explain its significance.
•   Write a 100 – 125 word plot summary of the book.
•   Write five open-end discussion questions (not factual questions or questions that seek a "yes" or “no” response). The questions should lead to discussion of ideas or themes that are presented in the book.

Group Choice Books - Descriptions

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

“The dog hero, Buck, is stolen from his comfortable home and pressed into service as a sledge dog in the Klondike. At first he is abused by both men and dogs, but he learns to fight ruthlessly and finally finds in John Thornton a master whom he can respect and love. When Thornton is murdered, he breaks away and becomes the leader of a pack of wolves.” – Reader's Encyclopedia

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

“Popular writer Bryson turns from geographical to temporal realms to summarize what has happened from the time of the Big Bang to now, especially as it pertains to items of local interest, such as the solar system, earth, life, and humans.”— Book News, Inc.

 

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer

“A journey through a land where Milo learns the importance of words and numbers and provides a cure for his boredom.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

“Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go to work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

“In 1793 Philadelphia, sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick mother, learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of a yellow fever epidemic.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

Eagle Strike by Anthony Horowitz

“After a chance encounter with Assassin Yassen Gregorovich in the South of France, teenage spy Alex Rider investigates international pop star and philanthropist Damian Cray whose new video game venture hides sinister motives involving Air Force One, nuclear missiles, and the international drug trade.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

The Hobbit: or, There and Back Again by J. R. R. Tolkien

“This fantasy features the adventures of hobbit Bilbo Baggins, who joins a band of dwarves led by Gandalf the Wizard. Together they seek to recover the stolen treasure that is hidden in Lonely Mountain and guarded by Smaug the Dragon.” – Fiction for Youth 3 rd ed

 

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

“Aerin, with the guidance of the wizard Luthe and the help of the Blue Sword, wins the birthright due her as the daughter of the Damarian king and a witchwoman of the mysterious, demon-haunted North. But Aerin's destiny is greater than her father's people know, for it leads her to battle with Maur, the Black Dragon, and into the wilder Damarian Hills, where she meets the wizard Luthe…” – NCLIVE WorldCat  

Watership Down by Richard Adams

“Chronicles the adventures of a group of rabbits searching for a safe place to establish a new warren where they can live in peace.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

The Last Book in the Universe by W. R. Philbrick

“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.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck

“In 1937, during the Depression, fifteen-year-old Mary Alice, initially apprehensive about leaving Chicago to spend a year with her fearsome, larger-than-life grandmother in rural Illinois, gradually begins to better understand and admire her grandmother's unusual qualities.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman

“In nineteenth-century London, sixteen-year-old Sally, a recent orphan, becomes involved in a deadly search for a mysterious ruby.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

Keeper by Mal Peet

“In an interview with a young journalist, World Cup hero, El Gato, describes his youth in the Brazilian rain forest and the events, experiences, and people that helped make him a great goalkeeper and renowned soccer star.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez

“In the early 1960s in the Dominican Republic, twelve-year-old Anita learns that her family is involved in the underground movement to end the bloody rule of the dictator, General Trujillo.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce

“After their mother dies, two brothers find a huge amount of money which they must spend quickly before England switches to the new European currency, but they disagree on what to do with it.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

The Radioactive Boy Scout: the Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor by Ken Silverstein

“Growing up in suburban Detroit, David Hahn was fascinated by science, and his basement experiments were far more ambitious than those of other boys. While working on his Atomic Energy merit badge for the Boy Scouts, David's obsessive attention turned to nuclear energy. Throwing caution to the wind, he plunged into a new project: building a model nuclear breeder reactor in his backyard garden shed.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin

“Ged was the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, but once he was called Sparrowhawk, a restless, youth, hungry for power and knowledge, who tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.” – Bookcover

 

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

“A young witch-to-be named Tiffany teams up with the Wee Free Men, a clan of six-inch-high blue men, to rescue her baby brother and ward off a sinister invasion from Fairyland. Armed only with a frying pan and her common sense, Tiffany Aching, a young witch-to-be, is all that stands between the monsters of Fairyland and the warm, green Chalk country that is her home.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

“In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer

“After Jack becomes apprenticed to a Druid bard, he and his little sister Lucy are captured by Viking Berserkers and taken to the home of King Ivar the Boneless and his half-troll queen, leading Jack to undertake a vital quest to Jotunheim, home of the trolls.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

Bloody Jack: Being the Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship's Boy by L. A. Meyer

“Reduced to begging and thievery in the streets of London, a thirteen-year-old orphan disguises herself as a boy and connives her way on to a British warship set for high sea adventure in search of pirates.” – NCLIVE WorldCat

 

Snowball Earth: The Story of the Great Global Catastrophe That Spawned Life as We Know It by Gabrielle Walker

“Did the Earth once undergo a super ice age, one that froze the entire planet from the poles to the equator? In Snowball Earth , gifted writer Gabrielle Walker has crafted an intriguing global adventure story, following maverick scientist Paul Hoffman's quest to prove a theory so audacious and profound that it is shaking the world of earth sciences to its core…”

– Publisher's description

 

rev. 5-20-08, ks