Digging for Buried Treasure At My Library

Summer Reading (Eighth Grade)

1. Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women. Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young women in nineteenth-century New England.
2. Bloor, Edward. Tangerine. 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.
3. Bruchac, Joseph. Code Talker. After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.
4. Chabon, Michael. Summerland. Ethan Feld, the worst baseball player in the history of the game, finds himself recruited by a 100-year-old scout to help a band of fairies triumph over an ancient enemy.

1. Cooper, Susan. King of Shadows. While in London as part of an all-boy acting company preparing to perform in a replica of the famous Globe Theatre, Nat Field suddenly finds himself transported back to 1599 and performing in the original theater under the tutelage of Shakespeare himself. (Also: The Dark is Rising series)
2. Donnelly, Jennifer. A Northern Light. In 1906, sixteen-year-old Mattie, determined to attend college and be a writer against the wishes of her father and fiance, takes a job at a summer inn where she discovers the truth about the death of a guest.
3. Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir. The Sign of Four. Mary Morstan calls Sherlock Holmes to find her vanished father.
4. Halam, Ann. Dr. Franklin’s Island. When their plane crashes over the Pacific Ocean, three science students are left stranded on a tropical island and then imprisoned by a doctor who is performing horrifying experiments on humans involving the transfer of animal genes.
5. Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders. Three brothers struggle to stay together after their parents' death. (Also: Rumble Fish and That Was Then, This Is Now)
6. Horowitz, Anthony. Stormbreaker. After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6. (Sequels: Point Blank, Skeleton Key, Eagle Strike, Scorpia, Ark Angel, Snakehead)
7. Lord, Walter. A Night to Remember. On a moonlit night in 1912, the “unsinkable” Titantic raced across the glassy Atlantic on her maiden voyage, with only twenty lifeboats for 2,207 passengers. This is the gut-wrenching, minute-by minute account of her fatal collision with an iceberg and how the resulting tragedy brought out the best and worst in human nature.

1. Lowry, Lois. The Giver. 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. (Sequels: Gathering Blue and Messenger)

1. Lubar, David. Hidden Talents. Thirteen-year-old Martin Anderson, who has been sent to an alternative school for mouthing off, discovers that he and his classmates have psychic powers. (Sequel: True Talents) (Also: Dunk, Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie)
2. Lynch, Chris. Slot Machine. When overweight thirteen-year-old Elvin Bishop is sent to camp at St. Paul's Seminary Retreat Center, he and his two best friends are forced to try out various sports in order to find out where they belong. (Sequel: Extreme Elvin)
3. Meyer, L.A. Bloody Jack: being an account of the curious adventures of Mary 'Jacky' Faber, Ship's Boy. Reduced to begging and thievery in the streets of London, a thirteen-year-old orphan disguises herself as a boy and connives her way onto a British warship set for high sea adventure in search of pirates. (Also: Several sequels with very long titles.)
4. Owen, David. Hidden evidence. The author uses 40 famous crimes to explain how forensic sciences has developed over time, how sophisticated it has become, and how science has helped to solve the crime. 

1. Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet. After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness, learning to survive initially with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce. (Sequels: The River, Brian’s Winter) (Also: Guts : The True Stories Behind Hatchet and The Brian Books)
2. Riordan, Rick. The Lightning Thief. After learning that he is the son of a Greek god, Percy Jackson goes to a camp for demigods like himself, and joins his new friends on a quest to prevent a war between the gods. (Sequels: The Sea of Monsters, The Titan’s Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth)
3. Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Harry Potter, a fourth-year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, longs to escape his hateful relatives, the Dursleys, and live as a normal fourteen-year-old wizard, but what Harry does not yet realize is that he is not a normal wizard, and in his case, different can be deadly.
4. Spinelli, Jerry. Stargirl. 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. (Also: Milkweed)
5. Stevenson, Robert Louis. Treasure Island. While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, the mistress of the inn and her son find a treasure map that leads to a pirate fortune as well as great danger. Portrayal of good versus evil, as the young boy accompanies Long John Silver and his band of pirates in search of the buried treasure.
6. Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit. Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return.

1. Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The adventures and pranks of a mischievous boy growing up in a 19th-century Mississippi River town as he plays hooky on an island, witnesses a crime, hunts for pirate's treasure, and becomes lost in a cave. (Also: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

1. Westerfeld, Scott. So Yesterday. Hunter is a trend watcher who gets caught up in a mystery involving an innovative girl and the coolest pair of sneakers ever made.

Summer Reading (Seventh Grade)

1. Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women. Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young women in nineteenth-century New England.
2. Allen, Thomas. George Washington, spymaster : how America outspied the British and won the Revolutionary War. A biography of Revolutionary War general and first President of the United States, George Washington, focusing on his use of spies to gather intelligence that helped the colonies win the war.
3. Anderson, Laurie Halse. Fever, 1793. 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.
4. Avi. The Man Who Was Poe. In Providence, R.I., in 1848, Edgar Allan Poe reluctantly investigates the problems of eleven-year-old Edmund, whose family has mysteriously disappeared and whose story suggests a new Poe tale with a ghastly final twist. (Also: Crispin; The Cross of Lead)
5. Balliett, Blue. Chasing Vermeer. When seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal. (Sequels: The Wright 3 and The Calder Game)
6. Blackwood, Gary. The Shakespeare Stealer. A young orphan boy is ordered by his master to infiltrate Shakespeare's acting troupe in order to steal the script of "Hamlet," but he discovers instead the meaning of friendship and loyalty. (Sequel: Shakespeare’s Scribe)
7. Bloor, Edward. Tangerine. 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.
8. DuPrau, Jeanne. The City of Ember. Twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions. (Sequel: The People of Sparks)
9. Horowitz, Anthony. Stormbreaker. After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6. (Sequels: Point Blank, Skeleton Key, Eagle Strike, Scorpia, Ark Angel, Snakehead)
10. Jones, Diana Wynne. Cart and Cwidder.When their father, a traveling minstrel, is killed, three children involved in rebellion and intrigue inherit a lute-like cwidder with more than musical powers. (Also: Three sequels)


11. Konigsburg, E.L. The View from Saturday. Four students, each with their own individual stories, develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher who chooses them to represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition. (Also: From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
12. Lowry, Lois. The Giver. 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. (Sequels: Gathering Blue and Messenger)
13. Lubar, David. Hidden Talents. Thirteen-year-old Martin Anderson, who has been sent to an alternative school for mouthing off, discovers that he and his classmates have psychic powers. (Sequel: True Talents)
14. Meyer, L.A. Bloody Jack: being an account of the curious adventures of Mary 'Jacky' Faber, Ship's Boy. Reduced to begging and thievery in the streets of London, a thirteen-year-old orphan disguises herself as a boy and connives her way onto a British warship set for high sea adventure in search of pirates. (Also: Several sequels with very long titles.)
15. Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet. After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness, learning to survive initially with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce. (Sequels: The River, Brian’s Winter) (Also: Guts : The True Stories Behind Hatchet and The Brian Books)
16. Raskin, Ellen. The Westing Game. The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.
17. Riordan, Rick. The Lightning Thief. After learning that he is the son of a Greek god, Percy Jackson goes to a camp for demigods like himself, and joins his new friends on a quest to prevent a war between the gods. (Sequels: The Sea of Monsters, The Titan’s Curse, and The Battle of the Labyrinth)
18. Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Harry Potter, a fourth-year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, longs to escape his hateful relatives, the Dursleys, and live as a normal fourteen-year-old wizard, but what Harry does not yet realize is that he is not a normal wizard, and in his case, different can be deadly.
19. Spinelli, Jerry. Milkweed: A Novel. Captures the hardships and cruelty of life in the ghettos of Warsaw during the Nazi occupation of World War II, through the eyes of a Jewish orphan who must use all his wits and courage to survive unimaginable events and circumstances.
20. Stevenson, Robert Louis. Treasure Island. While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, the mistress of the inn and her son find a treasure map that leads to a pirate fortune as well as great danger. Portrayal of good versus evil, as the young boy accompanies Long John Silver and his band of pirates in search of the buried treasure.

I've heard that some of you did not get the summer reading assignment. So I am posting it here:

Summer Reading Assignment

Due Date: September 5, 2008

Subjects: Literature and English (one book for each teacher)

1. Read two books from the attached list.

2. Illustrate a scene from each of your books. Include the page number for the scene and an important quotation from the scene. (Write your name on the back of each of your illustrations.)

3. Answer the following sentences in full paragraphs (at least five sentences for each letter).

a.     Who is the main character? How does the character change throughout the book? What does the character look like? What are the character’s most important personality traits?

b.     What is the setting of the novel? How does the author describe the setting?

c.      Identify a major conflict in the novel. How is the conflict resolved?

d.     Describe the plot of the novel in between five and ten sentences.

e.      To whom would you recommend this novel? Why?

4. For extra credit, you may read one or two more novels and hand in additional projects to your English and Literature teachers.

Just making sure this is still active.

Hello kiddies!

I'll be blogging my young adult summer reading books again this year. I'm not re-reading the books from last year, but I may add a few to your summer reading list. If you have any suggestions, send me the titles and authors.

I'm on a quest for scary/creepy books that are not horror and sports books.

Dream Factory

Brad Barkley

Imagine all of the costumed cast members at Disney World went on strike...

Now, imagine that they hired a bunch of less-talented people to play the parts.

Imagine being the guy in the Dale costume and dating the girl in the Chip costume, while crushing on Cinderella.

Imagine becoming Cinderella when your only qualification was fitting into the costume.

Dream Factory is told in alternating voices between  Luke and Ella, two teenagers who are working at Disney World while trying to figure out their place in the universe. If you like Disney, you'll enjoy it. If you like being jaded about Disney (but secretly like it anyway), you'll enjoy it (with a highly developed sense of irony).

I am kicking myself for asking my students (hi students!)  to do an illustration for their summer reading books. Right now, I'm trying to do one for The Wee Free Men and my lack of artistic ability is shining through. You'd think it'd be easy to draw a six-inch high blue creature with tattoos and red hair, alongside a bottle of Granny Aching's Special Sheep Liniment.

I devoured the sequel to Crispin: The Cross of Lead, but I feel like there's definitely going to be a third part of this series because it ended on a beginning. (Ahh... just confirmed, there definitely will be a third book.) I'm hesitant to say too much about this story because I don't want to ruin the first part, but Crispin and Bear ultimately take a young girl named Troth on their journey. Troth has a harelip, which makes people (including Cristin) think that she is touched by the devil.

Crispin is an interesting character. He's intelligent, but uneducated. He has been brought up with many prejudices, but he learns to overcome them. He tends to lean on Bear quite a bit, particularly in the first novel, but now since Bear was injured, he needs to care for him and try to support him.

Crispin: At the Edge of the World (Crispin)

Avi

I like Terry Pratchett's adult books very much, so I had been looking forward to reading The Wee Free Men.

Tiffany Aching's sticky little brother, Wentworth, has been taken by the Queen of the Elves. She needs to rescue him from a world where dreams are real, while only armed only with her wits and a frying pan. Her allies are a clan of six inch high blue men (Nac Mac Feegle) who are famous for their thievery, fighting, and drinking.

You can read an excerpt from the book on PTerry's web site. And play a game with the Nac Mac Feegles here.

I actually like the Discworld books even more than the Tiffany Aching books, but they're a wee bit too adult for my eighth graders.