8th Grade Summer Reading List

8 th Grade Language Arts Summer Reading AssignmentThe Book Thief by Markus ZusakZusak has created a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen andadult readers. Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of LieselMeminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany,with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tonguedmothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. Thechild arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has not yet learnedhow to read–and her foster father uses it, The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull herto sleep when she is roused by regular nightmares about her younger brothersdeath. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Lieselcollects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, theJewish refugee Max, the mayor’s reclusive wife (who has a whole library fromwhich she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. Zusak not onlycreates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax,causing readers to deliberate over phrases and lines, even as the action impelsthem forward. Death is not a sentimental storyteller, but he does attend to anarray of satisfying details, giving Liesel’s story all the nuances of chance, folly,and fulfilled expectation that it deserves. An extraordinary narrative.Book Selection RationaleFor our first unit of study in Language Arts we will be learning about the Holocaustthrough literature and film. This is a powerful and essential component of human historyto know about, and, although the content is difficult to read about on an emotional level,it is important for students to make connections between the tragedies of the past in orderto understand the present and to be enlightened as we look to the future. In our LanguageArts class in the fall, we will be reading Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, a reader’s theaterversion of The Diary of Anne Frank, and a variety of historical and non-fictionalaccounts of the Holocaust. In preparation for our Holocaust unit then, students arerequired to read Markus Zusak’s remarkable contemporary novel The Book Thief, thatdeals with the Holocaust in a hauntingly unique literary manner.Interest Level: 8 – 12 Grade Level Equivalent: 7.5 Lexile Measure: 790LGenre/Theme: Historical Fiction Young AdultTopics: Character and Values Friends and Friendship Holocaust World War IIDifferentiation:This book is appropriate for advanced 7 th grade level and up, and, although itsvocabulary, sentence structure and language are very accessible, the content ischallenging in that it deals with a heart-wrenching, complex and tragic era in humanhistory. We therefore understand that this novel may be “easy” for some students to readand “difficult” for others, depending on the varying reading abilities in our students. Withthis in mind, here are some differentiation strategies for students to use if this novelhappens not to be a “just right” text for them: