All students entering grade 8 must read three books and write a two-page book report for each book.  The book report guideline is attached.  These book reports are due on the first day of school and will count as a test grade in Reading. Please hand them in to your teacher.

Students may choose from the list below:

1.     Any age appropriate Christian biography.

2.     The Diary of a Young Girl by Ann Frank

3.      White Fang by Jack London

4.       Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

5.     The Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter

6.      The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (Any book in the series)

7.      Shadowcreek Chronicles Set (Any of the four books) by T. Elizabeth Renich

8.      Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

9.     My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier

10. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier

11.  The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

12.  Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Patterson

13.  Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

14. The Chronicles of Prydain Series (Any book) by Lloyd   Alexander

Books may be found in your local public library and/or Barnes & Noble, Morning Star Christian Bookstore, Waldenbooks.

Please note that effort was taken to select a large variety of books for our summer reading list including classics, biographies of inspirational Christians, and books by well known Christian authors.  We encourage parents to be involved in their child’s selection of their summer reading books and although these books have been recommended to be summer reading books by colleges and other Christian schools, we realize that not all the books on the list may be deemed appropriate by all families.

Why do we do summer reading?

 Richard Allington from the University of Tennessee says, “For the past several years my colleague Anne McGill-Franzen and I have been studying the impact of summer reading, or the lack of it, on children's reading achievement. At this point it seems safe to conclude that children who don't read during summer vacation experience a summer reading loss. The loss is typically one of several months on standardized reading tests. But such small losses accumulate to substantial losses over time. On the other hand, children who read several books during the summer months experience no such loss and may actually find their scores on standardized tests improve a bit.”