Summer Reading 2018: Grade 8

Cinder, a gifted mechanic and a cyborg with a mysterious past, is blamed by her stepmother for her stepsister's illness while a deadly plague decimates the population of New Beijing, but when Cinder's life gets intertwined with Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle.

Fossils show we've shared our work and homes with dogs for tens of thousands of years. The author explores the connection between dogs and humans from hunter-gatherer partners to modern day pets, focusing on how humans have influenced dogs' evolution and raising new questions about the species' shared future.

Becca's ability to hear "whispers"--the thoughts of others--has put her at risk from her criminal stepfather. So Becca escapes to Whidbey Island, where she hopes to find safety. But when a terrible accident affects everyone on the island, Becca finds herself wrapped up in a complicated situation, and she isn't the only one with a secret.

Caverna is an underground city that thrives through its production of magical luxuries. Its inhabitants have a shared disability: they’re incapable of making facial expressions naturally. Into this dark and distrustful world comes Neverfell, a girl with no memory of her past and a face so terrifying to those around her that she must wear a mask.

Being the middle child has its ups and downs. But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother.

When Olivia's mother was killed, everyone suspected her father of murder. But his whereabouts remained a mystery. Fast-forward fourteen years. New evidence now proves Olivia's father was actually murdered on the same fateful day her mother died. That means there's a killer still at large. It's up to Olivia to uncover who that may be. But can she do that before the killer tracks her down first?

When Thor's hammer goes missing once again, Magnus Chase and his companions are challenged to retrieve the weapon from enemy forces that are threatening the Nine Worlds with an army of giants, an effort that requires an agreement with the demanding Loki.

In a post-apocalyptic world where nothing is as it seems, seventeen-year-old Amy and Baby, a child she found while scavenging, struggle to survive while vicious, predatory creatures from another planet roam the Earth.

When Malcolm finds a secret message inquiring about a dangerous substance called Dust, he finds himself embroiled in a tale of intrigue featuring enforcement agents from the Magisterium, a woman with an evil monkey daemon, and a baby named Lyra.

As Will, fifteen, sets out to avenge his brother Shawn's fatal shooting, seven ghosts who knew Shawn board the elevator and reveal truths Will needs to know. Driven by the secrets and vengeance that mark his street culture, Will contemplates over the course of 60 psychologically suspenseful seconds whether or not he is going to murder the person who killed his brother.

Michael Vey, a fourteen-year old who has Tourette's syndrome and special electric powers, finds there are others like him, and must rely on his powers to save himself and the others from a diabolical group seeking to control them.

An unflinching, darkly funny, and deeply moving story of a boy, his seriously ill mother, and an unexpected monstrous visitor. Thirteen-year-old Conor awakens one night to find a monster outside his bedroom window, but not the one from the recurring nightmare that began when his mother became ill--an ancient, wild creature that wants him to face truth and loss.

Three Boston teens, about to become seniors, learn important lessons about friendship, love, family, and themselves as they work to complete an English assignment on their "most excellent year."

Rory Deveaux, a Louisiana teenager, arrives in London for the start of a year at a London boarding school. Then a series of brutal murders breaks out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper in the autumn of 1888. The police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one: Rory.

From the author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. Illuminates the strengths and struggles of being an introverted child or teen, sharing the stories of real-life kids who have met the challenges and made their mark in quiet ways.

An odd trio--bad girl Murphy, dreamer Birdie, and rich Leeda--spend the summer together at a peach orchard in Georgia, surprised to find themselves dedicated to the failing farm and their emerging friendship.

Tired of being singled out at her mostly-white private school as someone who needs support, high school junior Jade would rather participate in the school's amazing Study Abroad program than join Women to Women, a mentorship program for at-risk girls.

When a school bus accident leaves sixteen-year-old Jessica an amputee, she returns to school with a prosthetic limb and her track team finds a way to help rekindle her dream of running again.

A biography of Perry Wallace, a student and talented athlete who became the first African- American basketball player in the Southeastern Conference at Vanderbilt University during the tumultuous late 1960s, detailing his struggles against racism, his persistence of will, and his role as a civil rights trailblazer.

Natasha, whose family is hours away from being deported to Jamaica, and Daniel, a first- generation Korean American who strives to live up to his parents' expectations, unexpectedly fall in love and must determine which path they will choose in order to be together.

Moving to Seattle in the hope of pursuing a professional basketball career, high school
senior Jonas befriends innocent, soft-spoken teammate Levi and risks everything when Levi confides in Jonas that he has been sexually abused by their charismatic coach.

Joining the football team after a summer spent working on a lobster boat with his best friend, 14-year-old Tucker Pierce is quarantined on his once-peaceful island home off the coast of Maine when a secret branch of the U.S. military claims that residents have been infected by a deadly virus.

Cameron Smith attends an elite boarding school and has just been accepted to Princeton
University alongside his beautiful girlfriend, Claire. Life should be perfect--except that Cameron Smith is actually Skip O'Rourke, who ran away from his grifter family four years ago--along with $100,000 of their "earnings." When his uncle Wonderful tracks him down, Skip's given an ultimatum: come back to the family for one last con, or say good-bye to life as Cameron.