7th Grade Summer Reading List at St. Andrew’s

Greetings from your 7th grade English teachers! We are so excited about the coming year, a year filled with literature, vocabulary, grammar, and fun! Each year, we assign a few novels to be read during summer break, and we begin the year discussing these novels; our first writing assessments address the books you read. This year, we are giving you more of a choice in what you read!!! Please select two books from List A and two books from List B to read this summer. You will need to annotate one book from each list. Please see the ‘How to Annotate’ section to guide you through the process of annotation.

List A – Please choose 2

Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The Red Umbrella by Christina Gonzalez

The Pigman by Paul Zindel

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Emma by Jane Austen

Watsons Go to Brimingham, 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

This Voice in My Heart by Gilbert Tuhabonye

Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry*

Selections:

1.__________________________________

2.__________________________________

List B – Please choose 2

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp by Richard Yancey

Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

So B. It by Sarah Weeks

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Call of the Wild by Jack London

Selections:

1.__________________________________

2.__________________________________

How to annotate:

In order to truly engage and connect with reading, you must treat the novel you are reading as your partner in the reading process. One way of improving the efficacy of this process is to annotate, or “mark-up” your book as you read it. You might underline the sections that seem most important, put questions marks in the margins of passages you don’t understand or seem strange to you, circle words you don’t know (then look them up in the dictionary!), circle recurring themes and images, or write reactions next to sections that prompt an emotional response – “talking back” to the writer.

You should mark anything you’d like to be able to find easily later on. There is no right or wrong way to annotate. There is no correct or incorrect number of annotations you should have. Typically, students annotate earlier in the book, as this is when much of the important information appears. As you continue to read, you will begin to understand more of the important subjects and themes of the book. Make sure to mark when they appear. One page may have many things underlined, circled, starred, or highlighted with notes in the margins. Other pages may be completely devoid of annotation. The annotation process will add to the time it takes to read the book, but your understanding of it will be much deeper.

Important literary elements to annotate:

1. Setting – time and place

2. Characters – names, relationships, descriptions, and changes they undergo

3. Words you do not understand (look them up!)

4. Themes/main ideas in the book

8th Grade 2011 Summer Reading

All in-coming eighth graders must read at least one book from the fiction listing and at least one book from the nonfiction listing. In addition, all students must read Animal Farm and are asked to read the edition referenced below.

Fiction (Select at least one to read)

A Separate Peace, John Knowles A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith Foundation, Isaac Asimov Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton Life of Pi, Yann Martel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck Peace Like A River, Leif Enger Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry Run, Ann Patchett The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams The Power of One, Bryce Courtenay The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd

Nonfiction (Select at least one to read)

Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah Invictus, John Carlin Rocket Boys, Homer Hickam, Jr. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie Charles and Emma: Darwins’ Leap of Faith, Deborah Heiligman Touching the Void, Joe Simpson Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics, Jeremy Schaap Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand Warriors Don’t Cry, Melba Pattillo Beals When I Was Puerto Rican, Esmeralda Santiago

Required Reading for All In-Coming 8th Graders*

Animal Farm, George Orwell (ISBN 0-451-52634; Signet Classic edition) *Reading guides for Animal Farm ŀNJŜ ŀǘǘŀŎƘŜŘ ǘƻ ǘƘƛǎ ŘƻŎdzƳŜƴǘΦ

English 8

Animal Farm by George Orwell Historical Background for the Allegorical Meaning*

*Adapted from ©Turner Learning, Inc. 1848 Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto is completed in Brussels, Belgium. The pamphlet becomes

the defining document of a revolutionary new idea: communism. 1861 Russia’s government (monarchy) declares the emancipation of the serfs. The policy does little

to alleviate the peasants’ poverty and lives of hard labor. 1864 Marx organizes the First Communist Internationale in London. Its governing council directs the

modest growth of communism in the coming years. 1870 Vladimir Lenin is born in Russia. 1879 Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin are born (the former in the Ukraine, the latter in Georgia). 1881 Revolutionary sentiment continues to build in Russia over dissatisfaction with the political

system and general living conditions. Czar Alexander II is assassinated. 1883 Karl Marx dies. 1903 Russia loses the Russo-Japanese War and its economy is crippled by the expensive war effort. 1905 “Bloody Sunday”—Protestors gather in St. Petersburg (home to the Czar) to demand changes in

government and living conditions. Royal troops fire into the crowd, killing many. 1914 Russia’s entry into World War I strains its economy further, creating catastrophic food shortages

and widespread poverty. 1917 “The February Revolution”—topples Russian Czar Nicholas II. Both the Provisional Government

and the communists make claims to power. “The October Revolution”—Bolshevik troops (communist soviet troops led by Lenin) advance on

the Provisional Government. A bloodless coup brings the soviets to power and marks the start of the communist era. The Bolsheviks subsequently change the party’s name to Russian Communists.

1918 Civil war begins in Russia. “White” forces, intent on removing the soviets from power, battle the “Red” forces of the Russian Communists (under the leadership of Leon Trotsky). After three years of war, Trotsky succeeds in establishing communist authority.

Lenin orders the beginning of the “Red Terror”—a systematic campaign in which communist police and army forces round up and execute suspected opponents.

1922 USSR is formally established as a federation of Russian states united under the communist

system. Stalin is named Secretary-General, a powerful position in the communist hierarchy. Lenin suffers paralyzing strokes, which remove him from a position of leadership. 1924 Lenin dies. Stalin out-maneuvers Trotsky and assumes full command of the USSR. 1927 Stalin expels Trotsky from the communist party. 1929 Trotsky is deported from Russia. 1928 Stalin announces the first Five Year Plan, an attempt to make Russia a modern industrial state.

Stalin exhorts his “comrades” throughout the Soviet Union to work harder, so that Soviet Russia can prosper as a beacon of hope to workers everywhere.

1933 Stalin proposes the second Five Year plan, which again emphasizes rapid growth of Soviet

industry. 1933 The United States formally recognizes USSR. 1934 The beginning of the “Great Purges” and “show trials” under Stalin, primarily carried out by

Stalin’s secret police forces. These public accusations and forced confessions were followed by quick trials and executions or imprisonment. Between 2-7 million people suspected of opposition to Stalin are executed; many more are sentenced to years of hard labor in the Gulags (Soviet labor camps).

1939 Stalin and Adolph Hitler sign German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, a secret agreement which

carved Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.

Animal Farm by George Orwell Names and Terms to Know

Literary Terms: Adage: An old saying or proverb. Allegory: A story in which people, animals, things, and events have symbolic meaning. Allegories usually convey a moral message. Maxim: A concise rule of conduct. Tenet: A principle, doctrine, or belief held as a truth by a particular group. Fable: A short, simply written prose work that conveys a clear moral message about human emotions and human behavior. A fable is a type of allegory. Satire: A form of literature that uses ridicule to make people, ideas, and events look foolish. Satire often uses sarcasm and irony to force us to see our ignorance in a new light. Economic and Political Terms: Capitalism: An economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners rather than by the state. Private ownership is motivated by profit, with the idea that if you work hard enough you can get ahead. “Free enterprise.” Socialism: A political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. In Marxist theory, socialism is a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of communism. A “socialist” can also refer to a person who wants to change society.

Communism: A political theory derived from Karl Marx advocating class war (revolution) and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned, and where each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. Communism aims for an ideal situation in which the state withers away after the collapse of the capitalist system. Revolution: A complete or radical change or the overthrow of a government or social system, with another system taking its place. Czarist Government: A government ruled by a Czar, who had absolute powers similar to a king. Idealism: Refers to the practice of forming or pursuing ideals unrealistically or with overly optimistic thinking. Totalitarian: Of or relating to a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state. The government is in total control of all aspects of life: social, economic, religious, and political. Propaganda: A specific type of message presentation directly aimed at influencing the opinions of people, rather than impartially providing information. Tyranny: The cruel and unjust use of power. Utopia: Any idealized place of perfection or visionary scheme for a perfect society. Sir Thomas More wrote of an imaginary island with a perfect political and social system in his often alluded to work, Utopia. People: Karl Marx (1818-1883): A German philosopher and historian who wrote The Communist Manifesto (1848), the famous treatise containing the theory and ideas that form the foundation of communist and socialist ideology. Bolshevik Party: Socialist opponents of Russian traditional statehood, led by Vladimir Lenin, who seized power in Russia in 1917 (the “October Revolution”). Shortly after their overthrow of Czar Nicholas II, the party renamed itself the Russian Communist Party.

Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924): The Communist revolutionary of Russia and the first Premier of the Soviet Union. Leon Trotsky (1879-1940): Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. Following a power struggle with Joseph Stalin in the 1920’s, Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party and deported from the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin (1878-1953): The de facto leader of the Soviet Union and leader of the Communist Party from mid-1920’s until his death. Initiated “The Great Purge” in the 1930’s, which was a campaign of political repression, persecution, and killings.