East Greenwich School District Summer Work: Entering Grade 8 ELA
Work students from Cole Middle School and East Greenwich High School are expected to complete over the summer, prior to school opening.
Summer Reading Instructions for Students Entering Grade 8
Summer Reading Expectations for Students Entering Grade 8 
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Students should choose one title from the “Entering Grade 8” reading list on the library website (book choices are listed below) OR one title that is the favorite book of a family member as long as your parent or guardian approves the selection.
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When you finish reading your selected book, complete the 8th Grade Summer Reading Form.
- We welcome students to read multiple titles from the list but completing additional 8th Grade Summer Reading Forms are not required.
- We strongly advise parents/guardians to preview the content and summaries of the book options before their child chooses one to read. This will help families work together to choose a book that best fits the student’s interests, reading level, and maturity level.
- The book titles listed below are all available in print, eBook or audiobook, book on CD, and on occasion, portable media player (Playaway) at the public library.
- Please note that while it is not possible for your child’s teacher to have read a majority of the books on the lists we’ve provided, the selections have been vetted by well-respected panels of library media specialists and preteen/adolescent educators.
Access to Free Books in East Greenwich
- Cole LibraryEast Greenwich school libraries have access to audio and eBooks. If our school libraries own a copy of an audio book or eBook, a link has been made to the book title. To access the digital resource, click on the book title link and enter the following:
Username: Your 5 digit lunch code
Password: EGR
. - East Greenwich Free Library
Rhode Island public libraries have multiple copies of the books listed on this page. Audio books, books on CD, portable media players and eBooks may also be available. Please contact the East Greenwich Free Library to reserve a copy and check out the book.
. - Public Library Card
Do you need a library card for the public library? Complete this online form to request a FREE public library card.
Summer Reading - Identity Theme - Easier Reading
Efrén Divided by Although Efrén is American-born, his parents are undocumented. He worries about his parents, and his nightmare comes true when his Ama doesn’t return from work and is deported across the border to Mexico. Efrén decides he must be brave and come up with a plan to keep his family together.
-2022 RI Middle School Book Award Nominee
Finding Langston by When 11-year-old Langston's mother dies in 1946, he and his father leave rural Alabama for Chicago's brown belt as a part of what came to be known as the Great Migration. It's lonely in the small apartment with just the two of them, and at school Langston is bullied. But his new home has one fantastic thing. Unlike the whites-only library in Alabama, the local public library welcomes everyone. There, hiding out after school, Langston discovers another Langston, a poet whom he learns inspired his mother enough to name her only son after him.
-Easier reading
-2019 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Merci has never been like the other kids at her private school in Florida, because she and her older brother, Roli, are scholarship students. They don't have a big house or a fancy boat, and they have to do extra community service to make up for their free tuition. So when bossy Edna Santos sets her sights on the new boy who happens to be Merci's school-assigned Sunshine Buddy, Merci becomes the target of Edna's jealousy.
-Easier reading
-2019 Newbery Medal Winner
*Book available on Learning Ally
Us, in Progress: Short Stories about Young Latinos by Turn the pages to experience life through the eyes of these boys and girls whose families originally hail from many different countries; see their hardships, celebrate their victories, and come away with a better understanding of what it means to be Latino in the U.S. today.
- 2019 RI Latino Book Award Nominee
*Book available on Learning Ally
Save Me a Seat by Joe's lived in the same town all his life, and was doing just fine until his best friends moved away and left him on his own. Ravi's family just moved to America from India, and he's finding it hard to figure out where he fits in. Joe and Ravi don't think they have anything in common -- but soon enough they have a common enemy and a common mission.
-2017 Kids Reading Across Rhode Island book selection.
*Book available on Learning Ally
The First Rule of Punk by There are no shortcuts to surviving your first day at a new school--you can't fix it with duct tape like you would your Chuck Taylors. On Day One, twelve-year-old Malú (María Luisa, if you want to annoy her) inadvertently upsets Posada Middle School's queen bee, violates the school's dress code with her punk rock look, and disappoints her college-professor mom in the process. Her dad, who now lives a thousand miles away, says things will get better as long as she remembers the first rule of punk: be yourself.
- 2018 Kids Read Across Rhode Island selection
*Book available on Learning Ally
Summer Reading List - Identity
Fish in a Tree by Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities.
- SLJ Reviewed grades 4+
*Book available on Learning Ally
A High Five for Glenn Burke by When sixth-grader Silas Walker does a school presentation on former Major League Baseball player Glenn Burke, it’s more than just a report on baseball and the inventor of the high five. Burke was a black gay baseball player in the 1970s, and for Silas, the presentation is his own first step in coming out as gay.
- 2022 RI Middle School Book Award Nominee
As Brave As You by Genie and his older brother Ernie are leaving Brooklyn for the very first time to spend the summer with their grandparents in rural Virginia. It is a time full of surprises for Genie and learning about himself and his family: From finding out that his grandfather is blind to discovering his secret room to learning that bravery can mean different things.
- Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
*Book available on Learning Ally
Listen, Slowly by A California girl born and raised, Mai can't wait to spend her vacation at the beach. Instead, she has to travel to Vietnam with her grandmother, who is going back to find out what really happened to her husband during the Vietnam War. Mai's parents think this trip will be a great opportunity for their out-of-touch daughter to learn more about her culture. But to Mai, those are their roots, not her own. Vietnam is hot, smelly, and the last place she wants to be.
-ALA Notable Books for Children 2016
-Mature Readers
*Book available on Learning Ally
Under the Mesquite by As the oldest of eight siblings, Lupita is used to taking the lead--and staying busy behind the scenes to help keep everyone together. But when she discovers Mami has been diagnosed with cancer, Lupita is terrified by the possibility of losing her mother, the anchor of her close-knit Mexican American family. Suddenly Lupita must face a whole new set of challenges, with new roles to play, and no one is handing her the script.
-2017 Rhode Island Latino Book Awards nominee.
*Book available on Learning Ally
Absolutely Almost by Ten-year-old Albie has never been the smartest, tallest, best at gym, greatest artist, or most musical in his class, as his parents keep reminding him, but new nanny Calista helps him uncover his strengths and take pride in himself.
-2016 Rhode Island Children's Book Award nominee
*Book available on Learning Ally.
Uglies by Tally lives in a world where your 16th birthday brings aesthetic perfection: an operation which erases your flaws, transforming you from an 'Ugly' into a 'Pretty'. She is on the eve of this important event, and cannot wait for her life to change. But then she meets Shay, and her whole outlook is different.
-Print, eBook and Audiobook available at the public lirbary
-Please read text version. NOT the Graphic Novel version.
*Book available on Learning Ally
Focused by Clea tries her best in school, but no matter what she does, she just can’t seem to get it together. She is angry when her parents take her to get tested for ADHD, sure the doctor is wrong, but getting a diagnosis might help her get her life on track.
- 2021 RI Middle School Book Award Nominee
*Book available on Learning Ally
Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish by Marcus Vega is six feet tall, 180 pounds, and the owner of a premature mustache. When you look like this and you're only in the eighth grade, you're both a threat and a target. After a fight at school leaves Marcus facing suspension, Marcus's mom decides it's time for a change of environment and takes Marcus and his younger brother to Puerto Rico to spend a week with relatives they have never met.
- 2020 RI Latino Book Award nominee
Summer Reading List - Identity
Black Brother, Black Brother by After Donte and his twin brother Trey start at a new school he finds he is being treated unfairly due to his dark skin color, while Trey with his lighter skin is not. Donte decides to try fencing to beat the boy who has been bullying him, and finds support and friendship at the same time.
-2022 RI Middle School Book Award Nominee
Song for a Whale by Iris is many things. She is a caring sister, an antique radio repairer, and Deaf. As the only Deaf student in her class, she struggles to connect with her classmates and her teachers. In science, she is introduced to Blue 55, a whale with a unique song that isolates him. As Iris learns more about this whale, she enlists her grandmother, to join her on an adventure of a lifetime to help Blue 55.
- 2022 RI Middle School Book Award Nominee
*Book available on Learning Ally
Genesis Begins Again by There are ninety-six things Genesis hates about herself. She knows the exact number because she keeps a list. Like #95: Because her skin is so dark, people call her charcoal and eggplant--even her own family. And #61: Because her family is always being put out of their house, belongings laid out on the sidewalk for the world to see. And when Genesis reaches #100 on the list of things she hates about herself, will she continue on, or can she find the strength to begin again?
- 2021 RI Middle School Book Award Nominee
*Book available on Learning Ally
Tight by At first everything with Bryan's new friend is calm and chill, as the boys bond over their love of reading comics and drawing superheroes. But things get uncomfortable when it turns out Mike has some risky ideas about how to have fun. Then Bryan's dad gets in a fight and ends up back in jail, and something in Bryan snaps. He starts cutting school, jumping subway turnstiles and going train surfing, with Mike in the lead. But when Mike takes things a step too far and shows his true colors, Bryan has a difficult decision to make.
-2019 RI Latino Book Award Nominee
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, one of today's finest writers, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse. Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement.
-Novel in verse.
-2015 Newbery Medal Honor Book
*Book available on Learning Ally
Zenobia July by Zenobia moves to Maine to live with her aunts, where she can finally present herself as the girl she really is. But when hateful comments are posted to the school’s website, Zenobia knows she can get to the bottom of it with her phenomenal hacking skills, all while she is meeting new friends, finding her home, and getting a second chance to be her real self.
- 2022 RI Middle School Book Award Nominee
Maybe He Just Likes You by A hug is harmless - right? Mila, a seventh-grader, isn't so sure, not when boys in her class start touching her in ways that make her feel uncomfortable. Is she overreacting, like her friend Zara thinks? Or should Mila use the confidence she gains from karate class to stand up for herself and declare that no means no?
- 2020 ALA Notable Children's Book
- 2021 RI Middle School Book Award Nominee
The Next Great Paulie Fink by Paulie Fink was the coolest, wildest, most fun kid at Mitchell School in Vermont. Then he was gone. What happened to Paulie? And, more importantly, who is going to take his place as the official class clown?
- 2021 RI Middle School Book Award Nominee
Other Words for Home by Jude and her mother are forced to flee their home in Syria and live with their family in America, leaving her father and brother behind. Faced with a new language, culture, and customs, Jude strives to find her voice and her place in her new home.
- 2021 RI Middle School Book Award Nominee
*Book available on Learning Ally
The Only Black Girls in Town by Alberta enjoys her life with her friends, her dads, and surfing, but being one of the only Black kids in town can feel isolating. When another Black family moves in across the street, she is thrilled that there is a girl her age. As they bond over shared experiences, they discover old journals in the attic that lead them into a mystery about the past.
- 2022 RI Middle School Book Award Nominee
Summer Reading List - Identity
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by After a tragedy, Coyote and her father Rodeo moved into an old school bus and started driving around the country. When Coyote discovers the last traces of her family are going to be destroyed she tries to trick her father into going back – 3,000 miles – to a place they both tried to forget.
- 2021 RI Middle School Book Award Nominee
*Book available on Learning Ally
The Other Half of Happy by One-half Guatemalan, one-half American: When Quijana's Guatemalan cousins move to town, her dad seems ashamed that she doesn't know more about her family's heritage. One-half crush, one-half buddy: When Quijana meets Zuri and Jayden, she knows she's found true friends. But she can't help the growing feelings she has for Jayden. One-half kid, one-half grown-up: Quijana spends her nights Skyping with her ailing grandma and trying to figure out what's going on with her increasingly hard-to-reach brother.
- 2020 RI Latino Book Award Nominee
A Place to Belong by World War II has ended, but while America has won the war, twelve-year-old Hanako feels lost. To her, the world, and her world, seems irrevocably broken. America, the only home she's ever known, imprisoned then rejected her and her family because of their Japanese heritage, because Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Japan, the country they've been forced to move to, the country they hope will be the family's saving grace, where they were supposed to start new and better lives, is in shambles because America dropped bombs of their own.
- 2019 National Book Award Longlist
The Journey of Little Charlie by Twelve-year-old Charlie is down on his luck: His sharecropper father just died and Cap'n Buck -- the most fearsome man in Possum Moan, South Carolina -- has come to collect a debt. Fearing for his life, Charlie strikes a deal with Cap'n Buck and agrees to track down some folks accused of stealing from the cap'n and his boss. It's not too bad of a bargain for Charlie... until he comes face-to-face with the fugitives and discovers their true identities.
-National Book Award finalist
*Book available on Learning Ally
I Can Make This Promise by All her life, Edie has known that her mom was adopted by a white couple. So, no matter how curious she might be about her Native American heritage, Edie is sure her family doesn't have any answers. Until the day when she and her friends discover a box hidden in the attic--a box full of letters signed "Love, Edith," and photos of a woman who looks just like her.
- 2021 RI Middle School Book Award Nominee
*Book available on Learning Ally
Redwood and Ponytail by Kate is a stereotypical cheerleader and Tam is a tall, athletic volleyball player who is often mistaken for a boy. Surprisingly, the two become friends, and soon their relationship deepens in a way neither ever imagined.
-2021 RI Middle School Book Award Nominee
Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds conjures ten tales (one per block) about what happens after the dismissal bell rings, and brilliantly weaves them into one wickedly funny, piercingly poignant look at the detours we face on the walk home, and in life.
- 2020 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
*Book available on Learning Ally
Indian No More by When Regina's Umpqua tribe is legally terminated and her family must relocate from Oregon to Los Angeles, she goes on a quest to understand her identity as an Indian despite being so far from home.
- 2020 American Indian Library Association Winner
*Book available on Learning Ally
Fighting Words by 10-year-old Della is a tough kid, a survivor. She and her teenage sister, Suki, are inseparable. After escaping an abusive household, the girls find themselves in the care of their Foster mother, Francine, who proves to be exactly who they need to help them work through their trauma. This book explores the heavy topics of sexual abuse, addiction, and mental health with sensitivity, compassion, and humor.
- 2022 RI Middle School Book Award Nominee
