8th Grade
The following novels are recommended readings for 8th grade.
If I Ever Get Out Here
Novel is aligned with StudySync Unit 3 A Moral Compass
How is character formed? People are not simply good or bad, but reflect the diversity of human experience. This Grade 8 unit prompts students to explore this question and consider the complexities of morality. How do human beings draw upon their experiences to make a difference in the world and to make themselves better people? One of the first steps is learning about the world.
Students will explore the complexities of how people become who they are as well as investigate ways to realize their potential in the world.
Lewis "Shoe" Blake is used to the joys and difficulties of life on the Tuscarora Indian reservation in 1975: the joking, the Fireball games, the snow blowing through his roof. What he's not used to is white people being nice to him -- people like George Haddonfield, whose family recently moved to town with the Air Force. As the boys connect through their mutual passion for music, especially the Beatles, Lewis has to lie more and more to hide the reality of his family's poverty from George. He also has to deal with the vicious Evan Reininger, who makes Lewis the special target of his wrath. But when everyone else is on Evan's side, how can he be defeated? And if George finds out the truth about Lewis's home -- will he still be his friend?
Acclaimed adult author Eric Gansworth makes his YA debut with this wry and powerful novel about friendship, memory, and the joy of rock 'n' roll.
Isha, Last of His Tribe
Novel is aligned with StudySync Unit 1 Moral Compass
How is character formed? People are not simply good or bad, but reflect the diversity of human experience. This Grade 8 unit prompts students to explore this question and consider the complexities of morality. How do human beings draw upon their experiences to make a difference in the world and to make themselves better people? One of the first steps is learning about the world.
Students will explore the complexities of how people become who they are as well as investigate ways to realize their potential in the world.
The Yahi, a Native American tribe, lived peacefully in California for hundreds of years--until they were violently wiped out by the invading white man in the late 1800s. Only a few bold Yahi escaped into hiding, among them the man who became known as Ishi, and this is the story of how they survived over the course of 40 years of hiding.
Soon, one by one, the last of the Yahi died--until Ishi was left alone, the sole survivor of a proud people. When Ishi stumbled into a small California mining town, the world learned his true story for the first time. This is the incredible story of the last hunter of the Yahi tribe, and how he brought to "civilization" all the courage, faith and strength of the Yahi Way of Life.
Winter People
Novel is aligned with StudySync Unit 2 A Time of War
How do we behave during war? In the dangerous, heightened period of war, people make extreme decisions, sometimes reflecting the very best of humankind, and sometimes the worst. What do our responses to war and other conflicts teach us about ourselves?
Students will explore the brave, critical, and illuminating choices that those in extreme conflict are forced to make, and the ramifications of these choices.
Saxso is fourteen when the British attack his village. It’s 1759, and war is raging in the northeast between the British and the French, with the Abenaki people—Saxso’s people—by their side. Without enough warriors to defend their homes, Saxso’s village is burned to the ground. Many people are killed, but some, including Saxso’s mother and two sisters, are taken hostage. Now it’s up to Saxso, on his own, to track the raiders and bring his family back home . . . before it’s too late.
Plenty Coups Chief of the Crows
The following resources are available to provide background knowledge on Chief Plenty Coups and to assist with the teaching of the novel Plenty Coups Chief of the Crows by Frank Linderman. The literature unit provides background information and activities for teaching the introduction along with Chapters 3, 4, the afterword, and pages 168, 138-139, and 62-64. The PowerPoint attached could be used to replace the reading of the introduction.
plentycoups.pptxplenty_coups_chief_of_the_crows_iefa_infusion_recovered.docxChiefPlentyCoups.pdfCrow Timeline.pdfWho Will Tell My Brother
Novel is aligned with StudySync Unit 3 Moral Compass
How is character formed? People are not simply good or bad, but reflect the diversity of human experience. This Grade 8 unit prompts students to explore this question and consider the complexities of morality. How do human beings draw upon their experiences to make a difference in the world and to make themselves better people? One of the first steps is learning about the world.
Students will explore the complexities of how people become who they are as well as investigate ways to realize their potential in the world.
Apple in the Middle
Apple Starkington turned her back on her Native American heritage the moment she was called a racial slur for someone of white and Indian descent, not that she really even knew how to be an Indian in the first place. Too bad the white world doesn’t accept her either. And so begins her quirky habits to gain acceptance. Apple’s name, chosen by her Indian mother on her deathbed, has a double meaning: treasured apple of my eye, but also the negative connotation—a person who is red, or Indian, on the outside, but white on the inside. After her wealthy father gives her the boot one summer, Apple reluctantly agrees to visit her Native American relatives on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in northern North Dakota, for the first time. Apple experiences conflict as she deals with the culture shock of Indian customs and the Native Michif language, while trying to find a connection to her dead mother. She also has to deal with a vengeful Indian man who has a violent, granite-sized chip on his shoulder because he loved her mother in high school but now hates Apple because her mom married a white man. Yet, as Apple meets her Indian relatives this summer, she finds that she just may have found a place to belong. One by one, each character—ranging from age five to eighty-five—teaches her, through wit and wisdom, what it means to be a Native person, but also to be a human being while finding her place in the world. Apple shatters Indian stereotypes and learns what it means to find her place in a world divided by color.
Apple The BIG Workbook ELAHwy (1).pdfApple in the Middle.MOV
Awards
Praise
Gold Medal for Young Adult Fiction–General
Moonbeam Children’s Book Award: Apple in the Middle, by Dawn Quigley
Gold Medal – Multicultural Fiction – Juvenile/Young Adult
2019 IPPY Book Awards (Independent Publisher Book Awards) Apple in the Middle, by Dawn Quigley
“This coming-of-age debut tackles what it means to belong…Quigley shares the dynamics of reservation life—phrases, puckered lips to point, and extended families with aunties and cousins—with authenticity and warmth. VERDICT: A strong story with themes that resonate with many adolescents as they try to figure out who they are in life. Highly recommended.”
Amy Zembroski, Indian Community School, Franklin, WI
School Library Journal (fall 2018)—Starred Review
“Apple in the Middle made me chuckle and it made me cry, but it always made me happy to be in the company of the quick-witted Apple as she journeys to connect with her Native grandparents. Through Apple’s story, Dawn Quigley has written a funny, heartwarming love letter to her family and friends on the Turtle Mountain Ojibwe reservation.”
Carter Meland (White Earth Anishinaabe heritage)
Minnesota Book Awards Finalist for his novel, Stories for a Lost Child
“I absolutely love how Quigley captures the distinct Turtle Mountain accent and, more importantly, the gentle lessons on tribal traditions the grandparents give, along with some truly humorous moments!”
Denise K. Lajimodiere, enrolled citizen, Turtle Mountain Ojibwe
Author of Dragonfly Dance, Thunderbird, and Stringing Rosaries: Stories from Northern Plains American Indian Boarding School Survivor
Dawn Quigley, enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, North Dakota, is an assistant professor in the Education Department at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Her website offers support for educators in finding, evaluating and implementing Native American curriculum content from an indigenous perspective.
In addition to her coming-of-age Young Adult novel, Apple in the Middle, Dawn has over 25 published articles and poems, in mainstream magazines, academic journals and newspapers, including American Indian Quarterly, Yellow Medicine Review: A Journal of Indigenous Literature, Art and Thought, Indian Country Today, Hollywood and Vine magazine, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
She was awarded the St. Catherine University Denny Prize Award for Distinction in Writing and has been a finalist in both the Minnesota Loft Literary Center‘s Emerging Writer award and its Mentor Series.
Dawn lives in the metro area in Minnesota with her husband and two girls.
Eagle Feathers
The following article and game on the National Eagle Repository will assist with building students background knowledge on the significance of Eagle Feathers to many American Indian People. This will aide with identifying stereotypes throughout this novel.
eaglefeatherwhohas.docnational_eagle_repository.docxMascot Resources
Why Educators Can't Ignore Indian MascotsThis is an article written by Dr. Cornel Pewewardy which discussed the impacts of the Indian Mascots on Native Children.
Chief Iliniwek Last Dance This video clip shows the last dance of the Chief Illiniwek in 2007. When partnered with the traditional pow wow clip and drumming video below the students could compare and contrast these clips to see if this stereotypical mascot properly represents the culture of American Indians.
Day in the Life of a Tribal Drummer This video discusses the significance of drumming to American Indian People.
Proud to Be This video discusses the issues with mascots
The two minute advertisement "Proud To Be" from changethemascot.org gives students more understanding of American Indian perspectives on how the are represented and why the Washington mascot causes offense.
Other Resources
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West
by Dee Brown
Non-Fiction, 1970
Museum Indians
by Susan Power
Non-Fiction, 2002