Entering Grade 8

St. Andrew’s Episcopal School 

Summer Reading Requirements 

Students Entering the 8th Grade 

in 2025-2026

This book is available for purchase on Amazon. 

Eighth Graders are required to read The Giver by Lois Lowry . 8th graders: while you are reading The Giver, complete the following: 

Take notes in your book, underlining quotes that you find interesting, marking literary devices that you find and asking yourself the 5W1H questions: who, what, when, where, why and how and making connections. I will check your book on the first day of class for notes. 

8thth Grade, you need to keep a journal for every two to three chapters of the novel and one for the final chapter/conclusion. You must label each journal entry and indicate which chapters are included. The Giver has 23 chapters, so you will have 8 to 12 journal entries after the resolution of the novel. Please, print the journals and bring them to class on the first day of school. (See below for journal starters). 

Helpful Journal Topics and Starters 

You may come up with your own journal topics but remember journals should not be plot summary. Below you will find helpful journal starters. 

● Describe what you wonder about or don’t understand. 

● Guess what might happen in the story. 

● Tell whether your predictions were right. 

● Tell what a character is like and offer evidence for your opinions. ● Tell what or who the story reminds you of in your life. 

● Figure out the “big idea” or theme the author may be trying to get across to the reader. 

● Describe the story’s problem and how it was solved, or explain another solution to the problem. If the problem wasn’t solved, explain why and tell how you might have solved it.

● Tell what you would have done differently if you were the author. ● Describe the way that the author writes beginnings, endings, chapter titles, etc… 

● Show how two characters are similar and different. Within this story or across different texts. 

● Explain how the author has drawn you into the story. 

● Explain some of the hidden meanings that you are finding. 

● Explain how effectively the author creates either setting, characters, or conflicts. Are they authentic? Why or why not? 

● Describe the main character’s transformation throughout the story. 

● Select 3 key events and show how each provided insight into a character’s personality. 

● Select an important quote from the story (1-3 sentences), explain how you connect to the quote and show how the quote relates to a theme, conflict, or character in the text. 

● Summarize and evaluate two to three decisions the main character made.

 ● List several things that you value or are important to you. List what your favorite character values. Compare and contrast lists, pointing out what you have in common and how you differ. 

● Choose a minor character and show how he or she was important to the plot, main character, or themes. 

● Visualize a scene or a character; use drawings or words to illustrate these. 

● Tell what you have noticed about what kinds of things this writer does in a story that might be different from other writers you have read. 

Sentence Starters 

● So far I think this book is...Explain your opinion by giving specific examples to tell more about the story or the writing style. 

● One character that I see myself in is…Tell why by giving examples of the way the character is like you. 

● If __________________ (a parent, older brother or sister, friend) were reading this book, he/she would think it was...because… 

● A question that’s on my mind after reading this part is …Tell why you want to know this! What are some possible answers? 

● If I were telling this story, I would…Explain what you would do differently or keep the same. 

● Reading this book reminds me of…Tell more about what it reminds you of – another book, an experience, a place, a person – and why. 

● The part I just read makes me think a little differently about…because…

● My feelings toward (character’s name) have changed since the beginning of the book…Explain how your feelings have changed. 

● A part of this book that I really don’t understand is…because… ● If I read another book by this author, I would know it was the same author because…