7th & 8th Grade Summer Reading

ALL STUDENTS are required to read A Long Walk To Water, by Linda Sue Park. A book quiz and writing responses will take place after school begins.

Book Summary: When the Sudanese civil war reaches his village in 1985, eleven-year-old Salva becomes separated from his family and must walk with other Dinka tribe members through southern Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya in search of safe haven. Based on the life of Salva Dut, who, after emigrating to America in 1996, began a project to dig water wells in Sudan.

Book Availability

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Half Price Books

Borrow: Cuyahoga County Public Library, Shaker Library, Overdrive ebook (Beachwood Schools Collection, use your student # to login)

Complete any 5 of the Book Response Prompts from the corresponding category. The five responses can be handwritten or digital. Be sure to integrate the prompt wording into your response in complete sentences.

Use complete sentences to integrate the prompt into your response.

1. Write three questions for the author or write three questions you had as you read the book.

2. Explain why you chose this book and explain why or why you were satisfied with your choice.

3. List and define five new words you learned.

4. Write a different ending for the book.

5. Describe two things that a character did or said that revealed his or her personality.

6. Explain how you would have handled the main character’s problem.

7. Tell why you would like to spend a day with a character. What would you do together and why?

8. Quote the funniest line in the book. Why did you find it humorous?

9. Explain how this book reminds you of another book that you read.

10. Discuss the biggest surprise in the story.

11. Describe the smartest thing a character said or did. Why was it smart and how did it impact the story?

12. Describe something a character did that you would like (or not like) to do.

13. Draw and label or describe the most important event.

14. Choose a character and explain how the character changes throughout the story. What causes the change? What lessons does the character learn?

15. How is a character in your book similar or different to a character in another book, movie, or someone you know? Explain how the two characters are similar and/or how they are different.

16. If you could change one thing in the book, what would it be? Why would you change it? How would you change it?

17. Discuss the creative techniques the author used to make the story more effective (ex. flashbacks, point of view, foreshadowing, descriptive words). Explain how these techniques helped or interfered with your understanding of the story.

18. What is one theme (central message) of the novel? Support your answer with pieces of textual evidence, one from the beginning, middle, and end.

19. What is one conflict in the story? How was the conflict resolved? What might have happened if the conflict was not resolved?

Use complete sentences to integrate the prompt into your response.

1. Make a connection between a real world issue/event and an issue/event discussed in your text. Support your answer with evidence from the text.

2. Explain some of the things that you have learned so far that you are not likely to forget.

3. Describe anything or anyone you would like to know more about after reading the book. What about this person/event intrigued you? What more would you like to know?

4. The passage on page(s)_________ is an example of good writing because….

5. Write a letter to the author of the book with your questions and responses to his/her writing.

6. Describe how the author captured your interest or pulled you into the book.

7. Describe new insights or understandings you have after reading the book.

8. The ideas or events in this book remind me of ideas or events in (another book, movies, news) because. . .

9. Describe how you can use what you learned from this book in your own life.

10. Describe the most interesting thing you learned from the book.

11. If you could question a person from the book, what would you ask he or she and why?

12. Choose a character from the text, get inside their head and create a To-Do List. Use actual information from the text to create it, as well as inferring skills. If it’s a very large goal, break it down into smaller, chronological tasks in order for the character to complete it. Cite page numbers that helped you determined tasks on the list.

13. What was the main idea of what you read? Use supporting details (with page numbers).

14. What changed, challenged, or confirmed what you already about this topic?

15. When did any portion of the text remind you of something else you have read, seen, or heard? Describe the connection.

Mrs. Vitek kvitek@beachwoodschools.org

Mr. Smith nds@beachwoodschools.org

School Librarian

Mrs. Ungier jungier@beachwoodschools.org