Middle School Summer Reading (2025): Rising 8th Grade

Book 1: Up from the Sea by Leza Lowitz

Part 1: Annotate (mark up) the text.
As you read the required summer reading book, Up from the Sea, your humanities teachers would like you to engage with the story by annotating and responding to it. While reading, put a square around new characters, underline new settings, and circle strong or new vocabulary words. Put a star next to strong quotes and plot events that stand out to you about Kai’s experience.

Note: no writing is required for Part 1; just active reading with a pen.

Part 2: Respond to Up from the Sea in writing

List the 8-10 most important events (plot points) throughout Up from the Sea. Make sure your list of events is in chronological order. Note: Your list does NOT need to be in complete sentences.

Choose three quotes from Up from the Sea that are most striking to you.
○ Use your annotations to choose three quotes from the novel: one from the beginning, one from the middle, and one from the end.
○ In your Google or Word Document, write each quote down along with the page number.
○ Then, respond to each quote in your own words by explaining why you think it is important or what it reveals about Kai’s journey.

Summer Reading Assignment Part 3: Compare Up From the Sea with Ground Zero. After you have read both texts, respond to the following writing prompt in your Google or Word Document:

What similarities do you see between Kai’s experience in Up From The Sea and the main characters’ Brandon and Reshmina’s experiences in Ground Zero?

Your comparative response should be between 300 - 600 words, directly answering the question and including specific details from both texts. Please write in an academic tone and proofread your work.

What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski

As you read, consider how you will answer the following  prompts. Copy and paste the prompts into your document and complete in one to three sentences.

Good readers make connections.

1. A connection between the book and myself is ...
2. A connection between this book and something else I’ve read is ...
3. A connection between this book and the world (a historical or current event) is ...

Good readers ask questions.

1. What questions did you have before, during, and/or after reading?
2. I wonder… (What do you wonder now that you have read What Happened to Rachel Riley?)

Good readers visualize the text.

1. Pick a scene from the book and illustrate it. Write the page number(s) and describe the scene and characters in a paragraph. Scan or take a photo of your work and include it in your email.