August 2025
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    Hi all,

    I’m in charge of buying 22 books this year to give to our 8th grade students. I’m curious if anyone has suggestions for books that would fit in the following categories:

    Perseverance
    Dependability
    Leadership
    Citizenship
    Math

    We also have 10 general book awards.

    I have about 10 titles for science, social studies and some other awards, but I’m struggling finding books that are appropriate, challenging and mostly non-political. A lot of books I’m finding are appropriate for 6th graders, but I want them to be meaningful, and not something that they’ll just put on a shelf and never look at again (Wishful thinking I know).

    Last year the team leader bought 10 copies of Anne of Green Gables, and I’d like to be more intentional about these purchases.

    For example:
    Science: “Lab Girl” and “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.”
    Social Studies: “A Young People’s History of the United States” and “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.”
    For Math all I can think of is “Freakonomics”

    Any book recs that would be meaningful are welcome!

    by Far_Independence6089

    1 Comment

    1. If you could fit Holes by Louis Sachar into a category, it’s a good book. Maybe perseverance?

      The Fault in our Stars by John Green is sad but maybe dependability?

      Paper Towns also by John Green is a dang good book. Perhaps as one of your general awards. I enjoyed it as an adult.

      Good luck with this. It sounds worthwhile.

      Edited to add – I wonder about Lord of the Flies. It’s been years since I read it. Would it fit the citizenship category? I only remember the bad citizen parts of the book right now.

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