Mr. McGill's Grade 8 English Archive

Below you will find links to the literature which will be studied during grade 8. Use the links to access summaries, vocabulary help, author biography, background, and for extended reading.

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury's own website: http://www.raybradbury.com/  

Biography of Ray Bradbury : http://www.spaceagecity.com/bradbury/  

Collected works: http://www.hycyber.com/SF/bradbury_ray.html  

Summary of Fahrenheit 451, analysis, biography: http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Authors/about_ray_bradbury.html  

Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy

History background to the novel: http://www.blakeneymanor.com/history.html  

Timeline of the French Revolution: http://www.blakeneymanor.com/timeline.html  

Biography of Baroness Orczy and other links:  http://www.blakeneymanor.com/books.html  

Online e - texts of the Scarlet Pimpernel and other novels in the series: http://www.blakeneymanor.com/series.html  

Julius Caesar - William Shakespeare

General overview of the play: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/JC/JC.shak.home.html  

Background, summaries, analysis: http://library.thinkquest.org/19539/juliusc.htm  

The Globe Theatre: http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/globe/globe.htm  

Plot summaries and other links: http://ancienthistory.miningco.com/cs/shakespearecaesar/index.htm  

Julius Caesar biography: http://ancienthistory.miningco.com/cs/caesarbio/index.htm  

Unabridged text of the play: http://info.rutgers.edu/Library/Reference/Etext/julius.hd/  

Life of Shakespeare: http://www.stratford.co.uk/hislife/home.html  

Shakespeare links; synopses of plays: http://www.bardweb.net/  

Edgar Allan Poe

The Man Who Was Poe by Avi

The Man Who Was Poe by Avi: http://www.avi-writer.com/

Biography of Poe: http://bau2.uibk.ac.at/sg/poe/Bio.html

Outline of Poe's life and selected works: http://www.nps.gov/edal/overview.htm

Edgar Allen Poe Museum, Richmond Virginia: http://www.poemuseum.org/

Poe's collected works: http://www.pambytes.com/poe/poe.html

Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes

Sherlockian home page: http://www.sherlockian.net/

Sherlock Holmes stories online: http://www.literature.org/authors/doyle-arthur-conan/

Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie biogram: http://mysterynet.com/christie/

Online home: http://www.agathachristie.com/

Animal Farm by George Orwell

George Orwell biography: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/gorwell.htm

Novel summary: http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/animf.htm

Chapter summaries: http://www.novelguide.com/animalfarm/novelsummary.html

Characters of the novel: http://www.novelguide.com/animalfarm/characterprofiles.html

Various links: http://students.ou.edu/C/Kara.C.Chiodo-1/orwell.html#AnimalFarm

Lafcadio Hearn

Hearn biography and bibliography: http://www.trussel.com/f_hearn.htm

Hearn- Various links: http://www.gifu-u.ac.jp/~kameoka/H-link.html

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Harper Lee biography: http://mockingbird.chebucto.org/bio.html

Novel summary and chapter analysis: http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/killmockingbird/shortsumm.html

Chapter summaries and vocabulary assistance: http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Belmont_HS/tkm/

Study guide: http://www.bookrags.com/notes/tkm/PART1.htm

Miscellaneous Authors Studied in Grade 8

Kurt Vonnegut:

Official website:  http://www.vonnegut.com/

Various links: http://www.duke.edu/~crh4/vonnegut/

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Noble Prize Website: http://almaz.com/nobel/literature/1978a.html

Biography: http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/1978/singer-bio.html

Rudyard Kipling

Biography and various links: http://www.kipling.org.uk/kip_fra.htm

Collection of poems:  http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/kipling_ind.html

Richard Connell

"The Most Dangerous Game" online: http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/sid.6/bookid.1317/