Suggested Summer Reading List
The books contained in these lists have been chosen with the belief
that good books belong in students’ hands. The intent is that they will help shape
the literary experiences of our students. Review the lists and help your child
begin the journey to new worlds that will challenge thinking and stimulate the
imagination!
Kindergarten
|
The Little Red Hen |
Byron Barton |
|
Hand Rhymes |
Marc Tolon
Brown |
|
Clap Your Hands |
Lorinda
Cauley |
|
Five Little Monkeys Jumping
on the Bed |
Eileen
Christelow |
|
Corduroy |
Don
Freeman |
|
Swimmy |
Leo
Lionni |
|
Who Took the Farmer's Hat? |
Joan
Nodset |
|
We're Going on a Bear Hunt |
Michael
Rosen |
|
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie |
Laura
Joffe Numeroff |
|
Where Fireflies Dance |
Lucha
Corpi |
|
My Numbers = Mis Números |
Rebecca
Emberley |
|
Cendrillon: A |
Robert D. San
Souci |
1st Grade
|
The Pot That Juan Built |
Nancy Andrews-Goebel |
|
Old Black Fly |
Jim Aylesworth |
|
Rap A Tap Tap: Here's
Bojangles, Think of That! |
Leo Dillon |
|
Can You See the Wind? |
Allan Fowler |
|
Little Dog Poems |
Kristine O'Connell George |
|
Kitten's First Full Moon |
Kevin Henkes |
|
Biggest, Strongest, Fastest |
Steve Jenkins |
|
The Hello, Goodbye Window |
Norton Juster |
|
Arroz con Leche: Popular
Songs and Rhymes from Latin America |
Lulu Delacre |
|
Norma Jean, Jumping Bean |
Joanna Cole |
|
I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! |
Karen Beaumont |
|
Bouki Dances the Kokioko: A Comical Tale from |
Diane Wolkstein |
Family Opportunities to Help Develop Phonics As you read the book together have your
child point to words that end with
the sounds –at, -ed, -ig. For example, bat, bed, pig. Family Opportunities to Help Develop Phonemic Awareness Play a rhyming game that
involves looking for pictures in the book and having the child make up
words that rhyme with the picture.
For example, if the book has a picture of a cat, have your child
make up words like bat, hat , and
rat.
2nd Grade
|
Spinning Spiders |
Melvin Berger |
|
More Than Anything Else |
Marie
Bradby |
|
Beautiful Blackbird |
Ashley
Bryan |
|
Diary of a Worm |
Doreen
Cronin |
|
The Bat Boy and His Violin |
Gavin
Curtis |
|
Breakout at the Bug Lab |
Ruth
Horowitz |
|
What Do You Do With a Tail
Like This? |
Steve
Jenkins |
|
Baseball |
Mike
Kennedy |
|
Harvesting Hope: The Story of
Cesar Chavez |
Kathleen
Krull |
|
Amelia Bedelia |
Peggy
Parish |
|
Mud |
Mary
Lyn Ray |
|
Touch the Poem |
|
3rd Grade
|
I Was a Third-Grade Science
Project |
Mary Jane Auch |
|
|
Jeff
Brown |
|
Dandelions |
Eve
Bunting |
|
The Stories Julian Tells |
Ann
Cameron |
|
Our Wet World: Exploring
Earth's Aquatic Ecosystems |
Sneed
B. Collard III |
|
Amber Brown is Not A Crayon |
Paula
Danziger |
|
The Gadget War |
Betsy
Duffey |
|
Hot Day on |
Karen
English |
|
Leonardo's Horse |
Jean
Fritz |
|
Rosa |
Nikki
Giovanni |
|
Cool Crazy Crickets |
David
Elliott |
|
Brother Anansi and the Cattle
Ranch |
James
De Sauza |
|
Nathaniel Talking |
Eloise
Greenfield |
Family Opportunities to Help Develop Comprehension As you read the book
together stop now and then and retell what you just read to the child. Ask your child if this make sense, if
there are words they do not understand, and why the author tells the story
in this way. Family Opportunities to Help Develop Fluency Take turns rereading each
page of the book. Read expressively
in order to encourage your child to model your expressions or create new
ones.
4th Grade
|
William Shakespeare and the
Globe |
Aliki |
|
The Search For Delicious |
Natalie
Babbitt |
|
Safari |
Robert
Bateman |
|
Frindle |
Andrew
Clements |
|
A Fine, Fine School |
Sharon
Creech |
|
Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory |
Roald
Dahl |
|
The Tale of Despereaux: Being
the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread |
Kate
DiCamillo |
|
The Whipping Boy |
Sid
Fleischman |
|
Yesterday I Had the Blues |
Jeron
Frame |
|
The People Could Fly: The Picture
Book |
Virginia
Hamilton |
|
When Jessie Came Across the
Sea |
Amy
Hest |
|
Just Like Josh Gibson |
Angela
Johnson |
5th Grade
|
Whales on Stilts! |
M.T. Anderson |
|
Tuck Everlasting |
Natalie
Babbitt |
|
On My Honor |
Marion
Dane Bauer |
|
Portraits of African-American
Heroes |
Tonya
Bolden |
|
When Bugs Were Big, Plants
Were Strange, and Tetrapods Stalked the Earth |
Hannah
Bonner |
|
Through My Eyes |
Ruby
Bridges |
|
Dear Mr. Henshaw |
Beverly
Cleary |
|
Rushmore |
Lynn
Curlee |
|
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two
Voices |
Paul
Fleischman |
|
Squarehead |
Harriet
Ziefert |
|
From the Mixed-Up Files of
Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler |
E.L.
Konigsburg |
|
Rabbit Hill |
Robert
Lawson |
Family Opportunities to Help Develop Comprehension Ask your child to think
about the book and talk to you about any, or all, of the following: (1)
What do you
know after reading the story? (2)
What do you
feel about what you read? (3)
What else
does it make you think about? (4)
What
questions do you have? Family Opportunities to Help Develop Vocabulary Ask your child to keep a
word journal of 2 or 3 new words they have learned from reading this
book. (1)
Write the new
word. (2)
Copy the
sentence in which it is used. (3)
Write a
definition in his/her own words. (4)
Draw a small
picture which reminds them what the word means.
6th Grade
Angelfish Lawrence Ye
Because of Winn-Dixie Kate DiCamillo
Dive! My Adventures in the Deep Frontier Sylvia Earle
Heartbeat Sharon Creech
Maniac Magee Jerry Spinelli
Silent to the Bone E.L. Konigsburg
Sing Down the Moon Scott O’Dell
Wenny Has Wings Janet Lee Carey
Whittington Alan Armstrong
Yolanda’s Genius Carol Fenner
7th Grade
Adam Canfield of the Flash Michael Winerip
The Book without Words Avi
The Broken Blade William Durbin
Flush Carl Hiaasen
Kira-Kira Cynthia Kadohata
Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography Jerry Spinelli
of a Kid
The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place E. L. Konigsburg
Tangerine Edward Boor
The Tears of the Salamander Peter Dickinson
Under the Royal Palms Alma Flor Ada
8th Grade
Cuba 15 Nancy Osa
The Face on the Milk Carton Caroline B. Cooney
Fever Laurie Halse Anderson
Good Night, Maman Norma Fox Mazer
Her Stories:
African American Folktales,
Fairy Tales, and True Tales Virginia Hamilton
The House of the Scorpion Nancy Farmer
Crossing The Wire Will Hobbs
Maya Running Anjali Banerjee
Mortal Engines Philip Reeve
Truesight David Stahler
Family Opportunities to Help Develop Comprehension Ask your child to think
about the book and talk to you about any, or all, of the following: (1)
Which
character do you like best and why? (2)
Which
character did you like least and why? (3)
Why did the
author use this setting for the story? (4)
What do you
know after reading the story? (5)
What do you
feel about what you read? (6)
What else
does it make you think about? (7)
What
questions do you have? Family Opportunities to Help Develop Vocabulary Ask your child to keep a
running word log to record words from each chapter which fit into each of
the following categories. (1)
Multiple
meaning words (2)
Vivid verbs (3)
Figurative
language (simile, metaphor) (4)
Words
associated with book title (5)
Sense images
( smell, touch, taste, hear, see) (6)
Words
associated with main person in the story
9th Grade
After the First Death Robert Cormier
The Day They Came to Arrest the Book Nat Hentoff
Hit the Road Caroline B. Cooney
The Gospel According to Larry Janet Tashjian
I, Juan de Pareja Elizabeth Borten de Trevino
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou
Mama Day Gloria Naylor
Maus Art Spigelman
Nemesis Isaac Asimov
Tonight by the Sea Frances Temple
10th Grade
Bilko Donald Woods
Ellen Foster Kaye Gibbons
Ender’s Game Orson Scott Card
A Gathering of Old Men Ernest Gaines
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Julia Alvarez
It’s Not about the Bike Lance Armstrong
Monster Walter Dean Meyers
Obasan Joy Kogawa
13 Little Blue Envelopes Maureen Johnson
Family Opportunities to Help Develop Vocabulary Ask your child to keep a
word log to record new and/or interesting words discovered while reading
the book. (1)
Write each
new word. (2)
Write a
personal definition from context. (3)
Look each
word up in the dictionary and write definition which fits the context
noting its usage as noun, verb, or adjective. (4)
Write an
original sentence with each new word.
Family Opportunities to Help Develop Comprehension Ask your child to think
about the book and talk to you about any, or all, of the following: (1)
Which
character do you like best and why? (2)
Which
character did you like least and why? (3)
Why did the
author use this setting for the story? (4)
What do you
know after reading the story? (5)
What do you
feel about what you read? (6)
What else
does it make you think about? (7)
What
questions do you have for the author? (8)
Would you
read another book by this author? Why or why not? (9)
Did this
author help you realize anything about the way to live life well?
11th Grade
The Autobiography of Malcolm X Alex Haley
The Bean Trees Barbara Kingsolver
Ceremony Leslie Silko
The Color of Water James McBride
In Cold Blood Truman Capote
Jubilee Margaret Walker
Kindred Octavia Butler
Slaughterhouse-five Kurt Vonnegut
The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien
Woman Hollering Creek Sandra Cisneros
12th Grade
Beloved Toni Morrison
Breath, Eyes, Memory Edwidge Danticat
Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood
Into Thin Air John Krakauer
The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan
The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
Sugar Cage Connie Mae Fowler
The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway
Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom
Family Opportunities to Help Develop Vocabulary Ask your child to keep a word
log to record new and/or interesting words discovered while reading the
book. (1)
Write each
new word. (2)
Write a
personal definition from context. (3)
Look each
word up in the dictionary and write definition which fits the context
noting its usage as noun, verb, or adjective. (4)
Write an
original sentence with each new word.
Family Opportunities to Help Develop Comprehension Ask your child to think
about the book and talk to you about any, or all, of the following: (1)
Which
character do you like best and why? (2)
Which
character did you like least and why? (3)
Why did the
author use this setting for the story? (4)
What do you
know after reading the story? (5)
What do you
feel about what you read? (6)
What else
does it make you think about? (7)
What
questions do you have for the author? (8)
Would you
read another book by this author? Why or why not? (9)
Did this
author help you realize anything about the way to live life well?