summer reading

I love summer reading.

Have you read Donalyn Miller's blog post on summer reading and the 7th annual #Bookaday Challenge?

Please allow for some reading freedom this summer. Make sure there is time to read, access to books, free choice of reading material, and family/community involvement.

Re-read old favorites. Read aloud. Read a graphic novel. Read a picture book. Summer reading isn't a competition or a contest to be won. Let reading be its own reward. 

"Reading belongs to readers, not to teachers. If we want children to see reading as anything more than a school job, we must give them the chance to choose their own books and develop personal connections to reading, or they never will."   -Donalyn Miller

Read together. Read alone. Everybody read.

On that note, I've put together a list of summer reading suggestions that might be of interest.


Fun middle grade series: 
Maybe you know a reluctant reader; or maybe you know someone who needs to take reading back to its fun roots and read below his/her Lexile score...

Timmy Failure Series by Stephan Pastis

Stick Dog Series by Tom Watson

Nanny Piggins Series by R. A. Spratt and Dan Santat

I Funny Series by James Patterson

Justin Case Series by Rachel Vail

Big Nate Series by Lincoln Peirce


Thoughtful middle grade books:
These are great books for the big-hearted middle grade or young adult reader...

Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin

The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Fish In A Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff

The 14th Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm

Paper Things by Jennifer Richard Jacobson


Two Books Written in Verse:
Everyone should find time to read these two books this summer...

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander


And a few more Middle Grade books
Just to make sure that you have plenty of choice, here are a few more wonderful books...

The Truth About Twinkie Pie by Kat Yeh

Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste

Cody and the Fountain of Happiness by Trisha Springstubb and Eliza Wheeler

Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures by Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pearce

Return to Augie Hobble by Lane Smith

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Words With Wings by Nikki Grimes

The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Shane Evans


Amazing Graphic Novels
Read anything by Raina Telgemeier; she is the gateway drug to the wonderful world of graphic novels...

El Deafo by Cece Bell

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki

The Lunch Witch by Deb Lucke

Hidden by Loic Dauvillier, Greg Salsedo, and Marc Lizano

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang


Young Adult Fiction
All things John Green and Rainbow Rowell...

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

My Heart And Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

The Martian by Andy Weir

The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

The Heir by Kiera Cass (First read The Selection Series if you haven't already. You will love America Singer.)

The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige (first read Dorothy Must Die)

Bluefish by Pat Schmatz

George by Alex Gino (release date of August 25th)

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead (release date August 4th)

Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate (release date September 22nd - I know that's not summer, but it's Katherine Applegate and you need to know she has a new book coming out!)


For All The Graduates You Know
High School or College...

Congratulations, By The Way by George Saunders

Make Good Art by Neil Gaiman

This Is Water by David Foster Wallace

Very Good Lives by JK Rowling

The Crossroads of Should and Must by Elle Luna

Consolations by David Whyte

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on love and life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed

God Got a Dog by Cynthia Rylant

The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz

How to Fly a Horse by Kevin Ashton

How To Be Great At Doing Good by Nick Cooney


Read Alouds
I have three books that I plan to read aloud this summer...

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

The One And Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

My Gentle Barn by Ellie Laks

(There's an animal rights theme here. Feel free to come up with your own theme. I would love to hear about it.)


Books I plan to read with my teenager

Unless by Carol Shields

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

To People in Their 20s - From Tiny Beautiful Things:

If you could give one piece of advice to people in their twenties, what would it be?

To go to a bookstore and buy ten books of poetry and read them each five times.

Why?

Because the truth is inside.

Poetry

Anything by Billy Collins, but especially Aimless Love and The Trouble with Poetry.

Anything by Mary Oliver, but especially A Thousand Mornings and Why I Wake Early and Collected Poems and Blue Horses.

And... Marie Howe's The Kingdom of Ordinary Time and What the Living Do.

But... any ten books of poetry read five times each should do.

HAPPY READING!  HAPPY SUMMER!