Summer Reading Lists

ELEMENTARY READING LISTS

Dear Parents,

As the long hot days of summer stretch before us, we encourage our students to take some leisure time to enjoy reading without the pressure of book reports. Attached is a list of books which we strongly encourage our students to read. The list includes current award winning books and books recognized by our faculty and various literary journals as meaningful reading for students of various ages. If your child particularly enjoys reading a book that is not on this list, please write it down and give it to us to add to next summer's reading list. We appreciate your input!

INCOMING FIRST GRADERS:

Please read fairy tales and folk tales to your children whenever possible. They are a rich and beneficial part of our literary heritage, and enhance the cultural literacy of our children.E

There are many excellent wordless books on the market also (such as the GOOD DOG, CARL series). Have your child "read" these to you by telling the story of the pictures. ABC and number books (such as ANNO'S ALPHABET and ALPHABATICS are also excellent selections for this age group.

Try these titles from the Virginia Young Readers list.

• The Turn-Around Upside Down Alphabet Book – Lisa Campbell Ernst
• Absolutely Not! – Matthew McElligott
• Do You Have a Hat? – Eileen Spinelli
• Mr. Putter and Tabby Write the Book – Cynthia Rylant
• Ish – Peter Reynolds
• Hunter’s Best Friend at School – Laura Elliott
• Manana Iguana – Ann Whitford Paul
• Homespun Sarah – Verla Kay
• Guji Guji – Chih-Yuan Chen
• Mouse Went Out to Get a Snack – Lyn McFarland

 
INCOMING SECOND GRADERS:

As a part of the first grade curriculum, the children have covered such topics as community helpers, families, life long ago, motion-moving objects, solids/liquids/gases, plant and animal life needs, weather, and social relationships. You may wish to encourage your child to read any nonfiction books in these areas.

Looking ahead to the second grade, you may select books about Indians, life long ago, China, Egypt (dress, food, customs, etc.), magnets, butterfly life cycle (metamorphosis), water cycle, and poetry (A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES by Robert Louis Stevenson.)

Try these titles from the Virginia Young Readers list.

• The Turn-Around Upside Down Alphabet Book – Lisa Campbell Ernst
• Absolutely Not! – Matthew McElligott
• Do You Have a Hat? – Eileen Spinelli
• Mr. Putter and Tabby Write the Book – Cynthia Rylant
• Ish – Peter Reynolds
• Hunter’s Best Friend at School – Laura Elliott
• Manana Iguana – Ann Whitford Paul
• Homespun Sarah – Verla Kay
• Guji Guji – Chih-Yuan Chen
• Mouse Went Out to Get a Snack – Lyn McFarland

 
INCOMING THIRD GRADERS :

As a part of the second grade curriculum, the children have covered such topics as Indians, China and Egypt, magnets, butterfly life cycle (metamorphosis), and water cycle .You may wish to encourage your child to read a nonfiction book in these areas as well to reinforce what they have learned.

The third grade teachers suggest that incoming students read about explorers, Greece and Rome, biographies of famous Americans, food chains, food webs, simple machines, phases of the moon, animal adaptations/habitats, as well as folk and fairy tales from Europe, Asia and Africa.

Try these titles from the Virginia Young Readers list.

• Ida B. – Katherine Hanniganz
• Lucy Rose: Here’s the Thing About Me – Katy Kelly
• Friend on Freedom River – Gloria Whelan
• Lowji Discovers America –Candace Fleming
• Mighty Jackie: The Strikeout Queen – Marissa Moss
• Double Digit Club – Marion Dane Bauer
• Each Little Bird That Sings – Deborah Wiles
• Last Holiday Concert – Andrew Clements
• Virginia Bound – Amy Butler
• A Fish in Room 11 – Heather Dyer

 
INCOMING FOURTH AND FIFTH GRADERS:

Incoming fourth graders should read the following:

• biographies of George Washington, Patrick Henry and other famous Virginians
• books on the 13 colonies and life in the colonial times
• books on Virginia
• Earth, moon, sun
• phases of the moon
• electricity
• plant parts

Incoming fifth graders should read the following:

• biographies of famous Americans such as Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dolly Madison, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, etc.
• books on the history of the United States (historical fiction and non-fiction)
• books on the geographic regions of the United States
• folk tales of other cultures
• classifications (vertebrate/non-vertebrates)
• ocean communities
• rock cycle
• effects of weathering
• light and sound

Try these titles from the Virginia Young Readers list.

• Ida B. – Katherine Hanniganz
• Lucy Rose: Here’s the Thing About Me – Katy Kelly
• Friend on Freedom River – Gloria Whelan
• Lowji Discovers America –Candace Fleming
• Mighty Jackie: The Strikeout Queen – Marissa Moss
• Double Digit Club – Marion Dane Bauer
• Each Little Bird That Sings – Deborah Wiles
• Last Holiday Concert – Andrew Clements
• Virginia Bound – Amy Butler
• A Fish in Room 11 – Heather Dyer

 
MORE INFORMATION

Famous Folks' Favorite Books
This is just a sampling of the celebrity book picks. You can find the complete list at www.nea.org/readacross/press/celebooks.html.

• Steven Spielberg and Charlton Heston - Treasure Island
• Bette Midler and Attorney General Janet Reno - The Wind in the Willows
• Tim Allen - Curious George by Margret and H.A. Rey
• Judy Blume - Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
• Stephen Breyer, U.S. Supreme Court Justice - Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Kate Capshaw - Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers
• Bill Clinton - Dick and Jane readers
• Katie Couric - Light a Single Candle by Beverly Butler
• Courtney Cox - The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco
• Paula Danziger - The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
• Kirk Douglas - The Bobbsey Twins series by Laura Lee Hope
• Gloria Estefan - Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
• Marshall Faulk and Faith Hill - Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
• Janet Jackson - The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
• Kristine Lilly - Oh, The Places You'll Go! By Dr. Seuss
• Lucy Liu - The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
• Paul Newman - Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• Angela Perez Baraquio, reigning Miss America - Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
• Willard Scott - The Little Engline That Could by Watty Piper
• Connie Stevens - Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
• Barbara Walters - The Little Prince by Antonine De Saint-Exupery

NEA Teachers' Picks

• Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
• The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
• Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
• The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
• Love You Forever by Robert N. Nunsch
• The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
• The Mitten by Jan Brett

Children listed these books as their favorites:

• Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
• Goosebumps series by R. L. Stine
• Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
• The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
• Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
• Arthur series by Marc Brown
• Shiloh trilogy by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• The Giver by Lois Lowry

Children's Choices (A Project of the International Reading Association and The Children's Book Council

Beginning Readers (ages 5-6)

• A Cat and a Dog by Claire Masurel
• Clara Caterpillar by Pamela Duncan Edwards
• Colors by Robert Crowther
• The Dirty Little Boy by Margaret Wise Brown
• Do You Have My Quack? by Keith Faulkner
• Farm Flu by Theresa Bateman by Nadine Bernard Westcott
• Flip and Flop by Dawn Apperley
• Froggy Eats Out by Jonathan London
• Good Night, Monkey Boy by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
• Good Thing You're Not an Octopus! by Julie Markes
• Hoodwinked by Arthur Howard
• I Am Not Sleepy and I Will Not Go to Bed by Lauren Child
• I Love Going Through This Book by Robert Burleigh
• I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, Ills. Stephen Gulbis
• I Love You This Much by Lynn Hodges and Sue Buchanan
• Leon the Chameleon by Melanie Watt
• Miss Bindergarten Takes a Field Trip with Kindergarten by Joseph Slate
• The Mouse Who Ate Bananas by Keith Faulkner
• Our Friend Sam by Mercer Mayer
• Sleep Tight, Ginger Kitten by Adele Geras
• Snow Day by Mercer Mayer
• Snow Ponies by Cynthia Cotton
• Snug as a Bug by Amy Imbody

 Young Readers (ages 6-8)

• Baloney (Henry P.) by Jon Scieszka
• Beware of the Storybook Wolves by Lauren Child
• Brave As a Bunny Can Be by Alison Julian
• Franklin and Harriet by Paulette Bourgeois
• Franny B. Kranny, There's A Bird in Your Hair! by Harriet Learner and Susan Goldhor
• Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae
• The Great Gracie Chase: Stop That Dog! by Cynthia Rylant
• Jabuti the Tortoise: A Trickster Tale From the Amazon by Gerald McDermott
• Makeup Mess by Robert Munsch
• Math Man by Teri Daniels
• Megatooth by Patrick O'Brien
• Monster Goose by Judy Sierra
• One Dark Night by Hazel Hutchins
• A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman
• Rufferella by Vanessa Gill-Brown and Mandy Stanley
• Sidney Won't Swim by Hilde Schuurmans
• Spike in the Kennel by Paulette Bogan
• Ten Little Monkeys: A Counting Storybook by Keith Faulkner
• Trick-or-Treat on Milton Street by Lisa Bullard
• Very Boring Alligator by Jean Gralley
• Wait! No Paint! by Bruce Whatley
• Widget by Lyn Rossiter McFarland

Intermediate Readers (ages 8-10)

• Clarice Bean Guess Who's Babysitting? by Lauren Child
• The Custodian From the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler
• Davy Crockett Saves the World by Rosalyn Schanzer
• The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley
• Experiments in Science: How Does It Work? by David Glover
• Fat Camp Commandos by Daniel Pinkwater
• Fly High! The Story of Bessie Coleman by Louise Borden and Mary Kay Kroeger
• Horses by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
• How Animals Saved the People: Animal Tales From the South retold by J.J. Reneaux
• Humpty Dumpty Egg-Splodes by Kevin O'Malley
• Ice Cream Treats: The Inside Scoop by Paul Fleisher
• Jazz Cats by David Davis
• Joining the Boston Tea Party by Diane Stanley
• Judy Moody Gets Famous by Megan McDonald
• Kate Culhane: A Ghost Story by Michael Hague
• Kitchen Science by Chris Maynard
• The Lima Bean Monster by Dan Yaccarino
• Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
• Lunch Box Mail: And Other Poems by Jenny Whitehead
• Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doren Rappaport
• Monsters Inc.: The Essential Guide
• Mountain Dance by Thomas Locker
• Ms. Fizzle's Adventures: Ancient Egypt by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen
• Oh Boy, Amelia! by Marissa Moss
• One Puppy, Three Tales by Karen Salmansohn
• The Pirate, Pink by Jan Day
• The Teachers' Night Before Christmas by Steven Layne
• To the Top of Everest by Laurie Skreslet with Elizabeth MacLeod
• The War by Anais Vaugelade

Advanced Readers (ages 10-13)

• Alice Alone by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
• Anne Frank and Me by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld
• Burp! The Most Interesting Book You'll Ever Read About Eating by Diane Swanson
• Darkness Before Dawn by Sharon M. Draper
• Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
• Hole in the Sky by Pete Hautman
• The Hostile Hospital (A Series of Unfortunate Events) by Lemony Snicket
• Money Hungry by Sharon G. Flake
• Ripley's Believe It or Not! Special Edition by Mary Packard
• Rover Saves Christmas by Roddy Doyle
• Rufus and Magic Run Amok by Marilyn Levinson
• Say Good-Bye (Wild at Heart, #5) by Laurie Halse Anderson
• The Secret School by Avi
• Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac
• Taking Chances (Heartland #4), by Lauren Brooke
• The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine
• The Vile Village (A Series of Unfortunate Events) by Lemony Snicket

Read Aloud Books

ALL children can benefit from being read to. Any book lends itself to being a read aloud. Children love to hear adults read to them. It creates a special time between adult and child. Choose a book that is at least 2-3 grade levels above your child's reading level. Children can listen to language at a higher level than they can read. The grade levels here are suggestions - let your child's interests and maturity guide you in selecting an appropriate book. It only takes 20 minutes a day!

Born to Read

• Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang
• Good Morning Chick by Mirra Ginsburg
• Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr.
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.
• My Very First Mother Goose by Iona Archibald, Opie, ed.
• Pretty Brown Face by Andrea Pinkey

Preschool

• The Aminal by Lorna Balian
• Jamela's Dress by Niki Daly
• Harry and the Terrible Whatzit by Dick Gackenbach
• Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes
• Don't Laugh, Joe! by Keiko Kasza
• Sitting on the Farm by Bob King
• Napping House by Audrey Wood

Early Elementary

• Anasi Does the Impossible by Verna Aardema
• The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling
• James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
• My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
• Knights of the Kitchen Table by Jon Scieszka
• Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Older Elementary

• Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
• Chronicles of Narnia (series) by C.S. Lewis
• Shiloh by Phyllis R. Naylor
• The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963: A Novel - Christopher Paul Curtis
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Apprentice (series) by J.K. Rowling
• Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
• Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede

Most books can be found at a public library located near you!