Summer Reading Lists
The Importance of Summer Reading

Ready or not, the end of the school year and the start of summer vacation are just around the corner.    No doubt you are astounded at the amount of content your child has covered in just one year’s time, but with summer break looming, you are probably eager to have your children extend their learning over the upcoming months.   Summer reading is an easy, inexpensive, and enjoyable way for families to do just that!  If books are chosen well and a few simple fluency-building techniques are used, reading comprehension and retention can continue to improve.   Similarly, vocabulary development and content knowledge, which are critical for reading comprehension, can also be furthered through effective summer reading.

Book Choices
Granted, most children relish the extra freedom that comes with summer break, but it is amazing how much a simple reading list can help provide a little needed (and often welcomed) structure for children during the long summer months.  The first step to creating a successful summer reading program in your home is to start with a written reading list for your child.   You and your child can collaboratively establish this list.  Many families also enjoy taking part in a public library summer reading program over the summer months to provide some structure to their reading.  To help make the process easier, we have divided books into three simple categories below.  You will probably find that left to their own devices, children are likely to choose heavily from the third category of books.  Just as we would steer our children away from a steady diet of desserts toward a healthier diet, so too must we steer them toward healthy book choices. For that reason, helping your child choose heavily from the first two categories below and sparingly from the third, will provide a good balance and give them the opportunity for building reading comprehension and knowledge.

Categories:

a. Fiction or non-fiction books that are at or slightly above your child’s reading level are suggested for comprehension building.  A great place to start is the Classical School reading list.  Often children want to revisit old favorites that they have previously read or books that are new to them from the list, but which are now below their reading level.  Because of the high quality of these works of literature, these books should be included as an addition to the more challenging selections on their summer reading list. Use the reading list as a gauge for reading level, or speak with your child’s teacher. 

b. Content-based books are non-fiction books written about an area of history, math, science, music, or art that has sparked your child’s interest.  Some of the books will be above your child’s reading level, but can make wonderful books to read aloud. 

c. “Dessert Books” are often contemporary books that children enjoy reading and can be generally read without much effort or assistance. These books typically lack challenging vocabulary and often use relatively simple grammatical writing structures.  They are called “dessert books” because they are a small treat with minimal nourishment.  They are fun to read, but do little to develop our children’s growing minds. It is easy for children to select summer reading from this category to the exclusion of the first two categories.

Fluency Improving Techniques
Increasing your child’s reading fluency should be one of the goals of your summer reading program.  The National Institute for Literacy describes reading fluency as the “ability to read a text accurately and quickly.”  Fluent readers “recognize words automatically. They group words quickly to help them gain meaning from what they read. Fluent readers read aloud effortlessly and with expression. Their reading sounds natural, as if they are speaking. Readers who have not yet developed fluency read slowly, word by word. Their oral reading is choppy and plodding.”  Fluent readers comprehend what they are reading because do not need to take time to decode unfamiliar words and can therefore concentrate on the meaning of the text.  Becoming a fluent reader happens gradually and requires years of practice and patience.  Like becoming proficient on a musical instrument or pitching a softball, with repeated practice, fluent reading will happen!

Parroting
For younger children that are not yet firm in their reading fluency, parroting, or having the child repeat short reading passages after the adult readers has read them, is effective. If the child is hesitant to do this for you, start by having the child reread short passages with you and gradually work up to having him read it alone. This skill should be practiced with books at or slightly below the child’s reading level, in order to insure success and a feeling of accomplishment.  It is extremely important that parroting is done in a supportive atmosphere. Do not set your child up for failure by making him or her read unfamiliar text in front of others (siblings, grandparents, friends, etc.)  This technique is for practice, not performance.

Repeated Reading 
Fluency can also be improved through repeated oral reading.  Different from parroting, this technique requires that the child practice a passage repeatedly, often resulting in memorization.  The child practices one passage from a book that is at or above his reading level until facile and then moves on to another new passage.  Try to choose passages with challenging vocabulary to aid in vocabulary and background knowledge acquisition.  Always offer assistance with pronunciation and word meaning.  Dictionary use can also be practiced with unfamiliar words.  Older, more fluent readers also benefit from this technique.  Using poetry or parts of famous speeches works well with older children. 

Reading Aloud
Reading aloud to your children is an effective method to improve fluency that can be easily practiced at home.  In order for children to become fluent readers, they must first hear what fluent reading sounds like.  By reading effortlessly and with expression, you can model for your children how a fluent reader sounds. Research shows that older students, grades 8 - 12, also benefit from hearing fluent reading. If you feel that you are not a strong reader, books on tape are an alternative available at public libraries and area bookstores. 

Importance of Background Knowledge
All of this reading practice has the benefit of increasing fluency, thereby increasing reading comprehension.  Since fluent readers do not need to take time to sound out the words in the text, they are able to easily decode the text and can concentrate on what the text is saying.  Nevertheless, reading comprehension does not rely on fluent reading alone.  Comprehension of both written and oral language is based upon one’s vocabulary and content knowledge.  Even a fluent reader cannot understand the text if the ideas and words in the text are unfamiliar.  As E.D. Hirsch explains, “Successful reading requires more than an ability to decode, or ‘sound out,’ words. It also requires adequate background knowledge, or ‘cultural literacy.’  Without background knowledge of history, literature, art, music, science, and math, students will read — but without comprehension.“ 

With this in mind, choosing books from the first two categories discussed above for your child’s summer reading is as important as any fluency exercises you may do with your child this summer.  When reading aloud to your child, choose books that are above their reading level and contain complex vocabulary and rich content.  This opens a world to our children that is not yet accessible to them through their own reading.     The new information and vocabulary learned becomes part of their background knowledge, and background knowledge, along with a wide vocabulary, has been shown to be the best indicator of a student’s future reading success.

Have a wonderful, safe summer.  Happy reading!
 

READING LISTS

Note:  There may be books on your child’s grade level list that are above his/her reading level.  These books make great read-alouds!  Some books will span more than one list.

Kindergarten - 2nd Grade

Aesop:  fables, all
Ahlberg, Janet and Allan:  The Jolly Postman
Andersen, Hans Christian:  fairy tales, all
Ardizzone, Edward:  all Tim books
Awdry, The Rev. W:  Thomas the Tank Engine Series
Bemelmans, Ludwig:  Madeline series, all
Bennet, William:
 The Children’s Book of Virtues
 The Children’s Book of Heroes
 The Children’s Book of America
 Our Country’s Founders
 The Moral Compass
Beskow, Elsa:
Pele’s New Suit
Children of the Forest
Bianco, Margery Williams:  The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real
Bond, Michael:  A Bear Called Paddington
Brink, Carol Ryrie:  Caddie Woodlawn
Burgess, Gelett:  Goops series
Burgess, Thorton:  The Burgess Animal Book for Children
Burnett, Frances Hodgson:  Racketty-Packetty House
Burton, Virginia Lee:
Katy and the Big Snow
 Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
 The Little House
Carrick, Donald:  Harald series
Carroll, Lewis:
 The Walrus and the Carpenter
 The Hunting of the Snark
Dahl, Roald:  James and the Giant Peach
Dalgliesh, Alice:  The Story of Sarah Noble
D’Aulaires, Ingri and Edgar:  Book of Greek Myths
De Brunhoff, Jean:  Babar series
dePaola, Tomie:  all
Flack, Marjorie and Kurt Wiese:  The Story About Ping
Fleischman, Paul:  Joyful Noise:  Poems for Two Voices
Garis, Howard R.:  Uncle Wiggly Bedtime Stories
Gerrard, Roy:  all
Grahame, Kenneth:  The Reluctant Dragon
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm:  Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Gruelle, Johnny:  Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy Stories
Hakim, Joy:  A History of US (individual volume or set of 10)
Harris, Joel Chandler:
 The Classic Tales of Brer Rabbit
The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus
Hawthorne, Nathaniel:
Wonder Book series
Tanglewood Tales
Heller, Ruth:  all
Herriot, James:
 Blossom Comes Home
 Only One Woof
 The Market Square Dog
Hoban, Russell:  Francis series
Hodges, Margaret:  All, retellings
Hyman, Trina Shart:  All, retelling
Keats, Ezra Jack:  The Snowy Day
Kipling, Rudyard:
 Just So Stories
Riki-Tiki-Tavi
Lang, Andrew:  The Fairy Books, all colors
Lester, Julius:  folk tale retellings, all
Lear, Edward:  Book of Nonsense
Lewis, C. S.: Chronicles of Narnia
Lobel, Arnold:  Frog and Toad Books
Lofting, Hugh:  The Story of Doctor Doolittle
MacDonald, Betty:  Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
MacDonald, George:
Christmas Stories
The Golden Key
The Light Princess
The Lost Princess
McCloskey, Robert:
Blueberries for Sal
Make Way for Ducklings
Milne, A.A.:
 Winnie the Pooh
House at Pooh Corner (Pooh Original Edition)
When We Were Very Young (Pooh Original Edition)
 Now We Are Six (Pooh Original Edition)
Minarik, Elsa:  Little Bear series
Moore, Clement Clarke:  Night Before Christmas
Mulock. Miss:  The Little Lame Prince
Nesbit, Edith:  Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
Norton, Mary:
Bedknob and Broomstick
The Borrowers
Osborne, Mary Pope:  American Tall Tales
Perrault, Charles:  Perrault’s Fairy Tales
Piper, Watty:  Little Engine That Could
Potter, Beatrix:  all
Rey, H.A.:  Curious George
Richardson, Frederick:  Mother Goose:  The Classic Volland Edition
San Souci, Robert:  all
Sendak, Maurice:  Where the Wild Things Are
Silverstein, Shel:  all, verse
Steig, Wiliam:
 Brave Irenek
 The Magic Pebble
 Yellow and Pin
Stevenson, Robert Louis:  Children’s Garden of Verses
Suess, Dr.:  all
White, M. et. al.:  Sing a Song of Popcorn:  Every Child’s Book of Poems
Wilde, Oscar:
 Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde
The Selfish Giant
Wilder, Laura Ingalls:  Little House series
Wood, Audry:  all
Zelinskuy, Paul O.:  all, retellings
Zion, Gene:  Harry series

3rd Grade - 4th Grade

Ahlberg, Janet and Allan:  The Bear Nobody Wanted
Alexander, Lloyd:  all
Andersen, Hans Christian:  all
Banks, Lynne Reid:  Indian in the Cupboard series
Baum, L. Frank:  Wizard of Oz series (14 book original collection)
Bennet, William:
 The Children’s Book of Virtues
 The Children’s Book of Heroes
 The Children’s Book of America
 Our Country’s Founders
 The Moral Compass
Bloom, Harold:  Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages
Boston, Lucy:  Greene Knowe series
Brooks, Walter:  all
Buck, Pearl S.:  The Big Wave
Burnett, Frances Hodgson:  A Little Princess
Burnford, Shiela:  The Incredible Journey
Carroll, Lewis:  Through the Looking Glass
Cooper, Susan:  all
Dahl, Roald:  all
DeAngeli, Marguerite:  The Door in the Wall
De la Mare, Walter:  The Lord Fish
DeJong, Meindert:  all
Estes, Eleanor:  all
Fleming, Ian:  Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang
Gannett, Ruth Stiles:  My Father’s Dragon series
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm:  Grimm’s Fairy Tales
George, Jean Craighead:
 My Side of the Mountain
 On the Far side of the Mountain
Julie of the Wolves
Gipson, Fred
 Old Yeller
 Savage Sam
Haggard, H. Rider:  King Solomon’s Mines
Hakim, Joy:  A History of US (individual or full set of 10)
Hale, Lucretia:  The Peterkin Papers
Hamilton, Edith:  Mythology
Helprin, Mark
 A City in Winter
 The Veil of Snows
Henry, Marguerite:  Misty of Chincoteague
Henty, G.A.:  The Cat of Bubastes
Hillyer, V.M.:  A Child’s History of the World
Jaques, Brian:  all
Jansson, Tove:  all
Juster, Norton:
 Phantom Tollbooth
Kingsley, Charles:  The Water-Babies
Kipling, Rudyard:
 Just So Stories
 Riki-Tiki-Tavi
Kjelgaard, Jim:  all
Knight, Eric:  Lassie series
Lamb, Charles and Mary:  Tales of Shakespeare
Lang, Andrew:
 Arabian Nights
 The Fairy Books, all colors
L’Engle, Madeleine:  all
Lawson, Robert:
 The Great Wheel
 Rabbit Hill
 Ben and Me
Lenski, Lois:
 Judy’s Journey
 Strawberry Girl
 Indian Captive
 We Live in the Country
Lewis, C.S.:  Chronicles of Narnia
Lofting, Hugh:
 The Story of Doctor Doolittle
 The Voyages of Doctor Doolittle
MacDonald, George:
 The Golden Key
 The Light Princess
 At the Back of the North Wind
Montgomery, L.M.:  all
Morey, Walt:
 Year of the Black Pony
 Gentle Ben
 Kavik the Wolf Dog
 Scrub Dog of Alaska
Nesbit, E.:
 Melisande
 The Deliverers of Their Country
 Long Ago when I was Young
 Five Children and It
Norton, Mary:  The Borrowers series
O’Brien, Robert:
 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
 The Secret of NIHM
Ollivant, Alfred:  Bob Son of Battle
Pyle, Howard:  The Story of King Arthur and His Knights
Rawlings, Kinnan:  The Yearling
Rawls, Wilson:
 Summer of the Monkeys
Salten, Felix:  Bambi
Selden, George:
 The Old Meadow
 Tucker’s Countryside
Seredy, Kate:  all
Spyri, Johanna:  Heidi
Stevenson, Robert Louis:
The Black Arrow
Kidnapped
Stieg, William:  all
Sutcliff, Rosemary:  Black Ships Before Troy
Travers. P.L.:  Mary Poppins series
Verne, Jules:
The Adventures of the Rat Family
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Wiggin, Kate Douglas:  Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Willard, Nancy:  A Visit to William Blake’s Inn
White, E.B.:  The Trumpet of the Swan
Wilde, Oscar:  Stories for Children
Wilder, Laura Ingalls:  all
Winthrop, Elizabeth:  The Castle in the Attic
Wyss, Johann:  The Swiss Family Robinson

5th - 6th

Adams, Richard:  Watership Down
Alcott, Louis May:
 An Old-Fashioned Girl
 Rose in Bloom
 Eight Cousins
 Jo’s Boys
 Little Men
Armstrong, William:  Sounder
Austen, Jane:  Northanger Abbey
Avi:  The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Ballantyne, R.M.:  The Coral Island
Baum, Frank:  Wizard of Oz series (14 book original collection)
Bennet, William:
 The Children’s Book of Virtues
 The Children’s Book of Heroes
 The Children’s Book of America
 Our Country’s Founders
 The Moral Compass
Blackmore, R.D.:  Lorna Doone
Bloom, Harold:  Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages
Blos, Joan:  A Gathering of Days
Bronte, Charlotte:  Jane Eyre
Bronte, Emily:  Wuthering Heights
Bunyan, John:  Pilgrim’s Progress as retold by James Reeves
Burnford, Sheila:  The Incredible Journey
Carroll, Lewis:  Through the Looking Glass
Chesterton, G.K.:  The Man Who Was Thursday
Colum, Padriac:
 The Golden Fleece
 Nordic Gods & Heroes
 The Trojan War and the Adventures of Odysseus
Coolidge, Susan:
 What Katy Did
 What Katy Did Next
 What Katy Did at School
Cooper, Susan:  all
Dahl, Roald:  all
Dickens, Charles:
Oliver Twist
David Copperfield
Dodge, Mary Mapes:  Hans Brinker’s Silver Skates
Doyle, Arthur Conan: all
Dumas, Alexandre:  The Three Musketeers
Eliot, George:  Silas Marner
Ende, Michael:  The Never Ending Story
Forester, C.S.:  Hornblower series
Gipson, Fred:  Old Yeller
Goldman, William:  The Princess Bride
Grahame, Kenneth:  Wind in the Willows
Hakim, Joy:  A History of US (individual volume or set of 10)
Henty, G.A.: all
Hope, Anthony:  Prisoner of Zenda
Hunt, Irene:  Across Five Aprils
Kingsley, Charles:
 The Water-Babies
 Westward Ho
Kipling, Rudyard:  all
Knight, Eric:  Lassie series
L’Engle, Madeleine:  all
Lewis, C.S.:  Narnia series
London, Jack:  White Fang
MacDonald, George:  all
Melville, Herman:  Moby Dick
Mitchell, Margaret:  Gone with the Wind
Montgomery, L.M.:  Anne of Green Gables series
Nesbit, Edith:  all
Orczy, Baroness Emmuska:  The Scarlet Pimpernel
Peck, Robert Newton:  A Day No Pigs Would Die
Pyle, Howard:
 Men of Iron
 Otto of the Silver Hand
Ransome, Arthur:  all
Rawlings, Marjorie:  The Yearling
Rawls, Wilson:  Where the Red Fern Grows
Scott, Sir Walter:  Ivanhoe
Shakespeare, William:  The Complete Works
Sidney, Margaret:  Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
Spyri, Johanna:  Heidi
Tolkien, J.R.R.:  Lord of the Ring
Twain, Mark:  A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Verne, Jules:  all
Voltaire:  Candide
Wells, H.G.: The Time Machine
White, T.H.:
 The Sword in the Stone
 The Once and Future King
Whitman, Walt:  Leaves of Grass
Wiggin, Kate Douglas:  Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Wilde, Oscar:  The Happy Prince and Other Stories
Wilder, Laura Ingalls:  all
Wyss, Johann:  The Swiss Family Robinson

7th -8th

Asimov, Isaac:  all
Adams, Richard:  Watership Down
Alcott, Louisa May:  all
Aldrich, Beth:  A Lantern in Her Hand
Austen, Jane:  Emma
Blackmore, R.D.:  Lorne Doone
Bloom, Harold:
The Best Poems of the English Language: From Chaucer Through Frost
Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages
Bradbury, Ray:  Fahrenheit 451
Buck, Pearl S.:  House of Earth Trilogy
Bunyan, John:  Pilgrim’s Progress as retold by James Reeves
Cather, Willa:
 Song of the Lark
My Antonia
O Pioneers!
Chaucer, Geoffrey:  The Canterbury Tales
Chekov, Anton:  Anton Chekov’s Short Stories (Norton’s Critical Edition)
Christie, Agatha:  And Then There Were None
Collins, Wilkie:
 The Moonstone
 The Woman in White
Conrad, Joseph:
Heart of Darkness
Nostromo
The Secret Agent
Crane, Stephan:  The Red Badge of courage
Darwin, Charles:  Origin of The Species
DeFoe, William:
 Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles:  Great Expectatons
Dumas, Alexandre:
 Three Musketeers
 Count of Monte Cristo
  Man in the Iron Mask
Eliot, George:  Silas Marner
Franklin, Benjamin:  The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Gilbreth, Frank:
 Cheaper By the Dozen
 With Bells on Their Toes
Golding, William:  Lord of the Flies
Goldman, William:  Princess Bride
Hugo, Voctor:  Les Miserables
Kipling, Rudyard:
 Kim
 The Man Who Would Be King
Laroux, Gaston:  Phantom of the Opera
Lee, Harper:  To Kill a Mockingbird
Machiavelli, Niccolo:  The Prince
Melville, Herman:  Moby Dick
Montgomery, L.M.:
Anne of Green Gables series
 Emily series
Tolkien, J.R.R.:  all
Twain, Mark:  Huckleberry Finn
Nordhoff, Charles:  The Mutiny on the Bounty
Orczy, Baroness Emmuska:  The Scarlet Pimpernel
Shakespeare, William:  The Complete Works
Shelley, Mary:  Frankenstien
Sinclair, Upton:  The Jungle
Stoker, Bram:  Dracula
Stone, Irving:  The Agony and the Ecstasy
Stowe, Harriet Beecher:  Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Turgenev, Ivan:  Fathers and Sons
Virgil:  The Aeniad
Voltaire:  Candide
Wells, H.G.:  all
Whitman, Walt:  Leaves of Grass
Wilde, Oscar:  The Picture of Dorian Gray
Wyss, Johann:  The Swiss Family Robinson
 


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