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Classic Summer Reading

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There is great juvenile literature published every year. With so many choices, it is easy to forget older publications.  However, some of my favorite children book recommendations today are the ones that I read over and over again as a child. If you are looking for some new-but-old summer reading choices, take a look at the list below. Whether you are school aged or an adult, these are great reads (or re-reads) for the summer. All of the books were originally published over twenty years ago. Many of the titles may be ones you remember reading while growing up, but there might be something unfamiliar. What was your favorite childhood chapter book? Please add a comment with your favorite!

** I tried to avoid duplicating titles I have on the “Read-Alike” and “Style-Alike” posts, so be sure to check out those articles too. I also included a suggested grade range.

Historical Fiction

  • All-of-a-Kind Family by Taylor (3rd/4th grade)
  • Celia Garth by Bristow (6th grade and up)
  • I am Rosemarie by Moskin (5th grade and up)
  • Island of the Blue Dolpins by O’Dell (5th grade and up)
  • Snow Treasure by McSwigan (4th grade and up)
  • When the Legends Die by Borland (7th grade and up)
  • The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Speare (6th grade and up)

Animal

  • The Cricket in Times Square by Selden (3rd/4th grade)
  • The Incredible Journey by Burnford (5th/6th grade)
  • Julie of the Wolves by George (4th grade and up)
  • Kavik the Wolf Dog by Morey (4th grade and up)
  • Stone Fox by Gardiner (3rd/4th grade)
  • Where the Red Fern Grows by Rawls (6th/7th grade)
  • The Yearling by Rawlings (6th grade and up– difficult language, dialect)

Fantasy

  • The Borrowers by Norton (5th grade and up)
  • Castle in the Attic by Winthrop (3rd grade and up)
  • Gift of Magic by Duncan (5th grade and up)
  • Half Magic by Eager (3rd/4th grade)
  • Indian in the Cupboard by Banks (4th grade and up)
  • The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Edwards (4th grade and up)
  • Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by MacDonald (1st to 3rd grade)

Realistic Fiction

  • The Hundred Dresses by Estes (3rd/4th grade)
  • The Saturdays by Enright (4th/5th grade)
  • The Secret Garden by Burnett (4th grade and up)
  • A Summer to Die by Lowry (6th grade and up)
  • Wheel on the School by DeJong (5th grade and up)

Adventure

  • The Boxcar Children by Warner (1st to 3rd grade)
  • My Side of the Mountain by George (4th grade and up)
  • Original Nancy Drew Mysteries by Keene (3rd grade and up)

Book Buddies

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At one time, I tutored students in high school English. I started making notecards that had lists of key themes, symbols, and character traits. The students would use the notecard like a bookmark and have it with them while reading. The reminders on the card helped guide the students to mark useful quotes. Now that I am back in the classroom, I still make these notecard-bookmarks to help students focus their reading. They can be adapted for so many grade levels. Click Here to purchase Book Buddy templates.

mrs_frisby    year_of_the_boar  mockingbird

Summer Reading: Many students read a book in June but can’t remember the book in August when it is time to go back to school. Fill out a generic card while reading and use the card for review right before returning to school.

mrs. frisby bookmark sample

Elementary Grades: For younger grades, have students note details about the beginning, middle, and end of a story. Students can also list character details and identify the big problem in the story. This is a great way to practice summarizing and keeping things short!

year of the boar bookmark sample

Upper Elementary Grades: As students begin to look for deeper meaning in a story, create a card with the key ideas you want to teach in the novel.

to kill a mockingbird bookmark sample

Middle and High School: At this point, you can provide space on the card for themes, symbols, archetypes and key quotes. Customize the card with any literary details you prefer.

** The cards can be printed with blank space, and the students fill out the information as they read.  Or, depending on the needs of your students, you can create the cards with the key ideas provided.

Hello Kitty Birthday Party

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I tend to get a little over excited when planning parties for my children but when my daughter asked about having a Hello Kitty birthday, I was particularly giddy. Hello Kitty is all about crafts and cooking! I actually had to scale back from the original plan to have “shops” in the backyard where guests would go for individual activities (see the carnival booth plans at Mr. McGroovy’s).

The Invitations: Finestationery.com did not have what I needed for this party, so I ordered invitations through Tiny Prints. The cards were purrr-fectly wonderful.

The Crafts: We had several stations set up on low tables under one of those big tailgate tents in the backyard. Children could make giant tissue paper flowers. We folded several layers of colorful tissue accordion style then wrapped a pipe cleaner tightly around the middle. The kids pulled the tissue layers apart to create the flower. We also photocopied a Hello Kitty picture on cardstock. We then hole punched around the edge of the picture and tied a piece of long yarn to one hole. The guests could lace the string (like those nursery school lacing cards) and/or color the picture of Hello Kitty.

The Cooking: We used heart, butterfly, and tulip cookie cutters and made plain sugar cookies. We set up a table with the cookies, icing, and various sprinkles for a cookie decorating station.

The Scavenger Hunt: Each child received a drawstring bag with clues inside. Since our guests couldn’t read yet, we had slips of paper with pictures of places around the yard. You would pull a picture out of the bag, look for the location in the picture, then go to that place to pick up one treat. When the kids finished, they had filled Hello Kitty’s purse.

The Drawstring Bags: My sister made these for my niece’s spa birthday. She very kindly sewed the whole batch for me. Here is the basic pattern, but our bags had a 6″ square base and the sides were 22″ long and 10″ tall.

The Party Favors: Everyone took home the filled drawstring bags. After completing the scavenger hunt, the bags contained a headband with a red bow hot glued to it, lollipops, Hello Kitty lip gloss, Hello Kitty mirror, Hello Kitty mini notepad, and a few other fun items. All of the party stores and places like Target have a pretty big selection of mini Hello Kitty party favors.

Army Pool Birthday Party

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After we almost melted in the humidity at the previous year’s backyard pirate party (see pirate party post), we decided to change venues.  My son thought a pool party with an army theme would be great.  It worked out well until the afternoon thunderstorms rolled in.  This year, we are definitely planning an indoor event!

The Invitations: I returned to Fine Stationery for an army style invitation.  I ordered blank cards and printed from my home printer.  The wording for these invitations included things like, “Attention Troops” and “You’ve been drafted for (name’s) birthday party” and “Report to (location)”. We used military time (14:00) for the party start time and printed everything with Stencil font.

The Food: Our local grocery store did not have an army birthday cake, but they can do camouflage colors on the icing.  They also were able to create a rocky landscape with candy rocks and trees. We added plastic army men, army tank candles from Party City, and an American flag toothpick.  Each guest received a canteen filled with lemonade that I ordered from Oriental Trading.

The Games: We threw handfuls of plastic army men into the shallow end of the pool for a search and rescue activity.  Kids also had a cannonball/jumping contest off the diving board.  For prizes, each child earned a “dog tag” with their award written on the back. We came up with awards like biggest splash, best dive, best flip, best twist, etc. The dog tags came from Oriental Trading, but Party City had a big selection of army themed favors too.

The Party Favors: Guests took home the canteen, the plastic army men, and a squirt gun.

Pirate Birthday Party

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I know it is crazy to plan a backyard birthday party in late August in South Carolina, but my son wanted to dig for treasure, and I saw this great cardboard pirate ship at Mr. McGroovy’s.  The day was super hot and humid, but everybody had a great time (and I lost five pounds) so it all worked out!

The Invitations: I ordered blank invitations from Fine Stationery and ran them through my home printer.  The invite said things like, “Aaaargh Mateys” and “Join (name) for pirate adventures and buried treasures” and “RSVP to the first mate or prepare to walk the plank!” The font, Blackadder, is very pirate-y looking.

The Pirate Ship: Plan ahead!  It took several weeks of calls to every appliance store in the area to collect all of the refrigerator boxes I needed for the pirate ship.  We then spent two weekends cutting and painting the boxes.  The assembly wasn’t too difficult, and Mr. McGroovy’s instructions are pretty simple.

The Outfits: As guests arrived at the party, we painted faces with scars, mustaches, and beards. We also gave each guest a man’s white t-shirt that we had cut along the bottom to look like rags. We offered red sashes (plain red fabric cut into strips) and bandanas to each child too. The foam swords came from the $1 aisle at Target.

The Treasure Hunt: On brown paper grocery bags, we printed different clues/riddles that sent the kids all over our front and backyard. We buried two separate treasure chests (shoe boxes painted brown).  The pirate chests were filled with plastic jewels, plastic insects, individual candies, dice, and other booty from Oriental Trading.

The Treat Bags: We ordered black drawstring bags along with the other loot.  We wrote pirate names on playing cards and tied those to each bag.  The guests put their loot in the bags after the treasure hunt.