Chapter+Summer+Reads

Get Caught Up On The Best Of The Best!

1. Any of __Diary of a Wimpy Kid__ by Jeff Kinney - an easy read for 3rd, 4th graders...a novel in cartoons and a New York Times Bestseller.

2. __Ginger Pye__ by eleanor Estes - winner of the Newberry Award - Meet teh Pyes - an extraordinary family from Cranberry with an intellectual dog named Ginger Pye. Ginger Pye steals the hearts of everyone she meets, until she, herself, is stolen.

3. Any of the Andrew Clements stories - __Frindle__ - Best Selling Novel - over one million sold, __The School Story__, __No Talking.__ His novels all center around upper elementary age students with problems similar to those students of that age will encounter...with a twist to make it interesting.

4. Any of Mary Pope Osborne's Books - __The Magic Tree House Series__ 5. __The Wednesday's Wars__ by Gary D. Schmidt - A Newberry Honor Book - A seventh grader who is made to stay after school to read Shakespear with Mrs. Baker, his teacher.

6. Ronald Dahl books - __Charlie and the Chocolate Factory__ and __The BFG__ 7. __My Side of the Mountain__ by Jean Craighead George - a classic - a Newberry Honor Book - a boy journeys on survival in the wilderness.

8. __From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Fank Weiler__ by E. L. Konigsburg - Newberry Medal Winner - with a movie "take-off".

9. __Encyclopedia Bown and the Case of the Secret Pitch__ by Donald J. Sobol - read any from this well-loved series.

10. __Bud, Not Buddy__ by Chritopher Paul Curtis - Newberry Medal Winner - Bud sets out to find the father he never knew.

11. All of the Beverly Cleary Books - you just can't go wrong with this woman's humor and sensitivity. May I suggest that older children revisit these books by reading them aloud to younger chidlren?

12. Of course, __Charlotte's Web__ by E.B. White is a great read for bedtime with the entire family. Even if you've read it before, it's a family memory waiting to be created.

13. Read __Mr. Popper's Penguins__ and then go see the movie. Mr. Popper's Penguins was a Newberry Honor Book in 1939. It's setting is in a ficticious town that celebrates all seasons of the year somewhere in the U.S. Mr. Popper is a seaonal painter of homes. When he is off of work (Fall and Winter) he dreams of traveling the earth, in particular, the Antarctic. He develops a long distrance friendship with an admiral in the South Pole via a radio program from Antarctica. Eventually, the admiral sends Mr. Popper a gift from this home- a penguin. The penguin, and soon to be others due to mating, turns the Popper Famiily's House upside down, but they learn to love these creatures as part of their family. In my opinion, this story was way ahead of its time, as far as imagination and creativity.

14. __Rules__ by Cynthia Lord - Newberry Winner - a girl teen comes tired of her brother's autism ruling her family's life. Soon she meets a boy and girl who seem to be everything she wanted in a "best friend", but then needs to come to terms with what is really "normal."

15. __Heat__ by Mike Lupica - #1 Best Seller - all of Mike's books that are for the young teen centers around a sports figure and how he falls and then rises above it all.

16.. __Hank Zipzer, Niagara Falls or Does It?__ by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver - A best-selling series who's main character is a fourth grader...over 18 books in this series. This boy, Hank, is a very "busy" kid...part autobiographical, according to "The Fonz". He was also very active as a child.

17. __12 Finally__ by Wendy Mass - a girl who has been unable to do a laundry list of wishes until she turned 12. Now she is 12, and look out world, the list is long.

18. Fantasy, Fantasy, Fantasy! It is what the tweens love to read. It seemed to begin with Harry Potter. By the way, [|www.pottermore.com] is a new website that provides reading on line for Harry Potter fans. Then, the Narnia Series seemed to take hold...this series can be used for discussion on so many levels. Also, __The Lightning Thief__ and the sequels are a huge hit with kids. The latest of popular fantasy reads are those written by Suzanne Collins. I have a particular student who adores this series...way to go Liam! Keep Reading!