Friday, May 31, 2013

Kids' Summer Reading

Summer vacation! Time for all that great free-reading that kids might not have time for during the school year between homework and piano lessons and soccer practice and everything else!

Image from david.orban via Flickr CC BY 2.0

My own kids are out of school, and we've already been to the library once. I think my son has already read four of the eight books he picked out! (No trouble getting that one to read...)

For more reluctant readers, perhaps some suggestions might get the ball rolling? Earlier this year, I wrote a series of posts providing some reading suggestions. I called the series "Books for Boys." (No gender-bias intended, really...read my rationale for this.) Truth be told, most all of the books listed below will be great reads for both boys and girls, though I'm focusing on the 5th-8th grade crowd here for the most part, though some of these might be great read-alouds for younger kids too.

Survival Stories
Historical Fiction
Realistic Fiction
Mythology
A Catch-All of Great Books

Please feel free to offer your suggestions in the comments below as well! Give us the title and the author and a little rationale as to why it's a good pick, okay?

4 comments:

  1. OK---here we go--a lot of these are fantasy type--some secret agent, etc---all ones that my son devoured.

    1. The Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan. Kids will LOVE this series. A MUST

    2. Redwall series by Brian Jacques (medieval-like setting with animals)

    3. Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull (main characters are brother and sister...well done!)

    4. Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer

    5. Alex Rider series (Stormbreaker, etc)...for older side of your age range, but not much.

    6. Harry Potter! Sure--everyone knows it--but for good reason. Amazing series.

    7. Hobbit/Lord of the Rings. If you kid wants to see the movies, tell them they have to read the book first. That's what my kid did in 5th grade (quizzed him and he nailed all of them).

    8. City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

    9. Enders' Game by Orson Scott Card (it will be a movie later this year)

    10. Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.---not fantasy...just good!

    11. Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan (you cited another of his series earlier.

    12. Young Samurai series by Chris Bradford

    13. Tunnels series by Roderick Gordon

    14. Inkheart Trilogy and Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke (translated from German--great books)

    OK--I'll stop now....

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    Replies
    1. Great list! I've read many of them, but I have a couple more to add to my list now... ;-)

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  2. Or get it as a "book on CD" or download from the library to listen on the road this week!

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  3. The Fault in Our Stars, John Green. Everyday, David Levithan, Wonder, RJ Palcio, Mockingbird, Kathryn Erskine...

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