As the temperature rises so does our anticipation of everything summer: swimming, trips to the beach, cookouts, camp outs, catching fireflies on a clear, starry night. While reading might not top the list of summer expectations, some of my fondest summer memories include losing myself in the pages of a book. I spent summers hanging out with Scout, Lucy, Huck, and Margaret. Yes, I also enjoyed time with real, live people, but to me, the characters on the pages were as real as a neighbor, and their quandaries always provided insight into solving my own authentic dilemmas. Summer also meant swinging lazily on my grandmother's front porch swing, book in hand, or riding my bike to my great-aunt's house, eager to sit on her front porch and discuss our latest read. Cookies and lemonade always complemented our serious discussions on character analysis and unexpected plot twists. Often, she would throw in stories of her own, usually more entertaining than a best-seller. Summer wasn't summer without a list of books to savor on those lazy, humid afternoons.
As a language arts teacher, I'm often asked by parents for recommendations of good books for summer reading. I'll share my list, which includes my favorites and recommendations from others, in a moment, but first, I wanted to address the importance of, not just summer reading, but reading in general. Sometimes summer reading can seem like another item to add to an ever-growing checklist, yet reading may just be the most important item on that summer checklist when it comes to preparing your child for future academic success. As an ACT/SAT tutor, the question I hear most often by parents of children of all ages is, "What is the one thing I can do to improve my child's scores?" The answer: Read to your children and make sure they read to themselves. Not that higher ACT/SAT scores should be the end goal, it's just a question I'm asked almost daily.
Tom Parker, former admissions director of Amherst College, tells parents, "The best SAT preparation course in the world is to read to your children in bed when they're little. Eventually, if it's a wonderful experience for themselves, they'll start to read for themselves" (Trelease, xiii). In
The Read -Aloud Handbook, Jim Trelease, who interviewed Parker for his book, shares that "Parker told me he's never met a student with high verbal SAT scores who wasn't a passionate reader." In my work, I can tell within minutes of working with a student whether he or she likes to read and whether or not he/she reads often, and the students who succeed in raising their scores are the ones who have read consistently throughout their lives. This result tends to be true for most forms of standardized testing. Studies find students who read regularly score higher than those who don't.
While we often blame schools when our children fall behind in reading, research shows that "the seeds of reading and school success are sown in the home, long before the child ever arrives at school" (xvii). In homes where parents read to their children and read themselves, children show a much higher interest in books: 78.6% if the child is read to by parents, 80.4% if the mom reads the paper, 95.2% if the mother reads novels. It's not just important for us to read to our children; it's also critical that we model reading for our children. Eighty percent of the books in this country are read by 10% of the people (Healy, 23). Numbers like this suggest that, across the board, we are not setting a good reading example in the home. Consider the following from
The Read-Aloud Handbook:
* Among fourth-graders, only 54% read something for pleasure every day.
*Among eight-graders, only 30% read for pleasure daily.
*By twelfth-grade, only 19% read anything for pleasure daily.
Time doesn't seem to be the issue because young adults between the ages of 15 and 19 report spending only 12 minutes a day reading, yet they are able to watch 2.23 hours of television (1). I believe reading is one of the most critical components of academic success, and the experts I've read also emphasize its importance. Reading aloud to children improves their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and attitudes about reading (xxiv). It also "builds vocabulary, conditions the brain to associate reading with pleasure, creates background knowledge, provides a reading role model, and plants the desire to read. One decline of students' recreational reading is that it coincides with a decline in the amount of time adults read to them." (Trelease, 6). The U.S. Department of Education conducted research and released its findings in a report titled,
A Nation of Readers. They discovered that "the single most important activity for building knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children and it is a practice that should continue throughout the grades" (4).
According to Jim Trelease's research, "by eight grade, 24 percent of students are below the basic level in reading, 42% are at basic level, 25% are at proficient level, and only 3% are at advanced level" (5). One last fact before I move on: Research confirms that students who read "regardless of gender, race, nationality, or socioeconomic background....read the best, achieve the most, and stay in school the longest" (6). Readers are also more likely to succeed in the workforce. Researcher Mark Taylor found that "reading is the only out-of-school activity for 16-year-olds that is linked to getting a managerial or professional job later in life....the positive associations of reading for pleasure aren't replicated in any other extracurricular activity, regardless of our expectations" (Miller, 318). Establishing good reading habits also benefit children as they grow into adults, creating lifelong learners who know where to go when they need information. And while these are all great reasons to encourage our children to read and to encourage us to read to our children, I like the reason that Donalyn Miller in
The Book Whisperer gives: Reading changes your life. Reading unlocks worlds unknown or forgotten, taking travelers around the world and through time. Reading helps you escape the confines of school and pursue your own education. Through characters-the saints and sinners, real or imagined, reading shows you how to be a better human being (18).
Hopefully, I've adequately made the case for just how important it is for us to both read to our children and to model reading for our children. Practice is the key to proficiency, and summer offers the time and opportunity to practice. For those of you thinking, "But my kid hates to read" or "I hate to read" don't fret. Most studies I've read find that when parents read good books to children and provide good books for children to read, the child's interest is piqued, and reading usually becomes a more desirable activity. I tend to read at least an hour a day to my children and assign a minimum of thirty minutes of silent sustained reading (SSR) each day. At first, my daughter preferred only nonfiction and didn't like fiction very much. Wanting to encourage both, I read to her some of my favorite works of fiction, ones I knew she would enjoy, and within weeks, she was begging to read more fiction. Reading aloud increased her desire to read and to read a wider variety of books. She still loves nonfiction but is also learning to enjoy fiction, too.
Another benefit of reading aloud is that I'm able to read to my daughter books that are above her grade level, so she's exposed to a richer vocabulary and to more intricate plots. I'm also able to provide background knowledge and offer insights that help her to better
understand the text. During SSR, she is able to read at or below grade level to build confidence. It takes time to read to my daughter, and like all working moms, I worry that I sometimes can't afford the time to read extensively to her, but with all of the proven benefits of reading aloud, how can I afford not to?
Now for the fun part! What do I recommend for summer reading? I like to offer a wide variety of texts to my children, including a mix of classics and contemporary literature. Some experts recommend only reading the "good" stuff, but as a language arts teacher, I have watched students connect to a variety of texts and walk away with a deeper appreciation of and love for reading, so I am not a proponent of severely limiting literary choices. I see value in quality young adult literature. Once children are comfortable reading what some consider "dumbed down" texts, they usually are more willing to attempt more difficult literature. I have also included texts recommended by Jim Trelease in
The Read Aloud Handbook, selections from Donalyn Miller in her book
The Book Whisperer, and selections recommended by Susan Wise Bauer in her book,
The Well-Trained Mind.
This list is intended for younger and middle-grade children-2nd-8th grades, but as C. S. Lewis said, "No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally- and often far more- worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond," so I think all ages will enjoy reading these beloved books! This list is by no means exhaustive; it is a compilation of personal favorites and favorites of students I have taught over the years. Two great resources for book lists are Jim Trelease's
The Read-Aloud Handbook, which includes selections for younger children, and Donalyn Miller's
Reading in the Wild. Feel free to leave more suggestions in the comments! The list is in no particular order; I just listed them as they came to mind.
My Top 50+ for Young to Middle Readers
1.
The Chronicles of Narnia- C. S. Lewis
I began reading these to my daughter in first grade, but she wasn't able to grasp them, yet. I picked the books back up in second grade, and she loves them!
2.
Charlotte's Web and
Stuart Little by E.B. White
3.
Little Women Louisa May Alcott
4. The
Harry Potter series J.K. Rowling
5.
Aesop's Fables
6. Books on Greek mythology (D'Aulaire's is a good one; there are also good children's translations of the Odyssey. My daughter loves anything on Greek myths.)
7.
The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. These are fantastic non-fiction books on world history but told at a level children will enjoy and understand. I use these as my daughter's social studies curriculum, and she loves them!
8.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi Rudyard Kipling
9. Biographies of great men and women make great read-alouds or SSR books. My daughter's favorites include Helen Keller, Ruby Bridges, Susan B. Anthony, Florence Nightingale, Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, Neil Armstrong, etc.
10.
Baseball in April Gary Soto
11.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Barbara Robinson
12.
Because of Winn-Dixie Kate DiCamillo
13.
Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
14. Series like
The Magic Tree House, The Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder,
Anne of Green Gables, Ten Girls Who Changed the World, Ten Boys Who Changed the World
15.
The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett
16.
Heidi Johanna Spyri
17.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn & The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain
18.
Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson
19. Books by Christopher Paul Curtis
The Watson's Go to Birmingham and Bud, Not Buddy
20.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Mildred Taylor
21.
Hatchet Gary Paulsen
22.
The City of Ember Jeanne Duprau
23. Newberry Winners always make great reads:
The Westing Game, The View From Saturday, The Bronze Bow, A Year Down Yonder, Walk Two Moons, The Giver, Maniac Magee, Caddie Woodlawn are among favorites
24.
The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt This is one of my all-time favorites.
25.
Schooled by Gordon Korman
26.
Dear Mr. Henshaw and the
Ramona Quimby series by Beverly Cleary
27.
Loser Jerry Spinelli
28.
To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee
29.
Mr. Popper's Penguins Richard and Florence Atwater
30.
Scorpions Walter Dean Myers
31.
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and
SuperFudge really, anything by Judy Blume
32.
Where the Red Fern Grows Wilson Rawls
33.
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom and
The Diary of Anne Frank and
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and
The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen and
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (all Holocaust books)
34.
Walk Two Moons Sharon Creech
35.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Other Dickens novels are also good read alouds; there are great children's versions of his novels.
36.
Surviving the Applewhites Stephanie Tolan
37.
Pictures of Hollis Woods Patricia Reilly Giff
38.
Inkheart Cornelia Funke
39.
The House of the Scorpion Nancy Farmer
40.
Eragon Christopher Paolini
41.
The Lightning Thief Rick Riordan
42.
Stormbreaker & other books in the
Alex Rider series Anthony Horowitz
43.
Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift I loved this book as a child
44.
The Adventures of Robin Hood and books about King Arthur
45.
Black Beauty Anna Sewell and
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley
46. Shakespeare, I know, right? But, just like Greek mythology, there are excellent children's versions of his plays. If they learn to love him now, it won't be such a struggle later
47.
Al Capone Does My Shirts Gennifer Choldenko
48.
The Hobbit and
The Lord of the Ring books by J.R.R. Tolkein
49.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
50.
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Sources
Bauer, Susan Wise
The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home
Healey, Jane M
Endangered Minds
Miller, Donalyn
Reading in the Wild: The Book Whisperer's Key to Cultivating Lifelong Reading Habits
Miller, Donalyn
The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child
Trelease, Jim
The Read-Aloud Handbook
At the close of each chapter, both children chime, "One more, mommy, please!" Though dishes pile in the sink, laundry overflows its basket, and dust sits on the furniture, I, too, am drawn into the tale and give in to my children's pleas. (My family has this quirky inability to put down a good book until it's finished.) Though, they are both capable of finishing the story on their own, I wouldn't miss this time with them, so I continue to read until we reach the final page. For four hours, we lose ourselves in the world of a girl and her furry companion. I close the book and resume my housecleaning, leaving behind a lively discussion of the novel, two voices excitedly reminiscing about the highlights of this charming book. 
Reading aloud to my children is one of my greatest joys as a parent. I'm serious. I love stories. I love hearing stories and telling stories. Even as an adult, I never tire of stories. As a child, I would walk through my back yard, past Mr. Ritchie's house, to my great-aunt Flap's where I would sit on her porch and listen to her tell stories. I could sit there for hours. Many of my favorite childhood memories involve her lemonade, cookies, and yarns. Every time I recall sitting on that porch, I'm filled with a warmth and comfort that transcends the years; I'm transported to the glorious, carefree world 
I'm no parenting expert. For the love, I don't feel qualified to offer any parenting advice, but I know the power of reading aloud from my experience as a child, a mom, and a teacher, and I've seen what those few minutes a day can do for my own relationship with my children. Stories connect us. Think about how many conversations you've had with peers and even strangers over a book you discover you've both read. Every time I pull a book off the shelf and pull my children into my lap or next to my lap for my ten-year-old, we create a memory, a shared experience that can leave us both transformed. It's a deliberate pause in my day to share something wonderful with my children. Please don't think I read four hours a day to my children. That's a lovely exception. Many days it's one chapter or five minutes, but regardless of the amount of time, it's time my children and I cherish. I will fail them in a million ways, but I pray when they think of me one day, they'll focus on these quiet moments.
