Summer Reading Lists -- For Kids!

[drcmk]

Don't mean to hijack...but maybe someone responding to you could help me too. My DD is 10 and reads at a pretty advanced reading level. She loves fantasy fiction, like the Narnia books. She has read all of them, as well as all of the Merlin books. She also loved the Peter and the Starcatchers series. Can anyone recommend any more books/series of books like these?

Have you tried the Gregor books by Suzanne Collins or the Redwall books by Brian Jacques?

 

[OceanAnnie]

Don't mean to hijack...but maybe someone responding to you could help me too. My DD is 10 and reads at a pretty advanced reading level. She loves fantasy fiction, like the Narnia books. She has read all of them, as well as all of the Merlin books. She also loved the Peter and the Starcatchers series. Can anyone recommend any more books/series of books like these?

She wanted to read the Inkheart/Inkspell books next, but I read somewhere that they might be too violent.

I'm glad you posted! I have a friend that has a DD your DD's age. She's also an advanced reader. I'll ask her what books her DD recommends and let you know.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!

 

[littlele]

My DD liked the Inkspell series, but her dad won't let her read the Eragon series as he says that they are way too violent.

What about the Warriors series? I know all of the kids around here really enjoy them and there are tons of them!

 

[Allabtprincesses]

My 8 year old DD (advanced reader) had enjoyed the following:

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall

The "Poppy" Series by AVI (including Poppy, Poppy's Return, Ragweed and more) about a mouse and other forest animals

The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White (and everything else by him)

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild (also a series)

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo

The Fairy Realm Series by Emily Rodda

And of course she loves (but has already read) all of the American Girl books, including the Mysteries etc.

 

[21yankees]

For those that love Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, you will also love The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog and Don't the Pigeon Stay up.

Mo Willems also has a new series of books Elephant and Piggie. They are pretty good as well.

steph

 

[zoemurr]

This winter he worked his way through all the Frank Baum books (Oz and others) and many of the Oz books by others.

Definitely.. these were some of our favorites, and I'm always surprised not to see them on childrens book lists. We read them aloud when my DD was younger and we both really enjoyed them. I had no idea that there were so many. It's really fun to get the backstory to the movie. And if you adults are brave enough you can read "Wicked".. but it's not a quick and easy summer read. Interesting though..

We went on a huge kick finding books that had movies, and reading, watching, and comparing:
Sorry if these are some repeats:
Peter Pan, Charlie and the Choc Factory, Matilda, Ella Enchanted, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Incredible Journey, Little Princess, Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, Charlotte's Web, Secret Garden, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks are some I can think of off the top of my head.

OT: we saw "Wicked" the musical the other night.. if you ever have ANY chance to see it.. don't miss it. It was beyond amazing.

 

[princesspwrhr]

Don't mean to hijack...but maybe someone responding to you could help me too. My DD is 10 and reads at a pretty advanced reading level. She loves fantasy fiction, like the Narnia books. She has read all of them, as well as all of the Merlin books. She also loved the Peter and the Starcatchers series. Can anyone recommend any more books/series of books like these?

She wanted to read the Inkheart/Inkspell books next, but I read somewhere that they might be too violent.

This describes my daughter (10 next month) If your daughter liked and dealt with the Chronicles of Narnia series she should be fine with Inkheart and Inkspell. Other favorites of my daughter in this genre are

Harry Potter - she's read all 7
Dragon Rider - Cornilia Funke
The Theif Lord - Cornilia Funke
Septimus Heap books - Magyk, Flyte, & Physick - she hasn't read the new one yet - all by Angie Sage
Eragon & Eldest by Christopher Paolini - 3rd book coming in Sept.
Redwall by Brian Jaques
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Leven Thumps series by Obert Skye

She did enjoy Kingdom Keepers, but has sworn off Small World now - LOL

Also on her sagging book shelf are lots of Roald Dahl books, she particularly likes Matilda, The Witches, The Twits, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and Charlie & the Glass Elevator. She has some Spiderwick books but got bored of them after the first 3. Each one took her about an hour to read so there wasn't enough for her. She also does enjoy the American girl books - particularly the mysteries. Others that she's enjoyed are
The Secret Garden,
the Ramona series by Beverly Clearly
the Fudge series by Judy Blume (Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing[U/], Fudge, Super Fudge, Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great etc)
The Phantom Tollbooth
Ella Enchanted
Clarise Bean series
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Harriet the Spy
My Side of the Mountain
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'Engle

She preferred the latter two as unabridged downloads to her MP3 player though.

Scrolling through the list she's got several that have already been mentioned on her summer list.

To the OP for your younger child - The Magic Tree House series is a lot of fun, also Amelia Bedilia and Curious George still delight that age. Those can all pretty much be independant readers. For read alouds we love E.B. White - Charlottes Web, Stuart Little, Trumpet of the Swan, the Little House on the Prarie series, Grimms Fairy Tales

 

[JNorris]

This describes my daughter (10 next month) If your daughter liked and dealt with the Chronicles of Narnia series she should be fine with Inkheart and Inkspell. Other favorites of my daughter in this genre are

Harry Potter - she's read all 7
Dragon Rider - Cornilia Funke
The Theif Lord - Cornilia Funke
Septimus Heap books - Magyk, Flyte, & Physick - she hasn't read the new one yet - all by Angie Sage
Eragon & Eldest by Christopher Paolini - 3rd book coming in Sept.
Redwall by Brian Jaques
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Leven Thumps series by Obert Skye

She did enjoy Kingdom Keepers, but has sworn off Small World now - LOL

Also on her sagging book shelf are lots of Roald Dahl books, she particularly likes Matilda, The Witches, The Twits, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and Charlie & the Glass Elevator. She has some Spiderwick books but got bored of them after the first 3. Each one took her about an hour to read so there wasn't enough for her. She also does enjoy the American girl books - particularly the mysteries. Others that she's enjoyed are
The Secret Garden,
the Ramona series by Beverly Clearly
the Fudge series by Judy Blume (Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing[U/], Fudge, Super Fudge, Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great etc)
The Phantom Tollbooth
Ella Enchanted
Clarise Bean series
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Harriet the Spy
My Side of the Mountain
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'Engle

She preferred the latter two as unabridged downloads to her MP3 player though.

Scrolling through the list she's got several that have already been mentioned on her summer list.

To the OP for your younger child - The Magic Tree House series is a lot of fun, also Amelia Bedilia and Curious George still delight that age. Those can all pretty much be independant readers. For read alouds we love E.B. White - Charlottes Web, Stuart Little, Trumpet of the Swan, the Little House on the Prarie series, Grimms Fairy Tales

Yep, just like my DD! Twins separated at birth .

We are now taking turns with the Kingdom Keepers. You have some great suggestions for books, this may keep my DD busy all summer!

 

[princesspwrhr]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it or not, but Barnes & Noble has a neat program for summer reading. You can download the form from their website or pick it up in the store. It's for kids in grades K-6 and when they read 8 books they take their form in and they get to pick out a free book. I haven't seen the free titles yet for this year, but if my daughter can't find one for herself, she can usually find one for her sisters. In the past the kids were allowed to do the program twice in a summer, but this year it's only once. Also if you have more than one B&N near you, check all of them as the selection of free books may be slightly different and you can turn in your form at any B&N.

 

[Luhts]

I would like to add the series Guardians of Ga'Hoole by Katherine Lasky. My 8 y/o science fiction reader adored this series, and they are making an animated movie from it!

 

[disneyfan2]

Don't mean to hijack...but maybe someone responding to you could help me too. My DD is 10 and reads at a pretty advanced reading level. She loves fantasy fiction, like the Narnia books. She has read all of them, as well as all of the Merlin books. She also loved the Peter and the Starcatchers series. Can anyone recommend any more books/series of books like these?

She wanted to read the Inkheart/Inkspell books next, but I read somewhere that they might be too violent.

My DD9 really likes a book series called the Warriors. It is about cat clans(she may not have read them if it wasn't about Cats) but there are about 10 books in the series, and she is also advanced but never found anything to captivate her interest before. She used to read all the Mary Kate and Ashley books but eventually got bored. So, these were a great step up for her. Although she has had a few sad moments(when a cat died, or was banned from a clan???)

 

[Debbie]

School is coming to a close this coming week, and this reading list would be a great one for all parents and students!....so....

 

[Soben]

My 10yo son and I are reading Waggit Again by Peter Howe. It's the second in the series (Waggit's Tale is the 1st) It's about a dog abandoned at Central Park and his adventures. It's good. If I'm going to be reading with the kids, it has to hold my interest too. Independent reading time -- read whatever you want (manga, captn underpants, boxcar children, dragons), but when I am involved, it has to be good. I have standards!

 

[punkin]

My DD is 10 and aside from reading her older sister's books (some of which are highly inappropriate) she recently read and loved:

The Trouble with Tuck (about a blind dog)
The Cay (same author I think)
Harry Potter series (of course)
Princess Diaries series (the first 2 books are age appropriate-after that is a little risque)
Bloomability
Narnia series
Shredderman (also good for younger kids-it's an easy read)

She is also heavy into Manga and Anime, but I do not particularly approve of that.

Oh yea, I forgot: Diary of a Wimpy Kid!!

 

[Ava]

I love children's lit, great suggestions on this thread! A few more I love that I didn't see mentioned yet:

The Giver, Gathering Blue, and The Messenger by Lois Lowry (The Giver is still one of my favorite books.)
Sideways Stories from Wayside School series by Louis Sachar
Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn (really good ghost story for older kids)

Also, kids who like the American Girl books will also probably enjoy the Dear America series. I've read a few of them and they were good. They also have a series featuring boys, but I can't remember the name of it right now.

 

[disynut]

Hi all Middle School Librarian here(grades 6-8)....I've read Percy Jackson The Lightning Thief this year with classes and they really liked it--the rest of the series(there are four, soon to be five books in the series) stayed checked out all year and had many requesting it. Many of the other books that were suggested are all good as well. Newbery and Caldecott award books are usually good books to read. Caldecott books will be more picture books, and Newbery are more "chapter books"/novels. There's also a group in Kentucky that puts out a list of books every year that are nominated for Bluegrass Books award and students can read and vote on their favorite. I always try and get these for our library as well. My 9 yo son is into Harry Potter right now. Christopher Paul Curtis has some really good books out there---I think some of them are on the Newbery list. A book that some of our kids "discovered" this year was The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. There are now two books in that series and a third on the way.
Newbery books are here:
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/a...a/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal.cfm

Caldecott books are here:
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal.cfm

Kentucky Bluegrass books are here(there's a grade level listed, and then each year's books):
http://kba.nku.edu/lists/index.shtml

Kingdom Keepers is on my list to read with my kids, and my 4 1/2 year old and I are going to start on the Junie B Jones series next month!

If I can just get on my soapbox for a minute....I am so glad to hear when kids are so into reading.....it will help them SO much in the rest of their academic studies! Keep 'em reading!!!!

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Hi all Middle School Librarian here(grades 6-8)....I've read Percy Jackson The Lightning Thief this year with classes and they really liked it--the rest of the series(there are four, soon to be five books in the series) stayed checked out all year and had many requesting it.

The fifth book in the Percy Jackson series, The Last Olympian, was released May 5th. It was awesome! DD10 flew through that series and is reading Inkdeath right now (she read Inkheart and Inkspell this year). Next on her list is Brisingr, the third in the Eragon series. She has read Eragon and Eldest and enjoyed both.

 

[vegasnative]

My boys (ages 7 & 5) & I just read the Roscoe Riley series by Katherine Applegate. We all loved them. Roscoe Riley is a 1st grader and its about his escapades. They are good chapter books for this age range.

Roscoe Riley #1-Never Glue Your Friends To Chairs
Roscoe Riley #2-Never Swipe A Bully's Bear
Roscoe Riley #3-Don't Swap Your Sweater For A Dog
Roscoe Riley #4-Never Swim in Applesauce
Roscoe Riley #5-Don't Tap-Dance on Your Teacher
Roscoe Riley #6-(due out soon)

 

[magik]

For the 10 year old who likes fantasy, I definitely agree with the suggestion of Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles series. I'd also like to recommend all of Diana Wynne Jones's children's books - especially the Chrestomanci Chronicles, Howl's Moving Castle and sequels, any of them really. I *loved* them at that age, and still do. Maybe even the first few of Diane Duane's Young Wizards series (starts with So You Want to Be a Wizard). Another classic children's fantasy series are the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander.

The Cooperative Children's Book Center is a great site to get recommended reading lists for children of all ages seperated by topic or genre (Fantasy for 9-12 year olds or 50 multicultural books, etc.)

Libraries tend to have recommended reading lists on their websites as well. The Internet Public Library has links to just a few different library lists.