June 16, 2016 Leigh Statham

Summer Reading List for Kids of All Ages

It’s no secret that I have a load of kids at my house most days of the week. Most of them are mine, some of them are neighbors, some are just good friends. I love them all and I keep a library full of kid books for them to browse anytime they are sick of sweating to death outside. I had a couple of home schooling mom friends ask me for recommendations for their kids lately. They wanted books that they could offer their kids to read over the summer without having to worry about a lot of “crap” (read: sex, drugs, F-bombs, etc.) and being a fan of kidlit, I knew exactly what they were talking about.

I’ve read many a gorgeous book written for an older teen that wouldn’t be appropriate for my pre-teens or even a more innocent high schooler. So I came up with this list using recommendations from several websites, librarians, and my own library.  The list contains classics, new classics, fun stories and some heavier material as well. I suggest letting your kids take this list (or something like it) to the library and picking out the books for themselves. I know my kids are always more eager to read if they feel like the book has been their choice, not mine.

I also mentioned this list on a podcast I participate on monthly – Kidlit Drink Night Podcast. It’s a really fun group of ladies and gents talking about kidlit and partaking in adult beverages. I’m the designated driver, and let me tell you, it’s a wild ride :)

 

Happy Summer Reading!

Watership Down, by Richard Adams
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, by Joan Aiken
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda series, by Tom Angleberger
The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate
Mr. Popper’s Penguins, by Richard and Florence Atwater
Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt
Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie
Oz series, by Frank Baum
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, by Judy Blume
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
Ramona series, by Beverly Cleary
Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech
The Watsons Go To Birmingham-1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis
D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, by Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire
James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl
Danny the Champion of the World, by Roald Dahl
Matilda, by Roald Dahl
The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo
Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh
Eleanor Roosevelt, by Russell Freedman
The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
Julie of the Wolves, by Jean CraigheadGeorge
My Side of the Mountain, by Jean CraigheadGeorge
Misty of Chincoteague, by Marguerite Henry
Bunnicula, by James Howe
Redwall series, by Brian Jacques
The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster
Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, by Jeff Kinney
The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler, by E.L. Konigsburg
A Wrinkle in Time series, by Madeleine L’Engle
The Earthsea Cycle series, by Ursula K. Le Guin
To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine
The Chronicles of Narnia series, by C.S. Lewis
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin
Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry
The Giver, by Lois Lowry
Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan
The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne
Anne of Green Gables series, by Lucy Maud Montgomery
The Borrowers, by Mary Norton
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O’Brien
Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell
Wonder, by R.J. Palacio
Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen
His Dark Materials series, by Phillip Pullman
Where The Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls
Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, by Rick Riordan
Harry Potter series, by J. K. Rowling
Holes, by Louis Sachar
The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden
The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
A Series of Unfortunate Events books, by Lemony Snicket
Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli
When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead
The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales, by Maria Tatar
The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Mary Poppins, by P.L. Travers
Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White
The Sword in the Stone, by Terence Hanbury White
Little House on the Prairie series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
Greggor the Overlander Series, by Suzanne Collins
Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien
The Guardians Of The Hidden Scepter, by Frank L. Cole
The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
The Uglies, by Scott Westerfeild
Inheritance Cycle (series), by Christopher Paolini
Divergent (series), by Veronica Roth
Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt
Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs (My son, who is very anti-swearing, just read this and informed me that they do, indeed, cuss a bit. He was disappointing that I forgot that. My excuse: it was such a GREAT story!)
Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
Matched (series), by Allie Condie
The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale
Leviathan (series), by Scott Westerfeld
Betsy-Tacy Books (series), by Maud Hart Lovelace
http://leighstatham.com/summer-reading-list-for-kids-of-all-ages/
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