Below is a list of recommended books and authors to assist you in choosing reading material for your child. While these books are written at about a 3rd grade level, your child may find some too easy and some too difficult. One of the best ways to improve a child's reading skills is to help your child select and read books on his or her individual reading level (whether it is above or below 3rd grade level).
A good test is the "Five Finger Test", Have your child choose a book, open to any page and read aloud. Hold up a finger for each missed word. If he or she misses five words, the book is too difficult.
A good goal for summer reading is to read at least five books from this list, but please try to read as much as possible this summer!
Title
| Author
|
| Abiyoyo | Pete Seeger |
| The Adventures of Pinocchio | Carlo Collodi |
| Aesop's Fables | retold by Jerry Pinkney |
| All About Rattlesnakes | Amosky |
| Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | Lewis Carroll |
| Amelia Bedelia | Peggy Parish |
| Babe, the Gallant Pig | King/Smith |
| Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days | Stephen Manes |
| Biggest, Strongest, Fastest; Hottest Coldest, Highest, Deepest; Actual Size |
Steve Jenkins |
| The Buck Stops Here; The Presidents of the United States |
Alace Provensen |
| The Case of the Elevator Duck | Polly Berends |
| The Cat Who Got Carried Away | Allan Ahlberg |
| Catwings | Ursula LeGuin |
| The Children's Book of Virtues | William Bennett |
| The Chocolate Touch | Patrick Catling |
| Class Clown | Johanna Hurwitz |
| Doctor De Soto | William Steig |
| Eating the Alphabet, Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z |
Lois Ehlert |
| Flat Stanley | Jeff Brown |
| Freckle Juice (and others) | Judy Blume |
| Fritz and the Beautiful Horses (and others) |
Jan Brett |
| The Great Kapok Tree; A River Ran Wild | Lynne Cherry |
| Herbie Jones Moves On | Suzy Kline |
| How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have? | J. Lester |
| The Hundred Penny Box | Mathis |
If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King
(and others in this series with various authors) |
Ellen Levine |
| The Keeping Quilt (and others) | Patricia Polacco |
| Kitty from the Start (stories about Catholic schools) |
Judy Delton |
| Koko's Kitten | Francine Patterson |
| Mirandy and Brother Wind (and others) | Patricia McKissack |
| Mission to Mars | Franklyn Branley |
| The Moon Book | Gail Gibbons |
| Mrs. Nelson is Missing | Harry Allard |
| Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters | John Steptoe |
| Muggie Maggie | Beverly Clearly |
| My Dog, My Hero | Betsy Byars |
| Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs (and others) |
Tomie DePaola |
| 26 Fairmont Avenue (and others) | Tomie DePaola |
| The Paint Brush Kid, Shoeshine Girl | Clyde Robert Bulla |
| Pippi Longstocking | Astrid Lingren |
| Plantzilla | Jerdine Nolen |
| The Random House Book of Poetry for Children |
Jack Prelutsky |
| It's Raining Pigs and Noodles; A Pizza the Size of the Sun |
Jack Prelutsky |
| Ramona Quimby (and others) | Beverly Cleary |
| The Stories Julian Tells (and others) | Ann Cameron |
| Summer Reading is Killing Me; | Jon Scieszka |
| The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales (and others) |
Jon Scieszka |
| Stone Fox | John R. Gardiner |
| Tops and Bottoms | Janet Stevens |
| Tough to Tackle (and other sports books) |
Matt Christopher |
| Where the Sidewalk Ends; A Light in the Attic |
Shel Silverstein |
| Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears | Verna Aardema |
| Rabbit Makes a Monkey out of lion (and others) |
Verna Aardema |