Summer Reading Guide

Required Summer Reading

Students entering the following grades should have the listed book read before school starts:

4th Grade: "The Chocolate Touch" by Patrick Skene Catling

5th grade: "The Twenty-One Balloons" by William Pene Dubois

6th grade: "D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths" by Ingri d'Aulaire

7th grade: "The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton and "Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain

8th grade: "The Johnstown Flood" by David McCullough

Recommended Reading

ACS understands the importance of a low-key, relaxing summer and also appreciates that summer reading is important for children to maintain their literacy skills. This is why our librarian and classroom teachers collaborate each year to compile a summer reading guide appropriate for each incoming grade level. These are titles to choose from and it's important to note that children (and parents) are not expected to get through the whole list at each grade level.

The ACS library will receive a portion of your purchase when you buy books through our special page at Amazon.com.

 

Kindergarten

• "Kitten's First Full Moon" by Kevin Henkes
• "My Friend Rabbit" by Eric Rohmann
• "Olivia" by Ian Falconer
• "Skippyjon Jones" by Judy Schachner
• "Song and Dance Man" by Karen Ackerman
• "The Hello, Goodbye Window" by Norton Juster
• "The Man Who Walked Between The Towers" by Mordicai Gerstein
• "Tops & Bottoms" by Janet Stevens
• "Widget" by Lyn Rossiter McFarland

First Grade

• "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin Jr.
• "Corduroy" by Don Freeman
• "Harold and the Purple Crayon" by Crockett Johnson
• "Henry And Mudge First Book" by Cynthia Rylant
• "The Important Book" by Margaret Wise Brown
• "The Little Engine That Could" by Watty Piper
• "Nine Animals and the Well" by James Rumford
• "Skippyjon Jones" by Judy Schachner
• "Song and Dance Man" by Karen Ackerman
• "Tops & Bottoms" by Janet Stevens
• "Waiting for Wings" by Lois Ehlert
• "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak
• "Widget" by Lyn Rossiter McFarland

Second Grade

• "Domino Addition" by Lynette Long
• "Follow the Drinking Gourd" by Jeanette Winter
• "I Wish I Were a Butterfly" by James Howe
• "Math Detectives: Finding Fun in Numbers" by Ricki Wortzman
• "Over in the Meadow" by Ezra Jack Keats
• "The Boxcar Children" by Gertrude Chandler Warner
• "The Talking Eggs" by Robert D. San Souci
• "The White Stallion" by Elizabeth Shub
• "Thimbleberry Stories" by Cynthia Rylant
• "Wiliams-Sonoma The Kid's Cookbook" by Abigail J. Dodge

Third Grade

• "Best-Loved Folktales of the World" by Joanna Cole
• "Chicken Sunday" by Patricia Polacco
• "I Pledge Allegiance" by Bill Martin Jr.
• "Math Detectives: Finding Fun in Numbers" by Ricki Wortzman
• "My Many Colored Days" by Dr. Seuss
• "National Geographic Our World" by National Geographic Society
• "Ribsy" by Beverly Cleary
• "Sleeping Ugly" by Jane Yolen
• "The Boxcar Children" by Gertrude Chandler Warner
• "The Cricket in Times Square" by George Selden
• "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs" by Jon Scieszka
• "Thimbleberry Stories" by Cynthia Rylant
• "Wiliams-Sonoma The Kid's Cookbook" by Abigail J. Dodge

Fourth Grade

• "Blue Willow" by Doris Gates
• "The Chocolate Touch" by Patrick Skene Catling
• "Danny the Champion of the World" by Roald Dahl
• "Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective" by Donald J. Sobol
• "Esperanza Rising" by Pam Munoz Ryan
• "Mary Poppins" by Dr. P. L. Travers
• "Math Talk: Mathematical Ideas in Poems for Two Voices" by Theoni Pappas
• "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh" by Robert C. O'Brien
• "Poppy" by Avi
• "Stone Fox" by John Reynolds Gardiner
• "Summer According to Humphrey" by Betty Birney
• "Wiliams-Sonoma The Kid's Cookbook" by Abigail J. Dodge

Fifth Grade

• "All the Small Poems and Fourteen More" by Valerie Worth
• "Because of Winn-Dixie" by Kate DiCamillo
• "Brainjuice: American History, Fresh Squeezed!" by Carol Diggory Shields
• "Dave at Night" by Gail Carson Levine
• "Everything on a Waffle" by Polly Horvath
• "Guns for General Washington" by Seymour Reit
• "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
• "The Hundred Dresses" by Eleanor Estes
• "Kids Cook!: Fabulous Food for the Whole Family" by Sarah Williamson, Zachary Williamson
• "Math Talk: Mathematical Ideas in Poems for Two Voices" by Theoni Pappas
• "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
• "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle" by Avi
• "The Twenty-One Balloons" by William Pene du Bois
• "The Whipping Boy" by Sid Fleischman
• "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney

Sixth Grade

• "Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast" by Robin Mckinley
• "D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths" by Ingri d'Aulaire
• "Fire, Bed, and Bone" by Henrietta Branford
• "Fraction Jugglers: Game and Work Book and Math Game Cards" by Ruth Bell Alexander, Carl Martin, Beth Wilson Saavedra
• "Mick Harte Was Here" by Barbara Park
• "The Beduins' Gazelle" by Frances Temple
• "The Black Stallion" by Walter Farley
• "The Hundred Dresses" by Eleanor Estes
• "The Thief (The Queen's Thief, Book 1)" by Megan Whalen Turner
• "The Whipping Boy" by Sid Fleischman

Seventh Grade

• "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain
• "Flipped" by Wendelin Van Draanen
• "Leon's Story" by Leon Walter Tillage
• "The Maldonado Miracle" by Theodore Taylor
• "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli
• "Mick Harte Was Here" by Barbara Park
• "The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton
• "Remote Man" by Elizabeth Honey
• "Schooled" by Gordon Korman
• "Shades of Gray" by Carolyn Reeder
• "Swear to Howdy" by Wendelin Van Draanen
• "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
• "The Hundred Dresses" by Eleanor Estes
• "The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton
• "The Revealers" by Doug Wilhelm
• "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle" by Avi
• "The Wish Giver: Three Tales of Coven Tree" by Bill Brittain
• "Wiliams-Sonoma The Kid's Cookbook" by Abigail J. Dodge

Eighth Grade

• "A Day No Pigs Would Die" by Robert Newton Peck
• "Freak The Mighty" by Rodman Philbrick
• "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen
• "The Magnificent Ambersons" by Booth Tarkington
• "Math Talk: Mathematical Ideas in Poems for Two Voices" by Theoni Pappas
• "My Mother the Cheerleader" by Robert Sharenow
• "Prince Ombra" by Roderick MacLeish
• "Storm Warriors" by Elisa Carbone
• "Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps" by Andrea Warren
• "The King of Mulberry Street" by Donna Jo Napoli
• "The Misfits" by James Howe
• "The Night Journey" by Kathryn Lasky
• "The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton
• "The Playmaker" by J.B. Cheaney
• "The Rope Trick" by Lloyd Alexander
• "The Revealers" by Doug Wilhelm
• "The Watsons Go to Birmingham — 1963" by Christopher Paul Curtis
• "Under the Blood-Red Sun" by Graham Salisbury
• "Whirligig" by Paul Fleischman

Reading List Notes and Tips

  • Reading promotes fluency when the reading matches the reading level of the reader.
  • Family reading promotes a love for reading and an understanding of literature beyond the fluency level of children. Family reading can also boost a child’s reading ability and their standardized test scores. Statistically, boys who spend as little as 11 minutes a day listening to their father read aloud have higher test scores.
  • Some reading suggestions are too hard or appear too easy for the recommended age. Go ahead and read the books that are too easy. They provided opportunities for fluency and as mentioned above, a framework for upcoming instruction. Also remember, ease can be deceptive, sometimes the reading is quite easy, but the meaning of the story is complex. This is where talking about stories as a family can have great benefit in promoting reflective and deep thinking in our children. If the books are too hard, remember the benefits of family reading!
  • Suggested reading is just that: a suggestion.
  • Required reading is required.
  • You will see some titles on two grade levels, these titles are appropriate for both those grade.

Family fun, extending experiences, ideas and understanding are all reasons for reading. Enjoy!

There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island."

— Walt Disney
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Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body."

— Joseph Addison