My kids love to read. It makes me incredibly happy that there’s no struggle in getting them to pick up a book (we save our struggles for other things, like… math). But not all books are created equal, the quality varies widely based on when they were written and what the author hoped to convey to the reader.
Good books in my girl’s hands have always been important. But recently it’s been front of mind even more for all of my children. The words they are reading form their linguistic patterns, shaping the way they speak and what they are capable of understanding. The stories live on as lessons and memories that might shape their spirit, their present view or even expectations for the future.
So this summer, instead of searching the library and trying to decide on the fly whether or not a book is going to build their mind, heart and vocabulary. I built a small book-list (one they already dove into reading last week) that I’ll share with you. We’ll still have many trips to the library with additional books checked out but this is a good start!
Scroll through, I’ve linked the books on OUR summer reading list as well as shared the ages they are listed as appropriate for and a few details for your easy choosing. If you’re still in the toddler phase, on down! You’ll find some of our favorites and ones we will be working through this summer. I know how the saying goes, “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” but some of these books have been through many printings so I tried to find the versions that were, in my opinion, the best available. For me this means the copy that is unabridged and combines the prettiest cover at the lowest cost. I’ve also linked FREE reading comprehension study guides for some of the books!
Reads for Teens and Tweens
My 11 year old had this one half read before I even realized she had found my summer book stash. She flew through it, at 116 pages, it’s a quick read. Sounder is listed for 3rd to 7th graders with consumers rating it for kids 9 to 12 years old.
BACK OF THE BOOK:
“The boy knows that times are tough for his family. Every night, his father goes out hunting with their great coon dog, Sounder, to try to put food on the table. But even with the little they bring back, there is still never enough for the family to eat. When the boy awakens one morning to a sweet-smelling ham on the table, it seems like a blessing. But soon, the sheriff and his
deputies come to the house and take the boy’s father away in handcuffs. Suddenly the boy must grow up fast in a world that isn’t fair, keeping hope alive through the love he has for his father’s faithful dog, Sounder.”
ALSO FOUND ON:
Hillsdale Academy summer reading list for incoming 6th graders & Andrew Pudewa’s IEW recommended reading list for 6-8th graders
FREE STUDY GUIDE:
I’m breaking my own rule here with this abridged Patricia St. John set, but it’s so pretty and not being what I categorize as “classic lit” I don’t feel bad about it. Patricia St. John was a nurse and missionary, and I have a feeling we’ll be looking for her autobiography after reading the set. I’ve found these listed various places as appropriate reading for ages anywhere from 8-15.
BACK OF THE BOOK:
“Beautifully written, each story captures the innocence of childhood, the joys of little things, and the depth of our Savior’s love.”
You’ll have to tap over to Amazon and read the full description. It reads basically life lessons keeping Christ at the center and the fruits of the Spirit growing in the minds and hearts of your children… immediately, “yes!”
ALSO FOUND ON:
Many homeschool and Christian reading lists
This book immediately grabbed the attention of my oldest and I’ll bet The Scarlet Pimpernel is the first one she reads this summer. Consumers list this book for 12 years and up.
BACK OF THE BOOK:
The year is 1792. The French Revolution, driven to excess by its own triumph, has turned into a reign of terror. Daily, tumbrels bearing new victims to the guillotine roll over the cobbled streets of Paris.… Thus the stage is set for one of the most enthralling novels of historical adventure ever written… click here to read the rest.
ALSO FOUND ON:
Hillsdale Academy summer reading list as required reading for incoming 7th graders
FREE STUDY GUIDE:
Progeny Press Study Guide chapters 6-9 only
It’s always a bonus for our family when you can find a movie to accompany a book, even if it’s an old movie and I did for this book. It’s a relatively long one at 509 pages so the movie will be a prize at the end of a long read… a prize that will likely be picked at, and end as usual, with my girls saying “we liked the book better.” Being an “old” book with a deer as a beloved pet, I’m sure this will be one I am glad they’ve read. The Yearling is listed for grades 3rd-7th with consumers saying ages 10+.
BACK OF THE BOOK:
No novel better epitomizes the love between a child and a pet than The Yearling. Young Jody adopts an orphaned fawn he calls Flag and makes it a part of his family and his best friend. But life in the Florida backwoods is harsh, and so, as his family fights off wolves, bears, and even alligators, and faces failure in their tenuous subsistence farming, Jody must finally part with his dear animal friend. There has been a film and even a musical based on this moving story, a fine work of great American literature.
ALSO FOUND ON:
Hillsdale Academy summer reading list for incoming 8th grade & Andrew Pudewa’s IEW recommended reading list for 6-8th graders
FREE STUDY GUIDE:
Help understanding literary elements plus essay questions
The Hundred Dresses is below both of my girl’s reading levels and at only 96 pages they’ll finish it in an afternoon but I’ve seen it listed so many times and life lessons have no age limit. Reading doesn’t always have to be challenging in any way, sometimes it’s nice to have an easy quick read. It is listed for grade levels 1st-4th and consumers say 7-10 years old.
BACK OF THE BOOK:
Wanda Petronski is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. She claims she has one hundred dresses at home, but everyone knows she doesn’t. When Wanda is pulled out of school one day, the class feels terrible, and classmate Maddie decides that she is “never going to stand by and say nothing again.”
A timeless, gentle tale about bullies, bystanders, and having the courage to speak up.
ALSO FOUND ON:
Hillsdale Academy summer reading list for incoming 2nd grade
Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster is a new book and one we just started a few days ago as a read aloud. For the first 50 pages my girls both loved it, now 100 pages in my oldest is finding it’s stretching her a bit as she’s outgrown (at least temporarily) some of the imagination required for stories such as this… I have a feeling though if I report back when we are through she will have a positive review. Sweep is listed for grades 3rd-7th and ages 8-11 from consumers.
BACK OF THE BOOK:
It’s been five years since the Sweep disappeared. Orphaned and alone, 11-year-old Nan Sparrow had no other choice but to work for a ruthless chimney sweep named Wilkie Crudd. She spends her days sweeping out chimneys.
Sweep is the story of a girl and her monster. Together, these two outcasts carve out a new life—saving each other in the process. Lyrically told by one of today’s most powerful storytellers, Sweep is a heartrending adventure about the everlasting gifts of friendship and wonder.
ALSO FOUND ON:
Read-Aloud Revival’s recommended books
A few summers back did four Elizabeth Yates books read aloud in a row. They are to date some of the best books I’ve ever read for many reasons but mainly the way they combined such simplicity with themes that had deep meaning and spurred great conversation. The books we previously read, while fiction, provided accurate historical themes that were a lesson in and of themselves, thus, I have high hopes for Amos Fortune, free man. This book is listed as appropriate reading for 3rd to 7th grade and consumers say kids 10-12 years of age.
BACK OF THE BOOK:
When Amos Fortune was only fifteen years old, he was captured by slave traders and brought to Massachusetts, where he was sold at auction. Although his freedom had been taken, Amos never lost his dinity and courage. For 45 years, Amos worked as a slave and dreamed of freedom. And, at age 60, he finally began to see those dreams come true.
ALSO FOUND ON:
Hillsdale Academy summer reading list for incoming 6th grade & Andrew Pudewa’s IEW recommended reading list for 3rd-5th graders
FREE STUDY GUIDE:
This is one my oldest grabbed up as soon as she saw it. “Mom, did I tell you I wanted to read this?!” Apparently, she’d been eyeing it in a Christian Book magazine. The Witch of Blackbird Pond is listed for grades 5-7 and ages 10-13.
BACK OF THE BOOK:
Sixteen-year-old Kit Tyler is marked by suspicion and disapproval from the moment she arrives on the unfamiliar shores of colonial Connecticut in 1687. Alone and desperate, she has been forced to leave her beloved home on the island of Barbados and join a family she has never met.
Torn between her quest for belonging and her desire to be true to herself, Kit struggles to survive in a hostile place. Just when it seems she must give up, she finds a kindred spirit. But Kit’s friendship with Hannah Tupper, believed by the colonists to be a witch, proves more taboo than she could have imagined and ultimately forces Kit to choose between her heart and her duty.
ALSO FOUND ON:
Hillsdale Academy summer reading list for incoming 6th grade
FREE STUDY GUIDE:
I am pretty sure we read this book in school, but unlike many books I read in school, I can’t remember any details. Does this mean it wasn’t memorable or is it just my memory? We shall see. Around the World in Eighty Days is listed for 8-12 year old kids but Hillsdale has it listed for teens (see below).
BACK OF THE BOOK:
Called Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours in French, Around the World in Eighty Days was published in French and English in 1873. It is one of Jules Verne’s best-known and acclaimed novels. The intrepid adventurer Phileas Fogg of London, along with his French valet Passepartout, attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a £20,000 wager set by his friends at the Reform Club. Their trip is further complicated by Phileas becoming a suspect in a robbery. Can they make it in time?
ALSO FOUND ON:
Hillsdale Academy summer reading list for incoming 8th grade
A true classic but I’ve yet to read it. The Count of Monte Cristo is also, it’s a brick at over 1000 pages. The last book on the list before we move onto the toddler section and the one my oldest and I have been going back and forth on whether it will be a read aloud or a read on your own. We’ll see if and/or how we tackle it this summer! Listed for high school aged kids.
BACK OF THE BOOK:
Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo, and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration.
ALSO FOUND ON:&
Andrew Pudewa’s IEW recommended reading list for 9-12th graders
Books for Your Toddler
There are only a handful of used copies listed on Amazon but I still added this to the list. It’s one of those that I have loved reading to my kids over and over, the pictures are pretty and the little horse is adventurous with “papa horse and his own mama mare” watch from a distance. This book echos something I want for my own kids, the ability to roam, wonder and learn while we watch over them but not so closely that we hinder their learning and growth.
A beautiful collection of stories with equally lovely pictures. My sister and I actually both bought multiple copies of this book as gifts for our nephews… we both had a copy to go to our brother’s son, I had one for her son and she had one for mine but we had already bought them for our own kids too. It’s that good. It’s one to have on hand for that last minute little kid birthday party.
We have read the first two stories together at breakfast time and everyone from the toddler to teen (and myself) are enjoying them!
“A House Is a House for Me is a rollicking rhyme about houses.” It is… and it’s one I’d have never picked out on my own but we received it and it is such a fun read. It’s a creative run down of houses for anything and everything.
A House Is a House for Me can also be found on Andrew Pudewa’s IEW list of books to read to young children.
This is one, Owl Moon, I put in my son’s first Easter basket. I have pictures reading this to him at just a week old, he has no clue what I’m telling him but I’m convinced reading from the very beginning is a master move in order to start them on their way developing language, comprehension and no guarantees but hopefully, a love for reading.
