(Above: Ms. Price Patel reading to the students at Redwood Day School)
No column
is more eagerly awaited than our annual summer reading list for kids, courtesy
of Liz Price Patel, the librarian at Redwood Day School in Oakland. And here it
is:
Grades
K-1
The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew
Daywalt. The crayons have spoken. In a series of clever letters to their child
artist/owner, Duncan’s crayons tell him exactly how they feel about their jobs.
Maria Had a Little Llama by
Angela Dominguez. A bilingual version of Mary Had a Little Lamb is set to
lovely Peruvian-inspired illustrations.
Grades
1-3
Battle Bunny by Jon Scieszka and
Mac Barnett. Young Alex “redesigns” Birthday
Bunny, the book his Gran Gran gives him for his birthday. This playful
reinterpretation of a youngster’s picture book is also the story of fleeting
childhood.
Little Sister Is Not My Name
by Sharon M. Draper. Thanks to her special shiny sack, her spunk—and her
grandmother—Sassy learns that being the youngest in the family isn’t always a
bad thing.
Journey by Aaron Becker. Wordless
picture books like Journey help our
early readers grow. Join a young girl on a trip through a fantasyland of her
own artistic creation.
Grades
3-5
Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson. A
reader can lose himself in Kadir Nelson’s rich illustrations of the life of
South African leader Nelson Mandela.
Magic Treehouse Fact Trackers
by Mary Pope Osborne. Take the Jack and Annie stories to the next level by
reading the facts behind their adventures.
Flora and Ulysses by Kate
DiCamillo. Families can be tricky, and sometimes even dangerous, to navigate.
Nobody knows this better than Flora and Ulysses. Part chapter book, part
graphic novel, this Newbery Medal book about a girl and her superhero squirrel
sidekick is curiously believable in all the right ways.
Grades
4-6
One Crazy Summer and P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia. In
Oakland, 1968, sisters Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern, meet their poet mother,
Cecile; go to summer camp with the Black Panthers; and make unexpected friends.
In the sequel, the girls carry on back home in Brooklyn, changed by their
experience in Oakland and their new relationship with their mother.
How to Catch a Bogle by Catherine
Jinks. Ten-year-old Birdie is apprentice to a bogler, or monster catcher. While
some folks don’t believe in the spirits that Birdie and Alfred face down
regularly, monsters are very real to the bogle-catching team as they
investigate the disappearance of several orphan children. This book is an
interesting combination of chilling and sweet.
Grades
5-8
Doll Bones by Holly Black. A
childhood game of pretend turns into a coming-of-age adventure as Zach, Poppy,
and Alice run away to solve a murder mystery and fulfill the destiny of a ghost
who takes the form of an antique china doll.
The Giver by Lois Lowry. If
you have not yet read this book, do yourself a favor and read it now, before
the movie comes out in August. If you already read it as a younger student, try
it again with a new lens.
Better Nate than Ever by Tim
Federle. With the help of his best friend/drama coach - and behind his parents’
backs - 13-year-old Nate sets off for a Broadway audition. He hits speed bumps
and total roadblocks along the way, but his humor and heartfelt nature see him
through.
Have fun,
kids!
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