Summer Reading

Great Summers Start with Great Stories

Summers are packed with fun-and keeping reading part of your daily routine is one of the best ways to make the summer magical.  Check back for reading tips and activity ideas that will keep you inspired!

Miami Gets it Straight by Pat McKissack

Miami Jackson can't wait for school to end.  But who ever thought five days could be so long?  Read to find what hurdles he faces before summer vacation. Stop by the library to check out this book.

School's Out by Johanna Hurwitz

Lucas Cott is ready for a summer vacation -- no more homework, no teachers, no rules! but when his mother hires a French au pair named Genevieve to help take care of Lucas and his younger brothers, he thinks it will be like living with a teacher all summer. Stop by the library to read about a boy who learns that the end of school doesn't mean a vacation from responsibility.

Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey

This book tells the story of a family's summer on a Maine island overlooking Penobscot Bay.  It is filled with bright images and simple alliteration.  Stop by the library to check out this book.

Angel Spreads Her Wings by Judy Delton

With the excitement of her mother getting married and having a baby.  Angel is ready for a nice long summer at home in Elm City, Wisconsin. But another change is brewing for poor Angel. Stop by the library to read about the hilarious adventure for Angel.

Up North at the Cabin by Marsha Chall

The magic of summer, the call of the north woods, and the exuberance of childhood imagination combine here creates a book that will be treasured long after summer. Make sure you stop by the library to check out this book.

Cinco de Mayo

National Teacher Appreciation Day

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

When his beloved Truffula Trees are hacked down to make Thneeds, the mustached little Lorax protests angrily.  Unfortunately, he gripes are in vain. The greedy Once-ler won't stop until the last Truffula felled and the surrounding ecosystem is destroyed.  Stop by the library and check out this environmentalist classic  in honor of Arbor Day.

Beyond The Grave by Jude Watson

When Grace Cahill passed away, relatives oozed of of the woodwork in hopes of getting their hands on her fortunes.  But Grace wasn't your typical old lady, and she didn't leave this world in typical fashion either.  Instead of a will and an inheritance, she left behind a quest involving 39 clues that lead to a vast wealth and the highest authority imaginable.  Now, six teams of Cahill relatives are racing around  he world, chasing after intricately placed clues left behind by other famous Cahills, like Ben Franklin. The race is on, and there aren't any rules.

A Clue found in Book 3 sends Amy and Dan jetting off to find out just what's behind the fierce rivalry between the Tomas and Ekaterina branches of the Cahills family.  Was a Clue stolen from the Tomas branch? Where is it now? And most important, can Amy and Dan get their hands on it before their rivals do?

 It's a wild race that will take Amy and Dan deep into the bowels of the earth...and right into the hands of the enemy.  Stop by the library to check out this book!

Earth Day - Hooray by Stuart Murphy

Ryan, Luke, and Carly have a plan for Earth Day.  They want to collect and recycle 5,000 aluminum cans so they can make enough money to buy flowers for a nearby park.  Stop by and check out this book and help the children count the cans and find out if they are successful with their Earth Day plan!

The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis

Attention! Amy and Dan Cahill have been located once again, this time in the company of the notoriously unreliable Alistair Oh.  Could they have been foolish enough to make an alliance? Spies report that Amy and Dan seem to be tracking the life of one of the most powerful fighters the world has ever known.  If this fearsome warrior was a Cahill, his secrets are sure to be well-guarded...and the price to uncover them just be lethal. Stop by the library and checkout this book.

The Library Card by Jerry Spinelli

Four children have nothing in common...until a mysterious blue card appears.  This card begins to change each of their lives.  None of them guesses it at first, but that strange blue card will be their ticket to the past and to a future that they never imagined. Stop by the library and check out this book that reveals amazing possibilities lurking behind library doors!

Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora

Tomas travels with his family of migrant workers from their winter home in Texas to Iowa for a summer of work picking fruits and vegetables.  Tomas loves the stories his grandfather Papa Grande tells.  His grandfather encourages him to go to the library for more stories.  Tomas goes with excitement and apprehension.  Before he even gathers the courage to enter the library, the librarian approaches him and invites him in for a drink of water.  Stop by the library and check out this book to see what happens when Tomas spends his day at the library!

Bats at the Library by Brian Lies

When bats find a window that has been left open at the library, they sneak in to enjoy an evening that begins with silly exploration and frolicking.  In the end, they settle down for storytime and sink into the adventures they find in the books. Stop by the library and check out this book!

Library Lil by Suzanne Williams

From the day she was born, Lil had a book in her hand! It was no surprise when she grew up that she became a librarian.  She manged to turn the people of Chesterville into readers. Then Bust-'em-up Bill roared into town with his motorcycle gang. Just the mention of reading upset him. Stop by the library and check out this book to see if Library Lil  has finally met her match!

Richard Wright and the Library Card by William Miller

Richard Wright lived in Memphis and worked for an optical company where he swept floors and ran errands for his white employers.  The 18 year old Wright loved to read but could not afford to buy any books. In 1926, as a black man he was not allowed into the public library.  Fortunately, Wright worked for a generous man named Jim Falk.  Mr. Falk lent the young black man his library card and Wright began checking out books for himself, all the while telling the librarian that the books were for Mr. Falk.  Stop by the library to check out this book to discover the power that education can provide.

The Library by Sarah Stewart

Elizabeth Brown doesn't like to play with dolls and she doesn't like to skate.  What she does like to do is read books.  Lots of books.  The only problem is that her library has gotten so big, she can't even use her front door anymore.  What should Elizabeth Brown do? Stop by the library and check out this book to find out the solution to her problem!

National Library Week 2016

One False Note by Gordon Korman

This just in! Amy and Dan Cahill were spotted on a train, hot on the trail of one of the 39 Clues hidden around the world.  But wait! Police report a break-in at an elite hotel, and the suspects also sound suspiciously like Amy and Dan.  Update!  Amy and Dan have been seen in a car...no, in a speedboat chase... and hold everything! They're being chased by an angry mob?!? When there's a Clue on the line, anything can happen.  Stop by the library and check out this book!

The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan

Five minutes before she died, Grace Cahill, the rich and powerful matriarch of the Cahill family, changed her will. She left her heirs with an intriguing choice: accept a million dollars, or accept one Clue—the first of 39 Clues that could lead to riches and power beyond belief. Stop by the library and checkout this book!

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

Elijah was a special person in Buxton for a lot of reasons.  First of all, he was the first free baby born in the Settlement.  The Settlement of Buxton was in Canada and was started by a minister who didn't believe in slavery.  The second reason he was special was because he threw up all over Fredrick Douglass.  It was a sight no one in Buxton would ever forget.  Elijah life changes when a former slave, Right Reverend Zephariah  W. Connerly, III steals money from Elijah's friend Mr. Leroy, who had been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the south. Read this book to see what happens as Elijah joins Mr. Leroy on a dangerous journey south, into the United States, to get the money back.     Stop by the library and check out this book!           

Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco

Chicken Sunday is a multicultural story about three children who wanted more than anything to buy Miss Eula an Easter hat that she has been admiring in Mr. Kodinski’s hat store. The children want to show Miss Eula how much they appreciate the delicious fried chicken she makes for them every Sunday. They had saved their money for weeks  but realized that they would not have enough money to buy the hat before Easter. They decide to go to Mr. Kodinski’s store and ask him if they could sweep up his shop to earn the rest of the money. As they passed through the back alley of the store, some older kids came running through and threw eggs at Mr. Kodinski’s store then ran off. Mr. Kodinski opened the door and saw the three children standing there and believed they were responsible for throwing the eggs. He called Miss Eula and told her what the children had done. The children could not tell Miss Eula why they were at the store because they wanted the hat to be a surprise, so they had to figure out a way to show Mr. Kodinski that they didn't throw the eggs. Read this book to find out how the children cleared up this misunderstanding as well as if they earn enough money for the hat.  Stop by the library and check out this book!    

The Biggest Easter Egg by Sonia Sander

Emily Elizabeth and Clifford love decorating Easter eggs.  But are there any eggs big enough for Clifford to color?  Laugh along as you learn the answer to the question.  Stop by library and check out this book!

The Easter Egg by Jan Brett

Time for rabbits to decorate eggs for the Easter Rabbit. This year Hoppi is old enough to join in. If he can just make the winning egg, he will be the one to help the Easter Rabbit on Easter. Will Hoppi's egg be the winning egg?  Stop by the library to checkout this unforgettable Easter story for all ages!

Spring Break by Johanna Hurwitz

"It was going to be the best vacation ever..."

But two days before her trip to Washington, D.C., with her best friend Zoe's family, Cricket Kaufman trips on a curb and winds up on crutches. Worse still, Zoe invites Sara Jane Cushman to go to Washington in Cricket's place! Now Cricket's friendship with Zoe seems as injured as her ankle. All she has to look forward to are seven days stuck indoors. It's going to take some serious creativity to turn this woeful week into a lucky break! Visit the library to checkout the book before Spring Break!

Saint Patrick and the Peddler by Margaret Hodge

A poor peddler from Ballymena has an old iron pot with a Latin inscription he can't read.  When young Danny, a village lad, asks what the inscription says, the peddler encourages the boy to learn to read.  To learn more about this story stop by the library and checkout this book!

The Sneetches : and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss

The Sneetches is a picture book about two different groups of Sneetches, those with stars and those without.  The Plain-Belly Sneetches are left out of many activities and thought to be of a lower class.  They are not allowed to do the activities the Star-Bellied Sneetches.  A man with a machine changes the Plain-Bellied Sneetches into Star-Bellied Sneetches.  The story follows all the Plain-Bellied Sneetches as they try to be the same as the Star-Bellied Sneetches.  Whereas the Star-Bellied Sneetches are trying to distance themselves from the lesser Sneetches.  In the end, the Sneetches realize it doesn't matter if you have a star or not, they are all Sneetches and should treat each other equally.

Oh the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss

This book is Dr. Seuss's guide to the journey of life.  It is an inspirational book that is filled with his unique illustrations and rhyme.  This story reminds us that we can be what we want to be, with a little bit of work and will power.  Anything is possible for someone who puts forth the effort.  Stop by the library and check this book out!

The Righteous Revenge of Artemis Bonner by Walter Dean Myers

Uncle Ugly's tombstone reads: ``Here lies Ugly Ned Bonner, Once Alive--Now a Goner.'' Set in the late 1800s, this clever spoof chronicles Artemis Bonner's quest to avenge his uncle's death and to recover the treasure that rightfully belongs to his widowed aunt. As Artemis and his loyal friend Frolic trail the villain Catfish Grimes, the youth is tied to a cactus, loses an ear and almost becomes a bear's dinner. Yet when he learns that Catfish has stolen the treasure, Artemis is more determined than ever to take revenge. ``When I told Frolic, he spat on the ground, which is not Sanitary but which shows that he Means Business and will go with me to do what we must do.'' In his amusingly histrionic narration, Artemis emphasizes, with capitals, matters most important to him--``Quick and Agile mind''; ``Dear Life.'' Affected dialogue, authentic period touches and a few unexpected twists are inventively blended in this offbeat yarn. To Myers's readers, the Wild West will never look the same again. Stop by the library and check this book out!

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

 

As in his Newbery Honor-winning debut, The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963, Curtis draws on a remarkable and disarming mix of comedy and pathos, this time to describe the travails and adventures of a 10-year-old African-American orphan in Depression-era Michigan. Bud is fed up with the cruel treatment he has received at various foster homes, and after being locked up for the night in a shed with a swarm of angry hornets, he decides to run away. His goal: to reach the man he--on the flimsiest of evidence--believes to be his father, jazz musician Herman E. Calloway. Relying on his own ingenuity and good luck, Bud makes it to Grand Rapids, where his ""father"" owns a club. Calloway, who is much older and grouchier than Bud imagined, is none too thrilled to meet a boy claiming to be his long-lost son. It is the other members of his band--Steady Eddie, Mr. Jimmy, Doug the Thug, Doo-Doo Bug Cross, Dirty Deed Breed and motherly Miss Thomas--who make Bud feel like he has finally arrived home. While the grim conditions of the times and the harshness of Bud's circumstances are authentically depicted, Curtis shines on them an aura of hope and optimism. And even when he sets up a daunting scenario, he makes readers laugh--for example, mopping floors for the rejecting Calloway, Bud pretends the mop is ""that underwater boat in the book Momma read to me, Twenty Thousand Leaks Under the Sea."" Bud's journey, punctuated by Dickensian twists in plot and enlivened by a host of memorable personalities, will keep readers engrossed from first page to last. Stop by the library to check out this book.

 

 

 

Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

The land is all-important to the Logan family. But it takes awhile for Cassie and her three brothers to understand just how lucky they are to have it. They must learn the hard way that having a place they can call their own in rural Mississippi permits the Logans the luxuries of pride and courage that their poor black sharecropper neighbors can't afford.  Winner of the 1977 Newbery Medal and nominated for the National Book Award, the story of Cassie Logan, an independent girl growing up relatively protected in a loving family, is culled from author Mildred Taylor's own family's life. Stop by the library to check out this book.

Joshua's Masai Mask by Dakari Hru

 

 

This multicultural tale concerns Joshua, who has been coaxed by his family into playing an authentic African instrument--the kalimba--in his school's talent show . At the first rehearsal, however, he is so daunted by the confidence and popularity of two musical classmates that he goes home in shame. Joshua's uncle (who gave him the kalimba in the first place) now presents him with a Masai mask, which Joshua discovers gives him the ability to become whomever he chooses. He becomes first the young rapper he envied, then a celebrity rapper, then the Mayor--until he realizes he would really just like to be himself. Thanks to Hru's spirited, conversational style, this ``grass is greener'' fantasy evinces a light touch and genuine warmth--a story centering on real children with real feelings.  Stop by the library to check out this book.

The Night Before Valentine's Day by Natasha Wing

 

 

 

'Twas the night before Valentine's Day, and all through the town,

Children were busy, not making a sound.

They gathered their scissors, their glitter and glue,
 
Pink and red paper, and paint brushes, too...

The Night Before Valentine's Day looks in on a house full of excited children, busily cutting out heart-shaped cards and writing silly Valentine rhymes. The next day at school is a day of parties, games, and even a surprise visitor bearing a special Valentine gift for the whole class! Stop by the library to read this book!

Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Written in first person and in dialect, the story is told from the point of view of a rag doll named Sally.  Miz Rachel and her daughter, Lindy, are enslaved on a Virginia plantation. Sally provides comfort to Lindy as the girl toils in the cotton fields and is whipped by the overseer. One night, Miz Rachel and Lindy escape, beginning the trip north to freedom along the Underground Railroad. At one safe house, Sally slips from Lindy's waist and is left alone. Some time later, a new girl named Willa hides in the house, finding the doll that she calls Belinda. Once again the rag doll provides comfort to a little girl.  This book of historical fiction includes an Author's Note explaining the history of the Underground Railroad. You can stop by the library to check out this book!!

Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman

Grace loves stories, whether they're from books, movies, or the kind her grandmother tells. When her school decides to perform Peter Pan, Grace longs to play the lead, but her classmates point out that Peter was a boy. Besides, he wasn't black. With the support of her family, Grace learns that she can be anything she wants to be, and the results are amazing! Stop by the library to check out this amazing book!


If you enjoyed reading this story check out these other titles:

       In a vividly illustrated sequel to Amazing Grace, an irrepressible little girl goes to Africa to meet her father's new family. As enthusiastic and excited as she is in her new country, her loyalties are divided between her two families and she must find a way to belong to both.

    When Grace and her friends learn the school will choose two girls to be princesses in a parade, everyone is very excited. With some help from their teacher, the girls learn that there are many kinds of princess, including those from African folklore and modern princesses who do amazing things.



          School's started again, and there's a new girl in her class who makes Grace feel jealous. When the teacher assigns them to work together on the upcoming school play, Grace isn't sure what to expect. Meanwhile she is still worried that her mother might remarry, but she also learns how it feels to lose someone forever. And it looks as if a friend might have to move away, while a new friend is about to be gained. As always, Grace bravely meets these changes head-on, while also managing to find her way onstage for another exciting dramatic performance!
            
       

Geoffrey Groundhog Predicts The Weather by Bruce Koscielniak

Geoffrey Groundhog has become a local celebrity for successfully predicting how long winter will last. Everyone awaits his prediction each February 2, when he emerges from his burrow to look for his shadow. But Geoffrey's fame has grown out of control - and so has the commotion surrounding his burrow! With television lights and cameras crowding him, he can't even see the ground, much less his shadow. How will he make his spring prediction? How will anyone know if they should wax their surfboards or their skis? Stop by the library to read this book!

The Colossus Rises by Peter Lerangis

SEVEN WONDERS BOOK 1:
THE COLOSSUS RISES

by Peter Lerangis

The adventure unfolds in the first book of the epic adventure series Seven Wonders!

The day after thirteen-year-old Jack McKinley is told he has six months to live, he awakens on a mysterious island, where a secret organization promises to save his life—with one condition. Jack and three other kids must lead a mission to retrieve seven lost magical Loculi, which can save their lives only when combined together correctly. The challenge: The Loculi have been missing for a thousand years, lost amongst the ruins and relics of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. With no one else to turn to and no escape in sight, the four kids have no choice but to undertake the quest. First stop: the Colossus of Rhodes, where they realize that there’s way more than just their lives at stake. 

Stop by the library and check this book out!!