Suggested Summer Reading for Students in Grades K-3 
 

Baton, Chris.  Shark vs. Train.  A shark and a train compete in a series of contests on a seesaw, in hot air balloons, bowling, shooting baskets, playing hide-and-seek, and more.

Bottner, Barbara.  Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I don’t!).  A first-grade girl--who does not like to read--stubbornly resists her school librarian's efforts to convince her to love books until she finds one that might change her mind.

Butler, Dori Hillestad.  The Case of the Lost Boy.  While searching for his mysteriously lost human family, Buddy the dog is adopted by another family and helps solve the mystery of their missing boy. 

Cleary, Beverly.  Henry Huggins.  When Henry adopts Ribsy, a dog of no particular breed, humorous adventures follow. 

Cook, Sally.  Hey Batta Batta Swing! : The Wild Old Days of Baseball.  Describes the old days of baseball before there were pitching mounds, and contains trivia about players' nicknames, team names, and the design of the uniforms. 

Harris, Robie H.  Mail Harry to the Moon.  Harry's older brother, unhappy that the new baby is making lots of noise and getting all the attention, thinks up creative ways to get rid of him.  

Hillman, Ben.  How Strong is it?  A Mighty Book About Strength.  Describes the intensity of and presents various facts on more than twenty strong items, including spiderwebs, oxen, hurricanes, and martial arts kicks. 

Hornik, Laurie Miller.  Zoo School.  The students at the strange new Zoo School have never seen a school like it before, but when inspectors try to close it down because of irregularities, the students are surprised to find out how much they have learned.  

Kaplan, Bruce Eric. Monsters Eat Whiney Children.  Henry and Eve, having ignored their father's warning, are kidnapped by monsters who eat whiney children, but while increasing numbers of monsters argue over how to prepare them, the siblings begin to play nicely.  

Krulik, Nancy. Trouble Magnet.  As the students at his school prepare for a talent show and class presentations about Hawaii, fourth-grader George tries hard to behave but his magic super burps keep getting him in trouble.  

McDonald, Megan.  Judy Moody.  Third grader Judy Moody is in a first day of school bad mood until she gets an assignment to create a collage all about herself and begins creating her masterpiece, the Me collage.  

McMullen, Kate.  School! Adventures at the  Harvey N. Trouble Elementary School.  Ron Faster and the students and employees of Harvey N. Trouble Elementary have a variety of adventures, including a bus getting stuck in a ditch, janitors quitting, an exploding volcano project, and more. 

O’Malley, Kevin.  Captain Raptor and the Moon Mystery.  Captain Raptor and his spaceship crew rush to investigate when an unidentified object lands on one of the moons of the planet Jurassica.  

Pennypaker, Sara.  Clementine: Friend of the Week.  With her kitten, Moisturizer, missing and having fought with her best friend, Margaret, eight-year-old Clementine finds it hard to concentrate on doing her best as her classmate's Friend of the Week.  

Ransom, Jeanie Franz.  What Really Happened to Humpty.  Detective Joe Dumpty rushes to investigate the mysterious circumstances under which his older brother, Humpty, fell from a wall on his first day as captain of the new Neighborhood Watch program.  

Simon, Francesca.  Horrid Henry.  Horrid Henry causes his brother Perfect Peter all sorts of problems when he behaves properly for a change, upstages Peter at a dance recital, plays pirates, and goes on a camping trip.  

Torrey, Michael.  The Case of the Gasping Garbage.  Fourth-graders Drake Doyle and Nell Fossey combine their detective and scientific investigation skills to solve a variety of cases, involving a noisy garbage can, endangered frogs, a stuck truck, and a mysterious love letter.

Warner, Sally.  Super Emma.  Third-grader Emma becomes a reluctant heroine when she defends a friend from the class bully.

Yates, Louise.  Dog Loves Books.  Dog loves books so much he decides to open a bookstore.

Suggested Summer Reading for Students in Grades 3-6
 

 Anderson, Laurie.  Fever 1793.  Levels 5-8.  Sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick mother, learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793. 

Appelt, Kathi.  Keeper.  Levels 5-8.  Ten-year-old Keeper heads to a sandbar in a small boat along with her dog BD and a seagull named Captain in order to find her mother, a mermaid who left her when Keeper was only three. 

Appelt, Kathi.  The Underneath.  Levels 5-8.  An old hound that has been chained up at his hateful owner's run-down shack, and two kittens born underneath the house, endure separation, danger, and many other tribulations in their quest to be reunited and free. 

Avi.  The Secret School.  Levels 3-6.  In 1925, fourteen-year-old Ida Bidson secretly takes over as the teacher when the one-room schoolhouse in her remote Colorado area closes unexpectedly. 

Birney, Betty.  The World According to Humphrey.  Levels 3-6.  Humphrey, pet hamster at Longfellow School, learns that he has an important role to play in helping his classmates and teacher. 

Blackwood, Gary.  Shakespeare Stealer.  Levels 3-6.   A young orphan boy is ordered by his master to infiltrate Shakespeare's acting troupe in order to steal the script of "Hamlet," but he discovers instead the meaning of friendship and loyalty. 

Broach, Elise.  Masterpiece.  Levels 5-8.   After Marvin, a beetle, makes a miniature drawing as an eleventh birthday gift for James, a human with whom he shares a house, the two new friends work together to help recover a Durer drawing stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Byars.  Betsy.  Tornado.  Levels 3-6.  A Trophy chapter book." As they wait out a tornado in their storm cellar, a family listens to their farmhand tell stories about the dog that was blown into his life by another tornado when he was a boy. 

Davies, Jacqueline.  The Lemonade Crime.  Levels 3-5.   "Sequel to The lemonade war"--Dust jacket. When money disappears from fourth-grader Evan's pocket and everyone thinks that his annoying classmate Scott stole it, Evan's younger sister stages a trial involving the entire class, trying to prove what happened.

Erskine, Kathryn.  Mockingbird.  Levels 5-8.  Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger's Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father. 

Flanagan, John. The Emperor of Nihon-ja.  Levels 5-8.   In a faraway land, a young warrior must protect an emperor from an uprising and train an inexperienced army, with assistance from his Ranger friends. 

Forester, Victoria.  The Girl Who Could Fly.  Levels 3-6.  Piper McCloud's ability to fly sets her apart from the other kids, so her mother sends her to an exclusive school for children with exceptional abilities, but even there she does not fit in with the other students. 

Greenwald, Lisa.  My Life in Pink and Green.  Levels 4-6.  When the family's drugstore is failing, seventh-grader Lucy uses her problem-solving talents to come up with a solution that might resuscitate the business and help the environment.

Holm, Jennifer.  Turtle in Paradise.  Levels 3-6.  In 1935, when her mother gets a job housekeeping for a woman who does not like children, eleven-year-old Turtle is sent to stay with relatives she has never met in far away Key West, Florida. 

Law, Ingrid.  Savvy.  Levels 5-8.  Recounts the adventures of Mibs Beaumont, whose thirteenth birthday has revealed her "savvy"--a magical power unique to each member of her family--just as her father is injured in a terrible accident. 

Lin, Grace.  The Year of the Dog: A Novel.  Levels 3-6.  Frustrated at her seeming lack of talent for anything, a young Taiwanese American girl sets out to apply the lessons of the Chinese Year of the Dog, those of making best friends and finding oneself, to her own life. 

Lupica, Mike.  Travel Team.  Levels 5-8.  After he is cut from his travel basketball team--the very same team that his father once led to national prominence--twelve-year-old Danny Walker forms his own team of cast-offs that might have a shot at victory. 

Martin, Ann.  The Runaway Dolls.  Levels 3-6.  Best friends Annabelle and Tiffany risk placing all of dollkind in danger when they run away while trying to prevent Tilly from being sent back to London before they can determine if she is Annabelle's long-lost baby sister. 

Mull, Brandon.  The World Without Heroes.  Levels 5-8.  Fourteen-year-old Jason Walker is transported to a strange world called Lyrian, where he joins Rachel and a few rebels to piece together the Word that can destroy the malicious wizard emperor, Surroth.

Patterson, James.  Demons and Druids.  Levels 3-6.  Daniel X, determined to free the world from intergalactic criminals, faces his most difficult challenge yet when number three on his list of outlaws takes the form of fire--reviving Daniel's memories of the death of his parents. 

Riordan, Rick.  The Lost Hero.  Levels 5-8.  Jason, Piper, and Leo, three students from a school for "bad kids," find themselves at Camp Half-Blood, where they learn that they are demigods and begin a quest to free Hera, who has been imprisoned by Mother Earth herself. 

Simon, Coco.  Katie and the Cupcake Cure.  Levels 3-6.  Katie Brown learns how difficult middle school can be when her best friend ditches her for the Popular Girls Club, but she manages to find a great new group of friends and together they form their own cupcake club. 

Smith, Roland.  Cryptic Hunters.  Levels 5-8.  Twins, Grace and Marty, along with a mysterious uncle, are dropped into the middle of the Congolese jungle in search of their missing photojournalist parents. 

Spratt, R.A.  The Adventures of Nanny Piggins.  Levels 3-6.  Nanny Piggins answers stingy Mr. Green's ad for a nanny and takes on his three children, filling their days with fun, adventure, sweets, and love. 

Vernon, Ursula.  Dragonbreath.  Levels 3-6.  Danny Dragonbreath and his friend Wendell get an up-close underwater tour of the Sargasso Sea from Danny's sea-serpent cousin, encountering giant squid and mako sharks--and learn about standing up to bullies in the process.  

Wilson, N.D.  100 Cupboards.  Levels 3-6.  Twelve-year-old Henry York and his cousin Henrietta discover 100 hidden portals to other worlds in the bedroom wall of his aunt and uncle's house. 

Yee, Lisa.  Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time.  Levels 3-6.  After flunking sixth-grade English, basketball prodigy Stanford Wong must struggle to pass his summer-school class, keep his failure a secret from his friends, and satisy his academically demanding father.