Primary School Summer Reading List by Susan Rikkola

Far Hills Country Day School

Primary School Recommended Reading List (PreKindergarten through Grade 2)

Far Hills Country Day School , Route 202, Far Hills, NJ 07931 Primary School Summer Reading List, 2012

Table of Contents Page 3

Introduction

Pages 4-5

Books for PreK and Kindergarten

Page 6

First Grade

Pages 7-8

Favorite Authors

Pages 9

Nonfiction

Page 10-11

New Picture Books

Page 12

Award Winning Books

Pages 13-14

Great Websites

Far Hills Country Day School , Route 202, Far Hills, NJ 07931 Primary School Summer Reading List, 2012

Welcome To the Far Hills Country Day School Summer Reading List for 2012! Please use these lists as a guide for great summer reading! The books listed here are suggestions based on selections from School Library Journal, the American Library Association, and Winners! Best books list from Judy Freeman, children’s literature consultant. The local public libraries and bookstores near FHCDS have a copy.

TIPS FOR CHOOSING A BOOK YOU WILL ENJOY 1. Try the “five finger” test on each book to make sure that the book is a good fit for your reading level. • Read a page in the book that is filled with text. • Each time you do not know a word, put a finger up. • If you get 4 or 5 words on a page, the book may not be right for you. 2. Examine the cover and read the back and inside jacket to find a short description of the book. 3. Read the first couple paragraphs to see if it grabs you. 4. Look for books by a certain author that you enjoy. 5. Ask a friend or your librarian for suggestions! Happy Reading!

Far Hills Country Day School , Route 202, Far Hills, NJ 07931 Primary School Summer Reading List, 2012

PRE K and Kindergarten Stories to make you laugh! Big Bad Bunny by Franny Billingsley. Illus. by G. Brian Karas. Big Bad Bunny is on a rampage, chomping on trees and roaring ferociously. "But wait! Where is Baby Boo-Boo?" Mama Mouse cries.

Bad Kitty Gets a Bath (Bad Kitty series) by Nick Bruel. This companion book to picture books Bad Kitty and Poor Puppy is a zany little graphic novel. Bad Kitty needs a bath? Uh, oh. Don't you know CATS HATE BATHS!

Dog and Bear, Two Friends, Three Stories by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. This is the first book in a charming series about the friendship between a dog and a bear who have many every-day adventures together.

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems. When a bus driver takes a break from his route, a very unlikely volunteer springs up to take his place-a pigeon! But you've never met one like this before. As he pleads, wheedles, and begs his way through the book, children will love being able to answer back and decide his fate. In his hilarious picture book debut, popular cartoonist Mo Willems perfectly captures a preschooler's temper tantrum.

Knuffle Bunny series by Mo Willems. Follow the adventures of Trixie and her beloved Knuffle Bunny in this trilogy of stories. Children can relate to Trixie’s affection for her special bunny.

Five Little Monkeys Reading in Bed by Eileen Christo. In this eighth title in the wildly popular series, the Five Little Monkeys are supposed to go to bed, but they would rather keep reading their books!

Far Hills Country Day School , Route 202, Far Hills, NJ 07931 Primary School Summer Reading List, 2012

Friends and Feelings A Visitor for Bear by Bonnie Becker. Though the sign on his front door says "No Visitors Allowed," Bear hears a knock and opens the door only to find a mouse, "small and gray and bright-eyed." "Go away," Bear says firmly. When Sophie Gets Angry- Really Really Angry by Molly Bang. Everybody gets angry sometimes. And for children, anger can be very upsetting. In this Caldecott-honor book, children will see what Sophie does when she gets angry. Parents, teachers, and children can talk about it. People do lots of different things when they get angry. What do you do?

A Good Day by Kevin Henkes. It started out as a bad day for little yellow bird, little white dog, little orange fox, and little brown squirrel. Until . . . A discovery, and love, and luck and persistence, and a different point of view changed all that. What can turn a bad day into a good day? You decide. A Splendid Friend Indeed by Suzanne Bloom. Stunning illustrations capture the exasperation of Bear, whose solitary reading and writing are continually interrupted by persistent Goose. In the end, Bear is won over and to his own surprise, declares Goose a Splendid Friend, Indeed! A picture book that says volumes about friendship with a few select words and charming illustrations.

Beatrice Doesn’t Want To by Laura Numeroff. Beatrice doesn’t like books, and she doesn’t like tagging along with her brother to the library. She doesn’t want to get books from the shelf. She doesn’t want to let Henry work. And she certainly doesn’t want to sit in a room full of kids during story hour. Is there anything that could possibly change her mind?

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. Viorst's classic tale of a little boy who must accept the reality that "some days are like that," when everything he does goes awry, is one of her most popular works. "The clever text shines."-"School Library Journal

Far Hills Country Day School , Route 202, Far Hills, NJ 07931 Primary School Summer Reading List, 2012

FIRST GRADE

Bi Students come to first grade with varying reading readiness skills. The picture g books, later in the list, are normally about 30-32 pages with beautiful illustrations Ba and are written on a level so that they may be read to young children. d The beginning reader books are made for children to read independently. These Bu books have short sentences, larger print, and a controlled vocabulary. The cover nn usually suggests the reading level. y Step Into Reading Random House Publishers by Bank Street Bantam Books Fr All Aboard Reading Putnam Publishers Hello Reader Scholastic Publishers an Beginning to Read Modern Curriculum Press ny I Can Read Harper Collins Publishers Easy Reader Series and Authors Bill ing sle y. Illu s. by G. Bri an Biscuit series Mr. Putter and Tabby series I Can Read series Ka By Alyssa Satin Capucilli By Cynthia Rylant ras . At he ne um , 20 Amelia Bedelia series Henry and Mudge series Frog and Toad series 08. By Peggy or Herman By Cynthia Rylant By Arnold Lobel Bi Parish g Ba Far Hills Country Day School , Route 202, Far Hills, NJ 07931 6 d Primary School Summer Reading List, 2012 Bu nn

Favorite Authors for First and Second Grade

Kevin Henkes

Patricia Polacco

Janell Cannon

Doreen Cronin

Mo Willems

Far Hills Country Day School , Route 202, Far Hills, NJ 07931 Primary School Summer Reading List, 2012

Margie Palatini

Jan Brett

SECOND GRADE Great Series - Moving to Chapter Books

Mercy Watson Kate DiCamillo

Geronimo Stilton Geronimo Stilton

Marvin Redpost Louis Sachar

Magic Tree House

Magic Puppy Sue Bentley

Mary Pope Osborne

My Weird School Dan Gutman

Gooney Bird Greene

Judy Moody

Stink

Megan McDonald

A to Z Mysteries Ron Roy

Lois Lowry

Far Hills Country Day School , Route 202, Far Hills, NJ 07931 Primary School Summer Reading List, 2012

Nonfiction Recommendations

Wild Tracks!: A Guide to Nature's Footprints

Jim Arnosky

Moonshot

Brian Floca

Living Color

Steve Jenkins

11 Experiments That Failed

Jenny Offill

Owen & Mzee: The True Story Of A Remarkable Friendship by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, and Dr. Paula Kahumbu, Illustrated by Peter Greste Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City Schulman

Janet

Strong Man: The Story of Charles Atlas Meghan Mccarthy Who Was…? Biography series A good series for reading about the lives of the famous. National Geographic Kids Almanac 2013 by National Geographic Kids

Far Hills Country Day School , Route 202, Far Hills, NJ 07931 Primary School Summer Reading List, 2012

New Picture Books 2012 Apple Pie ABC The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse The Bippolo Seed and other Lost Stories Blackout Bone Dog The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred Detective Blue Dog in Boots Dream Something Big: the Story of the Watts Tower Ferret Fun Henry’s Heart: A Boy, His Heart, and a New Best Friend Itsy Mitsy Runs Away Hooray for Amanda and her Alligator! I Broke My Trunk! If Rocks Could Sing I Spy With My Little Eye The Incredible Life of Balto Love, Mouserella Mary and Her Little Lamb:

Murray, Alison Carle, Eric Dr. Seuss Rocco, John Rohmann, Eric Vamos, Samantha Metzger, Steve Gormley, Greg

The True Story Behind the Nursery Rhyme

Moses, Will McDonnell, Patrick Durand, Hallie

Me – Jane Mitchell’s License

Aston, Dianna Hutts Rostoker-Gruber, Karen

Harper,Charise Mericle Allen, Elanna Willems, Mo Willems, Mo McGuirk, Leslie Gibbs, Edward McCarthy, Meghan Stein, David Ezra

Far Hills Country Day School , Route 202, Far Hills, NJ 07931 Primary School Summer Reading List, 2012

Monkey, A Trickster Tale from India My Side of the Car Neville Nurse, Soldier, Spy: the Story of Sarah Edmonds, a Civil War hero Night Flight: Amelia Earhart Crosses The Atlantic Olivia’s Birds, Saving the Gulf Perfect Square Pig Kahuna Press Here The Princess and the Pig Queen of the Falls Rrralph Should I Share My Ice Cream? Substitute Creacher Swirl by swirl: Spirals in Nature These Hands Tia Isa Wants a Car Toys Come Home: The Trouble with Chickens Tyrannosaurus Dad

McDermott, Gerald Feiffer, Kate Juster, Norton

Waiting for Biblioburro Wow! Ocean The Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life with the Chimps Where’s Walrus? Why Do I Have to Make My Bed? You’re Finally Here!

Brown, Monica Neubecker, Robert

Moss, Marissa Burleigh, Robert Bouler, Olivia Hall, Michael Sattler,Jennifer Gordon

Tullet, Herve Emmett, Jonathan Van Allsburg, Chris Ehlert, Lois Willems, Mo Gall, Chris Sidman, Joyce Mason, Margaret Medina, Meg Jenkins, Emily Cronin, Doreen Rosenberg, Liz

Winter, Jeanette Savage, Stephen Bradford, Wade Watt, Melanie

Far Hills Country Day School , Route 202, Far Hills, NJ 07931 Primary School Summer Reading List, 2012

Award Winning Picture Books

The Caldecott Award 2012 Winner: A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka (Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc.) Honor Books: Blackout by John Rocco (Disney · Hyperion Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group) Grandpa Green by Lane Smith (Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership) Me...Jane by Patrick McDonnell (Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.)

Acknowledgements: Some annotations taken from: Parkway Summer Reading List Read Kiddo Read website Good Reads website Cover art from Barnes and Noble website

Far Hills Country Day School , Route 202, Far Hills, NJ 07931 Primary School Summer Reading List, 2012

GREAT WEBSITES FOR KIDS!! (And literature loving adults too!) Book Adventure. Perfect for kids in grades K-8, this site lets readers create a list of books from 7,000 listed, then take quizzes and earn points for their progress. Bookwink. Bookwink posts three-minute videos each month about specific books in an attempt to spark interest in students in grades 38 to read. You can search their book list by subject, grade level, author, or title. Leading to Reading. Sponsored by RIF, this site is geared to preschoolers and the grown-ups who care for them

Read.gov. The Library of Congress hosts this site that has something for both younger and older readers, no matter what their interests. They even have a fun story project with contributions from a variety of popular authors. ReadKiddoRead.com. James Patterson started this site to encourage the love of reading in children. Find book recommendations, reading guides, fun quizzes, and more. Reading Rockets. This site is from the US Department of Education and is designed to help emergent and struggling readers. Goodreads. Join a virtual book club, organize your books by shelves, and more when you join this network. GuysRead. A website by author Jon Scieska that suggests great books for boys.

Far Hills Country Day School , Route 202, Far Hills, NJ 07931 Primary School Summer Reading List, 2012

Online Libraries These sites provide an opportunity for kids to read online, free of charge .International Children’s Digital Library. Children around the world can access this awesome library. Register for free to have access to cool features such as bookmarking your page in a particular book and creating your own bookshelf. Project Gutenberg. This site offers over 30,000 free downloadable ebooks, many of which are also available as audiobooks. Read Print. Get over 8,000 free books online with authors such as Jane Austen, Mark Twain, and Beatrix Potter. Classic Reader. Browse through categories such as "Young Readers" or "Non-Fiction" or search by author or title to find a free online book here. Page by Page Books. Scroll through this alphabetical listing to find books like Anne of Green Gables and Cinderella. StoryPlace. This digital library has books organized by preschool and elementary, and is also available in Spanish The above sites are part of a comprehensive list from this website: 100 Fantastic Book Sites for Kids and Teens. Be sure to check out this fabulous list online!

Far Hills Country Day School , Route 202, Far Hills, NJ 07931 Primary School Summer Reading List, 2012