Summer Reading

Since summer is pretty much over now that Carter's in school and I've been working even though our school hasn't started yet, regardless of what the calendar says, I'm posting our favorite books from our summer of reading. Read last year's list here, 2016's list here, 2015's list here, 2014's list here, and 2013's list here. I listed it on our spring list, but wanted to mention that "No, David!" is still a huge favorite with Elise. She loves to read it and shout "No, David," over and over. Her friend, Charlee, was over and they were turning the pages while scream shreaking, "No, David," together. It was hilarious! Carter's first day of school book present was "I Want to Be in a Scary Story" which was on a book list at some point, but I forget which one. Elise is obsessed with it and picks it as her nighttime story pretty much every night. Her favorite is when I read the narrator's part and she says what the monster says. It's pretty impressive how many of the words she remembers! Now on to the books that haven't been featured on a book list in the past!

Summer Reading Favorites

• Max's Chocolate Chicken by Rosemary Wells- I have always loved Rosemary Wells' books. I grabbed this one at the library because I like Max and Ruby and remembered this book from when I was a kid. It was a huge hit and Elise adored it. She wanted me to read it over and over and over again. Then she'd read it to me. Carter got to where he could retell the story pretty much word for word and Elise loved to retell the story. It was awesome! I definitely need to get some more Max and Ruby books for Elise

• Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen- This one was a favorite of mine, not necessarily the kids. Although they did enjoy the book. I loved the message of the book. I, of course, enjoyed reading about Jane Austen.

• If Sharks Disappeared by Lily Williams- We had checked this book out from the library before but it was a little long and in-depth for Carter at the time. We checked it out again when it was on display for shark week and he loved it. He was so fascinated by the fact that removing one animal from an ecosystem could change the entire world. He wanted to read this book over and over. One day in the car I overheard him explaining to his friend, Landon, how everyone in the world could die if an important animal became extinct. It was a fascinating book and such a great lesson to learn about how animals and plants are all related whether we realize it or not.

• Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson- I was surprised by how much Carter liked this book. It was about a girl who wasn't nice to someone who came into her class partway through the school year. At the end of the book the other girl moves and she's sad she was never kind to her and now won't get a chance to fix her past mistakes. The ending was sad, especially for a children's book where kids normally have the chance to redeem themselves. I thought it was such a great learning book to discuss how sometimes when we don't do the right thing we never get the chance to make up for it or to make it right.

• One Day, Short Very Short Shorter-than-Ever Stories by Rebecca Kai Dotlich- This book would be perfect to read during a writer's workshop mini-lesson. In the book all the stories are just a few sentences long with no details. It would be a perfect way to illustrate how it feels to read a story with no real content. It would also be perfect to have students take the stories and help fill in the gaps to make them into a complete story. Kids could also use the start of the story to write their own and show how they were able to include a middle part, not just the beginning and the end like the author of the book. This is definitely a book I want to use when I'm teaching writing again! It was one of those rare gems I came across and all the mini-lessons I could get from this one book kept popping into my head. I love books that you can come back to over and over to learn something new.

• Goodnight Lab by Chris Ferrie- I'm a sucker for parodies of classics. This one did not disappoint. It was a parody of Goodnight Moon and was super cute. It was written by the same author who writes a series of science board books for babies such as Newtonian Physics for Babies. The kids weren't too into those books although a couple peaked Carter's interest but they both liked this one.

• The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt- I grabbed this book even though we didn't particularly like The Day the Crayons Quit very much. I was pleasantly surprised by how cute and funny this book was. Carter and I were laughing throughout most of the book! My favorite was when the pea green crayon renamed himself.

• What Do They Do With All That Poo? by Jane Kurtz- Our librarian read this book during storytime one week. She read the main parts of the story but skipped over the more in-depth informational section since there were a lot of young kids present. When I saw the book on the shelves I had to pick it up. The kids absolutely loved the book. Each time I'd finish reading it Elise would want me to read it again. One night after we'd read it twice in a row we found out a bird had pooped through Oma's window and onto her car door. They wanted to ask her so many questions and then Carter told her lots of animal poop facts. They loved reading all the facts about poop. Then on the inside cover and inside of the back there were pictures of poop. The kids loved pointing at them and telling me which animal the poop belonged to.

  

  Elise reading her favorite book!