Great summer reading
By MEGAN ERICKSON
For Smart
School’s out and that means time for biking to the store, boating on the lake and swimming in the pool. It’s good for school-age kids to get outside in the sun, catch some UV rays (but wear sunscreen!) and exercise. But it’s also important to prepare for the next school year and have something to do on those rainy days.
Sometimes just mentioning the word “reading” can cause your kid to scrunch up his nose and whine. But if you pick up the right book, maybe — just maybe — you’ll find him curled up in a chair, book in hand, nose in the pages.
The Rainbow Fish
by Marcus Pfister (Ages 4-8)
The story is about sharing and making friends, said Abbey Neff, kindergarten teacher at Grace E. Loucks Elementary School in the West York Area School District. She said the book might be difficult for young readers, but it is a great read-aloud book.
“Children love the glittery illustrations, and they can follow the Rainbow Fish in many other adventures in other titles by Marcus Pfister, which center around the main character, the Rainbow Fish, too,” Neff said.
Where’s the Big Bad Wolf
by Eileen Christelow (Ages 4-8 )
The timeless story of the “Three Little Pigs” is told in a mystery format, said Paula Gilbert, York County Libraries director of Children and Youth Services. A detective tries to find out who blew down the houses, and the wolf — who readers know is the culprit — wears disguises throughout the book.
“(Kids) get a big charge out of it,” Gilbert said. “The kids can figure out what’s going on, but the detective is a little slow.”
Gilbert said the book has great illustrations and is fun to read aloud.
The Chalk Box Kid
by Clyde Robert Bulla (Ages 7-9)
This book is an easy read for second- and third-graders with 64 pages including illustrations, said Tara McGuigan, second-grade teacher at Leaders Heights Elementary School. She said it is broken up into nine short chapters, each with a great message to kids.
The story is about a boy named Gregory and his struggle with change, McGuigan said. Gregory is forced to move into a new home and go to a new school, and he has a lot of new things to cope with. Eventually, he learns that drawing pictures at a nearby closed-down chalk factory can make him feel better by expressing his feelings and emotions.
She said the book shows that everyone has that “special something” they can turn to when
feeling down, whether it be drawing, dancing, singing or reading.
“It’s a super book which allows children to make connections with the text and themselves, and when they finish reading, they can go outside and draw their very own garden with chalk on the driveway just like Gregory did,” McGuigan said. “It’s really great for making inferences and predictions.”
Peter and the Starcatchers
by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (Ages 9-12)
The story is fiction/fantasy and is written as a prequel to “Peter Pan,” said Michael Helsabeck, fifth-grade teacher at Ore Valley Elementary School.
“(It’s) lots of fun, lots of action and my class loved it,” he said, adding that it is a fun narrative. Helsabeck said his son, Tyler, a fifth-grade student at Loganville-Springfield Elementary School, had this to say about the book: “It is one of the best books I have ever read!”
Travel Team
by Mike Lupica (Ages 9-12)
The story is about a boy in seventh grade who fails to make a travel basketball team and instead forms his own team, coached by his father, said Gina Mumaw, librarian at Arthur Hufnagel Public Library.
“As a library director, I am always looking for books that will get young boys more interested in reading,” Mumaw said. “Mike Lupica writes great stories pertaining to sports that are relevant to today’s structure of sports in our busy lives.”
She said the book is well written and recommended some of Lupica’s other books, including “Summer Ball,” “Heat,” “Too Far” and “Miracle on 49th Street.”
The Phantom Tollbooth
by Norton Juster (Ages 9-12)
The story is about a little boy who thinks everything is boring, said Jim Jensen, children’s librarian at Kaltreider-Benfer Library in Glen Rock. The little boy finds a tollbooth in his room, which takes him to another place, where he must complete a mission.
“It’s very timeless,” Jensen said. “It’s one of those books that you appreciate it when you first read it, but when you get older you see more layers.”
Autobiography of a Face
by Lucy Grealy (Teenagers to adults)
The novel is a memoir of a young girl whose battle with Ewing’s sarcoma — a type of cancer — robs her of a normal childhood and one-third of her jaw, said Lucinda Hogentogler, teacher at Central York High School. Grealy spends much of her teenage years battling the disease with radiation and chemotherapy.
“The message of this memoir exposes teens to a greater wisdom than the literary lesson,” Hogentogler said. “It is about the importance society puts on physical beauty. It isn’t written to make the reader feel guilt, pity or shame, but rather to rekindle the innocence of childhood when attention — for whatever reason, even illness — is cherished.”
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