Contributed
Reading is one of the best ways to spend a lazy summer day, and this list of recommended reads from the Surrey School
District is a great place to start.
In addition to capturing the imagination, reading helps students improve reading levels and literacy skills – without them even knowing it.
Recommended reads
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type
By Doreen Cronin
Kindergarten
Farmer Brown doesn’t have to guess how his cows are feeling – at least not since they found an typewriter and started leaving him notes listing their various demands.
The Circus Ship
By Chris Van Dusen
Ages 4-8
When a circus ship runs aground off the coast of Maine, the animals on board swim through chilly waters to a nearby island where their kind and gentle ways quickly endear them to the islanders. Their new friendships are beneficial when the heartless circus owner returns to take them back.
Wink: The Ninja who Wanted to be Noticed
By J.C. Phillips
Ages 4-8
Although ninjas should be silent and use stealth, Wink finds his enthusiasm gets him into trouble with his teacher until he finds the perfect way to express both traits. Winner of the Surrey Schools Picture Book of the Year contest.
How to Steal a Dog
By Barbara O’Connor
Ages 9-12
Georgina Hayes and her family are stuck living in their car after Georgina’s father left them and they were evicted from their apartment. Georgina thinks she has the solution to their troubles when she comes across a poster offering $500 for the return of a missing dog. Winner of the 2010/11 Surrey Schools Book of the Year contest.
Catching Fire
By Suzanne Collins
Teens
Second in the Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire follows Katniss and Peeta as they become the poster boys for a post-apocalyptic rebellion they never planned to lead. A Scholastic young adult science fiction novel.
City of Glass
By Cassandra Clare
Teens
The third installment in Clare’s Mortal
Instruments series. This time, Clary is on a mission to find the one person who knows how to wake her mother from a coma. A supernatural thriller with demons, vampires and werewolves.
Heist Society
By Ally Carter
Teens
Katarina Bishop’s parents have taken her around the world scamming and stealing their way through life. Kat tries to escape her criminal upbringing but has to do one last job in order to save her father.
Wintergirls
By Laurie Halse Anderson
Teens
Lia and Cassie are competing to see who can be the skinniest, but when Cassie doesn’t survive the contest, she haunts Lia’s thoughts, even as Lia continues to count calories and jean sizes during her descent into anorexia.
For more suggested reading, visit:
www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/teenreading/teenstopten/ttt10.cfm
www.fvrl.bc.ca/pdf/aa4k/AA4K_poster_100books_2010.pdf
www.teenrc.ca/aboutus
– Source: School District 36