Whether you’re looking for a fun read to end the year or are trying to inspire your students to spend their time on more than video games, here are a few great books to try.
Picture Books
The Night Before Summer Vacation by Natasha Wing
A little girl and her family are getting ready to go on vacation . . . or at least they are trying to. In the effort to pack everything that will be needed, there’s bound to be something overlooked, and what that is provides a funny ending to this meter-perfect “twist” on Clement Moore’s classic.
Weslandia by Paul Fleischman
A great read to inspire your students to use their imagination over the summer.
School is over and Wesley needs a summer project. Having learned that every civilization has a staple food crop, he decides to plant a garden and start his own — civilization, that is. He turns over a plot of earth in his yard, and plants begin to grow. Soon they tower above him and bear a curious-looking fruit. As Wesley experiments, he discovers that the plant will provide food, clothing, shelter, and even recreation. It isn’t long before neighbors and classmates have developed more than an idle curiosity about Wesley and exactly how he is spending his summer vacation. Enter the witty, intriguing world of Weslandia.
Last Day Blues by Julie Danneberg
Clearly, when teachers miss their students over the summer they read their old lesson plans for fun, right? That’s what these students think, at least!
Fans of First Day Jitters will love spending the last day of school in Mrs. Hartwell classroom. What do teachers do for summer vacation? Mrs. Hartwell’s students worry that their teacher will miss them while they are gone for the summer. The class comes up with a way to make sure Mrs. Hartwell won’t be too sad. But Mrs. Hartwell and the other teachers have some plans of their own.
Once again Julie Danneberg and Judy Love bring to life the crazy antics of Mrs. Hartwell and her class and show that teachers and students are more alike than we sometimes think.
The Last Day of School by Louise Borden
A good book for discussing the transition into the following school year with a new class and new teacher.
The school year is coming to an end, and everyone at Albert E. Chapman Elementary School is counting down, including Mrs. Mallory’s third grade class. In the last weeks of school there is much to be done, from putting away supplies to cleaning out desks to finding a summer home for the class pet, Rhoda.
Now — finally — the last day is here! Matthew Perez, one of Mrs. Mallory’s students, has a perfect good-bye gift for his teacher, and he can’t wait to give it to her. But when is the right time? Not in the morning when other kids are giving their gifts. Not during the last day fun of kickball and ice-cream treats. Will Matt get his chance before the school day is over?
And Then Comes Summer by Tom Brenner
If you’re looking for a picture book to encourage a discussion about what your students are doing over the summer, try this one!
When the days stretch out like a slow yawn, and the cheerful faces of Johnny-jump-ups jump up . . . then it’s time to get ready for summer! From flip-flops and hide-and-seek to fireworks and ice-cream trucks, from lemonade stands and late bedtimes to swimming in the lake and toasting marshmallows, there’s something for everyone in this bright and buoyant celebration of the sunny season. Tom Brenner’s lovely, lyrical ode to summers spent outdoors will strike a chord with anyone who’s ever counted down the days until school gets out, and Jaime Kim’s jubilant, nostalgia-soaked illustrations leave little doubt that summer is indeed a time unlike any other.
A Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech
Every student’s worst nightmare! School all year round! It could be fun to get your principal in on this and pull a prank on the students so that they think it’s really happening to them!
School is fine, fine, fine—but not all the time!
Mr. Keene is a principal who loves his school. And he’s lucky enough to have students who love school, too. But is there such a thing as too much school? School on Saturday, school on holidays, school every day of the year? It’s up to Tillie and her classmates to show their well-intentioned principal that even though his fine, fine school is a wonderful place, it’s important to have time for fun too.
The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers by Lisa Campbell Ernst
If you’re looking to mimic the chaos that occurs at the end of the school year with a fun and engaging read, this one might be for you!
The lonely old woman and the lonely old man decide to bake a girl this time, but when they open the oven, she runs off like her brother did. Never fear, this smart cookie has a plan to outfox the fox. Will it work? Let’s just say that the ending is sweet for everyone.
Middle Grade
Here in the Real World by Sara Pennypacker
Another great read about using your imagination over summer vacation, but middle grade this time!
Summer rec? More like summer wrecked.
Ware can’t wait to spend summer swimming, dreaming, and generally being left alone. But then his parents—who worry Ware is too often off in his own world—sign him up for dreaded rec camp, where he must endure Meaningful Social Interaction and whatever activities so-called “normal” kids do.
On his first day Ware meets Jolene, a tough, secretive girl planting a garden in the rubble of an abandoned church next to the camp. Soon he starts skipping rec and spends hours a day there, creating a castle-like space of his own. Jolene scoffs, saying that he doesn’t live in the “real world” like she does. But as different as Ware and Jolene are, they have one thing in common: for them the lot is a refuge where they can build their dreams.
Then, when their special place is threatened, Ware can’t imagine giving it up. But what can two kids do? Maybe the qualities that make Ware and Jolene different are exactly what they need…
Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
Jack Gantos is grounded for the summer, but who new typewriting obituaries of his town could be so fun!
Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is “grounded for life” by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jack’s way once his mom loans him out to help a feisty old neighbor with a most unusual chore–typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his utopian town. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launched on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a man on a trike, a dancing plague, voices from the past, Hells Angels . . . and possibly murder.
Your Library Cart 