What Are Your Kids Reading This Summer?

You could suggest Nancy Drew and Boxcar Children to her. You always want your child to read at an instructional level-meaning a level that is interesting, appropriately challenging, but not frustrating. Give her this little test to try called the five finger rule. Flip to a page in any book. Read a paragraph from that page. For each word she comes to that she does not recognize or cannot sound out, put up one finger. If by the end of the paragraph, she hasn't raised any fingers-the book is most likely too easy. If all fingers are raised then the book is most likely too hard for her yet, but if she only has 2 or 3 fingers raised then it is a just right book! If books are too challenging for her and she still wants to read them, then just read them aloud to her or get it on tape/cd. Even just listening to stories will help her with her own reading skills because you will be introducing rich vocabulary as well as great literature too. I liked Nancy Drew as well and the Little House on the Prairie books and look forward to reading them with my kids. They are 2 and 3, so for now we are just making a weekly trip to the library. I also strongly suggest joining the summer reading program if your library offers one. They usually have a lot of fun activities and prizes for the kids-and parents! Hope this helps!
A.

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here are a few of the books my 6 year old son has read. He tends to read level 2 books at home and level 3 books at camp (I need to go get him level 3 books for home)

a hippopotamus ate the teacher
when the earth wakes
a dozen dogs
100th day of school
scaredy cats
Flying
Beyblade shark
friends forever
Cooking Partners
mad dog
the big race
PJ Funnybunny
Biscuit Visits the Big City
The Only Lonely Dog
Shark vs Train
The Big Chick
In the Wild

for your older child, check out the Magic Treehouse series. GREAT stories and fast reads. If you're 6 year old can read level 2 books, she'll be able to read bits and pieces of the books too.

I love all the Ramona books too. they're longer and a bit higher level than the treehouse books.

Yes, we're huge fans of the library too. you might also do a book swap with friends with kids of similar age. great way to get rid of books you no longer read and get new ones.

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Greg is 11 and reading the Titan series - the Percy Jackson story...

Nicky loves Diary of a Wimpy Kid!

They both love Captain Underpants too!!

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Try to stick with books that are closer to them, until they are a little older. Reading & vocab go hand in hand. Nancy Drew is a far leap from Fancy Nancy.
Ramona Quimby, age 8. Has the Newberry award.
Clementine by Sara Pennypacker
Judy Moody

Have you heard the rule of 5? If they don't know 5 words on the page the book is supposed be mean it is too hard. If they can read the words, It doesn't mean the story isn't too in depth or the settings too boring for them to loose interest in the book.

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I loved boxcar children, my kids never got into it. Junie B. Jones? Annoying for parents, little girls love it. The Ramona series? Too hard for them, but you can read it to them! There are series about animals, ponies, dolphins, whatever they are into. Can't think of the name of the series, but your library should know. My kids started Harry Potter at 5 & 8 (me reading to the 5yo) but they do get intense, especially the last half of the series.

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My 7 yo LOVES Junie B Jones. There is an entire series on her. She also is getting into the Magic Tree House series and there is an Ivy and Bean series I have heard good things about. Also Amber Brown by Paula Danzinger is good for this age. At 7 or 8 (my daughter is almost 8 and is going into 2nd grade) they are starting to like chapter books. she likes Amelia Bedelia also.

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The Magic Treehouse series! My son loved it & hated when his reading level boosted above the series. Since he couldn't read them for points at school, the next summer that's all he read! He's almost 15 now & still wants to keep a stack of them "for his kids".....too funny!

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My daughter is 8 and in the past few months kicked up her reading (she loves to read every day, I love seeing it! :-) She read through all the Magic Treehouse books and the A to Z mysteries. She is currently reading the Jigsaw Jones mysteries and the different American girl books (Meet Kaya, Meet Kit, etc.). We recently read the Phantom Tollbooth together, and she started The Secret Garden (though that one is a little harder for her to get through). Both my daughter and son also love Captain Underpants and anything else by Dav Pilkey. Oh, and my daughter also read all the Fudge books by Judy Blume (Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge, etc.). Have fun!

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My son loves captain underpants, nate the great, peanuts comics, goosebumps. He doesn't really like nancy drew, hardy boys or boxcar, simply because they have no pictures - he is 8 and still likes some illustrations.
He absolutely LOVEs horrid henry books, they are British and very very funny.
Of course all of these are gross and boyish!

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My girls are both 5, and instead of the nightly bedtime story being a kid book with pictures, I started to read the Little House on the Prarie books (from when i was a little girl) and they are very facscinated on how people lived back then and they compare to how we do things now. Be ready for lots of questions!

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Young - yes, my daughter loved the Boxcar kids. As a gentle little girl, she loved stories about girls - Mandy, Caddie Woodlawn, Little House on the Prairie Series... This might give you suggestions, at least for your daughter (and some for your son): http://astore.amazon.com/itsnome-20?_encoding=UTF8&no...

We got many of these from the library. My daughter liked the bigger print that was in the hardcover books.

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My 3 yr old is into Clifford this summer. We have about 10 checked out from the library.

But I also introduced him to Llama Llama Red Pajama and the others in the same series. He likes the rhyming in those books.

My only thought on the Nancy Drew (which I loved as a kiddo) would be to check one out and give it a try. Tell your daughter ahead of time that if it's too confusing or too many hard words, that it's okay for her to change books mid-way thru the book. Tell her that you've done that with a few books that you started and just didn't like, so didn't finish. I think it's okay to not finish a book if indeed you are just reading for pleasure (if it's an assignment, that's different ).

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IMO it's a bit early for the regular Nancy Drew books but there's actually now a couple Nancy Drew series designed for younger readers - the Nancy Drew Notebooks and Nancy Drew Clue Crew books (in which an elementary-school age Nancy tackles challenges like the case of the missing party invitations - some plot synopses here: http://nancy-drew.mysterynet.com/nancydrew/grownups/books.... You could try introducing her to the American Girl books (they have the "history mysteries" if your 7YO likes mysteries), and I think my DDs started reading the Little House books at about 7YO. Magic Treehouse is also great for that age, and the A to Z Mysteries, Calendar Mysteries, and Capitol Mysteries by Ron Roy. Berenstein Bears chapter books would probably be fun and age appropriate also.

My DDs are 9YO and are voracious bookworks too. DD1 prefers nonfiction and historical fiction (reading a lot of "Dear America" and "Royal Diaries" books and several books by Yoshiko Uchida about Japanese-Americans during the Depression and WW2), DD2 prefers fantasy fiction (favorite series include Erin Hunter's Warrior Cat books, Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, the 39 Clues - finished all 11 within less than a month!, several Roald Dahl books, the Molly Moon books by Georgia Byng, the Charlie Bone books by Jennie Nimmo, I'm sure I'm forgetting a few b/c I can't keep up with her)

Public Libraries rock!!!!! We <3 our library :-)

edited to add: both my DDs loved Trenton Lee Stewart's "Mysterious Benedict Society" books and Grace Lin's "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon"

edited again to add: the various "Rainbow Magic" fairy books by Daisy Meadows are also popular with 1st-3rd grade girls (even though IMO it's the same plot recycled over and over again in a gazillion different serieses - they've got weather fairies, holiday fairies, pet fairies, musical instrument fairies

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Do your kids do the AR program at school? If so, the school website might have some recommended book lists by age.

Right now, my so is SO burned out from the AR school program that he is NOT reading. Odd, huh? Wondering if "forced" reading by schools is counter-productive....

Anyway, so I'm not pushing it. He reads on the internet about his current "interests" (WWII planes, certain athletes) and leafs through adult coffee table books on similar topics that catch his eye....but right now there are no kids books he's reading.

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My son is 9 and reading The Hobbit. So far he is liking it more than Harry Potter which I wouldn't think was possible. Next he will do the Lord of the Rings Trilogy which I am going to read along with him. This is how we did it with Harry Potter and it was so much fun-we had our own little book club! Then afterwards we watched the movies together. I highly suggest this for moms of boys as a way to really bond with them.

R.-I bet your girls would like the Little House on the Prairie series. My son had to read them in second grade in class and he loved them. You can then get the movie afterwards. (They may be a 'little' young for this now but something to keep in mind)

I would also try Judy Moody. And Charlotte's Web.

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I have no clue what the teenagers are reading right now...we are a bunch of bookworms also and all of us always has at least 1 book going on, some of us (I can not do this) read 2 books at the same time...

My 7y/o (will be 8 in Oct.) is into his 2nd week of reading 'The Hobbit'....and he is on page 26 :)

~He really wanted to try it, I thought it was gonna be too hard for him and I still think that but no harm in letting him try, right? His Dad and his older brothers all liked that book and have been quizzing him daily on how much he is actually comprehending and they all claim he is doing great?! IDK? I have never read it...

I was a voracious reader, but didn't start the Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden mysteries until 3rd grade. Beverly Cleary books are great (Ralph S Mouse, Ramona, etc)

My 7 year old daughter loves the Magic Tree House series.

Probably more for boys, but the Hank Zipzer series are entertaining to my 9 year old grandson. They're by Henry Winkler.

I haven't read the other comments, so I apologize if duplicating.

I have started reading my 5 year old Bobsey twins, Charlotte's Web, etc. We haven't started on the Babysitter's Club yet (figured I would wait until she was about 8 since some of the topics in there are a bit heavy for a 5 year old...diagnosed with diabetes, grandmother dying, etc). I can't wait to start her on Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. I preferred the Hardy Boys over Nancy Drew personally, but to each their own.

I don't think that Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys/Boxcar Children/etc would be over her head. Some other suggestions, Yours Mine and Ours, The Middle Moffat, anything by Judy Blume, Roald Dahl, etc

Cam Jensen, Encyclopedia Brown, Choose your own adventure were some of my favorites as well

If they are reading Fancy nancy and Dr Suess picture books, Then i think Nancy Drew would be to mature.

Magic Tree house is great.

A to Z mysteries is probably on level with Diary of a wimpy kid for your older one and the companions to that Calendar Mysteries might work for your younger one. Ron Roy is the author.

My kids love the Puppy Place books by Ellen Miles and there is a series of books about fairies, Rainbow fairies, Weather fairies, party fairies pet fairies etc.

happy reading. I would check with your librarian or you teacher if you can still contact her/him.

My daughter is 16 and going to be a Junior in English III AP. School starts on August 22 and she has a test that week on The Scarlett Letter so that is what she's reading right now!

Other than that, we both read a series which started with Beach Blondes and it was a good series we both enjoyed.

We also both enjoyed all the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series as well.

Have fun reading!!

My 11 year old daughter loved reading the Geronimo Stilton books and Magic Treehouse books, and she enjoyed the American Girl books. She is currently reading the Sisters Grimm books.

My 7 year old son is reading the Dripping Fang Forest series. It's pretty entertaining, and my 13 year old is reading . . .

Dante's Inferno! I was so surprised that he chose that to read for the summer, but he wants to read the Divine Comedy, and he's working through the Inferno right now. He really likes it, and we discuss it each night. I teach English, but I've never read the whole thing. I use excerpts from the Inferno when I'm teaching Paradise Lost.

It's so much fun having a family of readers! Enjoy reading with your children and encourage reading as much as you can! :)