Summer Reading Recommendations

Now that summer is upon us I know you've all got lots of time on your hands for reading! Here are just a few summery books you might enjoy at home, at the beach or on vacation:

Swimming with Sharks by Twig C. George

No TV, no friends, and a grandfather stuggling with retirement from marine biology - Sarah's sure her stay in the Floriday Keys will be the most boring summer of her life. That is, until she begins to take notice of the unusual-looking fish that visits her grandparents' dock every day. When Sarah discovers she's befriended a baby lemon shark, her fascination with sharks takes root. Before long, Sarah and her grandfather are inseparable as they spend hours tracking, observing, and swimming with sharks.


Truly Winnie by Jennifer Richard Jacobson

It's off to camp for Winnie: sunny days of rock climbing, cascading down slippery falls, floating in a cool lake - and meeting a fasinating new friend. Winnie can't remember ever having more fun. But in the midst of the excitement, Winnie discovers how complicated life can get, too, as she watches one fib tumble mysteriously and rapidly into the next not-so-little lie.




Agnes Parker...Happy Camper? by Kathleen O'Dell

The first thing Agnes Parker and her best friend Prejean learn at science camp is that they won't be sharing the same cabin. Being apart, Agnes gets an earful of what others think of Prejean, calling her "Supermodel of the World" and making comments about how beautiful and exotic her longtime friend is. All Agnes can think is: Good-old-squirts-milk-out-of-her-nose-when-she-laughs Prejean...a beauty queen? What if she starts acting like one? And then something happens that makes Agnes wonder: Has she started already? This is the sequel to Agnes Parker...Girl in Progress.


The Exiles by Hilary McKay

Nothing Ever happened in their family. The four sisters - Ruth, Naomi, Rachel, and Phoebe, ranging in age from thirteen to six - knew that they were faced with another boring summer at home when school ended in a week. They were quite unprepared for the horrid truth. They were being sent instead to spend the summer with their formidable grandmother, known at Big Grandma. Big Grandma was larger than life. She was tall and she ate a lot. She gave orders like a drill sergeant. Big Grandma believed that her book-loving granddaughters were lazy and in need of fresh air and hard work. The girls had other ideas, and when every available scrap of reading material had been devoured, they set out in search of alternate entertainment. If Big Grandma thought she could reform her wayward granddaughters, she was mistaken.

Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn

Just before summer begins, thirteen-year-old Ali finds an old photograph in the attic. She recognizes the two children in it as her mother and Aunt Dulcie...but who's the third person, the one who's been torn out of the picture? Ali figures she'll have the next few months to find out - she'll be up in Maine with Dulcie and her four-year-old daughter, Emma, in the house where Dulcie and Mom used to vacation with their parents. But all hopes for a relaxing summer are quashed shortly after their arrival, when Ali and Emma meet Sissy, a prickly girl whose moods are as changeable as the Maine weather. Sissy is mean and spiteful, and a bad influence on Emma. Strangest of all, Sissy keeps talking about a girl named Teresa who drowned under mysterious circumstances when Ali's mother and aunt were kids. This book is a 2009 Rhode Island Children's Book Award nominee.

Summer Reading is Killing Me! by Jon Scieszka

Summertime. No more classes. No more books. No more...even getting near a book. At least that was Fred, Sam, and Joe's original plan. Too bad someone stuck the summer reading list inside The Book. Now our trio finds themselves in Hoboken with a 266-pound chicken, Peter Rabbit, the Headless Horseman, and every other character from every book on the summer reading list. Can the guys find The Book? Foil the diabolical plan of evil characters? Get everyone back in their own book? The only thing that's certain in the Time Warp Trio's strangest adventure yet is what some kids have always known: summer reading can be a real killer. Part of the Time Warp Trio series.