Looking for something to do this summer? Open a book.
What better way to spend the day than seeking an adventure, or following a romance, or solving a mystery?
The Allen County Public Library has suggested the following books – they can be found at the library – as part of its summer reading program. The program offers kids prizes for reading. How great is that?
You can find out more about the program at the library or by going to www.acpl.lib.in.us/kids. The program ends July 27.
Now, let’s get reading.
•“Family Huddle” by Peyton Manning. Pile into the car with Eli, Peyton and their older brother, Cooper, for a trip to visit their grandparents. Their dad, former NFL star Archie Manning, is at the wheel with Olivia at his side. Eli, Peyton and Cooper joke around and play football at every opportunity.
•“Stuck” by Oliver Jeffers. Floyd’s kite is stuck in a tree and he wants it back. What would you do to try to get it down? Floyd tries throwing his shoe and it gets stuck. Of course he tries his other shoe, it, too, gets stuck. What else does Floyd try? Does it ever come down? Ages 3 to 6.
•“I Want My Hat Back” by Jon Klassen. The bear’s hat is gone, and he wants it back. Very politely, he asks the animals he sees whether they have seen it. They all say no, but just as bear is about to give up, a deer asks what it looks like. Bear is now on the trail to find his hat. Ages 6 to 8.
•“Duck! Rabbit!” by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. “Hey, look! A duck!” “That’s not a duck. That’s a rabbit!” It’s a duck! No, it is a rabbit. Which is it? Duck? Rabbit? Only you can tell. Ages 5 to 8.
• “Wonderstruck” by Brian Selznick. Ben loses his mother and longs for the father he has never known. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother’s room, he runs away to New York to find answers. Fifty years earlier Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, and she runs away to New York. Both are drawn to the American Museum of Natural History. It is there that they find the connections they are seeking. Ages 8 to 12.
•“The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman. While a highly motivated killer murders his family, a baby, ignorant of the horrific goings-on but bent on independence, pulls himself out of his crib and toddles out of the house and into the night. Ages 10 and up.
•“The Genius Files: Mission Unstoppable” by Dan Gutman. On an ordinary day, Coke, 12, and his twin sister, Pepsi, are chased along a cliff path by a man wearing a bowler hat and driving a golf cart. This is only the first of a series of events in which people, including their health teacher, try to kill them. Eventually they learn that after 9/11, a man who survived the attack at the Pentagon developed a plan, outlined in what came to be called The Genius Files project, to identify children who will solve the world’s problems. Ages 10 and up.
•“Amulet – Book Four: The Last Council” by Kazu Kibuishi. Top-notch anime where a reluctant heroine Emily and her motley crew of assorted humans, robots and animals go to the hidden cloud city of Cielis. There, she hopes to bring the Stonekeepers on the Guardian Council over to her cause but finds herself unwittingly lumped into a competition for a spot on the council. Ages 8 to 12.
•“The Unwanteds” by Lisa McMann. Thirteen-year-old Alex is judged by society to be an Unwanted and is sentenced to be cast into the Lake of Burning Oil, which is hidden behind a gate that is unlocked but once a year. Ages 9 and up.
•“When Life Gives You O.J.” by Erica S. Perl. Zelda Fried’s grandfather, Ace, comes up with the perfect plan to help convince her parents to get her the dog she so desperately wants: the 10-year-old will take care of a “practice dog” (actually an old orange juice jug), until they give in. Ages 8 to 12.
•“School of Fear” by Gitty Daneshvari. Madeleine Masterson is deathly afraid of bugs, especially spiders. Theodore Bartholomew is petrified of dying. Lulu Punchalower is scared of confined spaces. Garrison Feldman is terrified of deep water. With very few options left, the parents of these four 12-year-olds send them to the highly elusive and exclusive School of Fear to help them overcome their phobias. Ages 8 to 12.
•“A Tale of Dark and Grimm” by Adam Gidwitz. Want to know what really happened to Hansel and Gretel? Follow them through a forest brimming with menacing foes, as they learn the true story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses and outwitted witches. Ages 8 to 13.
•“The Clockwork Three” by Matthew J. Kirby. Three ordinary children are brought together by extraordinary events. Ages 8 to 12.
