Summer Reading Lists

Yep, even though it’s only 20 degrees outside with a 13 inches of snow, we’re already thinking about the summer time, here in my library.  And one of the first projects on my to-do list is to update our in-house summer reading suggestions for grade levels.  Our school librarians do a great job of creating a new list each summer for each of the grades, but with only 25 books on the list, we need to supplement the list a little more in order to provide suggestions to all the kids coming into the library.  And it never hurts to have a list on hand when there’s a long line of questions or for staff not familiar with reader’s advisory.  So, we’re updating our reading suggestions – 35 books for each grade (Kindergarten & 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th, and of course 7th & 8th) all published within the last five years.  We want to provide the kids with great new literature that they may not be familiar with – no Percy Jackson, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, or Magic Treehouse on these lists!  The most difficult part is finding books that fit into each grade level – kids read at a variety of levels, so we make a concerted effort to not only provide a wide range of genres and topics, but also level.  We try and include some graphic novels and informational text as well to reach as many kids as possible!

I’ve been assigned 4th grade and 7th & 8th.  I don’t think I’ll have anything to worry about for the older kids, but I always seem to be a little stumped when it comes to older elementary school.  I’m not sure why, I read tons of literature, but I never seem to be able to pull out those suggestions when put on the spot.  Hopefully, working on this list will force me to remember all the books I’ve read over the past few years.

I also just recently created genre lists that include books for older elementary school-age as well as middle school, hoping that if a student has a specific genre request, we can more easily help them find something they will like.  I focused more on our backlist for these titles, hoping to be able to suggest a number of books that will actually be on the shelf.

In the end, I’d prefer kids to be able to browse and find something they like, but that can be intimidating, especially when you’re unfamiliar with the way the library is set up.  If I can offer some great suggestions and allow kids to choose from a smaller number of books, then so be it!  I just want to see kids reading books for fun and that they enjoy.  Wish me luck as I continue on my quest for great books for 4th graders!