Reading is a great way to combat learning loss during the summer, as well as to feed your mind and enrich your life. What books do you recommend for children and adults this summer?
For more information on summer learning loss, please see my post here: http://willbrownsberger.com/keeping-academic-skills-fresh-in-the-summer-months-summer-reading-and-beyond/
Anne Johnson Landry
Committee Counsel and Policy Advisor
Office of State Senator William N. Brownsberger
I would suggest books on nature that would encourage kids to explore the summer world of nature, and to care about how we treat it and what happens to it.
Some of my favorite books include:
-A Thousand Splendid Sons by Khaled Hosseini
-The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
-The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
-The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
I feel as though these four books offer different perspectives on life and are all extremely inspiring. I would definitely recommend them for a good read!
I would recommended:
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
These books are more suited for an older audience, but I think they will find them thought-provoking and informative.
Some of Senator Brownsberger’s staff’s favorites include the following:
CHILDREN/YOUNG ADULT
Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maude Montgomery
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
A Wrinkle in Time series by Madeleine L’Engle
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper
The Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Matilda by Roald Dahl
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
City of Ember by Jeanne DuPraul
The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Silverwing, Sunwing, and Firewing: a trilogy by Kenneth Oppel
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Poppy and Rye by Avi
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
My Father’s Dragon, Elmer and the Dragon, and The Dragons of Blueland: a trilogy by Ruth Stiles Gannett
Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling C. Holling
The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico
ADULT
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
City of Thieves by David Benioff
Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
The Sunday Philosophy Club series by Alexander McCall Smith
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin
Moloka’i by Alan Brennert
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Crombie
Nemesis by Jo Nesbo
Munster’s Case by Hakan Nesser
The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jossi Adla Olsen
The Preacher by Camilla Lackberg
The Condemnation of Little B by Elaine Brown
Martin & Malcolm & America by James Cone
The Power of the Powerless by Christopher de Vinck
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy
Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Straight Man by Richard Russo
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
A Boys Life by Tobias Wolff
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Walking Drum by Louis L’Amour
Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brien
NPR has compiled a list of “100 Must-Reads For Kids 9-14”: http://www.npr.org/2013/08/05/207315023/the-ultimate-backseat-bookshelf-100-must-reads-for-kids-9-14?utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130805.