Book clubs are a wonderful way to foster love of reading and sharpen literacy skills over the summer. It’s important to have engaging books and thoughtful resources that help learners reflect on what they’ve read—without turning a fun experience into a homework assignment.
Our friends at Vocabulary.com have compiled an eclectic collection of books that will interest students of all ages. In addition, Education.com offers resources that ensure children digest what they’ve read, boost comprehension skills, and fight summer learning loss. So, partner your child with a reading buddy and get a jump start on next year with the following summer reading list and resources!
Education.com reading resources
Children can use these resources to think about what they’ve read and hone their writing skills:
100 Books Project – PreK
In this activity, your child will reflect on what they’ve read by illustrating a chart of miniature book covers. The exercise will allow your learner to celebrate achieving literacy goals and visualize what they’ve read, and inspire them to re-read one of their favorite novels!
My Book Report – Grades 1-2
Children use this creative book report template to write about their favorite character, the plot, a favorite quote, and draw their favorite scene, to meaningfully engage with what they’ve read.
Book or Character Mind Map – Grades 3-4
Learners create a mind map by writing about conflicts, character traits, settings, or other things they loved about a book or character. Mind maps are an important part of the prewriting and planning process, and are also a great way to boost fiction comprehension skills in young learners.
Book Facts – Grades 5-6
Readers will always have their facts straight after using this worksheet. Children create a fact file consisting of the elements of a book such as the title, genre, and number of pages.
The Main Event – Grade 5 and up
In this worksheet, learners examine the main events of each book, summarize them in a sentence, then draw a picture of each event.
Summer book list
If books are the training weights of the mind, your readers will enter next year stronger than ever after diving into this summer reading list, curated by Vocabulary.com:
Summer Reading for Ages 3-6
Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl: The fantastic Mr. Fox hatches a clever plan to outwit three mean farmers in this children’s book!
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien: A mouse and her children are forced to move after a farmer decides to plow their home, but an intelligent breed of rats come to the rescue!
Pelé, The King of Soccer by Eddy Simon and Vincent Brascaglia: This biography, told in graphic form, explores the life of the world-renowned Brazilian soccer player.
Summer Reading for Ages 7-8
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai: Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, tells an incredible story of her fight for the right to an education in this beautifully written memoir.
Holes by Louis Sachar: Stanley Yelnats is sent to a juvenile detention center where inmates spend their days digging holes, but the children soon suspect authorities are using them to find something under the dried lake.
Books for Advanced Readers
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat: This book tells the incredible true story of a soccer team’s escape from a cave in northern Thailand after it was flooded.
The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed: Following the events of the 1992 Rodney King uprising, a teenager confronts family turmoil and prejudice in her Los Angeles community throughout this coming of age novel.
A Place to Belong by Cynthia Kadohata: During World War II, many Japanese-Americans were unjustly imprisoned in internment camps. This book tells the story of a family who emigrated to Japan to build a new life after being interned in America, but struggle adapting to an unfamiliar country.
Beloved by Toni Morrison: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Morrison’s novel tells the story of a formerly enslaved woman who is haunted by her past.
