Summertime Reading List

牧马人

Summertime... and the Reading is Easy   



That's because summer reading should be an adventure, a journey, a voyage of discovery that is above all else fun.

For the first time in the six years that KidsPost has been holding a Summer Book Club, we asked readers to nominate the books in the club. We received suggestions from more than 450 readers, which made it really hard to choose just ten books. (So, in addition to a featured book each week, we'll also highlight other reader favorites!)

We hope you'll take a summer reading journey with us. We'll be traveling aboard an 18th-century vessel as it is about to be shipwrecked; to the canals of Venice, Italy; and to a city built entirely underground.

Happy reading, everybody!


Full Book List and Excerpts


WEEK 1

"My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

Every kid has considered running away from home--in this book, Sam Gribley actually does it. He winds up in the Catskill Mountains of New York where he must learn to survive in the wilderness. Ages 8 and up.

Excerpt:  Chapter 2

In Which I Get Started on This Venture

I left New York in May. I had a penknife, a ball of cord, an ax, and $40, which I had saved from selling magazine subscriptions. I also had some flint and steel which I had bought at a Chinese store in the city. The man in the store had showed me how to use it. He had also given me a little purse to put it in, and some tinder to catch the sparks. He had told me that if I ran out of tinder, I should burn cloth, and use the charred ashes.

I thanked him and said, "This is the kind of thing I am not going to forget."

On the train north to the Catskills I unwrapped my flint and steel and practiced hitting them together to make sparks. On the wrapping paper I made these notes.

"A hard brisk strike is best. Remember to hold the steel in the left hand and the flint in the right, and hit the steel with the flint.

"The trouble is the sparks go every which way."

And that was the trouble. I did not get a fire going that night, and as I mentioned, this was a scary experience.

I hitched a ride into the Catskill Mountains. At about four o'clock a truck driver and I passed through a beautiful dark hemlock forest, and I said to him, "This is as far as I am going."

He looked all around and said, "You live here?"

"No," I said, "but I am running away from home, and this is just the kind of forest I have always dreamed I would run to. I think I'll camp here tonight." I hopped out of the cab.

"Hey, boy," the driver shouted. "Are you serious?"

"Sure," I said.

"Well, now, ain't that sumpin'? You know, when I was your age, I did the same thing. Only thing was, I was a farm boy and ran to the city, and you're a city boy running to the woods. I was scared of the city -- do you think you'll be scared of the woods?"

"Heck, no!" I shouted loudly.

As I marched into the cool shadowy woods, I heard the driver call to me, "I'll be back in the morning, if you want to ride home."

He laughed. Everybody laughed at me. Even Dad. I told Dad that I was going to run away to Great-grandfather Gribley's land. He had roared with laughter and told me about the time he had run away from home. He got on a boat headed for Singapore, but when the whistle blew for departure, he was down the gangplank and home in bed before anyone knew he was gone. Then he told me, "Sure, go try it. Every boy should try it.