Book Annotations

Here are a few annotations for some books suggested for our Summer Reading Program. Please do not feel that these books are preferred or required simply because they are annotated. Students should feel free to read books by the suggested authors or in the genres or content areas that interest them.

In-Coming Kindergarteners

Choose any book by Norman Bridwell such as:
Clifford: the Big Red Dog : Emily Elizabeth tells the pros and cons of having a big red dog like Clifford for a pet.
Clifford the Small Red Puppy : Emily Elizabeth tells how Clifford, a small red puppy grows up to be a big, red dog.
Clifford’s First School Day: As a small puppy, Clifford the red dog goes to school with Emily Elizabeth and gets into trouble during the events of the day.

Choose any book by Pat Hutchins such as:
Ten Red Apples: In rhyming verse, animals neigh, moo, oink, and quack as each eats a red apple from the farmer’s tree.
Titch: Titch feels less left out as the smaller sibling when he plants a tiny seed that out grows his brother’s and sister’s plants.

Rising First Graders

Choose any book by Jan Brett such as:
The Hat: Lisa hangs her woolen clothes in the sun to get them ready for winter and a curious hedgehog gets a sock stuck on his head to the great amusement of the other forest animals.
Gingerbread Baby: A boy and his mother bake a gingerbread baby that escapes from their oven and leads a crowd, hoping to eat it, on a wild chase.

Read any book by Donald Crews such as:
Freight Train: The story of a colorful train as it journeys over the land.
School Bus: Records the day of a school bus as it brings students to school and home again.

Choose any story by Leo Lionni such as:
Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse: Alexander, a real mouse, makes friends with Willy, a toy mouse and wants to be exactly like Willy until he discovers some important news.
Frederick: What Frederick, the mouse poet, stores up for winter is just as important as the food the other mice have gathered.

Rising Second Graders  

Choose any book by Ann Cameron such as:
The Stories Julian Tells: The story of seven year old Julius as he plants a garden, tries to grow taller, loses a tooth and gets in trouble with Huey, his younger brother.
The Stories Huey Tells: Related episodes where Huey creates banana spaghetti, tracks animals and leaves on a trip to Africa.

Read any book by Cynthia Rylant such as:
The Henry and Mudge series, where Henry and his dog Mudge have interesting adventures;
The High-Rise Private Eyes series, where animal detectives solve mysterious cases; or
The Mr. Putter and Tabby series where Mr. Tabby and his cat Tabby have adventures in their neighborhood.

Select any book by Kevin Henkes such as:
Sheila Rae the Brave: Sheila thinks she is braver than her little sister until the day they get lost.
Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse: Lily loves her purse and her teacher until one day when the quarters in her purse cause her teacher to become upset.

Rising Third Graders

Choose any book by Mary Pope Osborne such as:
The Magic Tree House series where Jack and Annie take a magic tree house on dangerous adventures back in time or to far away places.

Select any book by Steven Kellogg such as:
The Pinkerton series where Pinkerton, a large dog, gets into more than his share of trouble.

Choose any book by Beverly Cleary such as:
Muggie Maggie: Maggie refuses to learn cursive writing in the third grade until she realizes the benefits of this new skill.
Beezus and Ramona: Four year-old Ramona has an imagination that tries the patience of everyone around her, especially her older sister, Beezus.

Rising Fourth Graders

Select any book by Paula Danzinger such as:
I, Amber Brown: Amber Brown feels like a piece of property jointly owned by her divorced parents.
Amber Brown is Not a Crayon: Third grade is a sad year for Amber because her best friend Justin is moving to another state.

Choose any book by Dan Greenburg such as:
This Body’s Not Big Enough for the Both of Us: Queen Victoria‘s ghost occupies Zack’s body with humorous results.
Just Add Water-- and Scream!: Zack, his dad and Spencer fight to save the world from a package of freeze dried spores purchased at an air and space museum.
The Day Everything Tasted Like Broccoli: It is eleven-year-old superhero Max Silver’s job to stop the evil Tastemaker from giving the world indigestion.

Rising Fifth Graders

Select any book by Andrew Clements such as:
The Landry News: a Brand New School Story: A fifth grade student starts a newspaper with an editorial that inspires her burnt-out teacher to really begin teaching again.
Room One: a Mystery or Two: Tom Hammond, the only sixth grader in his small Nebraska town’s one-room school house, tries to help a homeless family in distress.

Select any book by Roald Dahl such as:
Matilda: Matilda uses her mental powers to rid her school of the evil, child-hating headmistress and restore her sweet teacher, Miss Honey, to financial security.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Five children, lucky enough to hold a winning ticket, spend the day in the mysterious Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory with varying degrees of success.