Kids' Summer Reading List

In honor of the long days of summer, I’ve compiled a short list of books (along with a personal opinion of ages they'd appeal to) to help chase away boredom and enrich your kids until school starts again.

10 Books Your Kids Should be Reading But Probably Aren’t: 

Beautiful Joe by Marshall Saunders: A charming chapter book where a dog narrates the story of his life in turn-of-the-century Maine.  It does have a decidedly Christian feel but it advocates kindness to all creatures.  This story is a must-read for animal lovers.  SUGGESTED AGE: 7-TWEEN 

The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde: In this short story by the famed humorist, an American family rents a haunted English manor and locks horns with its 400-year-old ghost.  It’s full of commentary on stuffy British society and rampant American consumerism, but the message is surprisingly sweet.  SUGGESTED AGE: 6-TEEN 

The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci, Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney: This adaptation of a Creole folktale does a wonderful job of conveying an important lesson on kindness amidst the magic that is rural Louisiana.  SUGGESTED AGE: 3-10 

The Red Room Riddle by Scott Corbett, Illustrated by Geff Gerlach: If your older child likes a good scare, this clever ghost story is the best.  A slightly bloody plot involving the biblical Slaughter of the Innocents, most of the action takes place in a small town in 1920s America.  Two boys trespass into a local haunted house on Halloween night and get the scare of their lives.  SUGGESTED AGE: 8-TEEN 

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros: Another great book for a slightly older set or a young advanced reader is this collection of short stories about a girl growing up in a rough Chicago neighborhood.  Slightly stream-of-consciousness and gorgeously poetic, this sad yet hopeful book will make your child want to be a writer.  SUGGESTED AGE: 8-TEEN 

D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths Written & Illustrated by Edgar and Ingri D’Aulaire: I spent many happy hours wandering through the pages of this book, engaged again and again by the colorful illustrations and classic stories.  Full of heroes, villains, gods and goddesses, it’s a necessary addition to any child’s bookshelf.  SUGGESTED AGE: 6-TWEEN 

Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm Written & Illustrated by Martin and Alice Provensen: Based on the authors’ experiences at their upstate New York farm, this book is a delightful respite for any city kid.  Including dogs, cats, horses, chickens, cows, sheep and goats as well as some touching commentary on animals that’ve passed on, this picture book feels like an idyllic day in the country.  SUGGESTED AGE: 3-10 

King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry, Drawings by Wesley Dennis: Marguerite Henry is the quintessential horse-story writer and this tale about the Godolphin Arabian (the ancestor of all champion Thoroughbred racehorses) is both suspenseful and heart-warming.  If your child loved Black Beauty, he’ll love the friendship between the stallion Sham and his stable boy Agba.  SUGGESTED AGE: 7-TWEEN 

The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo by Judy Blume: Most people know the coming-of-age tale Are You There, God: It’s Me, Margaret, but Judy Blume has a ton of other stories just as poignant and funny.  If you have a middle child, she NEEDS to read about how second-grader Freddy Dissel makes himself stand out when he’s normally overshadowed by his older brother and little sister.  SUGGESTED AGE: 3-7 

The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo, Illustrated by Ruth Heller: Every culture has a Cinderella story, and this is one of the best.  Based on the true tale of the Greek slave Rhodopis, a contemporary of the famous bard Aesop, its bright colors and lyrical writing pack quite a punch.  I loved it because Rhodopis’ pale skin and blonde hair made her an outcast among the dark eyes and caramel-colored skin of her Egyptian peers, a feeling I knew all too well growing up.  SUGGESTED AGE: 3-7

Baby Talk

My Husband and I are talking about getting pregnant.  As is customary for me, as soon as we began discussing it seriously I raced out to the library to get books about pregnancy.  I’ve always depended deeply on the research and opinions of experts (or at least people who have experienced an event I have not) and let’s face it…knowledge is reassuring.  Libraries even smell like safety. 

So far, I’ve read the following:

·         Before Your Pregnancy: a 90-Day Guide for Couples on How to Prepare for a Healthy Conception by Amy Ogle & Lisa Mazzullo

·         What to Expect Before You’re Expecting by Heidi Murkoff with Sharon Mazel

·         Perfect Hormone Balance for Fertility: The Ultimate Guide to Getting Pregnant by Robert Greene

·         Misconceptions: Truth, Lies and the Unexpected on the Journey to Motherhood by Naomi Wolf

·         Vaginas: an Owner’s Manual by Dr. Carol Livoti & Elizabeth Topp

I found Before Your Pregnancy and Perfect Hormone Balance to be informative but a little preachy about organic foods and living.  The latter has this whole section on “biomutagens” that reads like your baby will develop horns and a tail if you use hairspray or nail polish while pregnant.  I did learn why you should cut caffeine; not only can it constrict your blood vessels and diminish flow to the baby, but your baby can come out addicted to caffeine!  So they cry and cry because they want caffeine but they have no idea what it is.  That stuff’s like crack.

What to Expect has been the Bible for pregnancy for years.  It had some useful tidbits, but half the time I felt like I was being spoken to by that youth group pastor who’s trying desperately to be cool: “Now that you’re talking baby, will you have to say ‘later’ to your morning lattes—and ‘nighty-night’ to your nightcaps (p30)?”  Ummm…yes?  “Been trying for a few months to hit baby bingo, but without success (p120)?”  It’s like every sentence ends with a pause for a recorded laugh track.

Naomi Wolf’s Misconceptions was one of the most depressing books I’ve ever read.  It chronicles her issues of losing her sense of self after becoming a mother, her traumatic and detached Cesarean section and her post-partum depression.  She also harps on American culture and its response to motherhood, race and wealth.  Don’t get me wrong, all of her points are necessary to get a full spectrum of conception and birth in the United States (I’m sure she’s frightened plenty of women into opting out of motherhood) and it wasn’t information I found in any of my other books. 

For example, did you know it’s customary for doctors to slice the perineum (the space between the vulva and the anus) down to the muscle in order to make a wider outlet for the baby during labor?  It’s called an episiotomy.  They do it to prevent a tear during birth, even though most tears are superficial and much less drastic than the surgical cut.  Most of the time an episiotomy results in increased post-partum pain and bleeding, trouble defecating and severe issues with sexual function for up to SEVEN years (p170).  Wolf instead suggests women demand massage of the perineum with something like olive oil and a slow labor to permit the perineum to stretch accordingly.  In her book she mentions some celebratory midwives who ‘caught’ (a midwife’s term for delivering a baby) “an 11lb, 4oz baby girl over an intact perineum (p171)!”

I didn’t know any of this, and you can bet because of her book I’ll be doing A LOT more research.  But chapter after chapter of heartache and milk stains and lack of appropriate health care and support was extremely wearisome.  I guess it’s just one of those things…you have to take the bad with the good.

I loved Vaginas.  I really did.  It’s written by an Ob/Gyn and her daughter in a gossipy yet informative manner.  Kind of like your favorite teacher from high school who does lessons about phenethylamine by handing out chocolate.  I liked it so much I even read parts of it aloud to My Husband (he probably appreciated it less).  Considering most of my “sexual education” consisted of a seventh-grade video in which dozens of speedoed and swim-capped men flounder erratically in a swimming pool toward a sole serene woman in an inner tube, it was kind of nice to really start to understand the inner workings of my body. 

(To be fair, my mother showed my sisters and me a video about puberty around the same time.  I had gotten the original “talk” from her years before…I was six years old…because a local boy my age had been molested by his dentist and I asked her curiously one evening what rape was.  All I remember from these discussions was thinking the whole idea of coming-of-age and conception was disgusting and I wanted nothing to do with it).

So my research continues.  I have a few more books I’d like to look up, but the REAL verdict about a baby is still to come.  I’ll never find that on a library shelf.