Summer Reading List

One of my favorite childhood memories is summer and the oodles of time it offered for reading.  My mother would take me to a local bookstore named Paul's (who sadly had to close shortly after the arrival of chain bookstore) and we would get everything on the booklist that he had on the shelves.  She would also take me to the library where they kept the public school recommended reading list and I would supplement my list with those.  Hauling home the heavy package of crisp new books and my stack from the library was a taste of heaven on earth.  At my most intensive moments I could finish a book in a day and I would find nooks to retreat to, both inside and out, and just melt into the world contained within each book.

These days my reading time is found primarily during the week when I'm commuting and at night any time that may be left is spent reading to Winter.  It's really incredible to be able to revisit childhood favorites and discover new ones. I did start reading from day one with a book at night but now that Winter is getting older we go for longer periods as her interest increases.  There's an intimacy in these moments that continues to grow as her little hand grips mine and she stares intently at the page sometimes reaching out to explore it with her hands.  When she laughs at certain moments or smiles it feels like another window into learning who she is and its a thrill to see.  Now that the weather is nice I've tried to make an effort to change up our reading nest location by hauling a blanket and bag of books outdoors so that we can sit in the park nearby.
 
These are a few of the titles in our summer stack:

Me...Jane by Patrick McDonnell

Madeleine by Ludwig Bemelmans (haven't gotten into the ones co-authored yet)

Ladybug Girl series by Jacky Davis and David Soman

Fancy Nancy series by Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser

If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond


Baby Bug (magazine - comes every other month)

Any Caldecott winner

Mommy Hugs by Karen Katz

Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahey and Polly Dunbar

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood and Don Wood

Tingalayo by Raffi

My First Spanish Word Book by Angela Wilkes

Anything by Sandra Boynton