I might be the biggest nerd alive, but I used to love summer reading. I was one of the kids who never had enough to read (probably because my mom deprived me of television all summer) and summer reading was a good excuse to sit in the air conditioning and relax for hours.
Most summer reading books are straight off the shelves of the young adult section, though, and as a result they get a bad rap for being simplistic and cheesy. Oftentimes, however, the books on summer reading lists are the top of the line.
I was talking to a customer today who is a retired schoolteacher. She pointed out that many young adult books have a lot to offer readers of all ages. One such classic “summer reading book” is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. L’Engle is a prolific writer of young adult novels and Wrinkle is one of her most famous. Rarely does one book touch on so many topics; L’Engle somehow incorporates familial love and metaphysics into the same chapter. The book is on many middle school reading lists (and remains one of my favorites to this day). A few other classics include The Giver and Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, Bridge to Terebithia and Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Patterson, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and My Dog Skip and Good Old Boy by Willie Morris, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
If you have covered all the typical summer reading books, a newer one that I enjoyed reading this spring is The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. It is on the St. Andrew’s summer reading list for rising sixth graders and I absolutely loved it. I frequently read children’s books with a critical approach but I found myself sucked into this story. Mr. Benedict is the hero of this tale intent on putting together a team of children whose goal is to infiltrate a boarding school run by an evil genius. The evil genius uses children to accomplish his diabolical schemes and must be overthrown before he destroys humankind through telepathy. The book teaches about more than teamwork and strength- it is a story about overcoming a difficult past and moving forward as a person. This is at the top of my list for emerging children’s classics.
So that’s it. Come to Oz and check out our entire summer reading shelf!
-Nell
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