Articles on the Web
Rx for Summer Learning Loss: Read!
Book Recommendations for Kids – From Tots to Teens
Summer reading is a great way for kids to keep their skills sharp. With that goal in mind, we offer the following selection of top children’s books published within the last 12 months. They’re recommended by The Horn Book (www.hbook.com), which has reviewed children’s and young adult literature for more than 80 years.
Reprinted by permission of The Horn Book. To sign up for The Horn Book’s free monthly e-newsletter for parents, visit www.hbook.com/newsletter/index.html.
Click a Kids’ Book Category:
Birds
by Kevin Henkes, illustrated by Laura Dronzek (Greenwillow, $17.99, 32 pages)
Accompanied by Dronzek’s inviting acrylic paintings, Henkes, in the voice of a young child, muses on birds, their colors and sizes, their movements and mysteries. Grade level: Preschool.
Bubble Trouble
by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Polly Dunbar (Clarion, $16)
When Mabel blows a bubble, it surrounds Baby and takes him on an adventure of amazing heights, causing no small amount of commotion. Grades PreK–2.
Button Up!: Wrinkled Rhymes
by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Petra Mathers (Harcourt, $16, 40 pages)
Fifteen adroitly phrased rhymes, voiced by pieces of clothing, reflect children’s amiable relationship with these intimate possessions. Grade level: K–3.
Carl’s Summer Vacation
written and illustrated by Alexandra Day (Farrar, $12.95, 32 pages)
At the family’s cabin, Rottweiler Carl and his charge Madeleine are supposed to be taking a nap; instead, they go canoeing, visit a playground, and surreptitiously feast on somebody else’s picnic. Grade level: Preschool.
Chicken Little
written and illustrated by Rebecca Emberley and Ed Emberley
(Roaring Brook, $16.95, 32 pages)
The Emberleys’ irreverent re-visioning of the classic folktale plays up the
bird-braininess of the participants in Chicken Little’s ill-informed sky-is falling crusade. Grade level: Preschool–2.
Don’t Look Now!
written and illustrated by Ed Briant (Roaring Brook, $16.95, 32 pages)
When the ground opens up and swallows two squabbling brothers, depositing them in a jungle, the two must use their combined wiles to escape. Grades K–3.
Higher! Higher!
written and illustrated by Leslie Patricelli (Candlewick, $15.99, 32 pages)
Each time a smiling dad pushes a little girl on a swing, she goes successively
higher, meeting a giraffe, a mountain climber, airplane passengers, and finally a little green alien at the apex of his own flying swing. Grade PreK.
Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken
by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Harry Bliss (Cotler/HarperCollins, $32.39, 56 pages)
Longing for adventure, barnyard hen Louise leaves home and is subsequently captured by pirates, chased by a lion, and kidnapped at a bazaar before returning home to tell her tales. Grade level: 1–4.
Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11
written and illustrated by Brian Floca (Jackson/Atheneum, $17.99, 48 pages)
Floca selects the exact details to transform science into relatable experience in this artistic history of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Grade level: 1–4.
Orangutan Tongs: Poems to Tangle Your Tongue
written and illustrated by Jon Agee (Hyperion, $16.99, 48 pages)
Ever-effervescent Agee fashions 34 comic tongue-twisting verses,
each featuring daft characters and a succinct scenario. Grades 1–4.
Redwoods
written and illustrated by Jason Chin (Flash Point, $16.95, 40 pages)
As a young boy on the subway reads about redwood trees, he becomes
so engrossed that he finds himself in the middle of a redwood forest,
learning all manner of things about them. Grades 2–5.
Tacky Goes to Camp
by Helen Lester, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger
(Houghton, $16, 32 pages)
Tacky is a happy camper, but of course not a typical one, at the Nice Icy Land’s summer camp, where he manages to inadvertently save
the day against a campsite-raiding bear. Grade level: K–3.
The Nine Lives of Rotten Ralph
by Jack Gantos, illustrated by Nicole Rubel (Houghton, $16, 32 pages)
Sarah’s incorrigible cat discovers that he has misbehaved his way through eight of his nine lives. Grade level: K–3.
The Pencil
by Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by Bruce Ingman (Candlewick, $16.99, 48 pages)
After a pencil draws a world into existence, it’s threatened by a thuggish eraser run amok in this wry, madcap, loving story of the power of artistic expression. Grade level: K–3.
There’s a Wolf at the Door
retold by Zoe B. Alley, illustrated by R. W. Alley (Roaring Brook, $19.95, 40 pages)
Five interlinked and thoroughly retold tales, compiled in an oversized format and presented in engaging panel illustrations, all end with a wolf foiled. Grade level: 1–4.
Who Made This Cake?
by Chihiro Nakagawa, illustrated by Junji Koyose
(Front Street, $16.95, 40 pages)
Miniature workers use tiny construction vehicles to mix, bake, and
decorate a giant cake, after which a (normal-size) boy’s mother
carries it to the table. Grade level: Preschool.
Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator
by Sarah C. Campbell, illustrated with photos by Sarah C. Campbell and Richard P. Campbell (Boyds Mills, $16.95, 32 pages)
Close-up photography and spare text graphically convey a predatory wolfsnail’s
single-minded pursuit of an unlucky garden snail; information on wolfsnail habits
and life cycle is appended. Grade level: Preschool–2.
Are You Ready to Play Outside?
written and illustrated by Mo Willems (Hyperion, $8.99, 57 pages)
Piggie is miserable when one drop of rain threatens his outside plans; Gerald, his elephant friend, tries to steady the mood; and two worms remind Piggie that rain doesn’t mean the end of play. Grades K–2.
Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Rain or Shine
by Erica Silverman, illustrated by Betsy Lewin (Harcourt, $15, 44 pages)
Cowgirl Kate and cowhorse Cocoa return in four rainy-day adventures that highlight the close friendship between girl and horse. Grade level: 1–3.
Ivy and Bean Take Care of the Babysitter and Ivy and Bean Bound to Be Bad by Annie Barrows, illustrated by Sophie Blackall (Chronicle $14.99 each, 123 and 121 pages)
In their fourth and fifth books, friends Ivy and Bean make the best of a bad situation when left in the care of Bean’s older sister, then resolve (and fail) to be so good that animals will flock to them a la Saint Francis of Assisi. Grade level: 1–3.
Paddington Here and Now
by Michael Bond, illustrated by R. W. Alley (HarperCollins, $15.99, 170 pages)
Fans will be relieved to know that in this fiftieth-anniversary offering of new stories nothing has changed: Paddington gets into trouble, usually because of a misunderstanding, always ending in a glorious muddle. Grade level: 1–3.
Snake and Lizard
by Joy Cowley, illustrated by Gavin Bishop (
Kane/Miller, $14.95, 85 pages)
In fifteen episodes, Snake and Lizard meet, bicker, and form an unlikely friendship marked by comical repartee. Grade level: K-2.
Best Friends
by Jacqueline Wilson, illustrated by Nick Sharratt
(Roaring Brook, $15.95, 229 pages)
When Gemma’s friend Alice moves to Scotland, both girls must find ways to deal with the change and remain “best friends forever” despite the distance.
Dinothesaurus
written and illustrated by Douglas Florian (Atheneum $17.99, 48 pages)
Beginning by defining “The Age of Dinosaurs” and ending with their demise, Florian rounds up the usual prehistoric suspects and presents them in poems characterized by wordplay, mixed-media illustrations, and a scientific fact or two.
Heart of a Shepherd
by Rosanne Parry (Random, $15.99, 165 pages)
With his four older brothers away at school or in the service and his Army-Reserve father serving an extended tour in Iraq, sixth-grader Ignatius is the only one left to help his grandparents run the family ranch.
King George: What Was His Problem? and Two Miserable Presidents
by Steve Sheinkin, illustrated by Tim Robinson (Flash Point, $8.99 each, 195 and 220 pages)
Sheinkin’s entertaining histories cover the Revolutionary and Civil wars and include personal, frequently irreverent, accounts of the participants.
Paleo Bugs: Survival of the Creepiest
written and illustrated by Timothy J. Bradley (Chronicle, $15.99, 48 pages)
Bradley uses crisp graphics to trace the evolution of anthropods from 530 million years ago to the present.
Piper Reed: The Great Gypsy
by Kimberly Willis Holt, illustrated by Christine Davenier (Holt, $6.99, 152 pages)
In her second book, Navy brat Piper’s optimistic outlook never flags, even with changes afoot.
The Diamond of Darkhold
by Jeanne Duprau (Random, $16.99, 387 pages)
Lina and Doon (first introduced in The City of Ember) return to the underground
city to retrieve supplies, but instead encounter hostile new inhabitants.
The Penderwicks on Gardam Street
by Jeanne Birdsall (Knopf, $15.99, 308 pages)
Life for the four Penderwick sisters is going along as it should…until their father contemplates dating, prompting his panicked daughters to concoct a “Save-Daddy Plan.”
The Swamps of Sleethe
by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Jimmy Pickering (Knopf, $16.99, 40 pages)
With comically creepy illustrations and flawless meter, Prelutsky’s macabre poems readers to planets they’ve never heard of and probably wouldn’t want to visit.
Well Witched
by Frances Hardinge (HarperCollins, $16.99, 390 pages)
Three children fall under the power of an elemental divinity after stealing coins from a wishing well in this deliciously creepy tale.
Zorgamazoo written and illustrated
by Robert Paul Weston (Razorbill/Penguin, $15.99, 284 pages)
Human Katrina and zorgle Morty journey to the planet Graybalon-4 and back in search of the missing zorgles of Zorgamazoo in this whimsical, well-constructed story told entirely in rhymed anapestic tetrameter.
3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows
by Ann Brashares (Delacorte, $18.99, 319 pages)
Ama, Polly, and Jo, who sealed their friendship in third grade by planting trees, begin to reconnect during a challenging summer after drifting apart during middle school.
Every Soul a Star
by Wendy Mass (Little, $15.99, 326 pages)
In this moving story, three middle-schoolers’ lives intersect at a campground during an eclipse.
Hannah’s Winter
by Kierin Meehan (Kane/Miller, $15.95, 212 pages)
Staying with the Maekawa family after she’s dragged to Japan by her mother, 12-year-old Hannah she discovers a ghost — a young boy who needs her help.
Into the Volcano
written and illustrated by Don Wood (Blue Sky/Scholastic, $18.99, 175 pages)
While visiting relatives on a remote island, two brothers embark on a seemingly harmless camping/hiking trip that quickly turns into a dangerous game of treachery, kidnapping, double-crosses, and spectacular natural perils.
Nation
by Terry Pratchett (HarperCollins, $16.99, 370 pages)
In an alternative nineteenth century, a tsunami shipwrecks Ermintrude on a tropical island, where she meets Mau, the only survivor of the island’s nation, and the two forge a poignant friendship.
One Small Step
by P. B. Kerr (McElderry, $8.99, 309 pages)
NASA asks 13-year-old Scott, son of an Air Force flight instructor, to man a pre–Apollo 11, top-secret spaceflight to the moon with a crew of chimponauts.
Back to [Top of article] [Top of Middle School]]
Phenomena: Secrets of the Senses
by Donna M. Jackson (Little, $16.99, 175 pages)
In this engaging work of nonfiction, Jackson moves beyond the basics of sensory perception to explore its alluring edges — the place where our fascination with the unseen and the unexplained meets the limits of scientific explanation.
Rapunzel’s Revenge
by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale (Bloomsbury, $18.99, 144 pages)
In this graphic novel, Rapunzel escapes from her fabled tower by becoming a gutsy, hair-whip-toting cowgirl, then joins with stolen-goose rapscallion Jack to end her stepmother’s reign of terror.
The Big Game of Everything
by Chris Lynch (HarperTeen, $16.99, 275 pages)
Jock has a sweet summer ahead working at his grandfather’s golf course — as long as he can deal with his surly younger brother Egon, his “irregular” parents, and his grandfather’s growing senility.
The Girl Who Threw Butterflies
by Mick Cochrane (Knopf, $15.99, 177 pages)
Six months after her father’s death in a car accident, Molly decides to try out for the boys’ baseball team, a decision she knows her father, who taught her to throw a knuckleball, would have approved of.
The Graveyard Book
by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Dave McKean (HarperCollins, $17.99, 309 pages)
After his family is killed by a sinister man named Jack, young Bod is raised in a graveyard, with ghosts as his surrogate parents, and taught otherwordly secrets.
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream
by Tanya Lee Stone (Candlewick, $17.99, 134 pages)
The story of the ultimately unsuccessful effort to get women into NASA’s Mercury astronaut training program is meticulously researched and thrillingly told by Stone using first- and second-hand sources, including interviews with many of the women, and outstanding historical photographs.
Along for the Ride
by Sarah Dessen (Viking, $19.99, 382 pages)
Spending the summer with her father, terminally perky stepmother, and newborn
half-sister, studious Auden expands her horizons.
Black Rabbit Summer
by Kevin Brooks (Chicken House/Scholastic, $8.99, 490 pages)
Two teenagers — one a local celebrity, the other Pete’s best friend — go missing from Pete’s small English town in this dense, hallucinogenic, two-pronged mystery.
Graceling
by Kristin Cashore (Harcourt, $17, 472 pages)
Katsa’s hyper-developed talent, or Grace, makes her feared throughout the Seven Kingdoms, but a wicked cute, super-sensitive prince helps her harness it as they solve a mysterious kidnapping together.
Heroes of the Valley
by Jonathan Stroud (Hyperion, $17.99, 483 pages)
Aspiring hero Halli seeks to avenge a murdered uncle; his actions, clever and well-meaning though they are, have unintended consequences, causing commotion and propelling the plot.
How to Ditch Your Fairy
by Justine Larbalestier (Bloomsbury, $16.99, 307 pages)
Fourteen-year-old Charlotte, whose invisible fairy (everyone in her world has one) gives her good parking spots, attempts to swap her fairy out for a more useful one in this fresh take on the old adage “be careful what you wish for.”
If the Witness Lied
by Caroline B. Cooney (Delacorte, $16.99, 213 pages)
In this tense domestic thriller, three teen siblings learn that their guardian plans to sell them out to reality television and that their father’s death — allegedly an accident caused by their baby brother — might have been a murder.
Impossible
by Nancy Werlin (Dial, $10.56, 373 pages)
A generations-old family curse renders seventeen-year-old Lucy pregnant and destined for insanity upon her daughter’s birth unless she completes the three seemingly impossible tasks outlined in the folk song “Scarborough Fair.”
Little Brother
by Cory Doctorow (Tor, $17.96, 365 pages)
Following a major terrorist attack on San Francisco, Marcus (unjustly apprehended by Homeland Security in the aftermath) applies his formidable technological savvy to thwarting efforts to restrict personal liberty after he is released from detainment and interrogation.
Marcelo in the Real World
by Francisco X. Stork (Levine/Scholastic, $17.99, 316 pages)
Seventeen-year-old Marcelo, who is on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum, finds his coping and social skills, moral compass, and loyalty tested by a summer job in the mailroom at his father’s law firm.
Suite Scarlett
by Maureen Johnson (Scholastic Point, $8.99, 353 pages)
Drama queen Mrs. Amberson moves into Scarlett’s family’s occupancy-challenged Manhattan hotel and proceeds to hatch schemes to save the hotel and resolve Scarlett’s love life in this over-the-top comedy presented with wry New York aplomb.
The Carbon Diaries 2015
by Saci Lloyd (Holiday, $17.95, 330 pages)
In this brilliantly conceived speculative drama, South London teen Laura chronicles in biting journal entries the first year of Britain’s new, stringent carbon rationing system — the small indignities, extreme lifestyle changes, and growing civil unrest.
The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, $17.99, 374 pages)
Katniss is drawn to her district’s other representative in the Hunger Games, a compulsory, government-sponsored reality-TV show from which only one of 24 teenage contestants will emerge alive.
The Knife of Never Letting Go: Chaos Walking, Book One
by Patrick Ness (Candlewick, $9.99, 479 pages)
On a planet where a “Noise” germ makes all thoughts audible, Todd escapes the regimented, brutal all-male village of Prentisstown and, pursued by its leaders, joins forces with a mysterious girl whose thoughts are inexplicably silent. Sequel(s) to come.
The Reformed Vampire Support Group
by Catherine Jinks (Harcourt, $17, 360 pages)
An ill-assorted, amusingly pathetic group of vampires committed to not “fanging” humans investigates the slaying of one of their number in this offbeat Australian novel.
The Uninvited
by Tim Wynne-Jones (Candlewick, $16.99, 353 pages)
After Mimi flees to her father’s cabin and meets her previously unheard-of half-brother, the two discover a disturbing problem: someone has been watching the house and repeatedly breaking in.
The Way We Work: Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body
by David Macaulay with Richard Walker, illustrated by David Macaulay (Lorraine/Houghton, $35, 336 pages)
Macaulay turns his prodigious curiosity and formidable talents to anatomy and physiology, introducing basic concepts of cellular biology and chemistry before taking the readers on a guided tour of the body’s systems.
Reprinted by permission of The Horn Book. To sign up for The Horn Book’s free monthly e-newsletter for parents, visit www.hbook.com/newsletter/index.html
