required summer reading | Musings of the Monster Librarian

You know it’s coming up soon. The summer reading lists from school, the summer reading programs at the library (and in other places too– my kids’ tae kwon do studio holds a summer reading program, if you can believe it)!

What to do for the kid who wants a scary book for his summer reading? On the Indiana K-2 state recommended reading list, the only book that probably qualifies is Where the Wild Things Are. So is there anything out there that didn’t win the Newbery Award that a monster-loving kid could get into? Of course there is!

Between the point where all reading is grown-ups reading aloud to kids, to the point where kids are fluently reading chapter books, is a transitional category of books called easy readers. Easy readers were pioneered by Dr. Seuss and Else Holmelund Minarik and have been a blossoming category of books ever since. They’ve come a long way since Margaret Hillert’s Happy Birthday, Dear Dragon.

And here are a few books that might catch your early reader’s interest.

There Is a Bird On Your Head! (Elephant and Piggie) by Mo Willems

Before getting specific to monsters, chills and thrills, first I have to recommend above and beyond almost any other easy reader the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems. They are so absurdly funny that you probably won’t mind reading them over and over again and again. And your first grader will probably be able to read them to you, too. There Is a Bird on Your Head! won a Geisel Award, and for good reason. You just cannot go wrong with Mo Willems. Unfortunately, once you’ve read all of the books, you will find there really isn’t anything else like them. I asked the librarian at our library, and she couldn’t come up with anything. If you do find something that measures up, I want to know!

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

Maybe you never considered this interpretation, but a lot has been written about the creepiness of this book, with a giant intruder breaking in to the children’s house while their mother is gone, and causing havoc.

Spooky Hayride by Brian James (Level 1)

Who spooks who? How spooky IS the hayride, anyway? This book uses very simple and limited vocabulary and still tells a story with wit.

Looking for Bigfoot by Bonnie Worth (Level 4)

Kids transitioning to easy chapter books may miss out on some of the more complex easy readers. Looking for Bigfoot is aimed at kids who can read paragraphs independently and is as long as some of the shorter chapter books, at almost 50 pages. This is more of a nonfiction title about the mysterious cryptid than a scary story, but monster loving kids may still get into it.

Beastly Tales: Yeti, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness Monster (Eyewitness Readers) by Malcolm Yorke (Level 3)

When it comes to Bigfoot, there’s no such thing as too much, at least in this house.

In a Dark, Dark, Room and Other Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz (Level 2)

Alvin Schwartz’s name should be familiar: he’s the guy who compiled the classic Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and its sequels. We get questions here every once in awhile where someone who can’t remember its name describes a story from this book. It may have been around long enough for you to remember reading it as a kid yourself, but it never gets old.

Ghosts! Ghostly Tales from Folklore by Alvin Schwartz (Level 2)

Alvin Schwartz collects together ghost stories for early readers.

No More Monsters for Me! by Peggy Parrish (Level 1)

This is a classic I Can Read story. Minneapolis Simpkin desperately wants a pet, and when she encounters a monster, she sneaks it into her house. Sneaking a monster into the house, she discovers, really is not a good idea.

I Spy A Scary Monster (I Spy) by Jean Marzollo (Level 1)

It’s I Spy–you can’t go wrong! You can read this with the earliest readers. The objects they are supposed to find in the photographic spread on the page opposing are pictured next to the clue, so words can be matched with pictures, and then discovered in the photo.

Amanda Pig and the Awful, Scary Monster (Oliver and Amanda) by Jean Van Leeuwen (Level 3)

Amanda overcomes her fear of bedtime monsters when Oliver helps her build a monster trap.

The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches by Alice Low (Level 4)

Alice Low wrote several children’s books with witches as characters. According to a reviewer at Publisher’s Weekly, this is “an irresistible way to add joy to the scarey fall holiday.” But you can also read it as a way to add joy to your summer holiday.

Three Claws in the City (Meet the Monsters of the World) by Cari Meister (Level 3)

This is one of a series about some monsters that are more funny than frightening. Their look: cartoony. Their names: Snorp, Ora, Moopy, and Three Claws. The publishing imprint, Stone Arch, also published the early graphic novel series Monster and Me by Robert Marsh.

Don’t Go In The Water! (Easy-to-Read Spooky Tales) by Veronika Martenova Charles

This book is also part of a series of ten books, and the books, while labeled “easy to read,” have not been leveled. They are 56 pages long, which is long for an easy reader, but the books, depending on the child, are readable by first and second graders. Each book has three ‘spooky tales,’ loosely related to a folktale, and the ending of the last story is open ended. These would probably be appreciated most by the kids who REALLY are looking to be spooked, and not just those who want a mildly funny monster story.

The Vampire Bunny (Bunnicula and Friends) by James Howe and Jeff Mack (Level 3)

Who knew that James Howe’s classic middle-grade novel Bunnicula would spawn so many sequels and spin-offs? This is one of an entire series of Level 3 easy readers starring the characters from the original novel. This one follows the plot of the book fairly closely.

Hope that gets your early reader started for summer reading! Enjoy!

As the end of school nears (well, here it’s actually over) stories about summer reading loss and editorials in favor of a year round calendar start to make an appearance. Politics aside, research really does show that kids who don’t read over summer break actually backslide in their reading ability and skills. Enter the required summer reading list.

Here are a couple of books that appear on the the local high school’s reading list for kids going into their sophomore year of high school.

Night by Elie Wiesel
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
I Am The Cheese by Robert Cormier

Are these really books teens should read on their own? I’m not saying that tenth graders are unable to read the words, but the content is pretty disturbing. To be fair, the list also includes Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and students are required to read only one of the books on the list (there are about 20), while they can choose the other. But still. Kelly Gallagher, author of Readicide, discusses the problem of assigning a book like Night in his book- it’s a powerful book, but not a book I’d call recreational reading. I might be wrong, but I don’t think it’s likely to inspire recreational reading, either.

But there ARE a lot of great resources for encouraging summer reading. Your local library probably has a summer reading program (ours does- in fact, it has separate programs for kids, YA’s and adults), and if you or your kids aren’t intrinsically motivated to pick up a book and read, go sign up and you’ll usually get prizes for reading- free food, books, and so on. Generally the library has lists of books for different age ranges that can get you started.Don’t be scared to ask the librarian (a surprising number of people are).

There are also some fun websites with reading recommendations for kids and teens. I’ll just mention a few.Believe me, there are many!

Jon Scieszka, author of many awesome books for kids, has a great program called Guys Read, aimed at, well, getting guys to read. I love the categories of books on the site! You can’t not, with topics like “At least one explosion” and “Mysterious Occurences” stored in their vault. As a bonus, right on the home page, if you scroll down and look under “Let’s Get To The Books”, there is a list of “scary stories”. Guys Read actually promotes scary stories for kids! Go there, check it out, and then check some of those books out of your library.
James Patterson also sponsors a website intended to promote reading called ReadKiddoRead. While some of the booklists are outdated, the current reviews are great, and the site is geared toward creating an online community supportive of getting all kinds of kids reading. I’d say this one is aimed much more at parents and educators than Guys Read is, but it’s another resource with suggestions for all kinds of reads.
Finally, some good lists for summer reading choices for teens can be found through YALSA, the American Library Association’s division for young adult library services, particularly their “Best of the Best”.

Oh my gosh, it’s a flood of books! Kelly Gallagher would be proud. Pick a couple and read them on your own, or together with your kids, your family, your friends… Just do it. And have a great summer.