New Mexico Public Education Department
2015 Summer Recommended Reading List
Summer is an important time for students to continue learning. Studies show that most students
experience a loss of reading skills over the summer months, but children who continue to read
actually gain skills. During the summer parents can help children sustain and support reading
skills, strengthen their vocabulary, and reinforce the benefits of reading for enjoyment. Students
may enjoy these recommended reading selections for summer reading.
Grades K–3
 And I Mean It, Stanley, Crosby Bonsall
 Animalia, Graeme Base
 Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos,
Robert Lawson
 Cars and How they Go, Joanna Cole
 Doctor De Soto, William Steig
 Dragons Love Tacos, Adam Rubin
 Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count On, Lois Ehlert
 Gregory the Terrible Eater, Mitchell Sharmat
 How I Became a Pirate, Melinda Long
 How Much is a Million?, David M. Schwartz
 I Like Me, Nancy L. Carlson
 If You Grew Up With George Washington, Ruth Gross
 Magic School Bus On the Ocean Floor, Joanna Cole
 Many Moons, James Thurber
 Millions of Cats, Wanda Gag
 Mirandy and Brother Wind, Patricia C. McKissack
 Planting a Rainbow, Lois Ehlert
 Rabbit Hill, Robert Lawson
 Rainbow Fish, Marcus Pfister
 Ramona Quimby Age 8, Beverly Cleary
 Rosie's Walk, Pat Hutchins
 Snowflake Bentley, Jacqueline Briggs Martin
 Sophie the Awesome (Sophie Miller Series #1), Lara Bergen
 Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, William Steig
 The Day the Crayons Quit, Drew Daywalt
 The Icky Bug Alphabet Book, Jerry Pallotta
 The Legend of the Bluebonnet, Tomie DePaola
 The Little House, Virginia Lee Burton
 The Napping House, Audrey Wood
 The Pigeon Needs a Bath, Mo Willems
 The Pout-Pout Fish, Deborah Diesen
 The Runaway Bunny, Margaret Wise Brown
 The Snowy Day, Ezra Jack Keats
 The Very Busy Spider, Eric Carle
 The Year at Maple Hill Farm, Alice Provensen
New Mexico Public Education Department
Summer 2015
Grades 4–5
 Afternoon of the Elves, Janet Taylor Lisle
 Aliens Ate My Homework, Bruce Coville
 Amelia's Notebook, Marissa Moss
 Bobby Baseball, Robert Kimmel Smith
 Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library, Chris Grabenstein
 Gooney Bird Greene, Lois Lowry
 Harriet the Spy, Louise Fitzhugh
 Hatchet, Gary Paulsen
 Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O'Dell
 Library Lion, Michelle Knudsen
 Library Mouse, Daniel Kirk
 My Side of the Mountain (Puffin Modern Classics), Jean Craighead George
 Serafina’s Promise, Ann Burg
 Thanks to the Animals, Allen Sockabasin,
 The Castle in the Attic, Elizabeth Winthrop
 The Chocolate Touch, Patrick Skene Catling
 The Courage of Sarah Noble, Alice Dalgliesh
 The Lemonade War, Jacqueline Davies
 The Secret Zoo, Bryan Chick
 Weird but True: 300 Outrageous Facts, National Geographic Children’s Books
 Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
 Wringer, Jerry Spinelli
Grades 6–8
 12 Again, Sue Corbett
 Across Five Aprils, Irene Hunt
 Better Nate Than Ever, Tim Federle
 Chasing Veemer, Blue Balliett
 Counting by 7s, Holly Goldberg Sloan
 Dead End in Norvelt, Jack Gantos
 Everything on a Waffle, Polly Horvath
 Maniac Magee, Jerry Spinelli
 Middle School, the Worst Years of My Life, James Patterson
 Smile, Raina Telgemeier
 Swindle, Gordon Korman
 The Arm of the Starfish, Madeleine L’Engle
 The Dolphins of Shark Bay, Pamela S. Turner
 The False Prince, Jennifer A. Nielson
 The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
 The Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare
 The Wild Book, Margarita Engle
New Mexico Public Education Department
Summer 2015
Grades 9–12
 Adventures of Huck Finn, Mark Twain
 Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves,
James Nestor
 Growing Up, Russell Baker
 Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift
 Hoops, Walter Dean Myers
 Homeless Bird, Gloria Whelan
 Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
 Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton
 Marley & Me, John Grogan
 Moby Dick, Herman Melville
 O Pioneers!, Willa Cather
 On Golden Pond, Ernest Thompson
 Out of the Darkness, Russell Freedman
 Shoeless Joe, W. P. Kinsella
 Slam!, Walter Dean Myers
 Stargirl, Jerry Spinelli
 Up a Road Slowly, Irene Hunt
 Where Courage is Like a Wild Horse, Sharon Skolnick
 Whirligig, Paul Fleischman
New Mexico Public Education Department
Summer 2015