Summertime Favorites

NEH Summer Booklist for Young Readers

The year was 1988. Ronald Reagan was retiring after eight years as president, Mikhail Gorbachev led the Soviet Union, and Nelson Mandela was spending his twenty-fifth year in prison. Rain Main was a popular movie, and a third of Yellowstone National Park was burned when 250 fires spread wildly under drought conditions.

Here at NEH, a twenty-year, multimillion dollar effort to save endangered brittle books was just getting started. The agency was leading efforts to develop standard guidelines for Internet texts and supporting innovative state reading initiatives for parents and children. Toward the end of the school year, NEH published its first Summertime Favorites reading list. Selections were based on an informal survey of sixty public and private schools around the country. Every book had been published before 1960 and so had stood the test of at least one generation. Kept in circulation through reprinting and republication on the NEH website, Summertime Favorites for K-8 readers proved enormously popular.

From then on, the list was updated occasionally, but after more than two decades a great many new and beloved books have been published. NEH enlisted the help of the American Library Association to reconsider all the selections. Building on the 1988 list, our goal was to recommend children's books that met the standard of "lasting value." NEH staff members read every proposed title and strove to come up with a reading list, not just for the summer, but for a lifetime. The Endowment hopes that this effort, which will grow and evolve over time, has produced a selection of books kids will save to read to their own kids in the future. We welcome your thoughts and suggestions. Have we left off essential books? Are there enough that appeal to both girls and boys? Are some works no longer classic but just old? Please send your comments to info@neh.gov. We cannot promise to reply to each query or to agree with all your suggestions, but we will take every one seriously.

For college bound students, please access EDSITEment’s recommended summer reading list.

For a list of children's nonfiction, check out our new Nonfiction Booklist.

The entire Summertime Favorites list appears below. You can also view the list by age group:

• Kindergarten - Grade 3
• Grades 4 - 6
• Grades 7 - 8

KINDERGARTEN TO GRADE 3

Recommended for K-3, either for reading by children or for reading to them.

Aardema, Verna and Leo & Diane Dillon Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears: A West African Tale Aesop Aesop’s Fables Allard, Harry and James Marshall Miss Nelson Is Missing! Atwater, Richard and Florence Mr. Popper’s Penguins Barrows, Annie and Sophie Blackall Ivy + Bean Becker, Bonny and
Kady MacDonald Denton A Visitor for Bear Bemelmans, Ludwig Madeline Blume, Judy Freckle Juice Brown, Marcia Stone Soup Brunhoff, Jean de The Story of Babar, The Little Elephant Burton, Virginia Lee Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel Cameron, Ann and Ann Strugnell The Stories Julian Tells Cleary, Beverly The Mouse and the Motorcycle Cronin, Doreen and Harry Bliss Diary of a Worm DePaola, Tomie Strega Nona Dorros, Arthur and Elisa Kleven Abuela Duvoisin, Roger Petunia Estes, Eleanor and Louis Slobodkin The Hundred Dresses Freeman, Don Corduroy Gag, Wanda Millions of Cats Gannett, Ruth Stiles and
Ruth Chrisman Gannett My Father’s Dragon Garza, Carmen Lomas and
Harriet Rohmer In My Family / En Mi Familia Grahame, Kenneth and
Michael Hague The Reluctant Dragon Grimes, Nikki and Javaka Steptoe A Pocketful of Poems Guest, Elissa Haden and Christine Davenier Iris and Walter Hamilton, Virginia and
Leo & Diane Dillon The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales Harper, Charise Mericle Just Grace Henkes, Kevin Chrysanthemum Hoban, Russell and Garth Williams Bedtime for Frances Hodges, Margaret and Trina Schart Hyman Saint George and the Dragon Hoff, Syd Danny and the Dinosaur Hoffman, Mary and Caroline Binch Amazing Grace Howe, James and Marie-Louise Gay Houndsley and Catina Johnson, Crockett Harold and the Purple Crayon Keats, Ezra Jack The Snowy Day Kraus, Robert and Jose Aruego Leo the Late Bloomer Krauss, Ruth and Crockett Johnson The Carrot Seed Kvasnosky, Laura McGee Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways Le Guin, Ursula K. and S.D. Schindler Catwings Leaf, Munro and Robert Lawson The Story of Ferdinand Lear, Edward A Book of Nonsense Lin, Grace The Year of the Dog Lionni, Leo Frederick Lobel, Arnold Frog and Toad are Friends Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth Paul Revere’s Ride Lopshire, Robert Put Me in the Zoo Marshall, James George and Martha McDermott, Gerald Anansi the Spider Milne, A.A. and Ernest H. Shepard Winnie-the-Pooh Minarik, Else Holmelund and
Maurice Sendak Little Bear Munsch, Robert and
Michael Martchenko The Paper Bag Princess Myers, Christopher Wings Noble, Trinka Hakes and
Steven Kellogg The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash Numeroff, Laura Joffe and
Felicia Bond If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Parish, Peggy and Fritz Siebel Amelia Bedelia Pennypacker, Sara and
Marla Frazee Clementine Piper, Watty and Loren Long The Little Engine that Could Portis, Antoinette Not a Box Potter, Beatrix The Tale of Peter Rabbit Prelutsky, Jack and Marc Brown Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young Rey, H.A. Curious George Ringgold, Faith Tar Beach Rylant, Cynthia and
Suçie Stevenson Henry and Mudge Say, Allen Grandfather’s Journey Scieszka, Jon and Lane Smith The True Story of the Three Little Pigs Sendak, Maurice Where the Wild Things Are Seuss, Dr. Green Eggs and Ham Sharmat, Marjorie Weinman
and Marc Simont Nate the Great Silverman, Erica and Betsy Lewin Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa Silverstein, Shel Where the Sidewalk Ends Slobodkina, Esphyr Caps for Sale Smith, Jeff Little Mouse Gets Ready Steig, William Sylvester and the Magic Pebble Steptoe, John Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale Stevenson, Robert Louis A Child’s Garden of Verses Thurber, James and Louis Slobodkin Many Moons Udry, Janice May and Marc Simont A Tree is Nice Ungerer, Tomi Crictor Van Allsburg, Chris The Garden of Abdul Gasazi Viorst, Judith and Ray Cruz Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day White, E.B. and Garth Williams Charlotte’s Web Willems, Mo There is a Bird on Your Head! Wood, Audrey and Don Wood The Napping House Yashima, Taro Crow Boy Yee, Wong Herbert Mouse and Mole: A Winter Wonderland Zion, Gene and
Margaret Bloy Graham Harry the Dirty Dog Zolotow, Charlotte and
William Pène Du Bois William’s Doll

GRADES 4-6

Alexander, Lloyd Prydain Chronicles Andersen, Hans Christian Fairy Tales Avi and Brian Floca Poppy Babbitt, Natalie Tuck Everlasting Baum, L. Frank The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Birdsall, Jeanne The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy Boston, L.M. The Children of Green Knowe Brooks, Gwendolyn and Faith Ringgold Bronzeville Boys and Girls Burnett, Frances Hodgson The Secret Garden Byars, Betsy The Summer of the Swans Carroll, Lewis Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Clements, Andrew and
Brian Selznick Frindle Collins, Suzanne Gregor the Overlander Collodi, Carlo The Adventures of Pinocchio Cooper, Susan The Dark is Rising Creech, Sharon Bloomability Curtis, Christopher Paul Bud, Not Buddy D’Aulaire, Ingri and
Edgar Parin D’Aulaire D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths Dahl, Roald and Quentin Blake Charlie and the Chocolate Factory DiCamillo, Kate Because of Winn-Dixie Dowd, Siobhan The London Eye Mystery DuPrau, Jeanne The City of Ember Eager, Edward Half Magic Erdrich, Louise The Birchbark House Estes, Eleanor The Moffats Farley, Walter The Black Stallion Fitzhugh, Louise Harriet the Spy Freedman, Russell Lincoln, A Photobiography Gaiman, Neil Coraline Gantos, Jack Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key George, Jean Craighead My Side of the Mountain Grahame, Kenneth The Wind in the Willows Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales Henry, Marguerite Misty of Chincoteague Hiaasen, Carl Hoot Hoberman, Mary Ann and
Wendy Anderson Halperin Strawberry Hill Howe, Deborah & James
and Alan Daniel Bunnicula Hughes, Langston The Dream Keeper and Other Poems Ibbotson, Eva and Sue Porter Secret of Platform 13 Irving, Washington Rip Van Winkle Jansson, Tove Moominland Midwinter Juster, Norton and Jules Feiffer The Phantom Tollbooth Kipling, Rudyard The Jungle Book Konigsburg, E.L. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Lamb, Charles and Mary Tales from Shakespeare Lawson, Robert Ben and Me Lenski, Lois Strawberry Girl Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia Lin, Grace Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Lindgren, Astrid Pippi Longstocking Lofting, Hugh Doctor Dolittle Lovelace, Maud Hart Betsy-Tacy Lowry, Lois Number the Stars Macaulay, David Castle MacLachlan, Patricia Sarah, Plain and Tall Mathis, Sharon Bell and
Leo & Diane Dillon The Hundred Penny Box McCloskey, Robert Homer Price Merrill, Jean The Pushcart War Montgomery, L.M. Anne of Green Gables Murphy, Jim The Great Fire Nesbit, E. The Railway Children North, Sterling Rascal Norton, Mary The Borrowers O’Brien, Robert C. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Park, Linda Sue When My Name was Keoko Paterson, Katherine Bridge to Terabithia Pearce, Philippa Tom’s Midnight Garden Perrault, Charles The Complete Fairy Tales Reiss, Johanna The Upstairs Room Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Ryan, Pam Munoz Esperanza Rising Sachar, Louis Holes Selznick, Brian The Invention of Hugo Cabret Sewell, Anna Black Beauty Sharp, Margery The Rescuers Sperry, Armstrong Call It Courage Spyri, Johanna Heidi Stewart, Trenton Lee and
Carson Ellis The Mysterious Benedict Society Sutcliff, Rosemary The Wanderings of Odysseus Taylor, Sydney and Helen John All-of-a-Kind Family Travers, P.L. Mary Poppins Wilder, Laura Ingalls and
Garth Williams Little House on the Prairie Woodson, Jacqueline Locomotion Wyss, Johann Swiss Family Robinson

GRADES 7-8

Alcott, Louisa May Little Women Almond, David Skellig Bagnold, Enid National Velvet Bradbury, Ray Fahrenheit 451 Cleaver, Vera and Bill Cleaver Where the Lilies Bloom Cooper, James Fenimore The Last of the Mohicans Defoe, Daniel Robinson Crusoe Douglass, Frederick The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Dumas, Alexander The Count of Monte Cristo Eckert, Allan W. Incident at Hawk’s Hill Engdahl, Sylvia Enchantress from the Stars Forester, C.S. The Horatio Hornblower Series Frank, Anne The Diary of a Young Girl Frost, Robert Poems George, Jean Craighead Julie of the Wolves Hamilton, Virginia M.C. Higgins, the Great Hautzig, Esther The Endless Steppe Hilton, James Goodbye, Mr. Chips Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders Hoose, Phillip Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice Hugo, Victor The Hunchback of Notre Dame Hunt, Irene Across Five Aprils Hunter, Mollie A Stranger Came Ashore Irving, Washington The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Johnson, Angela Heaven Keith, Harold Rifles for Watie Keller, Helen The Story of My Life Korman, Gordon No More Dead Dogs LaFleur, Suzanne Love, Aubrey Le Guin, Ursula K. A Wizard of Earthsea L’Engle, Madeleine A Wrinkle in Time Lester, Julius and Tom Feelings To Be a Slave London, Jack Call of the Wild Malory, Sir Thomas Le Morte d’Arthur McCaffrey, Anne Dragonsong O’Dell, Scott Island of the Blue Dolphins Oppel, Kenneth Airborn Paterson, Katherine Jacob I Have Loved Paulsen, Gary and Drew Willis Hatchet Peck, Richard A Long Way from Chicago Peck, Robert Newton A Day No Pigs Would Die Pratchett, Terry The Wee Free Men Pyle, Howard The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan The Yearling Rawls, Wilson Where the Red Fern Grows Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de The Little Prince Schaefer, Jack Shane Schmidt, Gary D. The Wednesday Wars Scott, Sir Walter Ivanhoe Shelley, Mary Frankenstein Smith, Betty A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Speare, Elizabeth George The Witch of Blackbird Pond Steinbeck, John The Red Pony Stevenson, Robert Louis Treasure Island Taylor, Mildred D. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Tolan, Stephanie S. Surviving the Applewhites Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit Twain, Mark TheAdventures of Tom Sawyer Uchida, Yoshiko Journey to Topaz Verne, Jules 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Webster, Jean Daddy-Long-Legs Wells, H.G. The War of the Worlds Wilder, Thornton The Bridge of San Luis Rey Yep, Laurence Dragonwings Zindel, Paul The Pigman Zusak, Markus The Book Thief