What did you do during summer vacation?
The St. Mary’s Summer Book Club. Front row: Noelle Black, Olivia McCambly. Back row: Ginger Thomas, Noah Longshore, Jonah Black, Mary Lobdell, Alberta (Birdy) Nash.
Just when you think kids aren’t reading anymore, along comes Ginger Thomas and her crew of middle school reading champions. These youngsters spent part of their summer attending the St. Mary’s Book Club in Canton, led by Ginger who is a lifelong teacher and enrichment specialist.
In late August, I was invited to spend a morning with the group. What fun! These kids are great: they read voraciously and…they write! I was treated to a private performance of a play they had written and were planning to perform the next day for parents and friends. People, I was impressed. Really impressed.
A rehearsal of “The Play.”
Here, the list of reading favorites selected by the Club:
Favorite Books of the Summer Book Club Kids
Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
Found and the Haddix series by Margaret Peterson
A Dogʼs Life: An Autobiography of a Stray by Ann M. Martin
The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins: A World War II Soldier and the My Name is America series by
Walter Dean Meyers
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
Harry Potter and the Sorcererʼs Stone and the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Wolves of the Beyond series by Katherine Lasky
Narnia series by C. S. Lewis
Catwings series by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott OʼDell
Spellfall by Katherine Roberts
Guardianʼs of Gaʼhoole series by Katherine Laskey
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place and The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood
Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen
The Secret School by Avi
The Kingdom of Fantasy by Gerorimo Stilton
Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe
The Genius Files Mission and Unstoppable by Dan Gutman
The Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
The Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osborne
The Odyssey series by Mary Pope Osborne
Here’s a link to a terrific list compiled by NPR: 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels.
If you’re interested in Ginger’s work with youngsters, you can contact her at the Teacher’s Desk Consultants, POB 106, DeKalb Jct. NY 13630 or 315-347-3055 or thomelen@tds.net
Okay, if you’re under 18, we’d love to hear about what you read this summer. Share your favorite summer titles below.
About
Without books, history is silent, literature is dumb, science is crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. –Barbara Tuchman
The R&W Book Club is a place for us to talk about books—with each other and, from time to time, with the authors of featured titles. We’ll read fiction, non-fiction and poetry. We encourage your suggestions for authors and books to include. There are a few limitations on what we’ll consider: books must be by living authors, have broad audience appeal, and be readily available at libraries, bookstores or via download. If you’d like to suggest authors or titles, go here. If you’d like your local book club or library included in our email early-notification group, go here.
recent book club posts
links
Books at NCPR
- How a canoe sparked a trek and a book(May 22, 2013) Almost twenty years ago, Christine Jerome and her husband paddled a weeks-long canoe route through the Adirondacks. They followed the path of a nineteenth-century writer and outdoorsman, George Washington Sears, known as Nessmuk to his readers. Our book reviewer, Betsy Kepes, spoke to Chris about the new edition of her book An Adirondack Passa […]
- Books: "Hands on Health"(May 21, 2013) Todd Moe talks with the local author of a new book about healthier eating and taking care of our bodies. Paula Youmell is a nurse and certified holistic health counselor. Her new book is titled, Hands on Health. It's the first in a series of books she calls "The Whole Food Kitchen." [full story] […]
- Book review: "Peak Experiences"(May 14, 2013) The mountains of the northeast attract hikers to their rocky summits. What happens, though, when something goes wrong? Carol Stone White collected over 50 essays in her new book, Peak Experiences - Danger, Death, and Daring in the Mountains of the Northeast. Betsy Kepes as this review. [full story] […]
Books at NPR
- A Race Against Time To Find WWI's Last 'Doughboys' May 24, 2013In 2003, Richard Rubin set out to talk to every American veteran of World War I he could find. With help from the French, he tracked down dozens of centenarian vets and recorded their stories in a new book called The Last of the Doughboys. […]
- NPR Bestsellers: Paperback Fiction, Week Of May 23, 2013 May 24, 2013At No. 13, a pilot fights to survive after a devastating pandemic in Peter Heller's The Dog Stars. […]
- NPR Bestsellers: Hardcover Fiction, Week Of May 23, 2013 May 24, 2013Symbologist Robert Langdon faces a Dante-themed riddle in Dan Brown's Inferno. It debuts at No. 1. […]
- NPR Bestsellers: Hardcover Nonfiction, Week Of May 23, 2013 May 24, 2013The Guns at Last Light concludes Rick Atkinson's World War II trilogy. It debuts at No. 4. […]