Community Summer Reading 2008

Sharing common literature builds community and sparks discussion long after the books are tucked away. This year our theme is nature-- how we are connected to it and how we’ve allowed our children to become unconnected.

Students in each age group must read the two assigned books and be prepared to discuss them in September. In addition, classroom teachers may have additional suggestions.  We want children (and adults) to continue to read all summer long. 

In addition to the “assigned” books for the students, we have two adult books.  Of course we can’t assign reading to adults, but we invite you to pick up one or both of these books this summer.

Our adult fiction selection is a classic-- a novel that appears on the National Endowment of the Arts Big Read list.  If you have never read Willa Cather’s My Antonia, please take time this summer to do so.  For those of us who live in the Midwest, this early 20th century novel will connect you to our landscape as well as the ethnic patchwork that blankets this area.

Our non-fiction selection will help us all to consider the importance of nature in the lives of our children.  The title says it all: Last Child in the Woods, Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. 

The books are available here at school, as well as the Book Nook and the Monroe County Library.  In addition, many of these (including the adult selections) are available in audio format (audible.com).

Happy Reading!

Early Childhood
Fiction	Blueberries for Sal	Robert McCloskey
Non-Fiction	Lost in the Woods	Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick
Junior Elementary
Fiction	Paddle to the Sea	Holling C. Holling
Non-Fiction	John Muir-America's First Environmentalist	Kathryn Lasky
Intermediate Elementary
Fiction	Wind in the Willows	Kenneth Grahame
Non-Fiction	Tour America: A Journey Through Poems and Art	Diane Siebert
Senior (Middle School)
Fiction	Tom Sawyer	Mark Twain
Non-Fiction	The Dynamic Great Lakes	Barbara Spring
High School
Fiction	The Road	Cormac McCarthy
Non-Fiction	A World Lit Only By Fire	William Manchester
Adult
Fiction	My Antonia	Willa Cather
Non-Fiction	Last Child in the Woods	Richard Louv