Summer reading list 2017!

Just as every June, I find myself wondering what on earth could have happened to the school year that stretched ahead so tantalizingly! It feels like I blinked and it was over...

Summer is the perfect time for catching up on reading for fun. Audiobooks are a perfect accompaniment to a car or plane ride, or to have on in the background during art projects or while playing with Legos.

I regularly tweet links to recommended reading lists (follow me, or check them out here and here), but below are a few books I'm especially delighted to recommend. Every OWS student was given a souvenir OWS library summer reading bookmark to bring home that featured some of the titles below. We hope you enjoy it!

Remember to give National Ambassador for Young People's Literature's Gene Luen Yang's Reading without Walls challenge a try! It's a fun way to structure your reading if you don't know where to begin. 

Not sure if one of the titles below is for you? Check out professional review sources (Booklist, Kirkus, School Library Journal) available via the public library and online bookstore sites for more details, including recommended ages.

Picture books (fiction and nonfiction) for ALL ages!

 

Away by Emil Sher

 

Josephine by Patricia Hruby Powell

 

Lesser Spotted Animals by Martin Brown

 

Tidy by Emily Gravett

The Way Home in the Night by Akiko Miyakoshi

Wild Animals of the South by Dieter Braun

Upper Elementary & Middle School

Amina's Voice by Hena Khan

Clayton Byrd Goes Underground by Rita Williams-Garcia

Click Here to Start by Denis Markell

 

Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly

In the Shadow of the Sun by Anne Sibley O'Brien

 

One Last Word by Nikki Grimes

 

Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder

 

Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm

 

This Is Just a Test by Madelyn Rosenberg & Wendy Wan-Long Shang

Middle & High School

 Between Two Skies by Joanne O'Sullivan

 Every Falling Star by Sungju Lee

 My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier

 Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson

 The Singing Bones by Shaun Tan

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin

Wonderful Feels Like This by Sara Lövestam

Battle of the Books 2017!

Our middle schoolers had so much fun at their first Battle of the Books last year (kindly hosted by Overlake School) that we're inviting students from Overlake as well as St. Thomas School to come to our campus in early March this year to engage in (friendly) battle!

 

The goal of Battle of the Books, a popular activity nationwide, is to encourage students to branch out and read adventurously. The questions aren't nitpicky ones that take the joy out of reading by expecting you to remember minute details about each title; instead they aim to pique your interest by highlighting what is fun, interesting and unusual about each book.

 

  

 

The thirteen books shown here were chosen by students and librarians at all three schools. They represent a range of genres and exemplify high-quality writing and strong appeal for readers in grades 5 and up. 

 

 

You don't have to plan to participate to enjoy reading these titles. We have multiple copies of each in the Library Learning Commons - stop by sometime and take one home! But if you do want to join Team Bobcat, come to the LLC during lunch on Monday, February 13th for our last meeting before the Battle commences!