Some Summer Reading Suggestions for Your Beast Bag

Yesterday Maya at maya*made (You know maya*made, don't you? No? Go visit! Her blog is wonderful and inspiring!) posted some lovely photos of stacks of books and kids sprawled out reading them and asked for some book suggestions. Well - you don't have to ask me twice! I sold children's books for over twenty years and I LOVE telling people what to read. :-)

I made some off-the-top-of-my-head suggestions in the comments to Maya's post, and it got me thinking I should post a summer reading list over here, too. And (ahem) remind you all about the Beast Bag pattern - possibly my favorite pattern ever - and designed especially as a library tote bag.

So - here are some summer reading suggestions. It's not a comprehensive list by any means, just a bunch of books that my family and I have enjoyed over the years. Books that I hope you'll enjoy too. :-)

Picture books

• Henry Hikes to Fitchburg by D. B. Johnson (and all the other Henry books)
• Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
• Halibut Jackson by David Lucas
• Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka (art by Lane Smith)
• I Am Not Sleepy and I Will Not Go to Bed by Lauren Child (also I Will Never, Not Ever Eat a Tomato, and But Excuse Me That Is My Book!)
• Oliver Finds His Way by Phyllis Root
• Guji Guji by Chih-Yuan Chen
• Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems
• Pezzettino by Leo Lionni
• Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes (And all his other books. Every single one of them.)
• If Not for the Cat by Jack Prelutsky

Beginning Chapter Books (ages 6-9ish)

• Geronimo Stilton series
• Blue Ghost, Red Ghost and Green Ghost by Marion Dane Bauer
• Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford
• The Secrets of Droon series by Tony Abbott
• Clementine by Sarah Pennypacker
• Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
• Babymouse series by Jennifer Holm and Matt Holm
• Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne
• Catwings series by Ursula K. LeGuin

Chapter books (ages 8-12ish)

• The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander
• The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
• Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
• The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (and anything else by her)
• The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• Out of Patience by Brian Meehl
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
• Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
• Flush by Carl Hiaasen
• Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
• The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
• The Sammy Keyes mystery series by Wendelin van Draanen
• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
• Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
• The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
• Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary Schmidt
• Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
• Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume (and all the Fudge books)

So - whip up a Beast Bag, take it to the library, fill it with all these books, and settle in for some terrific stories.

Go to a page with all the books here.

Happy stitching - and reading!

Best,
Wendi