Summer Reading 2020
for rising 4th graders
Dear Dalton Parents
Hard as it is to believe, the summer is finally upon us! What an unusual year we have had. In our Digital Dalton Library time, we have familiarized students with ways to access books digitally, particularly through Sora and Epic! For more information on using these and other reading tools, please see the Digital Resources guide, or refer to your child(ren)'s Password Cheat-Sheet.
This summer reading list encompasses a wide variety of interests and reading levels. Over the break, as always, our top priority is to foster a love of reading in our students.
For ease of access, titles that are available on Sora are marked by an asterisk*. Titles available on Epic! will be noted with a ^.
Have a wonderful summer of reading!
All the best,
Christine Nassar & Jordy Samuels
First Program Librarians
Fiction Chapter Books
- Alexander, Kwame- The Crossover, The Undefeated*, Booked
- Angelberger, Tom- The Strange Case of Origami Yoda (Series)*^
- Applegate, Katherine- The One and Only Ivan*, The One and Only Bob, Crenshaw*, Wishtree*
- Baptiste, Tracey- The Jumbies*, The Jumbies Return
- Barnet, Mac- Mac B., Kid Spy (Series)*, Terrible Two (Series)*^
- Barnhill, Kelly- The Girl Who Drank the Moon*
- Bell, Cece- El Deafo*^
- Bemelmans, John Marciano and Blackall, Sophie- The Witches of Benevento*, The 9 Lives of Alexander Baddenfield
- Birdsall, Jeanne – The Penderwicks (Series)*
- Blume, Judy – Fudge-A-Mania* … and others
- Brallier, Max- The Last Kids on Earth* (Series)
- Bowe, Julie- Big & little questions (according to Wren Jo Byrd)*
- Bowling, Dusti- Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus*, Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus*
- Brown, Peter- The Wild Robot*, The Wild Robot Escapes*
- Buckley, Michael- The Sisters Grimm (Series)*^
- Calonita, Jen- Fairytale Reform School (Series)*^
- Cavallaro, Nick- Nico Bravo and the Hounds of Hades*
- Cheng, Jack- See you in the cosmos
- Citro, Asia- Zoey and Sassafras (Series)*
- Clarke, Cat- The Pants Project*
- Cleary, Beverly – The Mouse And The Motorcycle (Series)*, Ramona Quimby (series)*^ … and others
- Clements, Andrew – Frindle*, Lunch Money* ... and others
- Creech, Sharon- Hate that Dog, Love that Cat, Moo
- Colfer, Chris – The Land of Stories (Series)*, A Tale of Magic (series)
- Davies, Jacquline – Lemonade War (Series)*
- DiCamillo, Kate – Because Of Winn Dixie*, The Tale of Desperaux*, Flora & Ulysses: The illuminated adventures*, Raymie Nightingale*... and others
- Dominguez, Angela- Stella Diaz has Something to Say*, Stella Diaz Never Gives Up*
- DuPrau, Jeanne- Book of Ember* (Series)
- Frederick, Heather Vogel- The Mother-Daughter Book Club (Series)*
- Funke, Cornelia- Inkheart* (Series)
- Gibbs, Stuart- Spy School* (Series), Fun Jungle (Series)*, Moon Base Alpha* (Series)
- Gidwitz, Adam- A Tale Dark and Grimm (Series)*, The Unicorn Rescue Society (Series)*
- Giovanni, Nikki – Spin A Soft Black Song, Vacation Time and Others
- Grabenstein, Chris- Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library (Series)*
- Gratz, Alan- Ban This Book
- Gutman, Dan – My Weird School (Series)*^ ... and others
- Hatke, Ben- Mighty Jack (Series), Zita the Spacegirl (Series)
- Holm, Jennifer L.- The Fourteenth Goldfish (Series)
- Hunt, Lynda Mullaly- Fish in a Tree*, Shouting at the Rain*
- Hunter, Erin – Warriors (Series)*^, Hunters (Series), Seekers (Series)
- Janowitz, Jessie- The Doughnut Fix*
- Kelkar, Supriya- Ahimsa^
- Kelly, Erin Entrada- Hello, Universe*, You Go First, Land of Forgotten Girls
- Konigsburg, E.L.- From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler*
- Krulik, Nancy- Princess Pulverizer (Series)*
- Krull, Kathleen- Women who Broke the Rules (Series)
- Levine, Gail Carson – Ella Enchanted*^, The Wish... and others
- Lin, Grace- Where the Mountain Meets the Moon*, Pacy Lin (series)*
- Low, A.J.- Sherlock Sam (Series)^
- Mass, Wendy & Stead, Rebecca- Bob*
- Martin, Ann M. – The Doll People (series), Reign Rain*
- Medina, Meg- Merci Suarez Changes Gears
- Miller, Kayla- Click*, Camp*, Act
- Mlynowski, Sarah- Whatever After (Series)*^
- Montgomery, L.M. – Anne Of Green Gables (Series)*
- Morgan, Alex- The Kicks (Series)*
- Mull, Brandon – Spirit Animals (Series)*^
- Norton, Mary – The Borrowers (Series)
- O'Connor, George- The Olympians (Series)*
- Oh, Ellen- Flying Lessons (short stories by various authors)
- Palacio, R.J.- Wonder*, Auggie & Me
- Parish, Peggy – Liza, Bill & Jed Mysteries
- Patterson, James & Grabbeinstein, Chris- Max Einstein (Series)*
- Pennypacker, Sara- Pax
- Pilkey, Dav- Dog Man (Series)*
- Riley, Andy- King Flashypants and the evil emperor
- Riordan, Rick – Percy Jackson And The Olympians (Series)*, The Lost Hero (Series)*, Trials of Apollo (Series)* ... and others
- Sachar, Louis – Sideways Stories from Wayside School*^, Holes* … and others
- Sanvoisin, Eric – The City Of Ink Drinkers (Series)
- Scieszka, Jon – Frank Einstein (Series) *^, Time Warp (Series), Guys Read: Funny Business ... and others
- Selden, George – The Cricket In Times Square … and others
- Sell, Chad- Cardboard Kingdom
- Selznick, Brian- Wonderstruck*, The Invention of Hugo Cabret^, The Marvels
- Snicket, Lemony – A Series Of Unfortunate Events (series)*
- Stilton- Geronimo Stilton (Series)*^
- Sutherland, Tui T.- Wings of Fire (series)*^
- Teagan, Erin- Luciana (American Girl series)
- Telgemeier, Raina- The Babysitter's Club (Series)*, Smile*, Sisters*, Guts*
- Warner, Gertrude – The Boxcar Children (Series)*^
- White, E.B. – Charlotte's Web*, Stuart Little*, The Trumpet of the Swan*... and others
- Yang, Kelly- Front Desk*
Non-Fiction & Biography
- Alexander, Kwame, Colderly, Chris and Wentworth, Marjory- Out of Wonder
- Arnold, Ted- Why, Fly Guy? : a big question & answer book
- Barton, Chris- Dazzle ships : World War I and the art of confusion^
- Chin, Jason- Grand Canyon
- Gagne, Tammy- The dog encyclopedia for kids
- Gillespie, Lisa Jane- 100 steps for science : why it works and how it happened
- Hale, Nathan- Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales (series)*
- Harbo, Christopher- Easy origami decorations
- Harris, Chris- I'm just no good at rhyming: and other nonsense for mischievous kids and immature grown-ups
- Harrison, Vashti- Little Leaders : bold women in Black history*, Little Legends: exceptional men in Black history*
- Krull, Kathleen- A kids' guide to America's first ladies
- Lamothe, Matt- This is how we do it : one day in the lives of seven kids from around the world*
- Mercer, Bobby- Junk drawer engineering : 25 construction challenges that don't cost a thing
- Messner, Kate- Over and Under the Pond, Over and Under the Snow*
- National Geographic Kids Almanac 2018, 2019, 2020
- Pessin-Whedbee, Brook- Who are you? : the kid's guide to gender identity
- Roy, Katherine- How to be an elephant : growing up in the African wild
- Sanders, Rob- Pride : the story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag
- Shetterly, Margot Lee- Hidden figures : the true story of four black women and the space race*
- Smibert, Angie- Mind-blowing physical science activities, Exciting engineering activities
- Ventura, Marne- My first guide to duct tape projects
- Westing, Jemma- Out of the box : 25 cardboard engineering projects for makers
- Who Was...? (Biography Series, Various Authors)*
- Woodcock, Jon- Coding Games in Scratch, Star Wars coding projects
- Yousafzai, Malala- Malala's Magic Pencil
- You Wouldn’t Want to Be... (Nonfiction History Series, Various Authors)
Additional Resources
Public Libraries
- New York Public Library (serving Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island)
- Brooklyn Public Library
- Queens Library
You can also very easily add any libraries to which you belong on Sora (New York, Brooklyn, Queens Public Libraries, or any others) and search their collections in addition to Dalton offerings. Please note that the NYPL, Brooklyn, and Queens Public Libraries also include Young Adult selections when you connect to their collections on Sora.
Virtual Read-Alouds and Activities
Due to all the closures, many children's authors and illustrators have taken to the internet to share their work. You can find see participating authors on "The Big List of Children’s Authors Doing Online Read-Alouds & Activities," by We Are Teachers.
J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, has also joined in to share her latest children's work, The Ickabog, online, chapter by chapter.
Further Book Lists
For those seeking additional book lists, we recommend the following online resources:
- The Association for Library Service to Children
- The Children's Book Council
- Here Wee Read
- The Brown Bookshelf
- We Need Diverse Books, and the OurStory App
- The Horn Book Summer Reading List 2020
Book Purchasing
Have a wonderful summer of reading!
The Dalton School Libraries
Email: fplibrary@dalton.org
Website: library.dalton.org
Phone: (212) 423-5453
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daltonlibraries