Recommended Reading for Incoming 4 th Graders

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1 Recommended Reading for Incoming 4 th Graders Please choose two books from the list below or books of your choice. If you choose your own books, you may use as a resource to check reading levels. Underlined titles represent a single book title. Italicized recommendations represent series, so there are numerous titles to choose from. Do not choose both books from a single series. All books should be available at your public library or bookstore. For prizes, coupons, and extra fun events all summer long, sign up for a summer reading program at your public library! Questions? Please Ms. Kee (the librarian) at rkee@holyfamilycs.org. 39 Clues series A fast-paced, mystery-adventure series, 39 Clues features a brother and sister duo that travels the world, collecting clues that will help their family become the most powerful in history. Anything by Roald Dahl except Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG Dahl s offbeat books feature similarly zany characters, including a boy who sails in a giant peach (with giant bugs in tow), a curious boy who crosses a group of witches, and a misunderstood, magical little girl. Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace In a series loved for nearly 75 years, Betsy, Tacy, and Tib are young girls who become the best of friends and spend every day doing something fun together The Boys Start the War series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Upset that a family with three girls moves into the house across the river, Wally and his three brothers declare a never-ending practical joke war on the girls. The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop The gift of a toy castle, complete with a silver knight who comes to life, introduces William to a quest involving magic and adventure. Chet Gecko series by Bruce Hale Featuring a gecko detective, these books are filled with lizard jokes as the private eye solves a variety of mysteries. Dear America, My Name is America, + Royal Diaries series Diaries are written by young people living through famous events in history, such as the Oregon Trail, Titanic, Alamo. DA are written by girls, MNIA by boys, and RD by royalty. The Familiars series by Adam Jay Epstein

2 Alley cat, Aldwyn, is chosen by Jack, a young wizard, to be his familiar. When Jack and two friends are captured by the evil queen, it s up to Aldwyn to save the day! The Fantastic Frame series by Lin Oliver Tiger and Luna get pulled into famous paintings and must find their way back home before time runs out or they ll be trapped in the paintings forever! Frank Einstein series by Jon Scieszka Child genius Frank Einstein accidentally brings his robots Klink and Klank to life. Now they must defeat his archnemesis, T. Edison, who is out to steal the robots! Great Illustrated Classics series Classics have been rewritten for younger readers, with beautiful illustrations. These are a great way to introduce children to the classics. The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi *** Lectio Selection *** Jumanji. In. Reverse. After being sucked into a mysterious board game, Farah must outsmart the game s architect by solving puzzles as long as she can also outlast the attaching camel spiders and scorpions! Half Magic series by Edward Eager Four children looking forward to an ordinary summer enjoy a series of fantastic adventures by double-wishing on an ancient coin. The Harlem Charade by Natasha Tarpley *** Lectio Selection *** Three New Yorkers band together to solve the mystery of Elvin s grandfather. As they dig deeper, they just may stumble on an even bigger mystery- one worth a fortune that just might save their neighborhood. Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder A family travels from the big woods of Wisconsin to build a home on the prairie, where they create a new life, filled with new adventures and challenges. Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards Written by Sound of Music actress Julie Andrews, a ten-year-old orphan creates a secret garden for herself in a deserted cottage just beyond the orphanage walls. The Matchstick Castle by Keir Graff *** Lectio Selection *** With doors to nowhere and a boat on the roof, Brian and Nora team up with Cosmo and his wacky uncles to save their castle from Boring, Illinois City Hall bureaucrats, who are determined to demolish it. Platypus Police Squad series by Jarrett J. Krosoczka Platypus detectives Corey O'Malley and Rick Zengo are on the case, solving a variety of mysteries, hilariously of course.

3 Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief (or other in the series) by Wendelin Van Draanen Thirteen-year-old Samantha is not supposed to be living with her grandmother in seniorcitizen housing. And she definitely shouldn t be witnessing a crime through her binoculars. Will she help the police capture the thief or will nobody believe her? A Series of Unfortunate Events series by Lemony Snicket The Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who s now their guardian is determined to steal their fortune. Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley Sisters Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are sent to live and solve mysteries with their grandma in a town filled with fairy-tale characters, some friendly, some not so friendly. The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett and Jory John When Miles moves to a new school, he teams up with local prankster (and school do-gooder), Niles, to form an epic pranking duo. Mayhem and laughter follow! Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George When Princess Celie s parents are captured, she must use her knowledge of the ever-changing castle to save them and their kingdom. The Vanderbeekers of 141 st Street by Karina Yan Glaser. *** Lectio Selection *** When their grumpy landlord decides to evict them the day after Christmas, the Vanderbeekers have just 11 days to save their beloved home! From kittens to violins, can anything change The Beiderman s mind? Wishtree by Katherine Applegate. *** Lectio Selection *** Red the oak tree knows many stories. Some about the animals who call him home, some about the humans who live in his neighborhood. All are important, though, just like the wishes tied to his branches.

4 Projects for Incoming 4 th Graders Choose 2 different projects to do this summer 1 for each book you read. Do not do the same activity for both of your books. Make sure your name can be easily found somewhere on your project. Turn in both projects to your new teacher on the first day of school. Questions? Please Ms. Kee (the librarian) at rkee@holyfamilycs.org. Create a BOOK TRAILER for your book. Just like a movie trailer gets you excited for a new movie, a book trailer can get your friends excited about a new book! Just don t give away the ending! Video tape yourself talking about the book. Hold up the book, pictures of the book s pictures (if there are any), pictures that represent things happening in the book, etc. You can even use props. Anything that grabs people s attention! o A quick summary o Your favorite thing about the book o Exciting parts of the story o A conclusion that tells the audience why they should read the book For turning in your video, please save on a USB flash drive and turn in to teacher. You may also try ing your video to your new teacher, but know that the file might be too big for an attachment. Write a professional REVIEW about your book. Convince your friends to read the book, but be honest about the things that weren t so great about the book. o A short summary (3-4 sentences) o 2 good things about the book o 1 bad thing about the book o Talk about the characters Are they realistic? Did you like them? Did they make good choices? o Talk about the plot Was it exciting? Boring? Did you guess the ending before it happened? Make a BOOK JACKET for your book. A book jacket is the paper cover that goes on the outside of the book. o Colorful illustrations o An exciting summary that gets your friends excited to read the book o A short (2-3 sentences) biography about the author Find the author s website online to learn about them first! o Write a review of the book explain what you liked best and why you would recommend it to friends.

5 Write an ALTERNATE ENDING for the book. Change the ending to something you like better! Make sure it s really different from what the author wrote. Write at least 2 pages. Remember, you re writing a band new chapter, so include lots of exciting details! o Dialogue (talking characters) o Exciting action o A solution to that action or problem Turn a summary / chapter of your book into a GRAPHIC NOVEL. Graphic novels are book-length comics. They tell the story mainly through the comic pictures, with very few words. Since a graphic novel based on the whole, detailed book would be too long, you only need to use a summary of the story or a specific chapter from the book. Turn in your graphic novel in book format Staple the pages together or tie them with string. However you choose is fine, as long as we can flip through it to read the story! Graphic novel should be at least 4 pages long. o Comic-style illustrations o Speech bubbles and captions to help your comics make sense. Turn your book into a PICTURE BOOK that would be good for little kids. This will only work if you read a book that would still be appropriate for young readers. You can leave out certain parts if they re too grown-up, but make sure you pick a story that would make sense for little children. Turn in your picture book in book format Staple the pages together or tie them with string. However you choose is fine, as long as we can flip through it to read the story! o The story Picture books are 32 pages long and have 1-3 sentences on each page. o Illustrations You ll need pictures on every page. You can draw them by hand, make a collage with magazine pictures, create it on the computer with clip art, or anything that your imagination creates! Pretend to be one of the characters and write a DIARY about the things happening in your life (based on the book). Write at least 5 entries. Talk about the other characters from the book. Write about the main exciting event in the book. Add more details about how you were feeling and what you were thinking when that was happening. In your last entry, write about what happens at the end of the book and what you think will happen in the future.

6 Write a BOOK BUBBLE RECOMMENDATION about your book. Tell a friend why you loved the book by writing a Book Bubble recommendation! Your teacher will hang all of your Book Bubbles in class, so you can check out your friends good books! Should be 3-5 sentences long. Create a speech bubble (like in comic books) with colored paper. Write your recommendation on the bubble to turn in. o Why you liked it o The most exciting / interesting part Create a piece of ARTWORK about your book. Choose a scene, a character, or the setting and turn it into art! You can make a painting, a photo collage, a sculpture whatever you can imagine! You can use any type of art material that you want clay, Legos, paints, colored pencils, scrapbook paper, etc. Write a SONG about your book. You choose what to sing about the whole book, a character, an exciting event, etc. Song should be 2-3 minutes long. You can have a refrain that repeats. Turn in to teacher: o A video of yourself singing the song o A written copy of the song You can use background music from a current song or you can make up your own tune. You can play the piano or guitar while singing. Use your talents to make your book shine! For turning in your video, please save on a USB flash drive and turn in to teacher. You may also try ing your video to your new teacher, but know that the file might be too big for an attachment. Create a SHOEBOX DIORAMA for your book. Choose your favorite scene and make a diorama about it. Use any kind of materials that you want markers, paper, Legos, Play-Doh o Background pictures that show the setting o The characters who were in the scene