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1995 Summer Reading for Kids

These are books recommended for summer reading by the school librarians of the Vermont Educational Media Association, an affiliate of the Vermont-National Education Association.

1995 Caldecott Award Winner

Bunting, Eve. SMOKY NIGHT. Harcourt. When the Los Angeles riots break out in the streets of their neighborhood, a young boy and his mother learn the values of getting along with others, no matter what their background or nationality.

1995 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award Winner

Cooper, Susan. THE BOGGART. McElderry. After visiting the castle in Scotland which her family has inherited, 12-year-old Emily finds that she has accidentally brought back to Canada an invisible, mischievous spirit -- a boggart. Delights as well as horrors invade Emily's family as Emily and her brother frantically look for a way to send the boggart back across the ocean to Scotland.

1995 Newbery Award Winner

Creech, Sharon. WALK TWO MOONS. HarperCollins. After her mother leaves home suddenly, 13-year-old Sal and her grandparents take a car trip retracing her mother's route. Along the way, Sal recounts the story of her friend Phoebe, whose mother also left.

PRIMARY GRADES

• Alexander, Lloyd. THE FORTUNE TELLERS. Dutton. A carpenter goes to a fortune teller and finds the predictions about his future coming true in an unusual way. The setting of Cameroon is beautifully evoked in illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman.
• Cannon, Janell. STELLALUNA. Harcourt. After she falls headfirst into a bird's nest, a baby bat is raised like a bird until she is reunited with her mother.
• Celsi, Teresa Noel. THE FOURTH LITTLE PIG. Raintree. In this hilarious story, the flamboyant sister of the original three little pigs shows up to teach her brothers a thing or two about life.
• Boulton, Jane. ONLY OPAL: THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL. Philomel. A young orphan faced with the harsh reality of days filled with grueling work for a pioneer family finds comfort and tranquility in the natural world around her.
• Hoban, Lillian. ARTHUR'S CAMP OUT. HarperCollins. Lovable Arthur scoffs at his sister Violet's camping trip with her girlfriends. Camping out on his own, brave Arthur runs into trouble and is rescued by his reliable sister.
• Isaacs, Anne. SWAMP ANGEL. Dutton. This new tall tale introduces Angelica Longrider, also known as the Swamp Angel, who wrestles with her powerful foe, a huge bear known as Thundering Tarnation who is the scourge of Tennessee. Swamp Angel saves her pioneer friends from starvation.
• Jenness, Aylette. FAMILIES: A CELEBRATION OF DIVERSITY, COMMITMENT AND LOVE. Houghton. Seventeen children talk about their families in this book, which grew out of a photographic exhibit at the Children's Museum in Boston. While the makeup of each family unit varies, all share the bonds of experience, hope, and of course, love.
• King-Smith, Dick. THE CUCKOO CHILD. Hyperion. With the unknowing help of his pet geese, 8-year-old Jack Daw decides to raise an ostrich on his father's farm. There is much to be learned from this six-foot bird, who is seen through the eyes of both the adoptive human and goose families.
• Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie. THE WILD HORSES OF SWEETBRIAR. Cobblehill/Dutton. A young girl recalls her experiences with a herd of wild horses, from her first encounter during the summer through the horses' desperate struggle for survival during a harsh winter.
• Moutoussamy-Ashe, Jeanne. DADDY AND ME. Knopf. Arthur Ashe's daughter Camera tells how she and her dad take care of one another. Publication of this book is a project on which the entire family collaborated prior to Arthur Ashe's death from AIDS.
• Seymour, Tres. HUNTING THE WHITE COW. Orchard. It takes far longer than the "few minutes" daddy promised he'd need to catch the white cow. All the menfolk get involved in the hunt and the cow's reputation grows with each failed attempt. The child who succeeds in getting a rope on her can't get her home!
• Steptoe, John. MUFARO'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS. Lothrop. Mufaro's two beautiful daughters, one bad-tempered, one kind and sweet, go before the king, who is choosing a wife. Set in Zimbabwe's past splendor and similar to other folktales, this provides an opportunity to conjecture with children about how tales are transferred from one generation and culture to another.
• Treece, Henry. THE MAGIC WOOD. HarperCollins. A mysterious man befriends an unwitting visitor in a nighttime wood filled with hidden danger. Illustrated by Barry Moser's haunting art, the often-repeated verse easily becomes a responsive reading.
• Waddell, Martin. THE PIG IN THE POND. Candlewick. When a pig becomes overheated and jumps into the farm pond, barnyard pandemonium breaks out.
• Wiesner, David. TUESDAY. Clarion. An almost wordless picture book in which frogs rise on their lily pads, float through the air, and explore nearby houses.
• Yolen, Jane. DOVE ISABEAU. Harcourt. Dove's innocence cannot protect her from the dark magic of her stepmother. Turned into a hideous dragon, Dove awaits rescue through the powers of love; her own mother's and that of Kemp Owain.

MIDDLE GRADES

• Alexander, Lloyd. WESTMARK. Dutton. The first of three books of high fantasy set in the kingdom of the same name. A boy fleeing from criminal charges falls in with a charlatan, his dwarf attendant, and an urchin girl, and travels with them about the kingdom of Westmark. They ultimately arrive at the palace, where the king is grieving over the loss of his daughter. Sequels are THE BEGGAR QUEEN and THE KESTREL.
• Collier, James L. and Christopher. WITH EVERY DROP OF BLOOD. Delacorte. Johnny promises his dying father that he will not desert the family to fight for the rebel cause. But the lure of adventure and financial gain are strong. Careful attention is paid to the reasons the Civil War was fought as well as the enormity of the suffering of soldiers and civilians.
• Dubois, Muriel L. ABENAKI CAPTIVE. Carolrhoda. In 1752 nineteen-year-old Abenaki warrior Ogistin is present when a band of his people capture a Vermont settler, John Stark. As Stark is carried into captivity in Canada, a bond of hate and competition develops between him and Ogistin.
• Filipovic, Zlata. ZLATA'S DIARY: A CHILD'S LIFE IN SARAJEVO. Viking. Zlata's personal narrative concerning her life before and during the war in Bosnia provides insight and questions about life, death, and the loss of childhood.
• Fleischman, Paul. THE HALF-A-MOON INN. Harper. Lost on wintry roads, Aaron, who was born mute, comes upon the bewitched Half-a-Moon Inn, where the wicked proprietor forces him to assist her in picking pockets and prying into people's dreams.
• Freedman, Russell. ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: A LIFE OF DISCOVERY. Clarion. A biography of one of this century's most remarkable women. Her courage, warmth, dignity, and accomplishments are a source of inspiration to the reader.
• Haas, Jessie. UNCLE DANEY'S WAY. Greenwillow. Twelve-year-old Cole learns about how to work with a logging horse named Nip from his uncle Daney. Just as important, he learns that to "lean into the collar and keep on pullin' till you get what you're after" isn't the only way to live.
• Hahn, Mary Downing. TIME FOR ANDREW: A GHOST STORY. Clarion. In an attempt to save his ancestor's life, 11-year-old Drew agrees to switch places with a ghost child, Andrew, who supposedly died of diphtheria in 1910. When Andrew resists switching back, nightly marble games determine if Drew will ever be able to return to his own world.
• Lewin, Ted. I WAS A TEENAGE PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER. Orchard. A biographical account of how a very prolific children's illustrator earned his way through college. Many interesting and humorous insights into the world of professional wrestling.
• Paterson, Katherine. THE FLIP-FLOP GIRL. Dutton. Vinnie is forced by the death of her father to move with her mother and brother to her grandmother's. Lonely at her new school, Vinnie is befriended by the class outcast, a girl who wears flip-flops and who also has an unusual family story.
• Peck, Robert Newton. A PART OF THE SKY. Knopf. A sequel to A DAY NO PIGS WOULD DIE. Robert's coming-of-age story continues as the Peck family struggles to keep the family farm during the Depression.
• Rawls, Wilson. WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS. Doubleday. A young boy living in the Ozarks works hard to earn enough money to purchase two redbone hound dogs. He pours all his love and passion into training them to be champions.
• Smith, Robert Kimmel. THE WAR THE GRANDPA. Delacorte. Upset that he has to give up the room he loves to his grandfather, Pete decides to declare war in an attempt to get it back.
• Watkins, Yoko Kawashima. MY BROTHER, MY SISTER, AND I. Bradbury. A sequel to the much-loved book, SO FAR FROM THE BAMBOO GROVE. Living as refugees in Japan in 1947 while trying to locate their missing father, 13-year-old Yoko and her oldest brother and sister must endure a bad fire, injury, and false charges of arson, theft, and murder.
• Zettner, Pat. THE SHADOW WARRIOR. Atheneum. Llyndreth fulfills prophecies by learning to love what she was taught to fear and hate, in a world where goblins, giants and humans battle for domination. Through her actions she brings a chance of peace to her world.

HIGH SCHOOL

• Blais, Madeleine. IN THESE GIRLS, HOPE IS A MUSCLE. Atlantic Monthly. The winning 1993 basketball season of the Lady Hurricanes of Amherst, MA is described in a story that focuses on the involvement of family and community, the role of the male coach, and the athletes' dedication to excellence.
• Brooke, Polly Schoyer. QUEEN ELEANOR, INDEPENDENT SPIRIT OF THE MEDIEVAL WORLD: A BIOGRAPHY OF ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE. Lippincott. After divorcing the King of France at age twenty-nine, Eleanor marries nineteen-year-old Henry and again becomes a queen, this time of England. She prefers to rule her own court in Aquitaine, where she plots rebellion against Henry with her sons Richard and John. Medieval royal dysfunctional family life at its most interesting.
• Cooney, Caroline. DRIVER'S ED. Delacorte. Three teenagers' lives are changed forever when they thoughtlessly steal a stop sign from a dangerous intersection and a young mother is killed in an automobile accident there.
• Cushman, Karen. CATHERINE, CALLED BIRDY. Clarion. The 13-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventure beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off. Highly entertaining!
• Klass, David. CALIFORNIA BLUE. Scholastic. When 17-year-old John Rodgers discovers a new sub-species of butterfly which may necessitate closing the mill where his dying father works, he and his father find themselves on opposite sides of the environmental conflict.
• McCaffrey, Anne. DRAGONSONG. Atheneum. Published nearly twenty years ago, this is the first of a dozen novels about Pern, where dragons are bred to ward off the spore life that falls from the orbiting Red Star. Despite the dangers, Menolly leaves the safety of home to pursue her musical ambitions and is befriended by a group of fire lizards.
• Myers, Walter Dean. THE GLORY FIELD. Scholastic. Myers follows a family's long history, from the capture of an African boy in the 1750s through the lives of his descendants, as their dreams and circumstances lead them away from and back to the small plot of land in South Carolina they call the Glory Field.
• Reuter, Bjarne. THE BOYS FROM ST. PETRI. Dutton. In 1942 a group of young men begin a series of increasingly dangerous protests against the German invaders of their Danish homeland. 1995 Batchelder award winner.
• Sleator, William. OTHERS SEE US. Dutton. When an accidental dunking in toxic waste gives sixteen-year-old Jared the ability to read minds, he discovers horrifying secrets about family members at the summer reunion.
• Staples, Suzanne Fisher. HAVELI. Knopf. A sequel to SHABANU: DAUGHTER OF THE WIND. Resigned to the old ways of her people in Pakistan and married to the rich older man to whom she was pledged against her will, Shabanu is now the victim of his family's blood feud and the malice of his other wives.

This reading list for the summer of 1995 was compiled by Carol Clauss, Barbara Kieran, Pat Kervick, and Pam Pezzulo, librarians in the Addison Central Supervisory Union, with additions by Leda Schubert, School Library Media Consultant, Vermont Department of Education. The Vermont Educational Media Association and Vermont-NEA publish a Reading List each summer, as a service to the public.

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