Summer Reading

School’s over for the year but learning shouldn’t be. We need to keep kids reading over the summer. Parents, older siblings, grandparents, day care workers, camp counselors, babysitters and friends: Take time to read to/with the young people in your life.

These books, compiled by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Visitor Center staff, are a good place to start. They highlight kids who have the courage it takes to act and stand up for what they believe in.

Toddler and up

Marley, Cedella.  One Love.  San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2011.

Meiners, Cheri J. Reach out and Give.  Free Spirit, 2006.

Napoli, Donna.  Mama Miti.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010.

Paratore, Coleen.  26 Big Things Small Hands Do.  Minneapolis: Free Spirit, 2008.

Silverstein, Shel.  The Giving Tree.  New York: Harper Collins, 1964.

Sis, Peter.  Madlenka Soccer Star.  New York: Farrar Strauss Giroux, 2010.

First grade and up

Brown, Monica.  Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People.  New York: Henry Holt, 2011.

Javaherbin, Mina.  Goal!  Somerville: Candlewick Press, 2010.

Steptoe, John.  Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters.  New York: Harper Collins, 1987.

Watson, Jesse.  Hope for Haiti.  New York: G.P. Putman’s Sons, 2010.

Winter, Jeanette.  The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq.  New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005.

Winter, Jeanette.  Wangari’s Trees of Peace.  Orlando: Harcourt, 2008.

Fifth grade and up

Gregory, Morna and James, Sian.  Toilets of the World.  London: Merrell, 2006.

Kindersley, Barnabas and Anabel.  Children Just Like Me. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1995.

Menzel, Peter and D’Aluisio, Faith.  Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.  Napa, CA: Material World Books, 2005.

Sundem, Garth. Real Kids, Real Stories, Real Change: Courageous Actions around the World. Free Spirit Publishing. 2010.

High school and up

Boles, Nicole.  How to be an Everyday Philanthropist.  New York: Workman, 2009

Pilloton, Emily.  Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People.  New York: Distributed Art Publishers, Inc., 2009.

Photo by Sean Dreilinger