The Importance of Summer Reading:

 
The importance of reading over the summer cannot be emphasised enough.  Your child has acquired so many new skills and has become capable of independently reading for 15-13 minutes.  Summer reading can be a combination of you reading to your child, your child reading to themselves, or you partner reading with your child.  It’s important that your child reads “just right books” orally to maintain practice reading fluency and avoid the dreaded SUMMER SLIDE, in which reading skills regress.  Your child’s independent reading level will be in the reading section of his/her report card.
What does “just right” mean?
Just right books are books students can read and understand without help.   The majority of what a child reads should be at their independent level.  This builds skills taught in class and also builds reading stamina and confidence.  Enjoyment is critical and reading books that are too difficult takes away the satisfaction that comes from reading.
https://booksource.com has an excellent leveled reading section that lists books by non-fiction and fiction within each letter level.
https://www.scholastic.com/bookwizard/ is a website where you can search for books by reading Level.
 

Reading Lists

I have included some resources for older children as well.  Each title is a link and there are also links embedded into each section.
 

ALSC 2015 Summer Reading Lists
These lists come from Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). Books on these list will keep students interested in reading all summer. The reading lists are divided into three categories: Kindergarten-2nd Grade; 3rd-5th Grade; and 6th-8th Grade.

ALSC 2015 Notable Children’s Books
The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) has identified a list of books that are the best of the best in children’s literature. This list includes the current Newbery, Caldecott, Belpré, Sibert, Coretta Scott King, Geisel, and Batchelder Award winners and Honor books, among other notable books. The list includes books for a wide range of ages, from babies through age 14. They reflect and encourage children’s interest in outstanding ways. The list is divided into four categories – young readers; middle readers; older readers; and all ages.

National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Booklist for Young Readers
The National Endowment for the Humanities has created summer reading lists with lots of classics on them – Kindergarten to Grade 3 and Grades 4 to 6.

HAISLN 2015 Recommended Reading Lists
These annotated 2015 reading lists, which contain a lot of more recent books, come from the Houston Area Independent Schools Library Network (HAISLN). These lists are broken down into grade levels and can be downloaded in PDF format. Preschool – K Reading List; Grades 1 & 2 Reading List; Grades 3 & 4 Reading List; Grade 5 Reading List; Grade 6 Reading List and Grades 7 & 8 Reading List.

2015 Boston Public Schools and Boston Public Libraries Summer Reading List
Their lists this year features books about all kinds of heroes – local, global, environmental,
historical, animal, and even children. Check out their reading lists: Kindergarten-Grade 2; Grades 3-5; and Grades 6-8.

Every Hero Has A Story! Reading Lists from Connecticut
Many libraries across the country are using “Every Hero Has a Story” as the theme of their 2015 summer reading program. The following lists were compiled by Linda Williams at the Connecticut Department of Education  and Connecticut State Library: Grades K-2; Grades 3-4; Grades 5-6; and Grades 7-8.

Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge
Scholastic has summer reading lists for Ages 3-5; Ages 6-7; Ages 8-10; and Ages 11-13.

New York Libraries Summer Reading 2015 Booklist
This PreK-5 list was created by librarians at Brooklyn Public Library, New York Public Library,
Queens Library, and the New York City Department of Education School Library System. There are book lists for Preschool and PreK; Kindergarten and Grade 1; Grades 2 and 3; and Grades 4 and 5.

Hornbook Summer Reading List

Funny Boys! Books for Fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Here’s a list of funny stories similar to Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

Award Winning Historical Fiction for Grades 4-8
All of the books on this list are award winning books. These awards include the John Newbery Medal, the Scott O’Dell Prize for Historical Fiction, and the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. They represent time periods from the medieval times to the 1970s.

Best Narrative Nonfiction for Grades 4-8
These nonfiction books are written in a story format and are very engaging. Narrative nonfiction books are informational books written in an engaging story-like format. This list contains some of the top award winning narrative nonfiction books.