Kindergarten to Grade 2 Summer Reading List

This list was compiled by Linda Williams for the Connecticut State Department of Education. Each title listed below was selected, between 2001 and 2011, as an exemplary book by the American Library Association (ALA) and at least one professional education association. Education associations include: the International Reading Association (IRA), the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and the National Science Teachers Assocation (NSTA). List can be downloaded as a .pdf here: Grade K to Grade 2.

PICTURE BOOKS

Milo’s Hat Trick by Jon Agee
In the busy city, there are lots of people with hats. But there is only one guy with a bear in his hat. That’s Milo. The Magician.
ALA, NCTE

Once Upon a Banana by Jennifer Armstrong
Everyday signs serve as captions for this pictorial tale of what happens after a man tosses a banana peel into the garbage can and misses.
ALA, NCTE

Daisy Comes Home by Jan Brett
Daisy, an unhappy hen in China, floats down the river in a basket and has an adventure.
ALA, NCSS

I Lost My Tooth in Africa by Penda Diakite
While visiting her father’s family in Mali, a young girl loses a tooth, places it under a calabash, and receives a hen and a rooster from the African Tooth Fairy.
ALA, IRA, NCTE

Gossie & Gertie by Olivier Dunrea
Gossie and Gertie are best friends and everywhere Gossie goes, Gertie goes too–except when she doesn’t, and sometimes that’s even better.
ALA, NCTE

Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French
In his diary, a wombat describes his life of eating, sleeping, and getting to know some new human neighbors.
ALA, NCTE

Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett
Explores concepts of color, shape, and food using only five simple words, as a bear juggles and plays.
ALA, NCTE

Girl Wonder by Deborah Hopkinson
In the early 1900s, Alta Weiss, a young woman who knows from an early age that she loves baseball, finds a way to show that she can play, even though she is a girl.
ALA, NCSS

Virgie Goes to School with us Boys by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard
In the post-Civil War South, a young African American girl is determined to prove that she can go to school just like her older brothers.
ALA, NCSS

Henry’s First Moon Birthday by Lenore Look
A young girl helps her grandmother with preparations for the traditional Chinese celebration to welcome her new baby brother.
ALA, NCSS, NCTE

Higher! Higher! by Leslie Patricelli
One child. One swing. An obliging dad. The inevitable plea to go “Higher! Higher!” Add Leslie Patricelli’s wildly expressive illustrations, and an everyday pastime reaches new heights of humor and whimsy. How high can it go? Higher than a giraffe? Taller than a mountain? Is Earth the final frontier?
ALA, NCTE

Duck on a Bike by David Shannon
A duck decides to ride a bike and soon influences all the other animals on the farm to ride bikes too.
ALA, NCTE

Car Wash by Sandra Steen
While sitting inside their car, two children enjoy the soapy sights and watery sounds of the car wash.
ALA, NCTE

And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon by Janet Stevens
When Dish and Spoon run away, their nursery rhyme friends Cat, Cow, and Dog set out to rescue them in time for the next evening’s reading of their rhyme.
ALA, NCTE

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson
Two girls, one white and one black, gradually get to know each other as they sit on the fence that divides their town.
ALA, NCSS, NCTE

FOLKLORE

Tunjur! Tunjur! Tunjur! : A Palestinian Folktale by Margaret Read Macdonald
A childless woman’s prayers are answered by the arrival of a talking pot, but the new mother knows that Little Pot must learn right from wrong just like any child.
ALA, NCSS

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale by Carmen Agra Deedy
In this humorous retelling of a Cuban folktale, a cockroach interviews her suitors in order to decide whom to marry.
ALA, NCSS

Gershon’s Monster: A Story for the Jewish New Year by Eric A. Kimmel
When his sins threaten the lives of his beloved twin children, a Jewish man finally repents of his wicked ways.
ALA, NCSS, NCTE

POETRY

If Not for the Cat: Haiku by Jack Prelutsky
Haiku-like poems describe a variety of animals.
ALA, NCTE

All the World by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon
Pictures and rhyming text celebrate a family’s day spent going to the beach, shopping at the market, eating at a restaurant and spending the evening with the rest of the extended family.
ALA, NCSS

Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman
The names of colors are woven into unrhymed poems that celebrate the seasons.
ALA, NCTE

NONFICTION

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins
Animals can do amazing things with their ears, eyes, mouths, noses, feet, and tails. Some of the skills are highlighed in this interactive guessing book. What bird has blue feet and what does he do with them that’s special?
ALA, NCTE

Ballerina Dreams: A True Story by Lauren Thompson
True story of five little girls with cerebral palsy or other physical disabilities who were determined to become ballerinas.
ALA, NCSS

Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan by Jeanette Winter
Based on a true story. After her parents are taken away by the Taliban, young Nasreen stops speaking. But as she spends time in a secret school, she slowly breaks out of her shell.
ALA, NCSS

BIOGRAPHY

Mighty Jackie: The Strike Out Queen by Marissa Moss
In 1931, seventeen-year-old Jackie Mitchell pitches against Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game, becoming the first professional female pitcher in baseball history.
ALA, IRA

Martin’s Big Words by Doreen Rappaport
A brief biographical sketch of Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the greatest figures in the American civil rights movement.
ALA, NCSS, NCTE

I Could do That: Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote by Linda White
In 1869, a woman whose “can-do” attitude had shaped her life was instrumental in making Wyoming the first state to allow women to vote, then became the first woman to hold public office in the United States.
ALA, NCSS