Reading Roadblock Orange

When you reach the orange section on your amazing summer
reading racetrack, it will be time to complete this challenge:

Read a poem!

Perhaps a poem by Shel Silverstein or Jack Prelutsky
. . . or maybe a Mother Goose nursery rhyme. Or how
about a whole book of poetry like "Read Aloud Rhymes
for the Very Young" or "Here's a Little Poem". Oodles
of books filled with poems about puppies, pirates, and
everything under the sun are waiting for you in the
811 section of the library.

At my house I have a very old orange book of poems
that my Mom bought when she was in college. When
I was growing up, we always looked in this book
for poems to memorize when we had to do a 

 "special number" at Family Home Evening. So . . .

Read a poem and earn a reading reward from my
Suitcase of Summer Surprises.
Memorize a poem and earn a bonus reading reward
from my Suitcase of Summer Surprises.

 

Happy rhyme time!
Love, Grandma

Ww is for Wade

Five photos of another brand new five-year-old boy!
Like many of you, this young man likes to play with
Lego's and his  favorite book is an ABC Lego book.
Celebrate today by reading a Lego idea book or an early
 reader Lego book. (and earn a bonus reading reward!)

Happy Birthday Wade!
Love, Grandma

 

Reading H's

You might be happy reading a book about hands or hats . . .
or hearts or houses . . . or even Halloween.
But there arehundreds of other "H" books like:
"Harold and the Purple Crayon" a picture book by Crockett Johnson
"Horton Hatches the Egg" another classic by Dr. Seuss
"Hailstones and Halibut Bones" a book of color poems or
"Hi, Koo!" a book of 26 haikus from A to Z about the seasons. 

There are all kinds of how-to books such as "How to Eat Fried
Worms" by Thomas Rockwell or a series of books about "how to
be a pirate" by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. Besides Harry
Potter books, you can read other series about the adventures of
Hank the Cowdog or Henry and Mudge.

 
I read a book (that has also become a series) called
"The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kindgom"
by Thomas Healy. You may have read fairy tales with
 nameless Prince Charmings in them. Well, this book
  tells you the real name of those Prince Charmings and
 all about  their bungling and hilarious adventures
in saving the kingdom from a wicked witch.

 

Happy Reading,
Love, Grandma

Ll is for Luke

Here are five fun photos of a guy who turns five years old today!
Celebrate his birthday by reading a "Fly Guy" book--his favorites.
Who knows--it might be worth a bonus reading reward.

Happy Birthday Luke!
Love, Grandma

 

Reading Rewards!

My suitcase is all packed with summer surprises for all you
reward-earning amazing race readers!

Love, Grandma

Reading G's

There are good books galore about games, gardens, giants and
giraffes as well as grandmas, grandpas, groundhogs and gorillas!

George and Martha are two hilarious hippos in books that will
make you giggle by James Marshall. Goosie and Gertie
 are two funny ducks in another silly  series of books. And
Geronimo Stilton is a mouse who writes whisker licking good
adventure stories in his own series of books.

"The Genius Files" is a series by Dan Gutman about the
adventures of 12-year-old twins--Coke and Pepsi MacDonald.
An older, but classic series about brothers is
"The Great Brain" books by John D. Fitzgerald.
"Guys Read Library" is a book series
by Jon Scieszka whose mission is to get
reluctant readers (like guys) interested in good books.

Graphic novels are another popular genre of books filled
with pictures and words in comic book style panels to tell
a story. They are especially popular with young adults, but
there are graphic novels in the children's section of the library, too.

But of all these good books, I chose to read a book about a giant.

another classic by Roald Dahl: "The BFG"!

 

Good luck finding a good book to read!
Love, Grandma

Reading F's

Fairy tales are fabulous books to read for the letter "F".
There are also books called "fractured fairy tales" which
are stories that use the fairy tales you know and change the
characters, setting or story a little as in "The True Story
of the Three Little Pigs" as told by Jon Scieszka.

Of course, you can find quite a few books about fish,

flowers, food, friends and frogs . . . plus books with fun

 characters like Fancy Nancy, Flat Stanley and Fly Guy.

 "Fraidyzoo" by Thyra Heder is a fine book I read this summer.
This picture book is the story of a little sister who remembers
she was frightened of something at the zoo the last time her
family visited it, but cannot remember what it was. So her
creative family helps by imitating every animal from A to Z
until she recalls exactly what caused her fear.

And "Fantastic Mr. Fox" is the story of a clever fox
and his family that your whole family might like to
read together.

Have fun reading!
Love, Grandma

Reading E's

  You might enjoy an "Eyewitness Book" by DK Publishing
for the letter "E". Actually you could probably find one of
 these oversize non-fiction books for any letter of the alphabet
from "A-W" because there are "Eyewitness Books" on Africa,
animals, baseball, boats, castles, cowboys, dinosaurs, earth,
elephants, flags, gorillas, horses, insects, jungle, knights, light,
moon, music, Nascar!, ocean, Olympics, pirates, pyramids,
robots, rocks, sharks, shells, trains, trees, universe, volcanoes,
weather, and  the Wild West.

Of course, you could also read a book about elephants like
Babar, or Elmer the colorful elephant or my favorite
elephant family in "Five Minutes Peace" by Jill Murphy.

You could read a book about eggs or Easter . . .
or a book by Ed Emberley or a book by
 my favorite "E" artist and author, Lois Ehlert.

You might like a book about Encyclopedia Brown,
Eloise, or "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine.
And I suppose you could even read an E-book on  your electronic device.

But I think you might like reading a book I bought
once upon a time when I was 12 years old! In
fact I still own my copy of "101 Elephant Jokes".
You're welcome to read it the next time you visit.
In the meantime . . . Why do elephants have trunks?

Come read my book and find out!
Love, Grandma

Reading D's

Dozens of books are written about dogs, ducks and dinosaurs.

But there are also lots of books about dragons such as:
"How to Train Your Dragon" books by Cressida Cowell
"Dragonbreath" series by Ursula Verson
"There's No Such Thing as a Dragon" by Jack Kent
and two books about the "Library Dragon" 
by Carmen Agra Deedy

 

There are books about dots  . . .  lots of drawing books
by Ed Emberley. . . and books called dictionaries
where you can discover all kinds of new words!

Don't forget "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books by Jeff Kinney
and books about "Dodsworth" and his friend, Duck, who
travel around the world. Also popular are books about
detective characters like Encyclopedia Brown, the Hardy
Boys, Nancy Drew, Nate the Great and Judy Moody.


My favorite "D" authors are Roald Dahl and Tomie de Paola,
but how could I resist reading a book with a title like this:

"The Dancing Pancake" by Eileen Spinelli.

I dare you to read it
(or any other "D" book on this delightful list).
Love, Grandma

Reading Roadblock Red

When you reach a red section on your amazing summer reading

racetrack, please take a moment to complete this challenge:

Read a recipe!

Look in a cookbook . . . or a food magazine . . . or "The Friend"

. . . or your Mom's pinterest board . . . or even this blog
(click "Yummy Summer") . . . and

 find a recipe to prepare and eat. Upon successful completion

of this road block challenge, you may choose any letter car

 you want to place on the red section of your reading

racetrack--maybe a letter "R" for recipe . . . or a letter

your recipe starts with . . . or the letter "X" which is

always good for marking the spot.  Oh yes--and

you will be eligible for your first reading reward!

Happy recipe reading!

Love, Grandma

Reading C's

Check out this collection of "C" books you could choose to read:

Books about cars, cats, cows and "Can You See?" books . . .
Christmas books or cookbooks or a clever concepts book
called "Cold, Crunchy, Colorful" by Jane Brocket.

 

There are all kinds of good books by Eric Carle and
Beverly Cleary not to mention books about all kinds of
Charlies:

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl
"Charlie and Lola" books by Lauren Child
"Charlie Bone" books by Jenny Nimmo
and books about the Pioneer Woman's dog--Charlie
 

You might like to read a craft book like
"Crafty Chloe" by Kelly DiPucchio or
"Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White or
 "Curious George" books by H.A. Rey.
There are also many creatively illustrated books
with a Caldecott Medal sticker on them.

However, the book I chose to read for the letter "C"
was "The Candy Shop War" by Brandon Mull.
You boys might even like this book with candy

that gives special powers to the kids who eat it!


Happy "C" reading.
Love, Grandma

Reading B's

On my bookshelf are many possibilities for letter "B" reading:

You could read a book about babies, bears, books about books

or "Blueberries for Sal"--
a classic picture book by Robert McCloskey.

 "Balloons Over Broadway" by Melissa Sweet

 is the true story of the puppeteer of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

 You could read board books by Sandra Boynton like

"The Belly Button Book" or you could read "Boxcar Children" mysteries.

Jan Brett is an author/illustrator of lots of books
and a website full of fun activites.

And last, but not least, all you Little Leaguers
might like baseball books!

However, my favorite letter "B" books are a series of old-fashioned

"Betsy-Tacy" books by Maud Hart Lovelace.

Best wishes for a busy summer of amazing reading!

Love, Grandma