My Summer Reading List Challenge 2016

As with most things this summer, my summer reading list (and posting about it) has gotten away from me. This year, as I did last year, I asked my 4th grade students at the end of the year to give me book title suggestions for my summer reading list, promising that I would read each one and at least the first book if it was a series. The only exception to this promise is if I've already read the book recently, about the last 5 years or so. They took up the challenge with gusto! Below is the list they gave me:

The very extensive list includes (those in red I've already completed this summer):

• Garden of the Purple Dragon
• Where the Red Fern Grows
• Katie John
• The White Giraffe
• America's Funny But True History
• Camp Rock 2: Final Jam
• Life of Pi
• Sugar
• Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu
• Toes
• Half Magic
• Star Darlings
• 39 Clues
• Little House on the Prairie
• Ruby Lee and Me
• Marley
• The Cupcake Queen
• The Light in the Forest
• Fortune Falls
• Pie
• The Hunger Games
• Roller Girl
• Thimble Summer
• Shadow of the Dragon: Kira
• World War II Book 2: Dead in the Water
• Pegasus
• Mutation
• Five Little Peppers series
• Frostborn (Thrones & Bones)
• Evermore
• The Lost Track of Time
• Beholding Bee
• Crimebiters! series
• Haunted Houses
• A Night Divided
• Seekers: The Quest Begins
• Dog Diaries series
• Colorado Sam (written by a student's grandfather)
• The Twelve Dancing Princesses
• The Puppy Place
• Lincoln's Grave Robbers
• Silver Pony Ranch
• Dragon Keeper
• Tombquest series
• Spirit Animals

WOW!! What a list! They have challenged me to read about 21 more books this summer than the students last year did.

And of course, I always have a huge stack of my own that I have set aside for summer, including several professional development books. (below left)

This summer has gotten away from me and I've spent far more time travelling than is typical, so I even have a stack I've been saving that I know will have to wait until the school year, or much more likely, until next summer. (above right)

Well, with half the summer gone I have only gotten through about 45% of the books I want to read, and less than 20% of the books I've been challenged to read. It is time for me to buckle down and make a greater effort to read the books my students have recommended. I do not want to let them down, and have spent too much time reading the books I had in my own stack. Hopefully I will do better the remainder of the summer. If I promised my students that I'd read it, then I will keep that promise!

My Summer Reading...Summer is Over Update

At the start of the summer, I shared a post explaining how my students had been allowed to choose many of the books on my summer reading list this year. You can see the post here.

As summer has now come to an end and the 2015-2016 school year is about to begin, I find myself reflecting on what I did, and read, over the summer months. I had promised my students that any book they wrote down, that I had not already read, I would get done this summer. This helped to spur me on as I read more books in one summer than I ever have before. I couldn't let them down (they had been so excited to control what I read and wanted me to read the best of what they liked) and I wanted to be sure to set a good example. I told my students that if I liked the first book of a series, I'd keep reading, but if not, I would only read the first one. 

Here is the list of books my students placed on my reading list:

• NBA Playbook by Fred Kerber
• Fangbone: Third-Grade Barbarian by Michael Rex
• I am LeBron James by Grace Norwich
• Animal Ark: Dog at the Door by Ben B, Baglio
• Dinkin Dings by Guy Bass
• Snoop Troop by Kirk Scroggs
• Superstars of History: The Good, The Bad, and The Brainy by R.J. Grant
• A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
• Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• Dork Diaries by Rachel Renee Russell
• Bone series by Jeff Smith
• So B. It by Sarah Weeks
• How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor
• Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black
• A Dog Called Kitty by Bill Wallace
• The Wickit Chronicles: Ely Plot by Joan Lennon
• Jungle of Bones by Ben Mikaelson
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
• Deadtime Stories: Little Magic Shop of Horrors by Annette & Gina Cascone
• any I Am...books or Who was...books

 I am proud to say that I didn't let my students down, and read every book that they put on my list.

Some of the series were really good, and I kept reading. This included the Harry Potter series, the Bone graphic novel series, and the Spiderwick Chronicles. I read the first two Percy Jackson books, but did not read beyond that. Book series that I did not love, and so only read the first book, included A Series of Unfortunate Events, Dork Diaries, Divergent, and The Wickit Chronicles.

I am glad to say that, even though I did not love every book my students put on my list, I did not hate any of them either. My students have some really good tastes in books and did not disappoint or provide me with a boring summer. I look forward to requesting another summer reading list in May from mt new classes of 4th graders!

My Summer Reading List Challenge 2015

This year, I did something a little different with my summer reading list. Typically, I make my own list based on whatever I've had sitting around during the school year but never seemed to get to and on any new books that I got for my classroom towards the end of the year. I also add titles for book clubs and any professional development I have planned over the summer months. However, at the end of this school year, I decided to let my students make the majority of my list for me.

I put the title My Summer Reading List up on my whiteboard two days before the end of the school year and told my students that I wanted them to add titles that they really enjoyed and thought I should read as well. The exception being that I would remove the title only if I had already read it recently. My students loved this opportunity to tell their teacher what to read. Many of the titles were already on my own list, as though the students knew what I wanted to read.

Here is a partial list. Several that were already on my own list had been taken off as I gathered them from my shelves.

In addition to the books listed in the photo, they also added the following titles:

• NBA Playbook by Fred Kerber
• Fangbone: Third-Grade Barbarian by Michael Rex
• I am LeBron James by Grace Norwich
• Animal Ark: Dog at the Door by Ben B, Baglio
• Dinkin Dings by Guy Bass
• Snoop Troop by Kirk Scroggs
• Superstars of History: The Good, The Bad, and The Brainy by R.J. Grant
• A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

In addition to the many books my students have requested, and even challenged, me to read, I have added the following:

• Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr
• Chocolate Fever by Robert Kimmel Smith
• Ida B by Katherine Hannigan
• Little Dog Lost by Marion Dane Bauer
• The Mouse and the Motorcycle (and sequels) by Beverly Cleary
• King George: What was His Problem? by Steve Sheinkin
• Outside the Box: A Book of Poems by Karma Wilson
• The Counterfeit Constitution Mystery/The Mystery on the Underground Railroad by Carole Marsh
• Loot by Jude Watson
• Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
• Life on Mars by Jennifer Brown
• A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd
• City of Lost Dreams by Magnus Flyte
• On the Road by Jack Kerouac
• Yes, Please by Amy Poehler
• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling 

Many of the books I've added to my own list are books I am re-reading, having read the book years ago. I am very happy with the list my students and I have come up with, and I will be very excited to be able to show my students that they had a direct hand in what I did over my summer, and that I was able to read all the books they asked me too.