There are a lot of resources out there to keep your young friends and family members reading and it is important to do so! Research has shown that if students do not keep their chops up over the summer holidays their learning can drop back at least one whole month. That is a lot to catch up when you start back at school.
Here are some helpful links:
The American Library Association's reading list:
http://www.ala.org/alsc/2014-summer-reading-list
The Collaborative Summer Library Program (all American states, I believe, are now part of this. Vermont and New Hampshire were the last to join!):
http://www.cslpreads.org/
Goodreads has a good source of summer reading for all ages, from kids to adults:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/2014
The Huffington Post has a list of Must Read books for Grown-Ups:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/07/2014-books_n_4550607.html
I am adding Scholastic's site as it has some resources, but you have to log in and it is very fussy. Resources are there for kids, parents and educators:
http://www.scholastic.com/ups/campaigns/src-2014
Want to read some research to back up my earlier comment:
http://cslpreads.org/learning-tools/summer-reading-research.html
and this from the New York State Library:
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/summer/research.htm
This years Summer Reading Program theme is science - namely: Fizz, Boom, READ! If you want to tie in some activities at home with this, don't forget the basic science of home economics, just remember to cook healthy snacks and hold back on the juices and sugar! And your school will have a list of books for folks to read, too. Those, hopefully, come home with the students!
The web is a fabulous source for science too, if you want to play and experiment:
Edutopia:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/super-simple-summer-science-activities-bob-pflugfelder
Remember that wonderful kids show, ZOOM (rhymes with BOOM!)? They maybe off the air, but are still alive and well on the web:
http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/
Education.com has some pretty excellent experiments too:
http://www.education.com/activity/science/
http://www.education.com/activity/science/
If you want some traditional stories to go along with all that, then try looking up the stories of the stars, going back to Home Ec., what about Hansel and Gretel? For those of us who love rocks and creation stories, there is a huge topic of interest called Geomythology. Some of the books I have on my shelf (not guaranteed to be in print) which might help are:
Beyond the Blue Horizon, by Dr. E.C. Krupp
Sun Stories, and The Return of Light, by Carolyn Edwards
Myths of the Sacred Tree by Moyra Caldecott
Tales of the Shimmering Sky by Susan Milord (includes activities)
Why the North Star Stands Still, by William Palmer
A Forest of Stories, by Rina Singh
and of course the wonderful collection of tales and activities put together by Joseph Bruchac and Michael Caduto:
Keepers of the Earth
Keepers of the Night
Keepers of the Animals
Keepers of Life
Can we count science fiction as science? Hmm...
If so, check out any Ray Bradbury, (Fahrenheit 451), Heinlein (Stranger in a Strange Land) and Arthur C Clarke (Rendezvous with Rama which I read in high school as compulsory reading). Or something a little more modern:
Rushed, by Brian Harmon
The Sentinel, by Eden Winters
Tanglewreck by one of my top favourite writers, Jeanette Winterson
and the Sixth Science Fiction Megapack, by Art et al!
I hope this is of some help. Keep your minds sharp, your bodies moving, and your fingers flexing!
And let's hope for more fizz and reading, and not so much BOOM & BANG!
Peace,
Simon
