Summer reading lists for new/early readers?

[goldenpig]

My daughter is 3.75 and her reading skills have really blossomed in the last few months. I don't know what reading level to call her, but she can pretty much sight read most words and sound out the rest. For example, she can read the stories in "Busy Busy World" or "Curious George" or "Madeline" or "Poppleton" all by herself, and she can read new books from the library too, so it's not just memorization of familiar stories.

Now that school is nearly over, I wanted to pick up some books for the summer. I was just wondering what books your new/early readers have enjoyed? Is there a book or a website that lists good books that are appropriate for certain ages or reading stages? She likes books with pictures but is more advanced than the BOB/phonic readers and board books that we have at home. We haven't started chapter books yet but I might start trying some easy chapter books. I'm trying to save money though so I haven't been buying books for her lately. We usually go to the library but rather than letting DD pick random books which is what we usually do, I'd like to have a list of good books to look for. I'm planning to ask the children's librarian as well, but would love either lists of your DC's favorites or a web site/book resource with lists of recommended books. Thanks!

[Meatball Mommie]

I am making summer reading lists for my boys (their school doesn't provide them with any guidance :( ) I googled "summer reading lists for x grade" and found a ton of info. My boys are older than your DD (going into 3rd and 1st grades), but I did notice preschool and K lists. I plan on requesting the books from the library one or two at a time.

Check out education.com - I found some really good articles there. I don't really have any good suggestions on specific books for you. Both of my sons were/are late readers and are boys, so their tastes are a bit different than what you're probably looking for ;)

[WatchingThemGrow]

I would let her focus on a few favorite authors such as Carle, Wood, Lionni etc. The E section of the library sounds perfect. I would not do chapter books yet. Being able to sound out vs read fluently is a big step that comes with practicing books slightly below the instructional reading level. Comprehension is way low when they are still sounding out.

[goldenpig]

Thanks WTG and Meatball Mommie! Sorry for all the questions, but this is my first child so I don't know much about this yet. How do you tell what her level is? Is there a way to measure this? What is the "E" section? What do the different letters mean? I don't think I was looking for long chapter books, but maybe something with pictures along the lines of "Poppleton" (she loves that series!). Something like that she can definitely read and understand fluently. What level is that?

(I'll be sure to ask her preschool teacher for recommendations too). Thanks!

[kwc]

My DS was an early reader and really liked many of the authors your DD seems to like. At that age, I still like to focus more on picture books but that's not always what DS wanted. I am always discovering new picture books at the library!

Richard Scarry
Dr. Seuss
Jan Brett
Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle (esp. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom)
Lauren Child (Charlie and Lola books... he finds these hysterical)
Lois Ehlert (Planting a Rainbow, Eating the Alphabet)
Cynthia Rylant (Poppleton, Henry and Mudge)
Arnold Lobel (Frog and Toad, etc.)
Lillian Hoban (Frances books)
Kate di Camillo (Mercy Watson series)
For reading together, books by Bill Peet.
He is a science nerd and also loves the Magic School Bus series (there are ones for different levels).

He also likes to look through the book, "How to Get Your Child to Love Reading" and picks out books there by the covers:
http://www.planetesme.com/lovereading.html

Good luck! It is a bit of a "problem" for us... he is such a bookworm we had to remove the bookshelves from his room as he was reading late into the night. He also has been known to walk into walls/ posts due to "walking while reading."

[geochick]

Does your library have a good childrens' librarian? We have a great one. Whenever we need a new series or author, we talk to ours and she points us in the right direction. Head to the library!

[AngelaS]

Henry and Mudge
Little Bear
Mr Putter

[traciann]

My dd really likes the Brownie and Pearl books.

[hellokitty]

I don't know about your library, but our library has kids readers color coded. Like green is for pre-readers, red is for beginning readers and blue is for fluent readers. You might want to check if your library has a system like that set up, b/c ALL of the same colored books are on the same shelves. So, you can just tell your dd to pick a, "red" book (or whatever color) and that way she has some indep in making her own book choices.

[goldenpig]

Good luck! It is a bit of a "problem" for us... he is such a bookworm we had to remove the bookshelves from his room as he was reading late into the night. He also has been known to walk into walls/ posts due to "walking while reading."

:ROTFLMAO: This is so true! I often come back to find DD after I tucked her in, with the lights on and sneakily reading more books. I can't really get mad at her though, since I was a bookworm too--I used to do the same thing and read books in front of the nightlight (no wonder my vision is so bad ;)). I went to the library today (thanks everyone for the recs, I picked up several of them) and as soon as I got home DD dove into the books and I literally had to drag her away to come to dinner.

Tonight she picked out Magic School Bus--Body, Henry and Mudge, Amelia the Pig, and I Spy and we had fun reading them together with DH. And DS loved I Love Trucks (kept making toot-toot noises the whole time).

Thanks for the recommendations! Keep them coming, I'm keeping a list since she seems to be devouring them at a fast pace! Yes, hellokitty, the librarian showed me the "red dot" section of easy readers so that's where I found a lot of the books.

[ett]

Nate the Great series
Iris and Walter series
Oliver and Amanda Pig series(Jean Van Leeuwen)
Fox at School, Fox on Stage, etc. series (James Marshall)
Young Cam Jansen series
Little Bear series