(updated 5/20/2015)

Summer Reading Lists

First Graders Rising to Second Grade  
 
Adler, David Cam Jansen Series
Ardizzone, Edward “Little Tim” Series
Batten, Mary Baby Wolf (All Aboard reading series)
Bulla, Clyde Anything by
Burgess, Thornton W. Anything by
Cameron, Ann Stories Julian Tells
Christopher, Matt sports series
Clifford Flatfoot Fox
Cohen, Miriam Anything by
Corbett, Scott Dr. Merlin’s Magic Shop
Dr. Seuss Anything by
DuBois, William Pierre
Gannett, Ruth My Father’s Dragon
Giff, Patricia Reilly Polk Street School series
Haywood, Carolyn Little Eddie
Hinter Clue, Jr.
Hoban, Russell and Lillian Frances
Hoff, Sid Anything by
Howe, Deborah and James Bunnicula
Hurwitz, Joanna Russell series
Kline, Suzy Herbie Jones series
Leeuwen Oliver Pig
Lobel, Arnold Anything by
Lowry, Lois All About Sam
Magic School Bus Chapter Book Series, e.g. Dinosaur Detectives
Marc Brown Arthur Chapter Book Series
Kreusky, Stephen e.g., Arthur and the Popularity Contest
Marshall Fox
McGuire Leslie Fred series
Murphy, Jill Worst Witch series
Osborne, Mary Pope Magic Treehouse
Parish, Peggy Haunted House, Amelia Bedilia
Roy, Ron A to Z Mysteries series
Rylant, Cynthia Henry & Mudge series, Mr. Putter and Tabby series
Sachar, Louis Marvin Redpost
Scieszka, Jon Time Warp Trio
  

Summer Reading Lists

Sharmat, Marjorie W. Nate the Great
Simon, Seymour Anything by
Sobol, Donald J. Encyclopedia Brown series
Stine, Megan and H. William Jeffrey series
Walter, Mildred Pitts Justin and Best Biscuits
Warner, Gertrude Chandler Boxcar Children series
Yolen, Jane Commander Toad series
Puffin Easy-to-Read
Young Puffin
Sunshine Book series
Troll Easy-to-Read series
Step Into Reading
Dell Young Yearling series
Bank Street Easy-to-Read
Childhood of Famous Americans Biography Series
Step Up Classics
Scholastic Readers
Usborne Readers
 
Second Graders Rising to Third Grade  
 
The second grade boys have read many of these books in their reading groups, and your sons
might enjoy reading additional books by the same author. Please choose at least three of them
as part of your son’s required summer reading. Second graders must read ten books over
the summer and hand in their list to their third grade teacher at the start of school in
September.

Adler, David Cam Jansen series, The Fourth Floor Twins series
Bulla, Clyde The Secret Valley
Cameron, Ann The Stories Julian Tells
Chew, Ruth Summer Magic
Cleary, Beverly Henry Huggins
Christopher, Matt Ice Magic
Dalgliesh, Alice The Courage of Sarah Noble
Dahl, Roald Fantastic Mr. Fox
Davidson, Margaret Louis Braille
Davis, Deborah The Secret of the Seal
Flack, Marjorie Walter the Lazy Mouse
  

Summer Reading Lists

Gannett, Ruth My Father’s Dragon
Haywood, Carolyn Eddie’s Menagerie
Milne, A.A. Winnie the Pooh
Namioka, Lensey Yang the Youngest and his Terrible Ear
Parish, Peggy Key to the Treasure
Shemin, Margaretha The Little Riders
Sobol, Donald Encyclopedia Brown series
Tayor, Sydney All of a Kind Family
Titus, Eve Basil of Baker Street series
Warner, Gertrude Chandler Boxcar Children series
Whelan, Laura Next Spring an Oriole
Wilder, Laura Ingalls Little House in the Big Woods series
Williams, Margery The Velveteen Rabbit
White, E.B. Stuart Little 
 
Third Graders Rising to Fourth Grade  
 
Books required for summer reading are Danny Champion of the World and The Lion, the
Witch and The Wardrobe. Third graders must read at least five books over the summer and
hand in their list to their fourth grade teacher at the start of the school in September.
Atwater, Florence Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Babbitt, Natalie The Devil’s Storybook
Banks, Lynne Reid The Indian in the Cupboard
Blynton, Enid The Five series
Bond, Michael Paddington series
Buck, Pearl S. The Big Wave
Burnford, Sheila The Incredible Journey
Butterworth, Oliver The Enormous Egg
Catling, Patrick Skene The Chocolate Touch
Cleary, Beverly The Mouse and the Motorcycle; Otis Spofford; Runaway
Ralph
D’Aulaire, Ingri D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths
Dahl, Roald Danny, Champion of the World*; James and the Giant
Peach; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
DeAngeli, Marguerite The Door in the Wall
DiCamillo, Kate Because of Winn Dixie
DuBois, William Pene The Twenty-One Balloons
  

Summer Reading Lists

Eager, Edward Half Magic
Fleischman, Sid The Whipping Boy
Gardiner, John R. Stone Fox
Gardner, John Dragon, Dragon and Other Tales
Grahame, Kenneth The Reluctant Dragon
Grimm Brothers Fairy Tales
Henry, Marguerite Misty of Chincoteague; King of the Wind
King-Smith, Dick Babe: The Gallant Pig
Konigsburg, E.L. From the Mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Lewis, C.S. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe*
Lindgren, Astrid Pippi Longstocking
Lister, Robin, retold by The Odyssey
Milne, A.A. When We Were Very Young; Now We are Six
Mowat, Farley Owls in the Family
McCloskey, Robert Homer Price
McGovern, Ann Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest
Naylor, Phyllis Shiloh
Nesbit, E. Five Children and It
Norton, Mary The Borrowers
O’Brien, Robert Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
Peck, Richard Soup
Richler, Mordecai Jacob Two-Two series
Rodgers, Mary Freaky Friday
Selden, George The Cricket in Times Square; Harry Cat’s Pet Puppy
Tucker’s Countryside
Steig, William Dominic
Stolz, Mary The Bully of Barkham Street; Stealing Home
White, E.B. Charlotte’s Web; The Trumpet of the Swan
Wilder, Laura Ingalls Farmer Boy; Little House series
Winthrop, Elizabeth The Castle in the Attic; The Battle for the Castle
Wyss, Johannes Bible Stories for Children
 
 
 
 
 
  

Summer Reading Lists

Fourth Graders Rising to Fifth Grade  
 
Each boy entering the fifth grade must read Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt and Where the
Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. These books should be read in August, so memories of the
stories will be fresh for September.

In addition, a boy must read any three books off the Middle School Reading List and at least one
biography.

In addition to assigned reading, you should read at least three books of your choice. Please keep
track of what you read; your teachers will be eager to see your choices when you return fresh-
faced from summer.
 
Fifth Graders Rising to Sixth Grade  
Each boy entering the sixth grade must read The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth Speare
and Dragonwings by Laurence Yep.

In addition, a boy must read any four books off the Middle School Reading List and at least one
biography.

In addition to assigned reading, you should read at least four books of your choice. Please keep
track of what you read; your teachers will be eager to see your choices when you return fresh-
faced from summer.
 
A Supplement for Incoming Sevens  
Each boy entering the Seventh Grade must read Watership Down by Richard Adams (Scribner
Edition).

In addition, he must read an additional six (6) books, two (2) of which must be from the following
list of fiction or St. Bernard's REading List. We strongly urge that one of the other books be a work
of non-fiction.
  

Summer Reading Lists

FICTION
S. BURNFORD The Incredible Journey
L. CARROLL Through the Looking Glass
D. DEFOE Robinson Crusoe
A. CONAN DOYLE any Sherlock Holmes tales
C. S. FORESTER any of the Hornblower series
J. HILTON The Lost Horizon
N. HAWTHORNE Tanglewood Tales
A. HOPE The Prisoner of Zenda
R. KIPLING Captains Courageous; Kim
S. LANIER King Arthur and his Knights
J. LONDON The Sea Wolf
C. LORENZ King Solomon's Ring
Capt. MARRYAT The Children of the New Forest
F. MOWAT Never Cry Wolf
BARONESS ORCZY The Scarlet Pimpernel
E.A. POE Tales
M. RENAULT The King Must Die
C. RICHTER A Light in the Forest
K. ROBERTS Northwest Passage
J. SCHAEFER Shane
A. SEWELL Black Beauty
R. L. STEVENSON Kidnapped
R. SUTCLIFF The Eagle of the Ninth (or any other)
J.R.R. TOLKIEN The Hobbit
MARK TWAIN The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
J. VERNE 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (or any other)
H. G. WELLS War of the Worlds; The Time Machine
J. WYSS Swiss Family Robinson

SOME NON-FICTION TITLES

J.-J .COUSTEAU The Silent World
G. DURRELL A Zoo in my Luggage
ANNE FRANK Diary of a Young Girl
J. HERRIOT All Things Wise and Wonderful (or others)
J. F. KENNEDY Profiles in Courage
C. LINDBERG The Spirit of St. Louis
C. SANDBURG Abe Lincoln Grows Up
J. STEINBECK Travels With Charley
 
 
 St. Bernard’s School

Summer Reading Lists

SUMMER READING FOR INCOMING EIGHTS

You are entering Grade Eight in September and, as part of your summer reading
program, you must read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. You will be discussing
it in school and writing on it. This is a challenging book, but it chronicles an important
part of American history. As background, you may wish to see the old movie Bound for
Glory, the story of Woody Guthrie. Your second required book is The Hound of the
Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

You should read at least four other books. Try to make one of these a work of
non-fiction, such as a biography or autobiography. Below are some titles that may
interest you:

T. H. White The Once and Future King

Jon Krakauer Into Thin Air
Stephen Ambrose Citizen Soldiers
Claude Brown Manchild in the Promised Land
Gerald Durrell My Family and Other Animals
John Hersey Hiroshima
Roger Kahn The Boys of Summer
J.F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage
Walter Lord A Night to Remember
Konrad Lorenz King Solomon’s Ring
Malcolm X Autobiography of Malcolm X
James N. Hall Mutiny on the Bounty
Piers-Paul Read Alive!
Oliver W. Sacks Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood

If you have already read all these books, we congratulate you and urge you to try
other books by the same authors, or other titles from the St. Bernard’s School Reading
List. The latter has recently been updated. We also strongly recommend that, if possible,
you try to see a production of the Shakespeare play that your class will be reading and
performing next year.

Please be prepared to hand in your list (with comments) in September and to

discuss your reading.
 St. Bernard’s School

Ninth Grade Summer Reading – 2014

You should try to read as widely as possible over the summer. The following list
is to help you choose; only the first two books are required. The newly updated St.
Bernard’s Reading List (on the school web site) may well be of use. Enjoy your reading,
and make sure that you stretch yourself. Don’t read only books that you know are easy.
You will improve as a reader if you force yourself to try harder texts on occasion. Some
of these recommended titles are challenging, so don’t be despondent if you find them too
difficult at first.
In all, you must read at least six books (6) and be able to talk or write about them
on your return. Two of these six books are the required texts.

Required Reading:
All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque
Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury

Some suggestions for other reading:

Black Swan Green – David Mitchell
The Things They Carried – Tim O’ Brian
Nine Stories – J.D. Salinger (finish the collection if you wish)
The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
The Power of One – Bryce Courtenay
Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
A Tale of Two Cities; A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
Death Comes for the Archbishop – Willa Cather
Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
The Voyage of the Beagle – Charles Darwin
My Life and Hard Times- James Thurber
Native Son – Richard Wright
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
The Man in the Iron Mask – Alexandre Dumas
The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins
The Unvanquished – William Faulkner
Time and Again - Jack Finney
Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood – Oliver W. Sacks
The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
The Alchemist – Paul Coelho
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith
Carry on, Jeeves – P.G. Wodehouse

Have a wonderful summer! You are going to be part of a great IXB next year.