PRSRT-STD
U.S. Postage
Reading
Rules!
PAID
City of Buffalo
Mayor Byron W. Brown’s
7th Annual Kids Summer Reading Challenge
Dear Parent:
I am proud to announce that this summer I will be sponsoring my 7th Annual Reading Rules! 2008 Kids
Summer Reading Challenge. This will be the third year that I have partnered with Superintendent Dr.
James Williams and the Buffalo Public Schools to ensure that the youth of Buffalo have as many tools as
possible to encourage educational and developmental success. The Summer Reading Challenge not only
helps children maintain and improve reading and writing skills that were learned during the previous school
year, but it also reminds them that reading can be fun and exciting.
The program is easy to participate in and it is open to any child in any school public or parochial,
entering grades 1- 9 in any school district. All of the instructions and necessary information are
included in this brochure.
Each child who successfully participates in the Summer Reading Challenge will receive an invitation to the
program’s final ceremony where he or she will be given a certificate of achievement, prizes donated by
area businesses and cultural organizations, and entry into a raffle for the chance to win several great
prizes. Last year, prizes raffled off included computers, bicycles, video game systems and other electronic
equipment, school supplies and many other items.
I encourage you to enroll your child today and wish you and your family a safe, productive, and rewarding
summer. For more information, please call 851-4167 or log on to www.city-buffalo.com
Sincerely,
Byron W. Brown
Mayor, City of Buffalo
Mayor Byron W. Brown’s Division for Youth
2301 City Hall ● 65 Niagara Square, Buffalo, New York 14202
http://www.city-buffalo.com/ReadingRules
(716) 851-READ (7323) ● email: [email protected]
Mayor Byron W. Brown’s Reading Rules! 2008
Kids Summer Reading Challenge Suggested Reading List
First & Second Grade
1. Are You My Mother? (P.D.Eastman)
2. Boy Who was Raised By Librarians (Carla
Morris)
3. Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain (Vera Aardema)
4. Chair for My Mother (Vera Williams)
5. Danny and the Dinosaur (Syd Hoff)
6. Diary of a Worm (Doreen Cronin)
7. Duck at the Door (Jack Urbanovic)
8. Fantastic Mr. Fox (Roald Dahl)
9. Foot Book (Dr. Suess)
10. Frog Prince, Continued (Jon Scieszka)
11. Ghosts!: Ghostly Tales from Folklore (Alvin
Schwartz)
12. Go, Dog. Go! (P.D. Eastman)
13. Henry’s Freedom Box (Ellen Levine)
14. Hooway for Wodney Wat (Helen Lester)
15. Horton Hears a Who (Dr. Seuss)
16. I Can Read With My Eyes Shut (Dr. Suess)
17. If You Give a Pig a Pancake (Laura Numeroff)
18. Kat Kong ( Dav Pilkey)
19. Knuffle Bunny (Mo Willems)
20. Knuffle Bunny, Too (Mo Willems)
21. Liar, Liar Pants on Fire (Diane deGroat)
22. Library Lion (Michelle Knudsen)
23. Lionel at School (Stephen Krensky)
24. Morris Goes to School (Bernard Wiseman)
25. Mummies, Pyramids, and Pharoahs (Gail
Gibbons)
26. My Visit to the Zoo (Aliki)
27. Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid
Tales (Jon Scieszka)
28. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (William Steig)
29. True Story of the Three Little Pigs (Jon
Scieszka)
30. What Do You with a Tail Like This? (Steve
Jenkins)
First & Second Grade Series:
1. American Girls (Various Authors)
2. Arthur Readers (Marc Brown)
3. Bailey School Kids (Debbie Dadey)
4. Berestain Bears Readers (Stan & Jan
Berenstain)
5. Flat Stanley (Jeff Bown)
6. Frog and Toad (Arnold Lobel)
7. Henry and Mudge (Cynthia Rylant)
8. High Rise Private Eyes (Cynthia Rylant)
9. Horrible Harry (Suzy Kline)
10. Little Bear (Else Holmelund Minarik)
11. Little Bill (Bill Cosby)
12. Magic School Bus (Joanna Cole)
13. Magic Tree House (Mary Osborne)
14. Minnie and Moo (Denys Cazet)
15. Miss Nelson (Harry Allard)
16. Mr. Putter and Tabby (Cynthia Rylant)
17. Nate The Great (Marjorie Sharmat)
18. Poppleton (Cynthis Rylant)
19. Rotten Ralph (Jack Gantos)
20. Young Cam Jansen (David Adler)
Third & Fourth Grade
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
Beautiful Blackbird (Ashley Bryant)
Because of Winn Dixie (Kate DiCamillo)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl)
Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
Class Clown (Joanna Hurwitz)
Fourth Grade Rats (Jerry Spinelli)
Fox in Socks (Dr. Seuss)
Frindle (Andrew Clements)
Gandhi (Demi)
Grapes of Math (Greg Tang)
I Was a Third Grade Spy (Mary Jane Auch)
Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World (Margaret
Walter Pitts)
Maniac Monkeys on Magnolia Street (Johnson)
Math Curse (Jon Scieszka)
Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman (Alan
Schoeder)
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters (John Steptoe)
Principal’s on the Roof (Elizabeth Levy)
Rosa (Nikki Giovanni)
Rough-Face Girl (Rafe Martin)
Superfudge (Judy Blume)
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (Judy Blume)
Tales of Despereaux (Kate DiCamillo)
Talking Eggs (Robert San Souci)
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (Bette Lord)
Third & Fourth Grade Series
1. A to Z Mysteries (Ron Roy)
2. Amazing Days of Abby Hayes (Anne Mazur)
3. Amber Brown (Paula Danzinger)
4. Arthur Chapter Books (Marc Brown)
5. Bunnicula (James Howe)
6. Cam Jansen (David Adler)
7. Captain Underpants (Dav Pilkey)
8. Dear America (Various Authors)
9. Extreme Team (Matt Christopher)
10. Flat Stanley (Jeff Brown)
11. Hank Zipzer (Henry Winkler)
12. Horrible Harry (Suzy Kline)
13. Jake Drake (Andrew Clements)
14. Joey Pigza (Jack Gantos)
15. Judy Moody (Megan McDonald)
16. Junie B. Jones (Barbara Park)
17. Magic Tree House (Mary Pope Osborne)
18. Marvin Redpost (Louis Sachar)
19. Mostly Ghostly (R.L. Stine)
20. Ramona (Beverly Cleary)
21. Ricky Ricotta’s (Dav Pilkey)
22. Spiderwick Chronicles (Tony DiTerlizzi)
23. Time Warp Trio (Jon Scieszka)
24. Werewolf Club (Daniel Pinkwater)
25. Willimena Rules (Valerie Wilson Wesley)
26. Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs (Sharon Draper)
Mayor Byron W. Brown’s Reading Rules! 2008
Kids Summer Reading Challenge Suggested Reading List
Fifth & Sixth Grade
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
Because of Winn Dixie (Katie DiCamillo)
Breadwinner (Deborah Ellis)
Bucking the Sarge (Christopher Paul Curtis)
Bud, Not Buddy (Christopher Paul Curtis)
City of Ember (Jeanne DuPrau)
Curse of the Bane (Joseph Delaney)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Greg Heffley’s Journal (Jeff Kinney)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick rules (Jeff Kinney)
Double Fudge (Judy Blume)
Eggs (Jerry Spinelli)
Elijah Buxton (Christopher Paul Curtis)
Ellington Was Not a Street (Ntozake Shange)
Esperanza Rising (Pam Munoz Ryan)
Football Nightmare (Matt Christopher)
Friendship (Mildred Taylor)
Greatest: Muhammad Ali (Walter Dean Myers)
Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales and
True Tales (Virginia Hamilton)
Holes (Louis Sachar)
Hoot (Gary Hiaasen)
Invention of Hugo Cabret (Brian Selznick)
Joey Pigza Loses Control (Jack Gantos)
Letters from Rifka (Karen Hesse)
Long Way From Chicago (Richard Peck)
Loser (Jerry Spinelli)
Maniac Magee (Jerry Spinelli)
Missing May (Cynthia Rylant)
My Side of the Mountain (Jean Craighead George)
On My Honor (Marion Dane Bauer)
Picture of Hollis Woods (Patricia Reilly Giff)
Report Card (Andrew Clements)
Ruby Holler (Sharon Creech)
Secret of Platform 13 (Eva Ibbotson)
Sixth Grade Nickname (Gordon Korman)
Surviving the Applwhites (Stephanie Tolan)
Thief Lord (Cornelia Funke)
Top Secret: A Handbook of Codes, Ciphers, and Secret
Writing (Paul Janeczko)
Tuck Everlasting (Natalie Babbit)
Watsons Go To Birmingham (Christopher Paul Curtis)
Fifth & Sixth Grade Series
1. Alice (Phyllis Reynold Naylor)
2. Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis)
3. Dark is Rising (Susan Cooper)
4. Enola Holmes Mysteries (Nancy Springer)
5. Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers (Scott Lobdell)
6. Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)
7. I Was a Sixth Grade Alien (Bruce Coville)
8. Joey Pigza (Jack Gantos)
9. Redwall (Brian Jacques)
10. Sammy Keyes (Wendelin Van Draanen)
11. Series of Unfortunate Events (Lemony Snickett)
12. Wayside School (Louis Sachar)
Seventh
through Ninth Grade
th
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
145 Street: Short Stories (Walter Dean Myers)
9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation (Sid Jacobson)
After Tupac and D. Foster (Jacqueline Woodson)
All Hallow’s Eve (Vivian Vande Velde)
American Born Chinese (Gene Yang)
Bleacher (John Grisham)
Bread and Roses, Too (Katherine Paterson)
Breathing Underwater (Alex Flinn)
Bronx Masquerade (Nikki Grimes)
Brother Hood (Janet MacDonald)
Bucking the Sarge (Christopher Paul Curtis)
Copper Sun (Sharon Draper)
Dairy Queen (Catherine Murdock)
Deadline (Chris Crutcher)
Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things
(Carolyn Mackler)
Emako Blue (Brenda Woods)
Eragon (Christopher Paolini)
First Part Last (Angela Johnson)
For One More Day (Mitch Albom)
House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros)
How Ya Like Me Now (Brendan Halpin)
It Chicks (Tia Williams)
Love, Stargirl (Jerry Spinelli)
Maus (Art Spiegelman)
Miracle’s Boys (Jacqueline Woodson)
Neddiad (Daniel Pinkwater)
Night (Elie Wiesel)
November Blues (Sharon Draper)
Peeps (Scott WesterField)
Raptor (Paul Zindel)
Sold (Patricia McCormick)
Someone Like You (Sarah Dessen)
Someone Named Eva (Joan Wolf)
Speak (Laurie Halse Anderson)
Stargirl (Jerry Spinelli)
We Beat the Streets (Sampson Davis)
What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows (Nora Baskin)
th
What They Found: Love on 145 Street (Walter
Dean Myers)
Who Am I Without Him (Sharon Flake)
Seventh through Ninth Grade Series:
1. Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer)
2. Cirque Du Freak (Darren Shan)
3. Drama High (L. Divine)
4. Ender’s Series (Orson Scott Card)
5. Girls in Pant (Ann Brashares)
6. Hazelwood High Trilogy (Sharon Draper)
7. Kimani Tru (Various)
8. Payton Skyy (Stephanie Perry Moore)
9. Perry Skyy Jr. (Stephanie Perry Moore)
10. Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi)
11. Princess Diaries (Meg Cabot)
►Mayor Byron Brown’s Reading Rules ◄
2008 Kids Summer Reading Challenge
To successfully complete the
challenge, you must read
seven books and write a
summary for each.
You are allowed to read up
to two books for your grade
level that are not on this
list, but you must have
them approved by a parent
or guardian first.
Past
Reading Rules
Ceremony
Participants
below with
Mayor Brown
Dear Student,
I invite you to join my Reading Rules! 2008 Kids Summer Reading Challenge.
Participation is easy and the rewards are great. Here’s what you have to do:
1. Start by completing the attached participation form and returning it to me
by June 30, 2008.
2. Begin reading!!! To successfully complete the program, you must
read seven books from the list for your grade level or higher.
Included in those seven, you may read two books that are not on
the list, but approved by your parent or guardian.
3. Write at least ten sentences on each book that you have read, including
who the main characters are, the problems or situations they face, what you
would do in these situations, and what you like and do not like about each
book. Don’t forget to include your name, the title, and the author on the top
of each summary and to have your parent sign the bottom.
4. Mail or drop off your seven summaries to room 2301 in City Hall by
August 31, 2008.
5. Get ready for another successful school year as well as your reward for
completing my Reading Rules! 2008 Kids Summer Reading Challenge.
By Fall 2008, you will receive an invitation to a prize ceremony where
you will be given a certificate of achievement and many great prizes.
Have a fun, safe and productive summer!
Sincerely,
Byron W. Brown
Mayor
REMEMBER:
Register by June 30th
Summaries are due by
August 31st
Start Reading!!
To get started, the first thing to do is to read the instructions on page 2 and fill out the participation form
below. Once the information is complete and has been signed by your parent, remove this page
(be sure to keep the instructions), and mail it to me as soon as possible. Or, you may register online at
http://www.city-buffalo.com/ReadingRules, and click on 2008 Summer Reading Challenge.
Make sure that you register by June 30, 2008 and as soon as you have…….START READING!!!!!!
Dear Readers,
I am happy to introduce our new inter-generational component to the Summer Reading Challenge, which is the
Senior’s Reading Corner. Participants will read to senior citizens at senior centers and nursing homes throughout the
City of Buffalo. This program is a great opportunity for our young people to show off their reading skills to seniors while
providing community service and enhancing their academic skills. To participate please check YES with your Summer
Reading Challenge Application and we will forward instructions to you upon receipt. Thank you for making our Summer
Reading Challenge the best and the biggest in New York State!
Sincerely,
Byron W. Brown
Mayor
Mayor Byron W. Brown’s
Reading Rules! 2008 Kids Summer Reading Challenge Participation Form
(Please Print)
Reader’s Name
Street Address
City
Zip Code
School
New Grade
Phone
Email Address:
Parent (s) / Guardian (s) Name:
Parent (s) / Guardian (s) Signature:
Would you like to participate in the Senior’s Reading Corner? Yes … No thank you …
Return completed registration to:
Mayor Byron W. Brown
Summer Reading Challenge 2008
2301 City Hall
Buffalo, New York 14202