Watertown Public Schools
30 Common Street, Watertown, MA 02472-3492
(617) 926-7700
Fax: (617) 923-1234
JEAN M. FITZGERALD, Ed.D.
DARILYN C. DONOVAN, M.Ed.
Superintendent
[email protected]
Interim Assistant Superintendent
[email protected]
June 2012
Dear Family,
The Watertown Public Schools, Watertown Free Public Library and Primary Source have developed a
Summer Reading List for students. It is designed to encourage independent, shared, and read aloud
opportunities. The list is meant to be a guide in selecting appropriate texts to read and enjoy during
the summer months. We feel that the list covers a range of topics, both fiction and nonfiction, which
will please every readerʼs taste. We hope that you revisit this list often during the summer months.
Although we encourage students to read as many books as possible, we value the quality of reading
that takes place most. Therefore, we ask students to think about what a “just right” book is by looking
at the number of words read correctly on a given page. If the number of errors compromises
comprehension, then this book might be a great choice for a read aloud experience with an adult.
What a great opportunity this would present!
We congratulate Emma Fallon, a grade two student in Ms. Hudonʼs class at the Lowell School.
Emma was selected as the winner of the Watertown Public Schools Summer Reading Lyrics Contest.
Emmaʼs work will be featured along with our list.
In addition to this hard copy, the list can also be accessed online through the Home Page of each
elementary school as well as that of the Watertown Free Public Library.
Best wishes for a wonderful summer filled with many reading adventures!
Sincerely,
Mena Ciarlone
Elementary Curriculum Coordinator
Watertown Public Schools
Caitlin Brown
Head of Childrenʼs Services
Watertown Free Public Library
Jennifer Hanson
Librarian
Primary Source
When I Read
By Emma Fallon
CHORUS
When I read, I can go anywhere I want to.
I can escape to places I’ve never been before.
When I read, I can be anyone I want to be.
I
I
I
I
can
can
can
can
have a battle with Captain Hook.
play Quidditch with Harry Potter.
joust with King Arthur.
babysit with Ramona and solve mysteries with Nancy Drew.
I put a book into my hand and drift right off to Neverland.
I can go underwater with the fish...
and I can go back in time!
CHORUS
When I read, I can go anywhere I want to.
I can escape to places I’ve never been before.
When I read, I can be anyone I want to be.
It makes me feel happy in a way that I can’t explain.
It gives me knowledge.
It makes me feel relaxed.
I can go to Spain.
I can go to Rome.
CHORUS
When I read, I can go anywhere I want to.
I can escape to places I’ve never been before.
When I read, I can be anyone I want to be.
***Special thanks to Emma’s family and to Ms. Hudon (Emma’s grade 2 teacher). They encouraged
Emma to submit and entry and are so proud of her creative work!
Watertown Public Schools Summer Reading List
Entering PreK/Kindergarten
2012
Author
Ajmera, Maya
Anno, Mitsumasa
Becker, Bonny
Brett, Jan
Bunting, Eve
Cannon, A. E.
Carle, Eric
Cronin, Doreen
Fleming, Denise
Fogliano, Julie
Freeman, Don
Grossman, Bill
Hennessy, B.G.
Hoban, Tana
Jenkins, Steve
Kerley, Barbara
Kroll, Virginia
Lee, Jeanne M.
Lyon, George Ella
Markle, Sandra
Marx, Trish and Ellen B.
Senisi
Monroe, Chris
Pearle, Ida
Shannon, David
Silverstein, Shel
Slate, Joseph
Stead, Philip C.
Stevens, Janet
Sweet, Melissa
Viorst, Judith
Waber, Bernard
Wells, Rosemary
Willems, Mo
Wilson, Karma
Young, Ed
Title
Back to School
To Be a Kid
Anno’s Counting Book
A Visitor for Bear
Honey, Honey – Lion!
Sunflower House
Sophie’s Fish
The Mixed-Up Chameleon
Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type*
In the Tall, Tall Grass
And Then It’s Spring
Corduroy*
My Little Sister Ate 1 Hare
The Boy Who Cried Wolf*
26 Letters and 99 Cents
What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?*
A Cool Drink of Water
One World, One Day
A Carp for Kimiko
The Song of Mu Lan
All the Water in the World
How Many Baby Pandas?
Kindergarten Day USA and China
Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Noisy Problem
A Child’s Day: An Alphabet of Play
Duck on a Bike*
The Giving Tree*
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten
A Sick Day for Amos McGee
Tops & Bottoms
Balloons Over Broadway
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day*
Bearsie Bear and the Surprise Sleepover Party
Yoko Writes Her Name
The Duckling Gets a Cookie
Elephant and Piggie (any title from series)
Bear Wants More
Seven Blind Mice
* available in audio format
All books are available at the Watertown Free Public Library. To check availability of a title, speak with a
Children’s Librarian at the library or call 617-972-6435. For direct links to the library catalog go to
www.watertownlib.org/summerreading.
Watertown Public Schools Summer Reading List
Entering Grade 1
2012
Author
Adler, David A.
Anderson, Laurie Halse
Baker, Jeannie
Bial, Raymond
Breznak, Irene
Bridwell, Norman
Cave, Kathryn and Gisele
Wulfsohn
Cazet, Denys
Cronin, Doreen
Cumpiano, Ina and Jose Ramirez
Demi
Drummond, Allan
Ehlert, Lois
Fucile, Tony
Henkes, Kevin
Hoff, Syd
Lin, Grace
Lobel, Arnold
McLimans, David
McMullan, Kate
Patz, Nancy
Reynolds, Peter
Rosenstock, Barbara
Rylant, Cynthia
Sharmat, Marjorie
Silverman, Erica
Steig, William
Tonatiuh, Duncan
Van Leeuwen, Jean
Williams, Karen Lynn
Winter, Jeanette
Yaccarino, Dan
Title
Young Cam Jansen ( any title from series)
The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School
Mirror
A Handful of Dirt
Sneezy Louise
Clifford the Big Red Dog
One Child, One Seed: A South African Counting Book
Minnie and Moo (any title from series)
Diary of a Worm*
Diary of a Fly*
Diary of a Spider*
Quinito’s Neighborhood/El Vecindario de Quinito
The Empty Pot
Energy Island: How One Community Harnessed the Wind
and Changed Their World
Planting a Rainbow
Let’s Do Nothing!
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse*
Danny and the Dinosaur*
Dim Sum for Everyone
Frog and Toad*(any title from series)
Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet Book
Pearl and Wagner (any title from series)
Babies Can’t Eat Kimchee!
The Dot
Ish
The Camping Trip that Changed America
Poppleton (any title from series)
Nate the Great* (any title from series)
Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa* (any title from series)
Doctor De Soto*
Dear Primo: A letter to my cousin
Amanda Pig (any title from series)
Four Feet, Two Sandals
The Watcher
The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau
* available in audio format
All books are available at the Watertown Free Public Library. To check availability of a title, speak with a
Children’s Librarian at the library or call 617-972-6435. For direct links to the library catalog go to
www.watertownlib.org/summerreading.
Watertown Public Schools Summer Reading List
Entering Grade 2
2012
Title
Aardema, Verna
Blume, Judy
Bottner, Barbara
Carris, Joan
Choi, Yangsook
Curtis, Carolyn
Daly, Niki
DePaola, Tomie
DiCamillo, Kate
DiCamillo, Kate & Alison McGhee
Gannett, Ruth Stiles
Gibbons, Gail
Howe, James
Hurwitz, Johanna
Jenkins, Emily
Kline, Suzy
Krull, Kathleen
Laroche, Giles
MacLachlan, Patricia
Makhijani, Pooja
McBrier, Page
Morris, Ann
Naylor, Phyllis Reynold
Nivola, Claire A.
Parish, Peggy and Herman Parish
Rathman, Peggy
Rylant, Cynthia
Say, Allen
Steig, William
Stier, Catherine
Viorst, Judith
Author
Anansi Does the Impossible: An Ashanti Tale –
Freckle Juice *
Bootsie Barker Bites
Welcome to the Bed and Biscuit *
The Name Jar
I Took the Moon for a Walk
Pretty Salma: A Little Red Riding Hood Story from Africa
26 Fairmount Avenue
Mercy Watson (any title in series)
Bink & Gollie
Bink & Gollie, Two for One
My Father’s Dragon *
Bats
I Wish I Were a Butterfly
Pinky and Rex (any title in series)
Mostly Monty (any title in series)
Toys Go Out *
Horrible Harry (any title in series)*
The Boy Who Invented TV: the Story of Philo Farnsworth
If You Lived Here: Houses of the World
Waiting for the Magic
Mama’s Saris
Beatrice’s Goat
Grandma Hekmatt Remembers: An Arab-American Family Story
Roxie and the Hooligans
Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai
Amelia Bedelia (any title in series)*
Ruby the Copycat
Henry and Mudge (any title in series)
Tea with Milk
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble*
If I Were President
Lulu and the Brontosaurus
* available in audio format
All books are available at the Watertown Free Public Library. To check availability of a title, speak with a
Children’s Librarian at the library or call 617-972-6435. For direct links to the library catalog go to
www.watertownlib.org/summerreading.
Watertown Public Schools Summer Reading List
Entering Grade 3
2012
Author
Alalou, Elizabeth and Ali
Alalou
Barton, Chris
Becker, Bonny
Brumbeau, Jeff
Title
The Butter Man
The Day-Glo Brothers
The Magical Ms. Plum
The Quiltmaker’s Gift
The Quiltmaker’s Journey
Bryant, Jen
A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams
Clements, Andrew
Frindle*†
Cronin, Doreen
The Trouble with Chickens
Davies, Nicola
Surprising Sharks
Eager, Edward
Half Magic†
Estes, Eleanor
The Hundred Dresses
Fleischman, Paul
The Dunderheads
The Dunderheads Behind Bars
Grimes, Nikki
Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel
Hollyer, Beatrice
Let’s Eat!: What Children Eat Around the World
Jenkins, Steve
Living Color
Kelly, Katy
Melonhead
Look, Lenore
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things*
Miller, Wiley
The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil
Ordinary Basil: Attack of the Volcano Monkeys
Mills, Claudia
How Oliver Olson Changed the World
7x9=Trouble!
Milway, Katie Smith
One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference
Montgomery, Lewis B.
Milo & Jazz Mysteries: The Case of the Stinky Socks(any title in
series)
Napoli, Donna Jo
Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya
Nelson, Vaunda Micheaux
Bad news for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves
O’Connor, Barbara
The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis*
Peck, Richard
Secrets at Sea *
Pennypacker, Sara
Clementine *
Polacco, Patricia
The Keeping Quilt
Rodowsky, Colby
The Next-Door Dogs
Rumford, James
Traveling Man: The Journey of Ibn Battuta, 1325-1354
Scieszka, Jon
Knucklehead *
St. George, Judith
So You Want to Be an Explorer? (any title in series)
Tokuda, Wendy & Richard Hall Humphrey the Lost Whale: A True Story
Warner, Sally
Ellray Jakes is Not a Chicken!
White, E.B.
Charlotte’s Web
Wong, Janet S.
Minn and Jake
Minn and Jake’s Almost Terrible Summer
* available in audio format
† ebook available
All books are available at the Watertown Free Public Library. To check availability of a title, speak with a
Children’s Librarian at the library or call 617-972-6435. For direct links to the library catalog go to
www.watertownlib.org/summerreading.
Watertown Public Schools Summer Reading List
Entering Grade 4
2012
Author
Angleberger, Tom
Balliet, Blue
Bosch, Pseudonymous
Broach, Elise
Clements, Andrew
Coerr, Eleanor
Cooper, Susan
Creech, Sharon
Deedy, Carmen Agra
Fleming, Denise
Freedman, Russell
Juster, Norton
Law, Ingrid
Law, Stephen
Levine, Gail Carson
Lin, Grace
Lubar, David
Mass, Wendy
Park, Linda Sue
Perkins, Mitali
Pinkney, Andrea Davis
Schanzer, Rosalyn
Selfors, Suzanne
Selznick, Brian
Sheinkin, Steve
Spinelli, Jerry
Van Allsburg, Chris
Wilson, N.D.
Wolitzer, Meg
Yelchin, Eugene
Young, Ed
* available in audio format
† ebook available
Title
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda*
Darth Paper Strikes Back
Chasing Vermeer *
The Name of this Book is Secret (any title in series)*
Shakespeare’s Secret
Lunch Money *
Sadako
The Boggart
Love That Dog
The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale
The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School
The Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary School
Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery
The Phantom Tollbooth*
Savvy *
Really, Really Big Questions: About Life, the Universe, and Everything
Ella Enchanted
Year of the Dog*
Year of the Rat
The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies: and Other Warped and
Creepy Tales
The Candymakers
The Kite Fighters *
Rickshaw Girl
Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters
Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem
George vs. George: The Revolutionary War as Seen by Both Sides
Smells Like Dog
Smells Like Treasure
The Invention of Hugo Cabret*†
Wonderstruck
King George: What was His Problem?
Maniac Magee*†
The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the
Tales*
100 Cupboards *†
The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman *
Breaking Stalin’s Nose*
The House Baba Built: An Artist’s Childhood in China
All books are available at the Watertown Free Public Library. To check availability of a title, speak with a
Children’s Librarian at the library or call 617-972-6435. For direct links to the library catalog go to
www.watertownlib.org/summerreading
Watertown Public Schools Summer Reading List
Entering Grade 5
2012
Author
Appelt, Kathi
Avi
Boyce, Frank Cottrell Boyce
Bragg, Georgia
Buckley, Michael
Byng, Georgia
Clements, Andrew
Draper, Sharon
Erskine, Kathryn
Fleming, Candace
Fleming, Ian
Gidwitz, Adam
Gutman, Dan
Hiaasan, Carl
Kennedy, Marlane
Kladstrup, Kristin
L’Engle, Madeleine
Lin, Grace
Lord, Cynthia
Meloy, Colin
Nye, Naomi Shihab
O’Brien, Tony
Palacio, R.J.
Park, Linda Sue
Paulsen, Gary
Preus, Margi
Rex, Adam
Riordan, Rick
Stead, Rebecca
Ursu, Anne
Valente, Catherynne M.
Various Authors
Williams-Garcia, Rita
Yue, Guo
Title
The Underneath*†
Poppy (any title in series)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again
How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous*
NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society (any title in
series)*
Molly Moon’s Incredible Book of Hypnotism (any title in series)
Extra Credit*
Out of My Mind*
Mockingbird*
Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earheart
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
A Tale Dark and Grimm*
The Homework Machine
Return of the Homework Machine
Scat†
The Dog Days of Charlotte Hayes
The Book of Story Beginnings
A Wrinkle In Time*
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Rules
Wildwood
The Flag of Childhood: Poems from the Middle East
Afghan Dreams: Young Voices of Afghanistan
Wonder
A Long Walk to Water
Hatchet†
Mudshark
Heart of a Samurai
Cold Cereal
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (any title in series)
When You Reach Me*†
Breadcrumbs
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
39 Clues
One Crazy Summer*
Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing
* available in audio format
† ebook available
All books are available at the Watertown Free Public Library. To check availability of a title, speak with a
Children’s Librarian at the library or call 617-972-6435. For direct links to the library catalog go to
www.watertownlib.org/summerreading.