SECOND GRADE SUMMER READING LIST

Take aim at the "Summer Slide" and get your students excited about reading with these titles picked specifically for kids at the second grade reading level.

The Adventures of Taxi Dog
by Debra Barracca, Sal Barracca, Mark Buehner (illus.)
Jim, a New York City taxi driver, rescues a stray dog and dubs his new pet Maxi. Maxi accompanies Jim in his taxi and meets all sorts of people. With each new passenger, Maxi makes a new friend -- and even helps Jim get tips! The text is written in a bouncing rhyme, and Beuhner's paintings capture Maxi's doggy personality and Jim's geniality. Can you find the cat in every picture?

The Case of the Spooky Sleepover, Jigsaw Jones Mystery #4
by James Preller
Ralphie Jordan can't sleep. Something is making spooky noises in his room at night. It's a perfect case for Jigsaw Jones, who pieces together all the ghostly clues.

Chicken Soup with Rice, A Book of Months
by Maurice Sendak
"Each month is gay, each season is nice, when eating chicken soup with rice." It's nice in January, April, June, and December -- here's the every-month dish for everyone to remember.

Flat Stanley
by Jeff Brown, Steve Bjorkman (illus.)
Stanley Lambchop is a nice, average boy. He leads a nice, ordinary life. Then one day a bulletin board falls on him, and suddenly Stanley is flat. This turns out to be very interesting. Stanley gets rolled up, mailed, and flown like a kite. He even gets to stop crime. He's flat, but he's a hero!

The Giving Tree
by Shel Silverstein
A little boy befriends a tree. Loving and generous, the tree provides everything she can for him -- fruit, shade, a place for a swing -- throughout the boy's life. He, in turn, takes from the tree without noticing the sacrifices she makes. It isn't until he's old and infirm and gratefully rests on her stump that he understands all she has done. This powerful parable is fitting for all age groups.

The Great Kapok Tree A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest
by Lynne Cherry
A man walks into a lush rain forest and starts chopping down a huge kapok tree. Lulled by the heat, he sits down and soon falls asleep. The forest dwellers approach, each whispering in his ear a reason to keep the tree standing. Suddenly, the man wakes up, and for the first time notices the beauty all around him. Will he still chop down the tree? The beauty of Cherry's art helps to convey an important message in this environmental tale.

Is Your Mama a Llama?
by Deborah Guarino, Steven Kellogg (illus.)
A young llama is curious -- are all his friends' mamas llamas? Each animal tells Lloyd facts about its mother, and Lloyd -- along with young readers -- guesses what kind of animal each mother is. The rhyming text and illustrations give hints, and preschoolers will enjoy yelling out the answers, which are revealed by turning the page.

Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy, Junie B. Jones Series #12
by Barbara Park, Denise Brunkus (illus.)
Frustrated because the rules for her class's Pet Day will not let her take her dog to school, Junie B. Jones considers taking a raccoon, a worm, a dead fish, and other unusual replacements.

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse
by Kevin Henkes
Lilly the mouse adores her teacher, Mr. Slinger -- until he takes away the purple plastic purse she was proudly showing off to her class. Lilly is so angry she draws a nasty picture of Mr. Slinger and slips it in his bag. At the end of the day, Lilly gets her purse back and inside is a sympathetic note and a bag of treats. As in all his other books, Henkes shows an incredible sensitivity to children's feelings.

Martha Blah Blah
by Susan Meddaugh
When the current owner of the soup company breaks the founder's promise to have every letter of the alphabet in every can of soup, Martha, the talking dog, takes action.

Mrs. Katz and Tush
by Patricia Polacco
In this special Passover story, Larnel Moore, an African-American boy, and Mrs. Katz, an elderly Jewish woman, develop an unusual friendship through their mutual concern for an abandoned cat named Tush. Together they explore the common themes of suffering and triumph in each of their cultures.

Stellaluna
by Janell Cannon, Jewell Cannon
Stellaluna, a little brown bat, is accidentally dropped by her mother. The helpless baby falls smack into a nest of fledglings and is immediately accepted as one of the family. Stellaluna tries to fit in but keeps acting unbirdlike, hanging upside down and wanting to fly at night. By chance Stellaluna is reunited with her mother and finally learns to be a proper bat.

Tonight on the Titanic, Magic Tree House Series #17
by Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca (illus.)
The Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie away to the decks of that ill-fated ship, the Titanic. There they must help two children find their way to a lifeboat -- while they are in danger of becoming victims of that tragic night themselves.

You Can't Eat Your Chicken Pox, Amber Brown
by Paula Danziger, Tony Ross (illus.)
Amber Brown has survived third grade -- even though her best friend, Justin, moved away. Now she's heading to London with her Aunt Pam -- and then to Paris. Before she gets there, Amber finds out she has chicken pox. Amber Brown is a kid with problems. Now that she can't go to Paris, how will she convince her dad to move back in with her mom?

Zelda and Ivy
by Laura McGee Kvasnosky
Zelda and Ivy are sisters with a flair for the dramatic. Whether they're performing a circus act, fashioning their tails in the latest style, or working wonders with "fairy dust," their exploits are described with wit and charm in a very special trio of stories exploring the intimate dynamic between an older and younger sister.