Cool book picks if your kids love summer’s hottest movies!

If your kids enjoy any of these hot summer flicks, you may be able to spark some interest in these titles, perfect for bedtime, quiet time, or reading any time!

Raya & The Last Dragon

Ages 3-7

Ellie’s Dragon, by Bob Graham

My Father’s Dragon, by Ruth Stiles Gannett

King Jack and the Dragon, by Peter Bently

Ages 8-12

Zoey and Sassafras; Dragons and Marshmallows, by Asia Citro and Marion Lindsay

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin

Anya and the Dragon, by Sofiya Pasternack

Luca

Ages 3-7

There’s a Dolphin in the Grand Canal, by John Bemelmans Marciano

Lula & the Sea Monster, by Alex Latimer

Mermaid and Me, by Soosh

Ages 8-12

The Water Horse, by Dick King-Smith

Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep, by Liz Kessler

Space Jam: A New Legacy

1. Poster by Niki MonTero - Space Jam A New Legacy 2021

Ages 3-7

The Boy Who Became King, by Anthony Curcio

Tune Squad – a Little Golden Book

Tunes vs. Goons (Space Jams: A New Legacy), by Random House

Explore Outer Space with Cosmic Chase, by Shelly Rollins

Ages 8-12

We Are Family, by LeBron James

Space Jam:  A New Legacy (Junior Novelization), by David Newman

True Legend, by Mike Lupica

Disney’s Jungle Cruise

Ages 3-7

You’re the Hero: Jungle Adventure, by Lily Murray

The Umbrella, by Jan  Brett

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, by Rudyard Kippling

Oh No! by Candance Fleming

Ages 8-12

The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling

Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson

Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting

Happy reading!

Meet the Dolch Words

Do you remember the old television show, “The Letter People?” The theme song started out inviting you to, “Come and meet the Letter People! Come and visit in the family! Words are made of Letter People, A, B, C, D! Follow Me!”

Today, children’s books are populated by many of the same 220 sight words (words that are hard to sound out or to illustrate.) These 220 words are also known as Dolch words. Once these words have been acquired, children can more easily navigate a variety of literature. Simply put, you are helping your child become a more confident and competent reader by teaching them the Dolch list words.

With summer drawing to a close, spending a few minutes each day going over a few of the Dolch list words, will prepare their minds, priming them, for the school year that is just around the corner!

Dolch Sight Word List Worksheets and Activities

 

 

Start a Summer Book List!

hammockThis summer, my family is experimenting with having no cable television. We have Netflix (We’re not savages!) but we are hoping that this will be an extension of our past tradition of taking one week with no television every summer.  Nothing. Not the local news, not sports, no television watching whatsoever. Instead of banning all television for one week, we are instead, becoming more deliberate in our media consumption and only watching things that we set out to watch at a specific time. For instance, we are currently hooked on the BBC drama, “Sherlock.”  It has become our Sunday night routine to clean up after dinner and then settle in to a see what kind of mysteries and riddles Sherlock and John Watson are unwinding this week! (Luckily for us, we came late to the party, as this show just wrapped it’s 3rd season and we haven’t even finished watching the first season yet!)

So with all of this new-found free time, I have been relishing the idea of catching up on my reading.  Summer always affords me more time to read since we don’t homeschool over the summer months and there is something magical about whiling away an entire evening on the back porch, lost in a good book.  Ahhh, I can almost hear the crickets now!

Here’s just some of what I’ll be reading this summer! (Spoiler alert: I prefer non-fiction, so I’ll apologize in advance for the utter lack of anything by Nicholas Sparks!)

1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

2. Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

3. Waging Heavy Peace by Neil Young

4. Last Child In the Woods by Richard Louv

5. The Third Plate by Dan Barber

 

What will you be reading this summer?