finishing strong for summer reading clubs with sleeping bear press

While we still have about a month left of summer our local library’s summer reading club will be wrapping up this coming week. My kids have been in a BIG push to add as many reading minutes as they possibly can before final entries for prizes have to be turned in and every book in the house is fair game.

If your kids need some added inspiration or reading materials to finish up their summer reading club (or if they just like great books!) here are some wonderful new suggestions from our friends at Sleeping Bear Press. I will admit, I had as much fun reading these to my three year old as the older kids had reading these books for themselves!

Nature’s Friend: The Gwen Frostic Story is written by Lindsey McDivitt and illustrated by Eileen Ryan Ewen. This is a delightful book about renowned artist Gwen Frostic. She overcame a debilitating illness as a child and with persistence and hard work she continued to show that her physical challenges could not hold her back. She was an artist, business woman, and passionate nature lover whose influence can still be found today. My 10 year old was especially excited to discover that her printmaking studio still exists today! Ages 6-10

Bully is written and illustrated by Jennifer Sattler. While there is always much talk about how to handle bullies and anti-bullying campaigns I think that sometimes the lesson of why a child should not be a bully themselves is an important teaching point that gets forgotten. This book does a great way of addressing consequences of one’s bullying behavior and how standing up together can make all the difference. Even better, the lesson is learned in a kid-friendly story with cute illustrations. Ages 4-8

Junk: A Spectacular Tale of Trash is written by Nicholas Day and illustrated by Tom Disbury. In this fun story we follow a quirky young girl named Sylvia Samantha Wright as she collects all things junk. She’s “working on something” but as we learn, she doesn’t quite yet know what that something is exactly. Thankfully when the town has a crisis Sylvia Samantha Wright has a wondrous imagination, collection of useful things, and an ability to re-purpose the “junk” she has accumulated with great success. Ages 4-8 (or 38 in my case)

Whether you’re finishing summer reading club or needing to get your kiddos back in to the swing of reading before school starts again these are some great stories to add to your bookshelf!