My Summer Reading List

I hope you have all taken a look at my previous post about summer reading incentive programs. You can earn free goodies just by reading!

My goal this summer is to earn my 100 hours of reading shirt from Kitsap Regional Library. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble achieving that goal if I start making my way through my summer reading list.

Here it is (in no particular order):

• Plastic Ahoy: Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by Patricia Newman
• Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller (graphic novel) by Joseph Lambert
• Welcome to Mars: Making a Home on the Red Planet by Buzz Aldrin
• My Country ‘Tis of Thee: How One Song Reveals the History of Civil Rights by Claire Rudolf Murphy
• Underworld: Exploring the Secret World Beneath Your Feet by Jane Price
• Baba Yaga’s Assistant (graphic novel) by Marika McCoola
• What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
• Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts by Susan Cain
• Some of My Best Friends Are Books by Judith Wynn Halstead
• Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo & Me (graphic memoir) by Ellen Forney
• In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
• Kid President’s Guide to Being Awesome by Brad Montague & Robby Novak
• Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller
• The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller
• Be a Changemaker: How to Start Something That Matters by Laurie Ann Thompson
• The Highly Sensitive Child by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D.
• tiny beautiful things: Advice on love and life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed
• Lauren Ipsum: A Story About Computer Science and Other Improbable Things by Carlos Bueno
• Once There Was a War by John Steinbeck
• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
• The Maze Runner by James Dashner
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Schamander
• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
• Geektastic: Stories from the Nerdherd edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci
• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenon
• When to Rob a Bank…And 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
• Zombies vs. Unicorns by Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier
• Bad Unicorn by Platte F. Clark
• The Land of Stories: Queen Red Riding Hood’s Guide to Royalty by Chris Colfer
• The Land of Stories: The Mother Goose Diaries by Chris Colfer
• An Author’s Odyssey (Land of Stories Book 5) by Chris Colfer
• Child Soldier: When Boys and Girls are Used in War by Jessica Dee Humphreys & Michel Chikwaine
• Phoebe and Her Unicorn (graphic novel) by Dana Simpson
• Unicorn vs. Goblins (graphic novel) by Dana Simpson
• Unicorn on a Roll (graphic novel) by Dana Simpson
• Who is AC? (graphic novel) by Hope Larson

 

 

Summer Reading Incentive Programs

Free Summer Reading Programs

Kitsap Regional Library

Register at any Kitsap Regional Library location starting June 1st and receive a tracker that will help you keep track of your reading and learning. Complete 10 hours of reading to receive a free paperback book as well as a ticket to the Kitsap County Fair and Stampede (while supplies last). Read 100 hours to earn a free t-shirt.

Barnes and Noble

Participate in Barnes & Noble’s Summer Reading Triathalon to earn a FREE BOOK from their selection on the Reading Journal list at the store.

Chuck E. Cheese

Your child can keep track of their reading through one of their downloadable rewards calendars.
http://www.chuckecheese.com/deals-offers/rewards-calendars
Once your child has completed two weeks of reading he or she can submit the completed Chuck E Cheese calendar for 10 free tokens

Half Price Books

Kids should read (or be read to) for at least 15 minutes a day during June and July.  Once they read 300 minutes, they can turn in their log and earn $5 in Half Price Books Bookworm bucks.  The closest Half Price Books is near the Tacoma Mall. http://b.hpb.com/fyb/started/

Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge

According to Scholastic’s website, “the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge is a free online program designed to motivate and excite your kids around reading books this summer. Kids can log the minutes they spend reading, play games, earn virtual rewards, and enter sweepstakes.”
http://www.scholastic.com/ups/campaigns/src-2016/parent

Have you tried audio-books?

I am always looking for ways to maximize my time by doing several things at once.  If you’re like me you may find that in our technology-rich world it is hard to find time to sit down and read a good book as often as we’d like.  What’s the solution?

Audio-books!

I discovered audio-books about 13 years ago when I was commuting from the north side of Los Angeles to my school librarian job way down south in Long Beach USD.  Things have changed over the years, but not as dramatically as you might think.  If you can work your car stereo and your cell phone then you’re halfway there!

Personally, I use a few methods to listen to audio-books.

1. Books on CD from the public library. (best for long car rides)

When searching in the Kitsap Regional Library Catalog (www.krl.org), do a typical search for whatever it is that you are interested in listening to, but limit the search by choosing “audio-book” in the drop down menu next to “limit by:”

One of the fantastic things about the public library (there are so many), is that all you need to do is find what you want in the online catalog, click the “place hold” button, and KRL will pull the materials for you.  They’ll even email to tell you that your things are ready.  Fabulous, right?

2. Digital audio-books from the public library.

Search as in #1, but choose “audio e-book” OR go to the search on the KRL Overdrive website: http://krl.lib.overdrive.com/  You don’t even need to leave your couch to check out e-books with this method!

To listen to audio-books through Overdrive, you will need to download the Overdrive app to your phone or tablet device. Go to the Overdrive website to get started: Overdrive  Overdrive requires an additional login that ties in with your library card.

The Wilson girls are currently listening to the 4th Land of Stories book.

You can also search the library collection through the app. Overdrive also gives you access to KRL’s collection of E-books (if you want to check out books to read on your phone, Kindle, iPad or other e-reader). After you check out a book through Overdrive, you will be prompted to download the book onto your device.

I like to use Overdrive to listen to audio-books through the Bluetooth connection in my car. When I turn the car off, Overdrive knows to pause the book.

Books borrowed through Overdrive can be borrowed for 21 days. After the 21 day period, they are deleted from your device.

If you have a library card from KRL, you may also obtain a card for the Seattle Public Library and/or King County Library System. All you need to do is take your KRL card to any Seattle or King County library branch with your ID and ask for a library card. I have one of each simply because it gives me access to a much greater selection of audio-books.

You can also search and put audio-books on hold. It’s true.

3. Audible.com

Audible is an app that allows you to buy audio-book titles and download them to your device. I typically buy 12 credits per year (it is cheaper this way) and cash them in slowly over time to buy books that I’d like to hear that the public library doesn’t own. This is good for newer titles especially. They have several sales per year, including many Buy One, Get One Free sales and they also have inexpensive (less than $2) kids titles. For example, I just bought a dozen or so “Who was” biographies for my older daughter. Audible is an Amazon company, so if you have a Kindle, the titles that you buy show up in your titles list on your device and then you download them from there.

Some of the titles I’ve purchased from Audible.com

Audible also offers many things in addition to books including: newspapers, magazines, radio shows and podcasts for free. I have listened to State of the Union speeches using Audible.

I started using Audible in 2002 and I still have access to all of the books that I have purchased over the years.  My husband and I share the account, so he can listen to the titles that I have purchased on his mobile devices.

 

I would be pleased to help any of you navigate through this stuff if you’d like help getting yourself set up with some audio-books. Pop in and let me know or drop me an email at followthereaders@icloud.com

Happy listening!