Kids Summer Reading Bucket List

Summer is here! And that means summer reading! I’m doing something new with my kids.  I have prizes for when they read a book off of my summer reading list.  This list focuses mostly on classics with a few new books in there as well.  These are books that I would still like to read as an adult or would have liked to read as a kid. The age range for this reading list is independent readers in elementary school.

Instead of linking each individual book on the list, I have made a shelf on Goodreads where you can find all 69 books from this list.  I pulled a lot of these books off of the Caldecott and Newberry official websites.

• Stuart Little E. B. White
• Ellie’s Story W. Bruce Cameron
• The Mouse and the Motorcycle Beverly Cleary
• The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson
• Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster
• Mary Poppins P L Travers
• Island of the Blue Dolphins Scott O’Dell
• The Hobbit JRR Tolkein
• Anne of Green Gables LM Montgomery
• Where the Red Fern Grows Wilson Rawls
• Shiloh Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
• Dear Mr. Henshaw Beverly Cleary
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond Elizabeth George Speare
• The Swiss Family Robinson Johann David Wyss
• My Side of the Mountain Jean Craighead George
• The Cricket in Times Square George Selden
• Summer of the Monkeys Wilson Rawls
• The Princess and the Goblin George MacDonald
• Tale of a Fourth Grade Nothing Judy Blume
• Matilda Roald Dahl
• Holes Louis Sachar
• The Invention of Hugo Cabaret Brian Selznick
• How to Eat Fried Worms Thomas Rockwell
• The Tale of Desperaux Kate DiCamillo
• Five Children and It E. Nesbit
• The Trumpet of the Swan E. B. White
• Because of Winn Dixie Kate DiCamillo
• Black Beauty Anna Sewell
• Frindle Andrew Clements
• Hatchet Gary Paulsen
• A Little Princess Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Nancy Drew Carolyn Keene
• Number the Stars Lois Lowry
• Sideways Stories from Wayside School Louis Sachar
• The Story of Dr. Dolittle Hugh Lofting
• From The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler E. L. Konigsburg
• Beezus and Ramona Beverly Cleary
• Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren
• Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective Donald J. Sobol
• The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis
• The Whipping Boy Sid Fleischman
• James and the Giant Peach Roald Dahl
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl
• Hoot Carl Hiaasen
• The BFG Roald Dahl
• The Boxcar Children Gertrude Chandler Warner
• Little House on the Prarie Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Sarah, Plain and Tall Patricia MacLachlan
• Mr. Popper’s Penguins Richard Atwater
• Misty of Chincoteague Marguerite Henry
• The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame
• Black Stallion Walter Farley
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter
• Fantastic Mr. Fox Roald Dahl
• Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Betty MacDonald
• George’s Marvelous Medicine Roald Dahl
• Nate the Great Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
• The Great Brain John D. Fitzgerald
• Bridge to Terabithia Katherine Paterson
• Freckle Juice Judy Blume
• Frog and Toad are Friends Arnold Lobel
• Heidi Johanna Spyri
• Where the Sidewalk Ends Shel Silverstein
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh Robert C. O’Brien
• A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans Laurence Yep
• The One and Only Ivan Katherine Applegate
• Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Chris Grabenstein
• Rain Reign Ann M. Martin

Click Here for a printable PDF checklist of this summer reading list.

Be sure to pin this for later!