"Series" Books for Summer

We love summer Mondays at our house. Since we live in AZ and can't really do anything outside all summer long, we plan a lot of indoor activities. One of our favorites is Library Monday. Every Monday we go to the library, visit great-grandma, and then hit Sonic on the way home for half price slushies.

I know...cheap thrills, but still.

I have a 2nd grader who inhales books like air. I never have enough around to keep her satisfied. My older kids like to read, too, but maybe not at the same pace, or maybe they're just reading longer books! Anyway, we like books that come in a series, because if you like one, you'll probably like the rest, and it keeps you in reading material a little longer.

Book Series' We'll Be Reading This Summer (and the approximate grade level):

A-Z Mysteries (grades 1-4)


Encyclopedia Brown (grades 2-5)


The Name of This Book is Secret (grades 5+)


Bobbsey Twins (grades 2-5)


Nancy Drew (grades 4-7)


Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites (grades 5+)


Books I Want to Read Together:

E.B. White books, like Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little


A Little Princess, my favorite childhood book


Little House on the Prairie series


We hope you get the chance to enjoy reading lots and lots of clean books this summer!

The Light Between Oceans

by M.L. Stedman
Rated PG-13

Living on a remote island with only her quiet, steady husband Tom and a lighthouse for company, young Isabel Sherbourne suffers through two miscarriages and a stillbirth on her own. When, two weeks after she's buried her stillborn baby, a boat floats up on shore carrying a dead man, a woman's sweater, and a tiny baby, Isabel believes she has received a gift from God. Against Tom's ardent pleas to report the incident and turn the baby over to the authorities, Isabel names the baby and keeps her for her own, certain the child is better off with them than in an orphanage.

Two years later, Tom and Isabel, with little toddler Lucy, have been granted shore leave, and arrive on the mainland to discover that they are not as isolated as they thought, that their choice has had consequences they were unwilling to imagine.

Steadman draws you so steadily into the emotions of each character than you are stunned to realize you don't know who to feel sorrier for. This novel can only end in tragedy, no matter the outcome. I couldn't put it down.

The book has one brief husband/wife sexual comment, and some scattered incidents of taking the Lord's name in vain, earning it a PG-13 rating.

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Calli Be Gold

by Michele Weber Hurwitz
Rated G

11-year-old Calli Gold is the quiet one in a family of over-achievers. It seems like all her parents care about is being the best at something, and Calli is definitely not the best at anything. In fact, sometimes it seems like she's not even good at anything.

When Calli volunteers to be paired with second grade student Noah for a Friendship Fair, life gets even more complicated. All the other kids think Noah is a little weird, and now Calli has to try to design a great booth for the Friendship Fair with a kid who hides under his desk most of the time.

But, as secrets come out and friendships are tested, Calli and Noah learn that talents come in all colors, not just Gold. Now if only Calli could figure out to make her parents understand that.

When I first picked up this book, I thought it would have a gymnastics-olympic type theme (based on the title and cover photo). But I was really pleasantly surprised by this unique, humorous, clean book with a really great message.

My 11-year-old daughter enjoyed this book very much, too! I highly recommend it, and it's totally clean.


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I Am David

by Anne Holm
Rated PG

A blog reader wrote to tell me that this is her all-time favorite book, and although it was written for 9-13 year olds, I will be posting this under our Favorites also.

David is about 12 years old when he is given the chance to escape from the concentration camp that he has lived in all his life, or at least for as long as he can remember.

With no known family and nothing but a parcel of bread and matches to sustain him, he sets out for freedom and a place where he can belong.

Imagine what the world would look like if you'd seen nothing but the dreary surroundings and deathly countenances of a concentration camp your whole life! I found myself newly discovering the truly important things in this world through the eyes of David, as he sees and feels everything for the first time.

The profound sacrifice of a friend will either propel David to live or die...I let you discover which it is for yourself.

This book is perfectly clean in language and inference. I rated it PG because the subject matter can be kind of intense - he is a boy all alone and living in constant fear of being caught by evil people. However, this book begins on the day David escapes the concentration camp, so you won't find any of the brutalities you'd expect from a book set during war-time. Great, clean book club choice - Chapter 8 will give you plenty to discuss!


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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

By Betty Smith

Rated: PG-13

Growing up during the early 1900's in the slums of Brooklyn, Francie and her brother Neely know their share of hardship. Their charming drunk of a father gets only occasional gigs as a singing waiter so the family's survival relies on the small income brought home by their mother's cleaning jobs and whatever pennies the kids get for selling scrap. This is primarily a story about Francie: her joys and pains as she grows and learns about the world around her and as she searches for her dreams.

This is a beautiful, poignant story of growing up, family relationships, and the foundation of wisdom. I found I really grew attached to the characters, mostly because they seemed more than just characters. They are vividly written with such great depth that I felt I would recognize them if they walked by.

This is absolutely a must-read and would be ideal for a book club. There is mild cursing and reference to mature subject matter, although nothing explicit. However, due to these considerations, I gave this book a PG-13 rating. This book would most likely be appreciated by older teens and adults.

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Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

by Jamie Ford

Rated PG

This novel could be described in many ways: as an exposition of the difficulties faced by Asian immigrants living out World War II  in the United States, an exploration of the dynamics of father-son relationships, or a "road not taken" tale, but I think it's best described as a love story.

Henry Lee lost his heart to Keiko when he was just a boy, but during the time of WWII, it was unthinkable for a boy of Chinese descent to love a Japanese girl, although both children were born and raised in America.

When Keiko and her family are shipped off to an internment camp, Henry believes he has lost her forever. Then one day, 40 years later, a parasol is found in the basement of an old hotel, a reminder of times past that forces Henry to examine feelings he buried deeply decades ago.

I love the integrity of the characters in this story, and it truly is a novel both bitter and sweet. One of my new favorites!

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Same Kind of Different As Me

by Ron Hall and Denver Moore

Rated PG

Sorry for the hiatus on posting books here, I was sick...the bad part of that was I didn't feel like doing much, the good part is that I got some extra reading in.

This book was a loaner to me by my friend OS, and I really enjoyed it. I'm a sucker for a good true story, and this fits the bill. It's the story of a wealthy art dealer and his wife, accustomed to all the luxuries life can offer, who feel compelled to give their life to God and to serving His children. As part of that journey they begin volunteering at a homeless shelter, where they meet Denver, a man who is as accustomed to being down-and-out as the Halls are accustomed to money.

An unusual and enriching friendship ensues, and the story is marked by surprising, and sometimes heartbreaking, twists.

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My Grandfather's Blessings

by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.

Rated G

Another wonderful recommendation from my friend LJ, who also recommended The Book Thief to me. She has great taste!

My Grandfather's Blessings is a series of essays by Remen, who spent years working as a pediatrician, then later as a counselor to those with chronic and terminal illness. Her experiences, together with the wisdom passed on to her by her Orthodox rabbi grandfather, form essays full of anecdotes and musings that are both inspiring and thought provoking. It is not a difficult read, though I found myself stopping often to ponder what I'd just read.

This book is one to buy. You will want to read it more than once.

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Walk Two Moons

by Sharon Creech

Rated PG

This was a really wonderful young adult novel. The cover and title suggest it will be all Indian lore and nature trails, but it's not. While Salamanca, the main character, definitely has Indian roots that follow her through the story and are important to her, the book is much more than that.

Salamanca is going on a cross-country road trip with her grandparents, a trip that is meant to take her to her mother. Along the way, she tell her grandparents the interesting story of her friend Phoebe, whose life seems to be full of mystery and potential tragedy. But underneath Phoebe's story is Salamanca's own story, the story of a girl whose mother just walks away one spring day, a mother who promises to return but never does. And a father who deals with the loss in a way his child simply cannot agree with.

This novel is part mystery, part tragedy, part comedy. I became attached to it, and I highly recommend this book for tweens and teens.

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The Undaunted

by Gerald Lund

Rated PG

I was thrilled to receive this book for my birthday, since I am a big fan of Gerald Lund's historical fiction. This one was as good as I expected. Telling a tale of unbelievable courage and perserverance in the face of incredible odds, The Undaunted is the story of a little band of pioneers called to settle and create order in the lawless land near the Four Corners area. To get there, they had to take their wagons and cattle where not even the most rudimentary trails existed. This meant carving roads through rock, up and down cliffs, and over rolling stone topography, sometimes with nothing but picks and shovels. 

Spicing up this bit of history are Lund's fictional characters, who bring the pioneer story to life by giving us a glimpse of how love, friendship and family all mean a little something different when you're living out of wagons together for several months. But for me, the best parts were the real-life stories and miracles woven into the story from the journals and biographies the author studied as part of his research.

Highly recommended and completely clean. I only rated it PG because there are a couple close encounters with hostile native Indians along the way, but certainly nothing graphic.

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Crossing to Safety

by Wallace Stegner
Rated PG
This character-driven novel traces the intertwined lives of two couples. Great friends, they meet as young marrieds and live through each other's triumphs and setbacks during the 1930s, 40s and on. Don't hold your breath for any dramatic infighting or betrayal. This novel is about the opposite of that - the steady loyalty, compassion and forgiveness of true friendship.
What I loved about this book is the beautiful way Stegner turns out a sentence. For example: "We lay there cutting the future into happy stars and circles like girls making Christmas cookies." What an image! And there are thousands more just like it within the pages of this book.
Rated PG for some references to married intimacy, nothing graphic or drawn out.
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Charms for the Easy Life

by Kaye Gibbons
Rated PG
A family of unusual women live together during the World War II era, a time when women of all sorts began doing things women had never done before. Charlie Kate, the matriarch of the family, has been working the natural art of healing since she was a young woman, and is wildly successful and sought after, even by the local doctors and pharmacists. Her daughter Sophia is beautiful and headstrong, and her granddaughter Margaret, from whose point of view the story is told, is brilliant and shy. Each has her own way of coping with the hard realities of life, and they cope so well it made me feel like life wasn't really that hard after all, at least not for a strong woman.
By design, this book is more about the characters than the plot, and I enjoyed feeling the triumph of womanhood as I read about them. I especially enjoyed Margaret's volunteer work at the local VA hospital, where she and Charlie Kate take pains to "amend" the letters the wounded soldiers dictate to Margaret so they won't be sending anything home to mother that might worry her!
Rated PG simply because I disagreed with some of Charlie Kate's advice to young, pubescent pre-teens.
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The Persian Pickle Club

by Sandra Dallas
Rated PG
In small town, Depression-era Kansas, the only thing people have left is each other. Queenie Bean, a young farm wife, considers the women in the Persian Pickle Club to be her best friends, and looks forward to her weekly meetings with them. Soon, however, a city girl and a family of drifters move into town, and strange things begin to happen that will test the loyalty and friendship of this close-knit group.
Queenie is such an affable main character that I felt myself drawn into the story because I wanted to be her friend. I especially enjoyed reading about the family of drifters and Queenie's reaction to their nearby presence.
This book contains a small smattering of curse words, which is why I rated it PG, but I'd be happy to have it on my bookshelf.
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The Alliance

by Gerald N. Lund

Rated PG

"Before the world ended, the place was known as Star Valley, Wyoming." Eric Lloyd was only a small child when world war decimated the human population through nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare. But pockets of civilization survived, founded by visionaries who saw what was coming. Eighteen years later, the Alliance is an association of four large cities who have created Utopia - not just cities with low crime. . . cities with no crime, violence, or anger. When the Alliance forcibly brings Eric's village into their community, Eric knows that underneath the veneer of paradise lies something evil and he will not stop until he secures not only his freedom but the freedom of every other citizen in the Alliance.

There are only a few books that I can look back on and see how they influenced my life. This is one of them. It is a gripping and thoroughly entertaining read and that is enough reason to recommend it, but it is even more than that. This book helped inform my view of the world, my ideas of what freedom and agency actually mean, and how that line can be crossed in the name of "the good of mankind."

This book is rated PG. It has no bad language and no questionable scenes. There are some action sequences with mild violence.

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Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy

by Gary D. Schmidt

Rated PG

Recommended for age 9+

This is the best children's book I've read in a long time. Based loosely on a true story, this Newberry Honor-winning novel is about the life of a preacher's son who stands up to the racist town he lives in.

Turner Buckminster is the new kid in town, and it's not going well. He's already in trouble with his father's parishioners because his behavior is not the perfection they expect, and he's not getting along with the neighborhood kids either.

But his luck changes when he meets Lizzie Bright, who lives with her grandfather on nearby Malaga Island. The two children become fast friends, but when Turner finds out that the white authorities in his town plan to tear down all the shacks on Malaga Island to get rid of the "blight", he has to decide where he stands, even if it means defying his own father. This is not a book where everything has a happy ending, and I think your young readers will find that compelling. I encourage parents to read it, too - it's a great opener to having some meaningful conversations with your kids.

This book is rated PG for some violence and the mature subject of racism.

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Max the Mighty

by Rodman Philbrick
Rated PG
My 12-year-old son recommended this book to me, and I was glad he did. Max the Mighty is actually the sequel to Freak the Mighty, which I haven't read, but if it's as good as this one (and my son says it's better), then you should start your reading there.
Max is a giant sized boy with a timid heart who ends up running across the country with an 11-year old girl, nicknamed Worm, after he is accused of a crime he didn't commit. Although troubled by deep secrets herself, Worm believes Max is mighty enough to save her. Trying to live up to that while keeping them both alive is the biggest challenge Max has ever faced.
If your kids don't like to read, Philbrick's clean books would be a great place to start. This book was fast paced, relatively short, yet compelling. Max the Mighty is rated PG for a small amount of violence. I recommend this book for grades 4-8.
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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Rated PG

This book has one of the most confusing titles in the history of the world, which makes it kind of hard to plug during casual conversations ("The Guernsey who?"), but I will definitely plug it here. Set just after World War II, this book follows Juliet, an author who is drawn into a unusual new circle of friends based on an exchange of letters. A celebration of the written word and the power of human relationships, for me Juliet's story was Immensely Satisfying. This book has a long waiting list (at least at my local library), but it doesn't matter, it belongs on your bookshelf permanently.

Rated PG for a smattering of curse words, less than a dozen in the whole book.

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The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

by Terry Ryan
Rated PG
Non-Fiction
The homespun true story of a determined mother who raised 10 kids and kept the wolf from the door with her penchant for perfect prose. This book left me with the delightful feeling that I could overcome anything through sheer determination and wit. There's a drunken dad and a small amount of language, but generally clean.
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A Little Princess

by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Rated G
Grades 3-7
My favorite children's book from my youth! The title will be off-putting to your boys, but the story is infinitely interesting for boys and girls alike. Born and raised in India, young Sara Crewe is the wonderful combination of intelligent, wealthy, and kind. When her father enrolls her in an English boarding school, she finds herself suddenly surrounded by students and teachers who are everything but kind. When a disastrous turn of events leaves Sara impoverished, her situation becomes even worse. Watch what unfolds as Sara receives help from friends both seen and unseen, and proves that being a princess has nothing to do with money.
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One Tattered Angel

By Blaine Yorgason
Rated G
Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE this book! I hate to be cliche, but this really is a "touching true story" about a family who adopts an amazing little girl, Charity. Charity was born without a brain stem, and was not expected to live. Not only did she live, but she lived to demonstrate the startling power of spirit over body, finding ways to communicate with the people she loved even with most of her brain missing.
If you're like me and completely neglect your house and family when you're in the middle of a good book, then this book is for you. It's a quick read, and, although a bit of a tear-jerker, it will leave you feeling totally uplifted.
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