Summer is fast approaching. Are you starting to make plans? Do you have a reading goal for your children? Every summer I have the “So many books, so little time” attitude. As a mom and teacher, I want the children in my life to read books that are meaningful, consistent with our worldview, and fun to read. I’ve compiled a list of suggestions for each age group. I hope this helps and simplifies your plans for the summer.
In addition, I’m so excited to share the plans for Bible memory over the summer. During the school year, we’ve been memorizing two verses each week, but during the summer, we pump it up a bit to three verses a week and offer a super challenge for the Bible Memory Warriors among us who want to memorize a whole book of the Bible by memorizing a verse or two each day during the summer. So, let’s jump in!
Be sure to scroll to the end to see the May Giveaway! You still have time to enter!
Birth to 4 years:
Baby Believer Series by Daniel Hitchens
Ten Little Fireflies by Deb Gruelle
Who Sang the First Song? by Ellie Holcomb
My Arms Will Hold You Tight by Crytal Bowman and Teri McKinley, Illustrated by Anna Kubaszewska
This I Know by Clay Anderson, illustrated by Natalie Merheb
Flashlight Night by Elisabeth Hasselbeck, illustrated by Julia Seal
The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s First Summer by Eric Carle
Summer Days and Nights by Wong Herbert Yee
I See Summer by Charles Ghigna, illustrated by Ag Jatkowska
Lola Plants a Garden by Anna McQuinn, illustrated by Roslind Beardshaw
Diva Delores ad the Opera House Mouse by Laura Sassi
Little Ewe: The Story of One Lost Sheep by Laura Sassi
5-7 years:
The Creator in You by Jordan Raynor
What Do You Do with An Idea? by Kobi Yamada
Outside Inside by Deborah Underwood
The Wonder of Creation: 100 More Devotions about God and Science by Louie Giglio, illustrated by Nicola Anderson
Daisy’s Perfect Word by Sandra V. Feder, illustrated by Susan Mitchell
Wherever You Go, I Want You to Know by Melissa B. Kruger, illustrated by Isobel Lundie
The One O’Clock Miracle: A True Story about Trusting the Words of Jesus by Alison Mitchell, illustrated by Catalina Echeverri
Corrie ten Boom: The Courageous Woman and the Secret Room (Do Great Things for God series) by Laura Caputo-Wickham, illustrated by Isabel Munoz
This Is the Church by Sarah Raymond Cunningham, illustrated by Ariel Landy
My Busy Green Garden by Terry Pierce, illustrated by Carol Schwartz
Oh, the Seeds You Can Sow by Jessica Lisk
Outside Inside by LeUyen Pham
Ages 8-11 years:
The Promise by Jason Helopoulos, illustrated by Rommel Ruiz
The Oak Inside the Acorn by Max Lucado, Illustrated by George Angelini
The Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pop Osborne
The Cottonmouth series by C. S. Fritz
The One-Year Choose Your Own Ending Devotions by Pioneer Clubs
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
Becoming Beatrix: The Life of Beatrix Potter and the World of Peter Rabbit by Amy M. O’Quinn
The Awesome Book of Bible Answers for Kids by Josh McDowell and Kevin Johnson
Before They Were Authors: Famous Writers as Kids by Elizabeth Haidle
A Summer of Sundays by Lindsay Eland
The Dead Sea Squirrels: Squirreled Away by Mike Nawrocki, illustrated by Luke Sequin-Magee
Sonrise Stable series by Vicki Watson, illustrated by Becky Raber
12-16 years
Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard and Bob Kuhn
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
It’s a Jungle Out There by Ron Snell
Life Is a Jungle! by Ron Snell
Think on These Things: Wisdom for Life from Proverbs by Ray Comfort
Seekers: An Interactive Family Adventure in Following Jesus by C.S. Fritz
The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
The Summer of June by Jamie Sumner
The Girl Who Looked Beyond the Stars by L. B. Anne
Dust by Kara Swanson
Stand Up, Stand Strong by Sara Barratt
17 years and beyond:
Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis
Manga Metamorphosis: Is This the End of Your world or the Beginning? (Mange Book #2 – Acts and Epistles) by
You’re Not Enough (And That’s Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love by Allie Beth Stuckey
Another Gospel? by Alisa Childers
If You Only Knew by Jamie Ivey
The Women of the Bible Speak: The Wisdom of 16Women and Their Lessons for Today by Shannon Bream
Faithfully Different: Regaining Biblical Clarity in a Secular Culture by Natasha Crain
Othello by William Shakespeare
Where Are the Children? by Mary Higgins Clark
Don’t Check Your Brain at the Door by Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler
Laws of Leadership Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell
The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask (with answers) by Mark Mittelberg
For more ideas, check out my website podcast transcripts/show notes. Or, better yet, join my mailing list and gain access to a free list of over 100 books for your child’s library.
Bible Memory Plans for the Summer
In addition, remember that we will be memorizing a section of scripture this summer (1 John 1-2). This contains 39 verses, so we will memorize three verses a week, and they will all be consecutive verses. (If you want to challenge yourself and memorize the entire book of 1 John, just FYI, that will mean memorizing 1-2 verses per day. We have 105 verses in 1 John, and 91 days from June 5-September 3). Below is the schedule for the basic memory plan (1 John 1-2) and the super challenge plan (all of 1 John).
Each week, I will post ideas and puzzles to help with memorization. You can find those in the Facebook Group, my Facebook Writer page, or on Instagram.
Steps to Help with Memorization:
- Write each verse out by hand
- Repeat the verse and previous verses each day – read them out loud until you start having them memorized. Then, repeat them from memory.
- Say them using a disappearing word game on a white board or chalk board. Start with the verse written out; say it aloud. Erase a word or two and say it aloud again. Then keep erasing a word or two each time until you have blank white board/chalk board and can say it from memory.
- Talk about what the verse means.
- Repeat it again right before going to bed each night. If you quote the verse(s) right before bedtime and as soon as you awaken each morning, seven days a week, you will have them memorized quickly.
- Respond to the verses. If God is telling us to do something, do it. If He is giving us a promise or something to think about, pray it.
- For fun, memorize it in another language. It may seem silly, but it actually can help.
Basic Memory Verse Plan:
June 5 1 John 1:1-3
June 12 1 John 1:4-6
June 19 1 John 1:7-9
June 26 1 John 1:10-2:2
July 3 1 John 2:3-5
July 10 1 John 2:6-8
July 17 1 John 2:9-11
July 24 1 John 2:12-14
July 31 1 John 2:15-17
August 7 1 John 2:18-20
August 14 1 John 2:21-23
August 21 1 John 2:24-26
August 28 1 John 2:27-29
Super Challenge Bible Memory Plan:
June
5 – 1 John 1:1
6 – 1 John 1:2
7 – 1 John 1:3
8 – 1 John 1:4
9 – 1 John 1:5
10 – 1 John 1:6
11 – 1 John 1:7
12 – 1 John 1:8
13 – 1 John 1:9-10
14 – 1 John 2:1
15 – 1 John 2:2
16 – 1 John 2:3-4
17 – 1 John 2:5
18 – 1 John 2:6
19 – 1 John 2:7
20 – 1 John 2:8
21 – 1 John 2:9
22 – 1 John 2:10
23 – 1 John 2:11
24 – 1 John 2:12
25 – 1 John 2:13
26 – 1 John 2:14
27 – 1 John 2:15
28 – 1 John 2:16
29 – 1 John 2:17
30 – 1 John 2:18
July
1 – 1 John 2:19
2 – 1 John 2:20
3 – 1 John 2:21
4 – 1 John 2:22
5 – 1 John 2:23
6 – 1 John 2:24-25
7 – 1 John 2:26
8 – 1 John 2:27
9 – 1 John 2:28-29
10 – 1 John 3:1
11 – 1 John 3:2
12 – 1 John 3:3
13 – 1 John 3:4-5
14 – 1 John 3:6
15 – 1 John 3:7
16 – 1 John 3:8
17 – 1 John 3:9
18 – 1 John 3:10
19 – 1 John 3:11
20 – 1 John 3:12
21 – 1 John 3:13
22 – 1 John 3:14-15
23 – 1 John 3:16
24 – 1 John 3:17
25 – 1 John 3:18-19
26 – 1 John 3:20
27 – 1 John 3:21-22
28 – 1 John 3:23
29 – 1 John 3:24
30 – 1 John 4:1
31 – 1 John 4:2
August
1 – 1 John 4:3
2 – 1 John 4:4
3 – 1 John 4:5
4 – 1 John 4:6
5 – 1 John 4:7-8
6 – 1 John 4:9
7 – 1 John 4:10
8 – 1 John 4:11-12
9 – 1 John 4:13
10 – 1 John 4:14
11 – 1 John 4:15
12 – 1 John 4:16
13 – 1 John 4:17
14 – 1 John 4:18-19
15 – 1 John 4:20
16 – 1 John 4:21
17 – 1 John 5:1-2
18 – 1 John 5:3-4
19 – 1 John 5:5
20 – 1 John 5:6
21 – 1 John 5:7-8
22 – 1 John 5:9
23 – 1 John 5:10
24 – 1 John 5:11-12
25 – 1 John 5:13
26 – 1 John 5:14
27 – 1 John 5:15
28 – 1 John 5:16
29 – 1 John 5:17
30 – 1 John 5:18
31 – 1 John 5:19
September
1 – 1 John 5:20
2 – 1 John 5:21
3 – review entire book, practice the weak spots
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