Reading

Summer Reading for students entering Grade 4 in September 2024

Below is a suggested list of books from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for students that are in Third Grade Entering Fourth Grade in September.  (You are not required to read all books on the list but you should select a few that you will enjoy. If you have any books that you also enjoy reading please feel free to select them.) 

It is important that you continue to read over the summer months in order to keep your vocabulary and reading skills up to date. 

We will discuss the proper way to complete a fourth grade Book Report and then you will be assigned a Book Report for one of the books that you read over the summer from the list below. You will be required to have that Chapter Book in the classroom for your presentation of the written report. (This will be one of your first required assessments for fourth grade. Also remember that watching the video is not the same as reading the book. There are events that can be quite different between a video and a book.)

Happy Reading!
 Mrs. Bowski  

Archdiocesan Recommended Reading 2024
 THIRD GRADE ENTERING FOURTH GRADE

 Best Year Ever by Barbara Robinson One day the teachers ask all the students to think of compliments for their classmates, and Beth Bradley picks Imogene Herdman’s name. At first, Beth can’t think of anything good, but soon she begins to see Imogene in a new light.
 ©2011 Grade Level 4-6

 The Boy in the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Rauf There used to be an empty chair at the back of Mrs. Khan’s classroom, but on the third Tuesday of the school year a new kid fills it: nine-year-old Ahmet, a Syrian refugee. ©2019 Grade Level 4-5 CLIP Carnegie Medal Children's Book Award Nominee

 Brave Like My Brother by Marc Tyler Nobleman When Charlie's brother, Joe, is called up to fight in World War II, he promises to write letters to ten-year-old Charlie as often as he can. It won't make up for not being there to help Charlie out with the neighborhood bullies, but it's all Joe can do. ©2016 Grade Level 4-5

 The Chestertons and the Golden Key by Nancy Carpentier Brown Summer vacation turns into an adventure for the three Nicholl sisters when Mr. Gilbert Chesterton and his wife come to town. Eleven-year-old Clare hopes to write a detective story. Eight-year-old Cece wants to be a champion roller-skater. And ten-year-old Joan just wants to learn how to play the locked piano in the family living room. But as they befriend the Chestertons, skating accidents, surprising friendships, puppet shows, and mystery solving ensue! ©2016 Grade Level 4-5

 Counting Thyme by Melania Conklin When eleven-year-old Thyme Owens’ little brother, Val, is accepted into a new cancer drug trial, it’s just the second chance that he needs. But it also means the Owens family has to move to New York, thousands of miles away from Thyme’s best friend and everything she knows and loves. ©2016 Grade Level 4-7

 The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Perez There are no shortcuts to surviving your first day at a new school—you can’t fix it with duct tape like you would your Chuck Taylors. On Day One, twelve-year-old Malú (María Luisa, if you want to annoy her) inadvertently upsets Posada Middle School’s queen bee, violates the school’s dress code with her punk rock look, and disappoints her college-professor mom in the process.
 ©2017 Grade Level 4-6, 2018 Pura Belpré Author Honor Book

 Flashback Four #1: The Lincoln Project by Dan Gutman Four very different kids are picked by a mysterious billionaire to travel through time and photograph some of history's most important events. This time, the four friends are headed to 1863 to catch Abraham Lincoln delivering his famous Gettysburg Address. ©2017 Grade Level 4-7

 George Washington’s Spy by Elvira Woodruff Ten-year-old Matt Carlton and six friends are accidentally swept back in time--to Boston in 1776! The British now occupy the city, and redcoat guards are everywhere! While the boys are being held captive by a den of Patriot spies, the girls have been taken in by a wealthy Tory family. ©2012 Grade Level 4-5

 Katerina's Wish by Jeannie Mobley Thirteen-year-old Trina's family left Bohemia for a Colorado coal town to earn money to buy a farm, but by 1901 she doubts that either hard work or hoping will be enough, even after a strange fish seems to grant her sisters' wishes. ©2012 Grade Level 4-7

 Lifeboat 12 by Susan Hood With Nazis bombing London every night, it’s time for thirteen-year-old Ken to escape. He suspects his stepmother is glad to see him go, but his dad says he’s one of the lucky ones—one of ninety boys and girls to ship out aboard the SS City of Benares to safety in Canada. ©2019 Grade Level 4-6, 2019 Golden Kite Middle Grade
 Fiction Award Winner, 2019 ALSC Notable Children’s Book

 Lincoln and Kennedy: A Pair to Compare by Gene Barretta President Abraham Lincoln grew up in a one-room log cabin. President John F. Kennedy was raised in the lap of luxury. One was a Republican and one a Democrat. They lived and served a hundred years apart. ©2016 Grade Level 2-5

 Martin de Porres: The Rose in the Desert by Gary D. Schmidt As the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a former slave, Martin de Porres was born into extreme poverty. Even so, his mother begged the church fathers to allow him into the priesthood. Instead, Martin was accepted as a servant boy. But soon, the young man was performing miracles. 2013 Pura Belpre Award for Illustration ©2012 Grade Level 3-5

 The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail by Richard Peck The tiniest mouse in the Royal Mews is such a mystery he doesn’t even know his own name! He scampers off on an epic adventure in and around Buckingham Palace with a plan to seek the advice of Queen Victoria. The exhilarating journey takes him to strange and wonderful places, but will it help him discover who he is and where he came from?
 ©2014 Grade Level 4-5

 Pieces and Players by Blue Balliett The kids have been drawn in by the very mysterious Mrs. Sharpe, who may be playing her own kind of game with the clues. And it's not just Mrs. Sharpe who's acting suspiciously -- there's a ghost who mingles with the guards in the museum, a cat who acts like a spy, and bystanders in black jackets who keep popping up. ©2016 Grade Level 4-6

 Raffie on the Run by Jacqueline Resnick Raffie Lipton lives a rat’s dream life. In his family’s subway station home, he has all the food he can forage from the treasure chests humans call trash cans, and the perfect shoebox bed for telling his brother his famous adventure stories. ©2018 Grade Level 3–6

 Trapped in a Video Game by Dustin Brady Jesse hates video games - and for good reason. You see, a video game character is trying to kill him. After getting sucked into the new game Full Blast with his best friend, Eric, Jesse quickly discovers that he's being followed by a mysterious figure. If he doesn't figure out what's going on fast, he'll be trapped for good! ©2018 Grade Level 4-5

 Wish Girl by Nikki Loftin Peter Stone’s parents and siblings are extroverts, musicians, and yellers—and the louder they get, the less Peter talks, or even moves, until he practically fits his last name. When his family moves to the Texas Hill Country, though, Peter finds a tranquil, natural valley where he can, at last, hear himself think. ©2016

 Other Suggestions you may choose are:

Because of Winn Dixie   By-Kate DiCamillo

 Stuart Little     By-E B White

 Charlotte's Web  By- E B White

 The War with Grandpa. By- Robert Kimmel Smith

 The One and Only Ivan  By-Katherine Applegate

 ****Diary of A Wimpy Kid Books are NOT used for Book Reports in Fourth Grade.