Posts Tagged summer camp

School’s Out For Summer! 19 summery novels

By on May 27, 2016   /   Book Lists, For Kids  

School’s out–or almost out–for summer, so as your middle grade reader heads into the long, warm days of summer, let them check out these 19 books that all have something to say about this transitional season!

PenderwicksThe Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall
This award-winning novel is the charming story of four sisters and their summer adventures at a beautiful estate called Arundel.

 

 

 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney
Kinney is a master at cracking kids up and getting them to read… and read… and read. In these two books, he covers Greg’s summertime blues in all sorts of side-splitting ways.

LumberjanesThe Lumberjanes Vol. 1: Beware The Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson, Brooke A Allen and Shannon Watters
The publisher calls this best-selling comic book series (soon to be a movie!), “Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Gravity Falls [that] features five butt-kicking, rad teenage girls wailing on monsters and solving a mystery with the whole world at stake.” What else needs to be said? #Obsessed!

 

 

The Watsons Go to WatsonsBirmingham-

by Christopher Paul Curtis
An award-winning novel that weaves the fictional story about ten-year-old Kenny and his family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan along with the violent summer of 1963, this books is  both funny and deeply moving.

Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
This incredibly popular adventures series about a boy who discovers his magical powers all have scenes set at Camp Half-Blood (making s’mores is not an activity there, as you can probably imagine). Great for all sorts of readers with a range of interests.

Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
Brother/sister duo Jennifer and Matthew also created the popular Babymouse series. In Sunny Side Up, Sunny is sent to live with her grandfather one summer–for reasons her family won’t tell her–and her days, which she’d imagined would be full of fun and amusement (parks), turn out to be way less fun than she’d dreamt, at least until she meets a cool boy from her grandfather’s neighborhood.

CampDorkCamp Dork (Pack of Dorks) by Beth Vrabel
In this brand-new title (and the sequel to Pack of Dorks) Vrabel sends her appealing characters off to Camp Paleo for a week-long adventure, where plenty of fun, drama and intrigue abound.

 

 

 

The Applewhites at Wit’s End by Stephanie S. Tolan
The hilarious sequel to Stephanie S. Tolan’s Newbery Honor Book, Surviving the Applewhites, the Applewhite family returns, with grand plans to make money by turning their family land into a camp.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
A historical novel set in 1899 about an 11-year-old who “comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century.”

MillicentMinMillicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee
11-year-old genius and current high school student Millicent is having a lousy summer as a social outcast (what with being a genius who’s already in high school and all) until she meets a new friend. Will Millicent be able to pull off looking cool? Find out in this funny novel by popular author Lisa Yee.

 

The Hidden Summer by Gin Phillips
After a falling out between their mothers, 12-year-old best friends Nell and Lydia are forbidden from seeing each other for the whole summer. Determined to find a place of their own, Nell and Lydia spend the summer hiding out in an abandoned golf course where they find mysterious symbols scattered throughout the grounds. As they reveal the secret of the symbols, Nell discovers she isn’t the only one seeking an escape. She begins to uncover what’s really been hidden all along… both inside the golf course and within herself.

MiddleSchoolMiddle School: How I Survived Bullies, Broccoli, and Snake Hill by James Patterson & Chris Tebbetts
Rafe thinks he’s about to have an awesome time at summer camp, until he finds out it’s a summer SCHOOL camp! Ugh! For fans of the popular Middle School series by publishing giant James Patterson, expect more of the series trademark laughs, gross-outs (including a kid named Booger-Eater) and excitement.

 

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
The incredible changes that happen to one 10-year-old girl over the course of a summer, all because of the addition of a stray dog she finds at her local supermarket. From the deft and incredible Kate DiCamillo, who can do no wrong.

The Summer I Saved the World…in 65 Days by Michele Weber Hurwitz
From a member of the Mixed-Up Files team, this novel is about a Nina, who finds out what happens when she decides that for every one of the 65 days of summer break, she’ll anonymously do one good thing for someone in her family or neighborhood.

Camp Rolling Hills: Book One by Stacy Davidowitz
Finally, it’s summer! Stephanie—aka Slimey—has been counting the days until she can return to her favorite place in the entire world, Camp Rolling Hills. New kid Bobby, on the other hand, is pretty sure he’s in for the worst summer of his life. He does not understand his weirdo cabinmates, the group singing, and the unfortunate nicknames (including his: Smelly). But he does understand Slimey, and the two soon fall in crush. This summer might not be so bad after all! But then a fight sets off an epic, campwide, girls-versus-boys prank war. And it’s up to Slimey and Smelly to keep the peace.

Maximilian & the Mystery of the Guardian AngelMaximilian & the Mystery of the Guardian Angel: A Bilingual Lucha Libre Thriller by Xavier Garza
Margarito acts like any other eleven-year-old aficionado of lucha libre. He worships all the players. But in the summer just before sixth grade, he tumbles over therailing at a match in San Antonio and makes a connection to the world of Mexican wrestling that will ultimately connect him—maybe by blood!—to the greatest hero of all time: the Guardian Angel. Written and illustrated by the talented Xavier Garza, this will pull in readers that love action, images and plenty of excitement.

LastFirstDayThe First Last Day by Dorian Cirrone
Another MUF-er novel! Cirrone’s 11-year-old protagonist Haleigh must find out, “What if you could get a do-over—a chance to relive a day in your life over and over again until you got it right? Would you?”

 

 

 

 

HiRes Cover TIDEThe Turn of the Tide by MUF member Rosanne Parry
This summer adventure puts two cousins one from Oregon and one from Japan on a quest to win a  sailboat race, the same race their fathers won years ago. The only thing standing in their way is a former best friend with the fastest boat in town and a deathly fear of the water.

Andrea Pyros is the author of My Year of Epic Rock, a middle grade novel about friends, crushes, food allergies, and a rock band named The EpiPens.

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Feeding the (Young) Artist Within: Books to Help Us Free Ourselves for the Journey

By on April 6, 2016   /   Book Lists, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers, Writing  

I’m very excited to teach another summer camp this year at the school where I retired two years ago. Last year, we took the students on a science and poetry journey, using the observational tools we honed in the school’s forest to inspire a variety of poems. That was a blast!

This year, I wanted to tailor campers’ experiences to the wider age range – because to be honest, though we had a great time, poetry was a tough thing to focus on for 5 days straight for the youngest kiddos, who really wanted to play all day in the gorgeous weather.

It’s nature art camp this year, and I’m pumped. My campers range from 1st to 5th grade, so I want to challenge those kids the best way possible, and there’s lots of opportunity for fun, sharing and exploration.

But here’s what I’ve learned about art and personal expression. What I’m about to share is true for writing, too, but there is an in-your-face thing that happens with visual arts in particular, and it’s called being afraid to fail. With writing, I can produce a cruddy draft and craft the heck out of it before I show it to anyone.

Visual art is really fun, and it’s messy, and sometimes, we really do have to accept that it’s more about the process than the product. That’s fine when you’re in your own studio, but in a group setting, a visual product is out there for everyone to see from the moment creation begins, and sometimes it’s hard to own the uncertainty of the process.

This means I have to be prepared for disappointment, and I have to help kids of all levels be prepared for mistakes and to help them figure out how to be okay with that.

My goal in our five days together is to expose the campers to several art experiences, and to give them a safe space to explore personal expression. We’ll play with watercolors and go to the splash park. We’ll do some rubbings and sun prints from pieces of nature we find in the woods. We’ll read  SWATCH: The Girl Who Loved Color (Julia Denos), about a girl who loves all the colors and wants to collect them, then play with colors and maybe adopt some for ourselves. We’ll make hand-felted flowers inspired by the school gardens, while we explore textures of natural fibers in the natural world with our eyes and hands.

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On the last day, we’ll work together to create a piece of Andy Goldsworthy -inspired art as a gift to those who come to the next week’s camp. Here is a link to a kid-friendly Andy Goldsworthy-type project, and here is one from the Eric Carle Musem, with a great lesson plan and information about the artist.

Every day of camp we’ll start with a read aloud – because where else can we spark imagination better than between the pages of a book? Here are some titles I’ve found that seem to launch a feeling of safety and support in personal exploration for kids (or adults!) of any age. I enjoy re-visiting these myself when I begin to worry too much about the product and forget about the process.

Beautiful Oops!, by Barney Saltzberg

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This is a board book even the grownups want to play with: torn pages, folded corners, crumpled bits of paper – what if we made even more art from our mistakes?

The Dot and Ish, both by Peter H. Reynolds

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I once read The Dot to my art and design classmates when we were deep in the very stressful process of preparing for an important exhibition – there was a ton of self-doubt making its way around the room, and we were all exhausted. Then we were all freed by my reading of this book, with its advice to “make a mark.”. Ish is another simple picture book created by Peter H. Reynolds, and I have helped students work through difficult feelings of perfectionism by sharing this one as well.

The Most Magnificent Thing, by Ashley Spires

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This book is all about trying, and failing, to make the thing that is in your mind, but embracing the importance of walking away so that you can return to try again with a new perspective.

For all my campers, a feeling of purpose can spark inspiration, as well. I’ll also be sharing Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood, by F. Isabel Campoy, Theresa Howell, and Rafael Lopez as we begin creating our community piece at the end of our week together.

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Have you ever thought of reading picture books to give your imagination some spark, or some creative support? I highly recommend it for any age!

 

 

In fourth grade, Valerie Stein touched an ancient artifact from an archaeological dig. Though she never got to travel the world in search of buried treasure, she ended up journeying to new and exciting places between the pages of books. Now she spends her time researching history, in museums and libraries, which is like archaeology but without the dirt. Valerie’s book, The Best of It: A Journal of Life, Love and Dying, was published in 2009.  Both her current work and an upcoming middle grade series are historical fiction set in Washington State. Valerie is Publisher at Homeostasis Press  http://www.homeostasispress.com/index.php, and blogs at Gatherings, the blog of Gather Here: History for Young People https://gather-here-history.squarespace.com/

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Woods to Words – A Summer Adventure

By on June 5, 2015   /   Book Lists, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers, Writing  

Next month is July, when we’ll be deep in that magical, lazy time of summer. I can just picture it. Watermelon juice dripping down my chin as I sit, feet kicked up on the deck rail, tall glass of iced tea at my side, and the grid map and binoculars in my lap. Wait. What?

It’s okay, stay with me here! I’m still talking about that magical summer, and some of it might be lazy, I promise! Let me share with you my kind of summer fun this year.

It’s Woods to Words, a science and poetry summer camp. Though it’s offered for a range of ages, I dreamed it up to delight middle grade students in particular.

The school’s camp description is pretty spot-on:

Join our literary nature-lover Mrs. Stein for a week of scientifically-inspired creative writing!  Develop an appreciation for nature as you map the woods, watch wildlife through binoculars, and hunt through the forest with a magnifying glass in hand. Hear the world like never before as you use onomatopoeia to produce nature soundscapes. Writers will have an opportunity to share their hand-crafted books at the end-of-week author celebration.

Yes, that’s right – our lazy days of summer will be spent in the school’s forest making scientific observations – and making poetry! On day one, we’ll create a site map and a shape poem. An “onomatopoetical” exercise and an art project for our book covers will stem from the sound maps we’ll create. I’m excited to build a team word bank from our square-foot observation exercise, which we’ll continue to use for inspiration as we write each day.

Young people are natural observers and I can’t wait to harness their innate curiosity in a camp setting, tapping into their drive to learn new things. Add nature read-alouds and fun games like “Whose Dinner Am I?” and we’ll have a well-rounded camp experience. Anyone know any fun science songs?

My own writing and art are driven by the observations I make, and its a natural leap to blend one passion for another. I’m excited by the opportunity to incorporate these passions into an informative, fun and relaxed camp setting.

So how about you? Will you kick back this summer and gaze at a site map while sipping your iced drink and writing poetry? I can’t wait to start.

For further reading:

What Schools can Learn from Summer Camps

What is STEAM?

Cornell Lab of Ornithology Education

In fourth grade, Valerie Stein touched an ancient artifact from an archaeological dig. Though she never got to travel the world in search of buried treasure, she ended up journeying to new and exciting places between the pages of books. Now she spends her time researching history, in museums and libraries, which is like archaeology but without the dirt. Valerie’s book, The Best of It: A Journal of Life, Love and Dying, was published in 2009.  Both her current work and an upcoming middle grade series are historical fiction set in Washington State. Valerie is proprietor of Homeostasis Press and blogs at The Best of It.

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