Most kids I know LOVE charts. There’s just something about crossing off what you’ve done that makes you feel good. Summer reading charts are no exception. My kids really enjoy having a chart to help them decide what book to read next. Will it be a book about an astronaut or will it take place in a cave? I’ve created three different summer reading charts each with a different emphasis.

The first one tells kids how or where to read their book for at least 15 minutes every day. Will they choose to read under a tree, out loud to a pet, or with a flashlight in the dark? The catch is they can only do one thing a day making this chart last almost an entire month.

 

The next chart is all about characters or objects. They have to read a book containing either a character or object from the chart. The rules are a book can only be counted once (no counting the same book for magician, teacher, and dragon) and only one book from a series can be used. What a great idea to expand your kids’ reading lists right?

 

The last chart is similar only your child reads a book that takes place in or mentions one of the places in the summer reading chart. Same rules apply as above: a book can only be counted once and only one book from a series can count towards marking off the squares.

 

The charts say if they get a bingo to show their parents to get a prize. Download the summer reading coupons here to fill out with your kids as you decide together what prizes they can earn for reading this summer. I’ll be sharing ideas on there too to help you get started.

Now for the hard part. Let’s create a list together of books that mention different places. Those seem to be the hardest for people to come up with. Characters and objects are fairly easy but time periods and settings are more difficult. Here’s a list I’ve come up with below along with the recommended grade level for those books. If you know of more please add them in the comments and I’ll eventually add them to the list.

Somewhere medieval

The Apple & the Arrow by Conrad Buff (3-6)
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli (4-adult)
The Sword in the Tree Clyde Robert Bulla (2-6)
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray (6-adult)
The Great and Terrible Quest by Margaret Lovett (5-adult)
Red Falcons of Tremoine by Hendry Perte (5-8)

The jungle

It’s a Jungle out There by Ron Snell (5-adult)
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (4-7)
Jungle Drums by Graeme Base (1-4)
Tigers at Twilight by Mary Pope Osborn (1-4)
Afternoon on the Amazon by Mary Pope Osborn (1-4)

The attic

The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop (3-7)
In Grandma’s Attic by Arleta Richardson (4-7)
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (5-adult)

Magical

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (3-6)
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (3-6)
The Alcatraz series by Brandon Sanderson (4- adult)
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (5-adult)
Septimus Heap by Angie Sage (4-adult)
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (3-adult)
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald (2-5)

A different time

The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack (1-3) pre-revolutionary China
Believe And You’re There series by Alice W. Johnson & Allison H. Warner (2-4)
Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (3-7)
Midnight Rider by Joan Hiatt Harlow (4-9)
Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfield (4-8) ancient Rome
An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott (4-adult)
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (5-adult)
Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark (5-adult)
Septimus Heap by Angie Sage (4-adult)
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons by Barbara Cohen and Bahija Lovejoy (6-adult)

An amusement park

Charlotte’s Web (county fair) by E. B. White (4-8)
The Carnivorous Carnival: Book the Ninth (A Series of Unfortunate Events) by Lemony Snicket (4-teen)
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder (2-adut)

A Cave

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (5- adult)

With secrets

Twenty & Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop (5-adult)
Pheobe the Spy by Judith Griffin (3-7)
Toliver’s Secret by Esther Wood Brady (4-adult)
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (4-adult)
The Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (3-7)
The Story of Harriet Tubman Dorothy Sterling (4-7)
The Secret Passage by Nina Bowden (5-9)
Dog in the Dungeon by Ben M. Baglio

A Mountain

Heidi by Johanna Spyri (4-7)
My side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (4-7)
Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman (4-7)

Outer space

Curious George Gets a Medal by H.A. Rey (1-4)
Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca (3-7)
Star Wars Jedi Apprentice series

The Farm

Little Britches by Ralph Moody (4- adult)
Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (3 – 7)
Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney (4-7)
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White (3-7)
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder (3-7)
Laddie by Gene Stratton-Porter (4-adult)

The graveyard

Rainbow Valley (Anne of Green Gables Series) by L.M. Montgomery (6-adult)
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (7 – adult)
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (5-9)

The Ocean or Beach

Malinda Martha and her Skipping Stones by Marcia Tribble (2-4)
Three Young Pilgrims by Cynthia Harness (2-5)
A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla (3-6)
Red Sails to Capri by Ann Weil (4-adult)
Call it Courage by Armstrong Sperry (4-6)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (6-adult)
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (5-adult)
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (5- adult)

The Woods

Knights Of Right series by M’lin Rowley (1-4)
Sarah Whitcher’s Story by Elizabeth Yates (3-adult)
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (5-adult)
Becky Landers, Frontier Warrior by Constance Lindsay Skinner (5 – 12)
A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements (4-adult)
Enna Burning by Shannon Hales (5-adult)
Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter (4- adult)
Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter (4-adult)

In the country

All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan (2-4)
Mary on Horseback by Rosemary Wells (2-5)
The Boxcar Children (3-6)
The Little House Books (3-6)
Little Britches by Ralph Moody (4- adult)
Caddie Woodlawn (3-7)
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls (3-7)
Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter (4- adult)
Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter (4-adult)

The city

Homer Price by Robert McCloskey (3-7)
Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary (3-7)
All of Kind Family by Sydney Taylor (3-6)
The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson (3-6)
Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes (4-6)
Freedom Walkers by Russell Freedman (6-adult)
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (7-adult)
The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright (4-adult)
The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill

Underground

Holes by Louis Sachar (3-7)
Tunnels by Roderich Gordon and Brian Williams (3-7)
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (4-7)

Library

Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen (3-6)
The Boy Who was Raised by Librarians by Carla Morris (2-5)
Mother Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick (4-7)
A Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (5-adult)
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (4-7)

Museum

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg (3-6)
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett (5-8)
The Enormous Egg by Oliver Butterworth (3-adult)

School

Matilda by Roald Dahl (3-adult)
The Secret School by Avi (3-6)
The Kindling by Braden Bell (4-8)
Penumbras by Braden Bell (4-8)
Luminescence by Braden Bell (4-8)

A Castle

Knights Of Right series by M’lin Rowley (1-4)
The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop (3-7)
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli (4-adult)
A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E.L. Konigsburg (6-adult)
Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer (6-adult)
The Lost Baron by Allen French (4-9)
Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funk (3-adult)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (5- adult)
Eragon by Christopher Paolini (4-teen)

Church

Redwall series by Brian Jacques (7- adult)

Pyramids

God King by Joanne Williamson (5-8)
Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (5-9)
Shadow Hawk by Andre Norton (7-adult)
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan (5-adult)
Mummies in the Morning by Mary Pope Osborn (1-4)
The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan (3-7)
The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (5 – adult)

Different country

Daisy Comes Home by Jan Brett (K-3) (in China)
The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson (4-7) France
The Story of Dr. Doolittle by Hugh Lofting (3-6) Africa
The Wheel on the School by Meindert Dejong (4- adult) Denmark
Daughter of the Mountains by Louise S. Rankin (4-adult) Tibet
My Heart Lies South by Elizabeth Borton De Treviño (6-adult) Mexico
The Good Master by Kate Seredy (5 – adult) Hungary
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (5- adult) England

Most of the cute graphics used in creating these summer reading charts came from freepik.com!