Top 5 Summer Reads for Girls

Summer time is the best time to hand your teenage daughter a stack of books and say "read." With some girls a stack of new books means the opeing to a brand new world. They see each book as a new adventure. Then there are others that see reading as a chore or a punishment. I have experienced each of these responses, at my house, to the idea of a summer reading list.

From the time that my oldest daughter could read I couldn't keep enought books in the house. She would stay up until the wee hours of the morning reading a book that she "just had to finish." My youngest daughter was the polar opposite of her sister. As a young child she loved to have me read to her at bedtime but as she got older she found more and more ways to avoid sitting down and reading. It was not until she reached high school that she started to enjoy reading again. Even now, she is very picky about the book that she takes time to sit down and read.

The following list of books are a mixture of books that each of my daughters agreed they would recommend to someone looking for a great summer read.

1. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants -- This is actually a series of 4 different books by Ann Brashares. This is a story of 4 girlfriends: Lena, Carmen, Bridget and Tibby. Each book takes us through a different summer in the girls' lives and friendship. The Horn Book Magazine states it best in their review, "Good friends, like good pants, should make you feel fabulous. Brashares takes the two and creates a breezy good feeling book."

2. Backwater -- This is a book written by award winning author, Joan Bauer. This particular book was a Smithsonian Magazine Best Book. It is the story of Ivy Breedlove, a sixteen year old girl, who loves history. The book takes you through the course of Ivy working on her family's history. The Breedlove family was a family of lawyers. A career passed down for many generations. How dare Ivy be different, but she stood her ground and did what she loved best. Ivy's search for the family history led her on a journey to find the aunt that dared to be so different that the family refused to speak of her.

This book catches you from the first page. You find yourself cheering for Ivy as she defies the family and goes in search of her "hermit" aunt. Her journey will keep you on the edge of your seat to the very end. This is a great book by Ms. Bauer. It started my own daughters asking questions about our family history.

3. Night -- This ia a book by Elie Wiesel. This is a teenager's intense account of his and his family's experience in the Auschwitz concentration camp and then to Buchenwald. Reading about the Jewish Holocaust is not for all teenagers, but this is a book that grabbed my youngest daughter's attention. She has read several more books since this one about the holocaust.

4. 3 Willows, the sisterhood grows -- This is another book by Ann Brashares. My youngest daughter recommends any book by Ms Brashares but especially the ones dealing with the sisterhood. She was so excited when this new book was released. This is the story of Jo, Polly and Ama. Three girls that are starting a brand new sisterhood.

5. To Kill a Mockingbird -- This is a book recommended by my oldest daughter. For her, what started out as an English Class assignment turned into one of her favorite books. It is a pulitzer prize winning novel by Harper Lee that was published in 1960. A time of dislike and distrust between the races. This is the story of a black man wrongly accused of raping a white girl. Atticus Finch, a white attorney, agrees to defend the black man even though he believes that there is little chance the white jury will side with his client. This books deals with racism, the wrongs and the moral issues of that era. To Kill a Mockingbird may seem a strange name for the book and I could explain why it is named as such but I'll let your child discover that as she reads along.

All of these books can be found at either www.amazon.com or www.half.com Prices vary depending on where you get them. Half.com has all of these at very low prices but you usually have to buy each book from a separate seller, therefore, having to pay shipping on each indvidual book.

Amazon.com has each of these books listed brand new for between $7 and $10 each and you can get all with only one shipping fee. You may even qualify for free shipping. Amazon, also, has individuals selling these books in various conditions at reduced prices but again you have a separate shipping fee for each book.

I hope that you find this list useful and that your daughter, granddaughter or niece has a summer of happy reading!