Curated by Emma Kerr, Early Childhood and Elementary Librarian
During Summer, many of us get ready for big changes in our lives. Some of us are moving up a grade while others might even be moving to a whole new school. This time can be full of anxiety and worry. But it is also a time of great excitement as we think of the new adventures waiting for us ahead.
Here are some books that capture the sadness of having to say goodbye and show us that the last days of something can also mean the beginning of something wonderful and new.
All of these books are available in the Elementary School Library. Happy Reading!
Elementary Younger Readers
The Berenstain Bears’ Moving Day
By Stan and Jan Berenstain
Come see where it all began in this classic First Time Book® from Stan and Jan Berenstain. Join Mama, Papa, and Brother as they pack up, say heartfelt goodbyes to friends, and move from the mountains and into their beloved tree house down the sunny dirt road. Includes over 50 bonus stickers!. (From Goodreads)
Oh, The Places You’ll Go
By Dr. Seuss
A modern classic, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! was first published one year before Dr. Seuss’s death at the age of eighty-seven. In a mere fifty-six pages, Dr, Seuss managed to impart a lifetime of wisdom. It is the perfect send-off for children starting out in the maze of life, be they nursery school grads or newly-minted PhD’s. Everyone will find it inspired good fun. (From Goodreads)
Lizzie and the Last Day of School
By Trinka Hakes Noble
Lizzie loves school almost more than anything. When the time comes for Lizzie to start First Grade, she can’t wait. Everyone tells her it will be a whole year of school. And Miss Giggliano, the first-grade teacher, tells her class to make this the best year of school ever. Yippee! thinks Lizzie–a whole year of school! And what a year it is! When the last day of school arrives, Lizzie is dismayed. How can this be? It was supposed to be a whole year! But good news soon arrives and Lizzie, along with Miss G., finds herself in a different classroom and eager to learn! (From Goodreads)
The Good-bye Book
By Judith Viorst
His mother and father are getting dressed to go out to dinner together. He doesn’t want them to go! They’re going out and leaving him with a sitter. He hates that a lot! He pleads with them. He bargains with them. He threatens to run away to a family that doesn’t ever go out for the evening. He tells them he’s sick, with a temperature of maybe a hundred and ten. And he tells them he won’t — he’ll never — say good-bye. (From Goodreads)
A New House for Smudge
By Miriam Moss
Plop, plop, plop goes the rain into the bucket in Smudge and Stripe’s house. There are holes in the roof and there’s just not enough room anymore. Time to move! But, Smudge isn’t sure she wants to. “This is my home and there’s nothing wrong with it,” she stubbornly insists. Will a pretty garden, with a real river running through it–and maybe even a boat–change Smudge’s mind? A tale that reassures even though saying goodbye is sad, new beginnings can be fun. (From Goodreads)
Elementary Older Readers
What is Goodbye?
By Nikki Grimes
Jerilyn and Jesse have lost their beloved older brother. But each of them deals with Jaron’s death differently. Jerilyn tries to keep it in and hold it together; Jesse acts out. But after a year of anger, pain, and guilt, they come to understand that it’s time to move on. It’s time for a new family picture-with one piece missing, yet whole again. Through the alternating voices of a brother and sister, Nikki Grimes eloquently portrays the grieving process in this gem of a book that is honest, powerful, and ultimately hopeful. (From Goodreads)
All Summer Long
By Hope Larson
A coming-of-age middle-grade graphic novel about summer and friendships, written and illustrated by the Eisner Award–winning and New York Times–bestselling Hope Larson.
Thirteen-year-old Bina has a long summer ahead of her. She and her best friend, Austin, usually do everything together, but he’s off to soccer camp for a month, and he’s been acting kind of weird lately anyway. So it’s up to Bina to see how much fun she can have on her own. At first it’s a lot of guitar playing, boredom, and bad TV, but things look up when she finds an unlikely companion in Austin’s older sister, who enjoys music just as much as Bina. But then Austin comes home from camp, and he’s acting even weirder than when he left. How Bina and Austin rise above their growing pains and reestablish their friendship and respect for their differences makes for a touching and funny coming-of-age story. (From Goodreads)
The Island of Dr. Libris
By Chris Grabenstein
What if your favorite characters came to life? Billy’s spending the summer in a lakeside cabin that belongs to the mysterious Dr. Libris. But something strange is going on. Besides the security cameras everywhere, there’s Dr. Libris’s private bookcase. Whenever Billy opens the books inside, he can hear sounds coming from the island in the middle of the lake. The clash of swords. The twang of arrows. Sometimes he can even feel the ground shaking. It’s almost as if the stories he’s reading are coming to life! But that’s impossible . . . isn’t it?. (From Goodreads)
Lemons
By Melissa Savage
What do you do when you lose everything that means anything?
Ten-year old Lemonade Liberty Witt doesn’t know the answer to that question, except what her mom taught her. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. But what if those lemons are so big that you forget how? How do you make lemonade out of having to leave everything you know in San Francisco to move to the small town of Willow Creek, California and live with a grandfather you’ve never even met? In a town that smells like grass and mud and bugs. With tall pines instead of skyscrapers and dirt instead of sidewalks. Not to mention one woolly beast lurking in the woods. (From Goodreads)
Spy Camp
By Stuart Gibbs
In the second book in the New York Times bestselling Spy School series, top-secret training continues into summer for aspiring spy Ben Ripley—and so does the danger.
Ben Ripley is a middle schooler whose school is not exactly average—he’s spent the last year training to be a top-level spy and dodging all sorts of associated danger. So now that summer’s finally here, Ben would like to have some fun and relax. But that’s not going to happen during required spy survival training at a rustic wilderness camp, where SPYDER, an enemy spy organization, has infiltrated the spies’ ranks. Can Ben root out the enemy before it takes him out—for good? (From Goodreads)
Happy Reading!
Related Articles
10 Books About Taking Care of Our Planet
10 Books that Celebrate Perseverance and Grit
12 Books About Honesty and Reflection for Elementary Students
