Welcome to One Page at a Time’s Summer of Fun! We hope you’ll get lovin’ those books right off the bat. We are bringing you 12 weeks of books and activities for all ages, all centered on a weekly theme that will help you bring books into activities that you are already planning or could easily add into your summer plans. With several books in each reading level category, we hope that there are at least a couple that are available to you, wherever you may be. The activities are also planned to be simple and cost-effective, making them achievable for anyone who wants in on the fun!
To kick off our Summer of Fun, we wanted to start with something that will hopefully set you and your families up for a whole summer of finding the fun in books. For this week we have gathered our favorite books about books for all reading levels so we can celebrate the awesomeness found in all those pages out there in the world.
And now, without further ado, we give you WEEK ONE: Fall in Love with Books!
Picture Books
The author/illustrator of this book may think he is in control, but he definitely underestimates his rogue illustration!
How This Book was Made by Mac Barnett
Librarian on the Roof! A True Story by MG King and Stephen Gilpin
How to Read a Story by Kate Messner
Juvenile Fiction
The Great Treehouse War by Lisa Graff
A Kind of Paradise by Amy Rebecca Tan
Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Young Adult Fiction
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
The Library of Lost Things by Laura Taylor Namey
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
Adult Fiction
How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry
The Cracked Spine: A Scottish Bookshop Mystery by Paige Shelton
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay
Adult Non-Fiction
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett
A Gentle Madness by Nicholas A. Basbanes
The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller
My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues by Pamela Paul
Toddler Activity
Make reading as fun for the kiddos as possible this week so that they absolutely fall in love with it!
- Read somewhere you don’t normally read (outside, at the table while eating a meal, in Mom and Dad’s bed, in a fort built underneath the dining room table, etc)
- Make a treat together and then read while eating the treats
- Read a favorite book over and over again
- Give them an M&M every time they hear a certain word in a book,
- Listen to an audiobook while snuggled together on a couch or bed
- Ask your local librarian to help you find a stack of books all about something that they love right now
or whatever else you can think of! And then share your ideas with us so we can try them out, too!
Youth Activity
Try your hands at creating your own book recommendation lists! Pick a theme (go simple- “books set in England,” or go detailed- “books with an animal as the narrator”), or simply try and narrow your choices down to your top five or ten (or fifty!) books you would recommend to people. Pick the same theme as friends, siblings or parents and see how many books in common you all chose.
Adult/Family Activity
Have a family movie night and watch the movie version of a book you have read and loved. Use this as a way to encourage a reluctant reader to finish a book or to connect a younger child to books by introducing him/her to a favorite character from the screen in book version.
