Fifth Annual Summer Reading List

Herewith the Fifth Annual Parents’ Coalition Reading List.  This year we invited members of the active civic associations and groups across Montgomery County to tell us what books they loved as children.  Thank you to all the hard-working civic ‘activists’ in our county for these brilliant suggestions.  And thanks for all the work you do to make sure our county government functions as it should.

First, from Luella Mast of the Greater Colesville Citizens Association, who wrote that her favorite books were, Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and any books about other girls' lives.  This fascinating series is based on the life of Ms. Wilder.    

Montgomery County Civic Federation Past President Peggy Dennis had lots of books she loved as a child!  She recommends The Five Children and It, a story about five children, Robert, Anthea, Cyril, Jane, and their younger brother, nicknamed ‘Lamb,’ who find a rare sand fairy, the Psammead, who has the ability to grant wishes. All does not go as hoped, however.  Read the book to find out what happens.  According to Wikipedia, this book has never gone out of print.  This book was the first of a trilogy by well-known author Evelyn Nesbit, who also wrote the other books in the series, The Phoenix and the Carpet, and The Story of the Amulet.  Peggy also recommends Half Magic, whose author, Edward McMaken Eager, was influenced by The Five Children and It.  She also loved to read Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome; E.B. White’s classic, Charlotte’s Web; everyone’s favorite child, Eloise, by Kay Thompson; and Watership Down, written by Richard Adams. 

Virginia Sheard, a member of the Civic Fed’s Planning and Land Use Committee, recommends 101 Poems, and The Little Toy Dog and the Calico Cat.

Eric Hensal, activist and founder of Public Power Montgomery, loved to read A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline D’Engle, and all of Roald Dahl’s books.  My children also loved Roald Dahl’s books, especially The BFG and James and the Giant Peach.

Lee Shipman, from the Bannockburn Civic Association, loved to read the Big Little Books, like Treasure Island.  She remembers going to the library in Livingston to check out books, as at that time there were no public libraries in Montgomery County. 

Others recommend the wonderful To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee; the Narnia series, all seven books, by C.S. Lewis; Go Ask Alice, by author Beatrice Sparks; and The Giver, by Lois Lowry.

That is a lot of books to read for the summer! Enjoy them, and comment here with your favorite books.

Have a wonderful summer reading and relaxing!