The 2004
Summer
Reading
Challenge


Sponsored by...
Assemblyman
J. Gary Pretlow


Assemblyman
J. Gary
Pretlow

Dear Neighbor,

Just because school is out doesn’t mean we have to stop learning or reading. Studies have shown that children who continue to read during the summer perform better in school in the fall. To encourage our children to continue reading during the summer, I have set up the Summer Reading Challenge. Mark the enclosed calendar for each day in July and August that you and your child read together. When there are 40 or more days marked off, your child has earned a New York State Assembly Excellence in Reading Certificate. Fill out the back of this brochure and return it and the calendar to me. I’ll see that your child receives a certificate.

A good source of reading materials is your local public library. Libraries through-out the state are participating in the New York State Library’s Statewide Summer Reading Program “2004: NEW YORK IS read, white & blue!”

Thank you and happy reading!

Sincerely,

Room 650 LOB
Albany, New York 12248-0001
(518) 455-5291

6 Gramatan Avenue, Suite 407
Mt. Vernon, NY 10550
(914) 667-0127

48 North Broadway, Yonkers, NY 10701
(914) 375-0456

pretloj@assembly.state.ny.us



**Click Here for a Printable Information Form**

New York State Assembly
Excellence in Reading
Certificate
Information Form

Name of Child

School
Grade

Parent's Name

Street Address

City or Town
Zip

Number of days completed

Favorite Books



To receive your certificate, please complete the above
form and send it with the attached calendar to:

Assemblyman
J. Gary Pretlow
6 Gramatan Avenue, Suite 407
Mt. Vernon, NY 10550
(914) 667-0127



**Click Here for a Printable Calendar**

Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow’s
Summer Reading Challenge

“We pledge to read together for at least 15 minutes each day during the months of July and August. For each day we read together, we will mark the attached calendar with a checkmark .”

JULY 2004
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday




1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31
AUGUST 2004
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31



When you have marked 40 days on this calendar, you have earned an Excellence in Reading Certificate. Fill out the information form and return it to Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow.


**Click Here for a Printable Reading List**

The Summer Reading Challenge
Summer Reading List
“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island ... and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life.”

• Walt Disney

Early Readers
(Preschool - Grade 2)

1-2-3 to the Zoo (Carle)
Go Away Big Green Monster (Emberley)
Danny and the Dinosaur (Hoff)
Days with Frog and Toad (Lobel)
Green Eggs and Ham (Dr. Seuss)
What Game Shall We Play? (Hutchins)
Space Case (Marshall)
Little Bear’s Friend (Minarik)
Mummies Made in Egypt (Aliki)
Why a Disguise? (Numeroff)
Piggie Pie (Palatini)
Arthur’s Pen Pal (Hoban)
Teach Us Amelia Bedelia (Parish)
Wizard Next Door (Glassman)
Not in the House, Newton! (Heide)
Amazing Felix (McCully)

Picture Books

The Spider and the Fly (DiTerlizzi)
Hondo & Fabian (McCarty)
Ben’s Trumpet (Isadora)
Blueberries for Sal (McCloskey)
The Carrot Seed (Krauss)
A Chair for My Mother (Williams)
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (Martin)
Corduroy (Freeman)
Curious George (Rey)
Doctor DeSoto (Steig)
Freight Train (Crews)
George and Martha (Marshall)
Goodnight Moon (Brown)
Harold and the Purple Crayon (Johnson)
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (Numeroff)
Ira Sleeps Over (Waber)
Julius (Johnson)
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (Waber)
Madeline (Bemelmans)
Miss Nelson is Missing! (Allard)
Rosie’s Walk (Hutchins)
Ten, Nine, Eight (Bang)
The Mitten (Brett)
There’s a Nightmare in My Closet (Mayer)
Stone Soup (Brown)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Carle)
Where The Wild Things Are (Sendak)
Whistle For Willie (Keats)
Very Busy Spider (Carle)

Caldecott Medal Winning Picture Books (Illustrator)

2004 - The Man Who Walked Between the Towers (Gerstein)
2003 - My Friend Rabbit (Rohmann)
2002 - The Three Pigs (Wiesner)
2001 - So You Want to Be President? (Small)
2000 - Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (Taback)
1999 - Snowflake Bentley (Azarian)
1998 - Rapunzel (Zelinsky)
1997 - Golem (Wisniewski)
1996 - Officer Buckle and Gloria (Rathmann)
1995 - Smoky Night (Diaz)
1994 - Grandfather’s Journey (Say)
1993 - Mirette on the High Wire (McCully)
1992 - Tuesday (Wiesner)
1991 - Black and White (Macaulay)
1990 - Lon Po Po (Young)
1989 - Song and Dance Man (Gammell)

Subject Headings
(authors & grade levels in parentheses)

Adventure

The Cay (Taylor; 4 - 6)
The Dark Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural (McKissack; 4 - 6)
Hatchet (Paulsen; 4 - 6)
Shiloh (Naylor; 4 - 6)
Snow Treasure (McSwigan; 3 - 6)
Stone Fox (Gardiner; 3 - 6)
Trouble River (Byars; 3 - 6)

Fantasy & Mystery

Marvin Redpost: A Flying Birthday Cake? (Sachar; 3 - 4)
The BFG (Dahl; 4 - 5)
The Book of Three (Alexander; 4 - 5)
The Borrowers (Norton; 4 - 6)
Cricket in Times Square (Selden; 3 - 6)
The Dark is Rising (Cooper; 3 - 6)
The Giver (Lowry; 3 - 6)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling; 3 - 6)
The Indian in the Cupboard (Banks; 4 - 5)
James and the Giant Peach (Dahl; 4 - 5)
Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher (Coville; 3 - 5)
The Littles (Peterson; 3 - 4)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O’Brien; 4 - 5)
Phantom Tollbooth (Juster; 3 - 6)
Stuart Little (White; 4 - 5)
Tom’s Midnight Garden (Pearce; 5 - 6)
The Secret Garden (Burnett; 3 - 6)
The Wish Giver (Brittain; 4 - 5)
A Wrinkle in Time (L’Engle; 4 - 6)

Friendship

Afternoon of the Elves (Lisle; 5 - 6)
Babe – The Gallant Pig (King-Smith; 3 - 6)
Best Friend Insurance (Gormley; 3 - 4)
Bridge to Terabithia (Paterson; 5 - 6)
Crow Boy (Yashima; 3 - 5)
Cute is a Four-Letter Word (Pevsner; 4 - 5)
The Cybil War (Byars; 4 - 5)
Dear Mr. Henshaw (Cleary; 4 - 6)
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (Lord; 3 - 5)
Law of Gravity (Hurwitz; 4 - 6)
Nothing’s Fair in Fifth Grade (DeClements; 4 - 5)
Number the Stars (Lowry; 4 - 6)
On My Honor (Bauer; 4 - 6)
Pickle Puss (Giff; 3 - 4)
The Pinballs (Byars; 4 - 5)
Stay Away From Simon (Carrick; 4 - 6)
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (Blume; 3 - 5)

Humor

Aliens for Breakfast (Etra; 3 - 6)
Anastasia Krupnik (Lowrey; 3 - 6)
Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery (Howe; 3 - 6)
Chocolate Fever (Smith; 2 - 4)
Fat Men From Space (Pinkwater; 3 - 4)
The Fortune Tellers (Alexander; 2 - 3)
The Goof that Won the Pennant (Kalb; 2 - 3)
Homer Price (McCloskey; 4 - 5)
How to Eat Fried Worms (Rockwell; 4 - 6)
Isabelle Shows Her Stuff (Greene; 4 - 5)
Jelly Belly (Smith; 3 - 4)
Kevin Corbett Eats Flies (Hermes; 4 - 5)
Owls in the Family (Mowat; 3 - 4)
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (Cleary; 3 - 4)
The Ransom of Red Chief (O’Henry; 5 - 6)
Yours Till Niagara Falls, Abby (O’Connor; 4 - 6)

Historical

Behind Rebel Lines: The Incredible Story of Emma Edmonds, Civil War Spy (Reit; 3 - 6)
Bound for Oregon (Van Leeuwen; 3 - 6)
Caddie Woodlawn (Brink; 4 - 6)
The Door in the Wall (de Angeli; 3 - 6)
Johnny Tremain (Forbes; 3 - 6)
Little House in the Big Woods (Wilder; 3 - 6)
Sarah, Plain and Tall (MacLachlan; 3 - 6)
My Sister’s Keeper (Butler; 3 - 6)

Poetry

Dragons, Dragons (Carle)
For Laughing Out Loud: Poems To Tickle Your Funnybone (Prelutsky)
Mice are Nice (Larrick)
Something Big Has Been Here (Prelutsky)

Sports

Me, Mop and the Moondance Kid (Myers; 4 - 6)
Baseball Fever (Hurwitz; 3 - 5)
Guinness Sports Record Book (4 - 6)
Hang Tough, Paul Mather (Slote; 4 - 5)
No Arm in Left Field (Christopher; 4 - 6)
S.O.R. Losers (Avi; 4 - 6)
The Meat in the Sandwich (Bach; 3 - 4)
The Trading Game (Slote; 4 - 6)


Special thanks goes to the NYS Education Department’s Division of Library Development and librarians across the state for their help.
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