Be a D.E.A.R. and drop the chores, drop the laundry, drop the ball, drop everything and READ! Summer is a terrific time to set everything aside and cozy up with a book. Beloved author Beverly Cleary, creator of Ralph the Mouse and Ramona Quimby, is honored by the Drop Everything And Read programs across the nation. In Ramona Quimby, Age 8, Ramona Quimby’s classroom has D.E.A.R. time.
Of course, authors are readers too! Beverly Cleary and the wonderful supporters of D.E.A.R. have put together a list of favorite books so you can drop everything and read anytime you choose this summer!
For Young Readers
(Ages 5 to 7)
- Big Max by Kin Platt
- Chato’s Kitchen by Gary Soto
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
- Days with Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel
- The Fairy’s Mistake by Gail Carson Levine
- The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson
- How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
- The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
- Morris Goes to School by B. Wiseman
- My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
- Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary
- Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
- A Three Hat Day by Laura Geringer
- The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by John Scieszka
For Developing Readers
(Ages 8 to 11)
- Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
- Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
- Dragonwings by Lawrence Yep
- Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
- Heidi by Johanna Spyri
- Lyddie by Katherine Paterson
- Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
- My Daniel by Pam Conrad
- Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
- The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
For Pre-teen Readers
(Ages 12 & Up)
- Boy by Roald Dahl
- The Cry of the Wolf by Melvin Burgess
- The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
- The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
- A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
- The Mennyms by Sylvia Waugh
- The Pinballs by Betsy Byars
- Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech
- Sabriel by Garth Nix
- The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer
- Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- Watership Down by Richard Adams
