Summer Reading List?

I have not read as much as usual the past few months... and as I see my 'reading list' get longer and longer, I am reminded that it is time to unplug, unwind, grab a cup of tea (or iced tea with this weather) and sit back to escape with a great book.

What is on your list?

Here are only a few from mine:

• On Looking: Eleven walks with expert eyes - Alexander Horowitz
• Outliers: Malcolm Gladwell
• The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - steig larsson
• We were liars - E. Lockhart
• Jodi Picoult - anything by her - eventually I will have read them all
• Janet Evanovich - I want to read the entire Stephanie Plum Series... I am only about half way
• Fourth of July Creek - Smith Henderson
• The Vacationers - Emma Straub
• Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon - This series comes highly recommended by friends

What am I missing? Please comment with suggestions below - I love YA and novels with interesting plot and well developed characters. Variety of genres.

Magic Tree House

I first learned about Magic Treehouse several years ago when a student I tutored was reading them. I read them with him and found them to be fun, short novels for kids. My daughter now reads them and loves them.

What I like about Magic treehouse is how the story incorporates so many different topics, keeping up the fun plot of a brother and sister Jack and Annie, on adventures through time and space. Author Mary Pope Osborne then wrote some non-fiction companion books to provide further information on some of the topics her stories explore.

The series of books has 28, then moves on to a harder reading level, longer with smaller print at #29 when the series is called 'Merlin Missions"

Check out The Magic Treehouse Website here. There is a teacher page with resources, some games for kids and

There is a free lesson plan for some of the books available here.

A new book (#48) comes out this July with another 2 planned in the next year.

Wikipedia lists book names and summaries here.