
Easy monster corner book mark
My kids wrapped up school recently and, if they don’t receive a summer school-required reading list, they know they’ll get one from me. It’s not that they mind either. They know I usually recommend some pretty rollicking tales, some of which we’ll listen to as we traverse the highways together. Most years our road trips consist of the patch of highway between the pool and our home, but this year we’ll also be trekking out west. It’s great fun to get lost in a pages of a good story. In fact, one can travel anywhere without even leaving one’s own backyard. To where will you escape this summer?
Here are my recommendations for your family’s vacation reading:
Middle School
- Obert Skye: Pillage, Choke, and Ambush
- Jean Craighead George: My Side of the Mountain
- Jean Craighead George: Julie of the Wolves
High School
- Mark Twain: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
- Dan Brown: The DaVinci Code
- Charles Frazier: Cold Mountain
- John Irving: A Prayer for Owen Meany
Family
- Rick Riordan: The Serpent’s Shadow
- Kate DiCamillo: Because of Winn Dixie
- John Grogran: Marley, A Dog Like No Other
I’ve a stack of books teetering beside my desk, which I long to dive into once my own commitments die down. Here’s what I’ll be reading for pleasure:
- Chad Harbagh: The Art of Fielding
- Neil Abramson: Unsaid
- Skip Horack: The Eden Hunter
- Vanessa Diffenbaugh: The Language of Flowers
To help mark our places in the books we read this summer, we spent an hour creating fun monster bookmarks using directions I found on Tally’s Treasury. The instructions were easy to follow, used a few simple craft supplies, and resulted in a great time. Here are photos from our bookmark creation experience:

Tracing the template

Cutting out the book mark

Scoring the edges

Minion book mark, post-glue and decoration
Host a book mark party and then head to your local library to find books on which to place them. Have your kids create goals for how many books they can read this summer. Maybe your kids can even challenge their friends to a read-off! See you in the stacks!