It may be spring-time now, but summer will be here before you know it. Now’s a great time to start building a summer reading list for your homeschooled children that’s not only educational but makes for fun reading goals!
Two of the most popular genres of literature for children are mystery and detective fiction. Who doesn’t love a good whodunit? They’re wonderful summer reading opportunities for kids, offering well-written literature that covers a broad range of settings and subject matters. They are also easy to integrate into the learning experience.
Mystery Books for Homeschooled Children
Summer reading is an essential tool for helping homeschooled children maintain long-term academic achievement. Ever since Johns Hopkins University published its groundbreaking study on the “summer slide,” educators and parents have embraced the idea that consistent summer reading opportunities offer kids significant benefits, especially during their elementary years.
All good mystery books for kids have well-developed plots, rich characters, and underlying lessons that help cultivate a child’s imagination while expanding her or his universe. Great mysteries help improve reasoning and deductive skills. They also:
- Rely on detecting patterns, great for improving math skills.
- Bring history, geography, and science to life.
- Introduce foreign lands or cultural institutions.
The World of the Happy Hollisters
While production of series books like Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, and the Happy Hollisters decreased over the last few decades, they’re all still popular with young readers and their parents, and for good reason. These series tend to focus on themes like family and community while never looking down on their young protagonist’s abilities.
These themes make the recently reissued Happy Hollisters series an ideal addition to your homeschooled child’s summer reading list. Each character in thes best-selling youth mystery novels are amateur sleuths in his or her own right, but they all contribute and pull together to solve each book’s mystery. The series includes realistic settings, challenging vocabulary, and a gentle style of humor not often found in modern children’s mystery literature.
A Summer Reading List Filled With Excitement & Intrigue
The Happy Hollisters series follows a formula that keeps children intrigued and challenged. Very early on the mystery and drama are established, allowing the reader to immerse themselves immediately in the Hollisters’ world. Incidents of high suspense and cliffhangers follow, holding a young reader’s attention while making for a page-turning experience. Since each mystery is a stand-alone story, the books do not have to be read in order. Children can choose and add the book titles they want to their summer reading list.
Have a child who loves horses? The Happy Hollisters at Pony Hill Farm tells the tale of a mysterious Appaloosa pony, while The Happy Hollisters at Mystery Mountain is based on a family visit to a New Mexico ranch to investigate a mountain’s buried secret. Looking for star quality? In The Happy Hollisters and the Old Clipper Ship, the family gets to be in the movies while searching an old ship for clues!
Mystery books encourage attention to detail and are often the books children reread the most as they like to look for the clues they may have missed the first time. The same intriguing qualities that originally made the Happy Hollisters a success still strike a chord with readers today. Any of the Happy Hollister books will be a great addition to your homeschooled child’s summer reading list.
Order Your Copies of the Happy Hollisters Series for Your Children’s Summer Reading List
Begin building a good summer reading list with your child and consider stocking your homeschool library with Happy Hollister e-books or paperbacks. Contact us today to order your copies! Also, be sure to inquire about the Happy Hollisters Book Club to have new books shipped to your home each month!