It's a preposterous headline, but a good way to start thinking about summer reading. As much as I want to let my kids veg a bit after a long school year, I want to get them started on some great books now that will inspire good reading habits for the rest of the summer. Take a look at my four suggestions -- all admittedly in the grade school range -- and some other recent lists. Then post your recommended books below!

Winners Take All, by Fred Bowen. I read this to my son's third grade class a year ago. Boys and girls in the class kept asking me to return and finish it. Lots of baseball books out there, but this one has an ethical dilemma: what would you do if you dropped a ball in the outfield but everybody else believed you caught it?

The War With Grandpa, by Robert Kimmel Smith. It's a rare book that attracts the diverging interests of my son and daughter. Both were intrigued by this "war" book about a boy who goes on the offensive when his grandpa moves in and takes over his bedroom.

Belly Up, by Stuart Gibbs. A boy who lives on site at a zoo investigates the mysterious death -- murder? -- of the zoo's famed hippo. The book starts fast -- drags at times -- but has an irresistible premise.

The Loser List, by Holly Kowitt. My daughter loved this so much that she finished it in a couple days. So much for this being a summer reading book! It's a "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" clone, and features the adventures of a boy trying to get his name off the "loser list" in the girls' bathroom at school.

Sylvan Learning released a K-12 summer reading list late last week:

  • Kindergarten: Whose Mouse Are You? by Robert Krause; Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
  • Grade 1: Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin; Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott
  • Grade 2: Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle; How Much Is a Million by David M. Schwartz, Stephen Kellogg
  • Grade 3: Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech; Beach for the Birds by Bruce McMillan
  • Grade 4: Summer Reading is Killing Me! By Jon Scieszka; So You Want To Be President? by Judith St. George
  • Grade 5: Holes by Louis Sachar; Science Kitchen by Chris Maynard
  • Grade 6: Carnivorous Carnival by Lemony Snicket; My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen
  • Grade 7: A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck; Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom by Walter Dean Myers
  • Grade 8: Ender's Game (Ender Series #1) Orson Scott Card; Our Town by Thornton Wilder
  • Grade 9: Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard; Silent Spring by Rachel L. Carson
  • Grade 10: Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut; Profiles In Courage by John F. Kennedy
  • Grade 11: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens; She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith and Katherine G. Balderston
  • Grade 12: Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift and Pat Rogers; Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Brooke Jackman Foundation released its first list of recommended books, mostly for pre-school children, based on consultation with celebrities and experts.

  • Go Dog, Go by P.D. Eastman (recommended by actress Jamie Lee Curtis)
  • James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (Curtis)
  • The Tin Forest by Helen Ward (recommended by Reading Rainbow creator Twila Liggett)
  • Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe (Liggett)
  • Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (recommended by children's author Stephanie Calmenson)
  • All the Way to America: The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel by Dan Yaccarino (Calmenson)
  • The Story About Ping, by Marjorie Flack (recommended by foundation director Katie Davis)
  • The Best Pet of All by David LaRochelle (Davis)
  • The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop (recommended by actor Alec Baldwin)
  • The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton (Baldwin)
  • A Picnic in October by Eve Bunting (recommended by author Dr. Gay Su Pinnell)
  • Mr. Gumpy's Outing by John Burningham (Pinnell)