There are hundreds of books on the area’s recommended reading lists, but we have narrowed it down based on consistencies throughout the lists and divided it up by age recommendations! Pick up a copy of our August issue at one of these locations to learn more about summer reading programs near you!
And now, for our recommended
Summer Reading List!
Kindergarten to First Grades
Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus
In the Tall, Tall Grass by Denise Fleming
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Counting on Frank by Rod Clement
2nd to 3rd Grades
Fly Guy vs. the Fly Swatter by Tedd Arnold
Even Monsters Need Haircuts by Matthew McElligot
Interrupting Chicken by David Stein
Flat Stanley at Bat by Lori Haskins
The Ghost Who Haunted the Capitol by Steve Brezenoff
Dr. Nicholas is Ridiculous by Dan Gutman
4th to 5th Grades
Superfudge by Judy Blume
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
Hate that Cat by Sharon Creech
The BFG by Roald Dahl
The Dork Diaries by Rachel Renee Russell
Summer Reading is Killing Me! By Jon Scieszka
Rising 6th and Middle School
Darth Paper Strikes Back by Tom Angleberger
Almost Home by Joan Bauer
About Average by Andrew Clements
Freedom Walkers by Russell Freedman
Chomp by Carl Hiaasen
Mockingbird by Katherine Erskine
Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah
The Good Fight: How World War II Was Won by Stephen Ambrose
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Summer Before Boys by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Matched by Ally Condie
Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor
Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale
Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix
High School Recent “Classics” – many local high schools have the same taste in titles. A sample of this year’s picks:
Peak by Roland Smith
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Anything by Malcolm Gladwell
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Emma or Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Monster by Walter Dean Meyers
Dracula by Bram Stoker
How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
On Writing by Stephen King
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Divergent by Veronica Roth
The Other Side of the Sky by Farah Ahmedi
How to Be an Explorer of the World by Keri Smith
To see more books we love, click here!
If you would like to view the lists we pulled from, see these websites:
If you’re looking for more information on summer reading and how to make it effective, click here to read an article by James Kim, an assistant professor at Harvard University.
