Fun Summer Reading Recommendations for Middle Schoolers

 

Lazy hours spent reading on the patio or at the beach is one the best things about summer!  Here is a list of not-heavy, super fun, reading recommendations for our grades 6, 7, and 8s that you can find at your nearest public library or bookstore.

I can’t wait to see everyone in September, I have missed you all very much.

Have a wonderful summer!

YOUR ASSIGNMENT – YOUR SUMMER BOOK BUCKET LIST:  In the comments on this page, post a list of books you plan to read over the summer.  They can be from your personal collection, from this list, books you’ve seen mentioned online, books you’ve seen in bookstores, or other books you already had in mind to borrow or buy this summer.

 

A hilarious YA contemporary realistic novel about a witty Black French Canadian teen who moves to Austin, Texas, and experiences the joys, clichés, and awkward humiliations of the American high school experience—including falling in love. 

 

 

 

 

 

Now in paperback, a fresh and funny contemporary YA rom-com about teens working as costumed characters in a local amusement park.

 

 

 

 

 

Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Red Queen, this is the first novel in a sweeping YA fantasy-romance duet about a deadly assassin, his mysterious apprentice, and the country they are sworn to protect from #1 NYT bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz.

 

 

 

Welcome to 1876 America, a place bursting with gunslingers, outlaws, and garou—better known as werewolves.

And where there are garou, there’re hunters: the one and only Calamity Jane, to be precise, along with her fellow stars of Wild Bill’s Traveling Show, Annie Oakley and Frank “the Pistol Prince” Butler.

After a garou hunt goes south and Jane finds a suspicious-like bite on her arm, she turns tail for Deadwood, where there’s talk of a garou cure. But rumors can be deceiving—meaning the gang better hightail it after her before they’re a day late and a Jane short.

 

Balancing epic and intensely personal stakes, bestselling author Adam Silvera’s Infinity Son is a gritty, fast-paced adventure about two brothers caught up in a magical war generations in the making.

 

 

 

 

 

A fun, flirty teen debut from Wattpad phenom Alex Light about a fake relationship and real love.

 

 

 

 

 

The trials of a high school basketball team trying to clinch the state title and the graphic novelist chronicling them. (kirkus reviews)

 

 

 

 

 

A story of scorned witches, sinister curses, and resurrection, The Bone Witch is the start of a dark fantasy trilogy.

 

 

 

 

 

When Wyatt gets framed for a friend’s crime, he thinks his life is over. But then a mysterious stranger visits him in jail with an unusual proposal: spend three months in a secret government camp and have a ten-year prison sentence wiped clean.

 

 

 

 

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight.

 

 

 

 

 

A human teen and an alien invader make an unlikely and potentially dangerous connection. (kirkus reviews)

 

 

 

 

 

Fletcher is working as a blacksmith’s apprentice when he discovers he has the rare ability to summon demons from another world. Chased from his village for a crime he did not commit, Fletcher must travel with his demon, Ignatius, to an academy for adepts, where the gifted are taught the art of summoning.

 

 

 

 

Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Orphaned and expendable, Alina Starkov is a soldier who knows she may not survive her first trek across the Shadow Fold—a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. But when her regiment is attacked, Alina unleashes dormant magic not even she knew she possessed.

Now Alina will enter a lavish world of royalty and intrigue as she trains with the Grisha, her country’s magical military elite—and falls under the spell of their notorious leader, the Darkling. He believes Alina can summon a force capable of destroying the Shadow Fold and reuniting their war-ravaged country, but only if she can master her untamed gift.

 

Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren’t the heroes everyone thinks they are.

But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona’s powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit.

 

 

P.K. Subban is a remarkable athlete and role model. Initially drafted in 2007 to the Montreal Canadiens, P.K. now plays for the New Jersey Devils. He’s set records and won the Norris Trophy, the highest honor in hockey for a defenseman. Often the center of controversy, he is the pride of many fans and a hero to young athletes of color. His stand against racism relies more on actions to support others than on relating his own experiences. He is known to have made the largest donation to charity by a Canadian athlete in history, and works to build an understanding between at-risk youth and law enforcement across North America.

 

 

 

The year is 1946, and the Lee family has moved from Chinatown to Downtown Metropolis. While Dr. Lee is eager to begin his new position at the Metropolis Health Department, his two kids, Roberta and Tommy, are more excited about being closer to the famous superhero Superman!
Tommy adjusts quickly to the fast pace of their new neighborhood, befriending Jimmy Olsen and joining the baseball team, while his younger sister Roberta feels out of place when she fails to fit in with the neighborhood kids. She’s awkward, quiet, and self-conscious of how she looks different from the kids around her, so she sticks to watching people instead of talking to them. While the Lees try to adjust to their new lives, an evil is stirring in Metropolis: the Ku Klux Klan.

 

 

 

Fun Summer Reading Recommendations for Grade 4 and 5

 

Lazy hours spent reading on the patio or at the beach is one the best things about summer!  Here is a list of not-heavy, super fun, reading recommendations for our grades 4s and 5s that you can find at your nearest public library or bookstore.

I can’t wait to see everyone in September, I have missed you all very much.

Have a wonderful summer!

YOUR ASSIGNMENT – YOUR SUMMER BOOK BUCKET LIST:  In the comments on this page, post a list of books you plan to read over the summer.  They can be from your personal collection, from this list, books you’ve seen mentioned online, books you’ve seen in bookstores, or other books you already had in mind to borrow or buy this summer.

A room locked for fifty years.

A valuable peacock ring.

A mysterious brother-sister duo.

 

 

 

 

James Patterson’s blockbuster Alex Cross series has sold over 100 million copies–and now he’s bringing those thrills to a new generation! Alex‘s son Ali is eager to follow in his father’s footsteps as a detective, but when his best friend goes missing, what price will he have to pay to solve the mystery?

 

 

An elderly witch, a magical girl, a brave carpenter, a wise monster, a tiny dragon, paper birds, and a madwoman converge to thwart a magician who feeds on sorrow. (kirkus)

 

 

 

 

 

Ever since the monster apocalypse hit town, average 13-year-old Jack Sullivan has been living in his tree house, which he’s armed to the teeth with catapults and a moat, not to mention video games and an endless supply of Oreos and Mountain Dew scavenged from abandoned stores. But Jack alone is no match for the hordes of Zombies and Winged Wretches and Vine Thingies, and especially not for the eerily intelligent monster known only as Blarg. So Jack builds a team: his dorky best friend, Quint; the reformed middle school bully, Dirk; Jack’s loyal pet monster, Rover; and Jack’s crush, June. With their help, Jack is going to slay Blarg, achieve the ultimate Feat of Apocalyptic Success, and be average no longer! Can he do it?

 

Born without arms, white “problem-solving ninja” Aven Green can do almost anything with her feet instead—even solve a mystery. (Kirkus)

 

 

 

 

 

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia’s epic fantasy, a middle grade American Gods set in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods. Rick Riordan Presents is dedicated to publishing authors of highly entertaining fiction based on world cultures and mythologies.

 

 

 

 

The Golden Compass for the digital age! When a coding star enters an elite technology academy, she discovers a world of competition, intrigue, and family secrets-plus a robotic companion that isn’t what it seems.

 

 

 

 

 

After suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books. So when she happens upon a crazed woman at the river threatening to throw a book into the water, Ollie doesn’t think–she just acts, stealing the book and running away. As she begins to read the slender volume, Ollie discovers a chilling story about a girl named Beth, the two brothers who both loved her, and a peculiar deal made with “the smiling man,” a sinister specter who grants your most tightly held wish, but only for the ultimate price.

 

 

Kat Leyh’s Snapdragon is a magical realist graphic novel about a young girl who befriends her town’s witch and discovers the strange magic within herself.
 

 

 

 

 

Fans of Erin Entrada Kelly’s Hello, Universe and Melissa Savage’s own Lemons will devour this voice-driven novel packed with humor and heart about two friends who head off on an adventure to find the Loch Ness Monster.

 

 

 

 

A quirky, creepy fantasy set in Eerie-on-Sea finds a colorful cast of characters in hot pursuit of a sea monster thought to convey a surprising gift.

 

 

 

 

 

Fionn Boyle comes from a long line of brave seafarers, people with the ocean behind their eyes. But he can’t help but fear the open sea. For years, Fionn’s mother has told him stories of Arranmore Island, a strange place that seems to haunt her. Fionn has always wondered about this mysterious island, and from the day he arrives he starts noticing things that can’t be explained. He can sense the island all around him, and it feels like the island is watching him, too.