Summer BooksOh, how I love the non-schedule of summer days!  Kids (and kids at heart) delight in the time allowed to explore, head out on adventures, and create memories.  However…with summer comes the hot temperatures, and if you are living in the Midwest, you know what I mean.  June gives way to July, which can be downright hot and sticky.  When it’s too hot to even go to the pool, it’s time to curl up with a good book. You can’t go wrong with recommendations from Scholastic Books (broken down by age group), and these lists of Newberry and Caldecott winners.  In addition to these trusted sources, here are a few suggestions of my own:

Ages 0-2

  • Press Here by Herve Tullet
  • Maisy Learns to Swim by Lucy Cousins
  • Good Night Beach (from the Good Night Our World series, which is fantastic!) by Adam Gamble
  • The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
  • The Bedtime Book by Sandra Boynton (or any books by her!)

Ages 3-5

  • Pete the Cat by James Dean – all books with this character are wonderful!
  • Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney – again, another fun character in many books
  • The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak – your kids will beg you to read this a million times!
  • Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin
  • The Night Before Summer Vacation by Natasha Wing
  • The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt

Ages 6-9 (read-alouds for younger readers, independent for older readers)

  • The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne
  • Flat Stanley series by Jeff Brown
  • Fly Guy series by Tedd Arnold
  • Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems
  • The Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • Frindle by Andrew Clements
  • I Survived series by Lauren Tarshis (these are more age appropriate for 9-10 year-olds)

Middle School

  • The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
  • The Penderwicks series by Jeanne Birdsall
  • Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
  • The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
  • The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
  • The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins
  • Savvy by Ingrid Law
  • The Lemoncello series by Chris Grabenstein

Young Adult – here is a great infographic with Y.A. book recommendations

  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  • Paper Towns by John Green
  • The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
  • The Maze Runner by James Dashner