Summer Reading for Kids
Explore my library's collection of chapter books, middle grade novels, and teen fiction for summer adventures.
With summer nearly here, it’s time to discover new novels to read on a road trip or under a tree on a hot, lazy day. As a kid, I spent hours reading books in a homemade tent made of blankets in the backyard.
Encourage your kids to put away the screen and jump into a hardcopy book adventure during summer break. Peruse this list for ideas that may spark the interest of your children.
Over 275 titles populate my junior fiction section, including chapter books and teen fiction. Below I highlight part of the collection.
If you live on Whidbey Island, feel free to make an appointment for your children to browse my shelves, including boxes of picture books and easy readers for younger children.
Disclaimer: I find it difficult to pinpoint the reading level of some works. My cataloging software doesn’t supply a reading-level category. So, bear with me if you disagree with some of my reading-level designations.
Chapter Books
Written for children ages 7 to 10, chapter books serve as a bridge between picture books and full-length novels. They are called chapter books because even though they tend to be short, the stories are divided into short chapters. Sometimes they contain a few illustrations.
Series
American Girl: My daughter attended two years of the American Girl classes held at the Legacy Learning Center co-op. As a result, we own eight sets of historical books: Felicity, Josefina, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha, Kit, Molly, and Julie. Plus, we have contemporary books on McKenna, Kanani, and Saige.
The Boxcar Children: I enjoyed these as a kid, and my son listened to the audio versions as a kindergartner. Four titles.
LarryBoy by VeggieTales: This series helped our son step up from easy readers to novels. Eight titles.
Sugar Creek Gang: An old Christian mystery series and one of my husband’s childhood favorites. Two titles.
Magic School Bus chapter books. Six titles.
Single Titles
Ribsy and The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
From the Mix-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, a childhood favorite
A Horse’s Tale: Ten Adventures in 100 Years. Written for Washington state’s centennial in 1989, this book offers a short story for each decade of Washington’s history. A different author wrote each chapter. A friend of mine, Peggy King Anderson, wrote the last chapter. A fun book to add to a Washington state history course.
The Borrowers, a childhood favorite.
Middle-Grade Books
Middler books are written for children ages 8 to 12 and represent various reading levels and topics.
Series
The Black Stallion: Like many young girls, I was horse crazy and loved reading about horses. Five titles. The first volume belonged to my mother.
The Chronicles of Narnia: A beloved series for most people. Both my husband and I have our childhood sets.
Anne of Green Gables: I enjoyed the first few books but never made it through all seven titles I own.
Little House on the Prairie: I collected these books one by one as gifts and personal purchases. I adored Laura Ingalls Wilder and wanted to time travel to meet her.
Wrinkle in Time (two editions) and A Swiftly Tilting Planet
Rush Revere: Rush Limbaugh’s Time-Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans, volumes 1 & 2.
Detectives in Togas: These two books offer fun mystery adventures set in ancient Rome.
Sonlight Novels
I used Sonlight 4 American History and Sonlight 5 Eastern Hemisphere with my kids and still own most of the books. Sonlight continually updates its curriculum, and I bought my teacher manuals used over a dozen years ago. But the novels remain timeless. And I own the now out-of-print Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze, one of our favorites.
Myths and Folk Tales
Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales
Seven Tales from Hans Christian Andersen
The Trojan War
Caesar’s Gallic War
The Children’s Homer: The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy
The Golden Fleece
Nordic Gods and Heroes
Sinbad’s Seven Voyages and Other Stories from the Arabian Nights
Aladdin and Other Tales from the Arabian Nights (Puffin)
Aladdin and Other Favorite Arabian Nights Stories (Dover)
Robin Hood, three editions
Children’s Classics
Alice in Wonderland, two editions
The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt. The only G. A. Henty title I own.
Phantom Tollbooth, one of my husband’s childhood favorites. Full of puns.
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
Retold Classic Works for Children
A Taste of Chaucer: Selections from the Canterbury Tales
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children
Teen Books
All three of these Christian authors lived in Washington state and were connected with the homeschool community.
Crown and Covenant trilogy about Scottish Covenanters (Reformation). My husband read these aloud to our family using a Scottish brogue.
Faith and Freedom trilogy about the French and Indian War (only 1 & 2).
Hostage Lands about Hadrian’s Wall during the Roman Empire.
The Miller Brothers’ Hunter Brown Codebearers fantasy trilogy.
Julie Rollins’s The Vadelah Chronicles, Christian science fiction.
Imagine Apostle Paul in a Star Wars universe, and you have a rough picture of what the Vadelah series is like. God calls Earthling David Decker to become a missionary to various alien planets. He experiences many cultures, dangerous and friendly, primitive and high-tech with spacecraft and lasers. The first five books are in print. The other 16 e-books are available through Amazon Kindle. Enjoyable for all ages, but some topics, such as abortion and cult worship, may be inappropriate for younger children.
If any of these titles intrigue you, please make a request at the Newton Family Library. Or browse my complete catalog for reading ideas. I now have over two thousand titles cataloged and still more to add.
People who live on Whidbey Island or close by on the mainland are welcome to make an appointment to visit my library in person. Please email me for an appointment.
What is your favorite piece of children’s fiction? Share in the comment section.