Summer is starting soon and I need to get a summer reading plan for my kids! Usually, my kids are assigned an extensive summer reading project by the teachers in the next grade. One year it was five books AND a book review project!
When my girls started middle school, the summer reading assignments ceased and it was hard to get my girls to read, especially as they were away part of the summer for sleepaway camp. This year, I am going to start strong: a trip to the bookstore and a summer reading incentive plan. I’ve given my kids their choice since different reading programs have different prizes. (I’ve listed some at the bottom).
I might even try to sneak in a summer book club meeting for my son and middle daughter. It can be tricky to schedule with everyone away at different times, but the kids get excited to see their friends by the end of the summer so one right before school starts usually works
What will you do to get your kids reading this summer? Please share!
I’ve finally indexed ALL my book list posts: List of Lists/All 300+ of My Book Lists. Happy reading!
p.s. I’m going to be starting up my Caught in the Act … of READING! series again. If you send me a photo of your child reading, I’ll send you a book! Please email me at pragmaticmomblog (at) gmail (dot) com.
Starting Preschool or Kindergarten Reading Lists
Top 10 Diversity Starting Kindergarten or Preschool Picture Books
Top 10 Starting Preschool or Kindergarten Books
By Entering Grade Reading Lists
Going Into 1st Grade Summer Reading List
Going Into 2nd Grade Summer Reading List
Going Into 3rd Grade Summer Reading List
Going Into 4th Grade Summer Reading List
Going Into 5th Grade Summer Reading List
Going Into 6th Grade Summer Reading List
Going into 7th Grade Summer Reading List
Best Books for Middle School by Our Wonderful Middle School Librarian
Personal Recommendations from Kids Reading Lists
3rd Grade Chapter Books from My 3rd Grade Son
Top 10 Best Books for 3rd Graders by Me — A 3rd Grade Girl Who is Very Picky (PickyKidPix)
Summer Reading List for Kids (mine!) ages 8 through 13
Best Chapter Book for 5th Grade by my 5th Grade Daughter
5th Grade Recommendations by a 5th Grader (PickyKidPix)
4th Grade Books I Liked When I Was in 4th Grade (PickyKidPix)
4th Grade Chapter Books by a 4th Grader (PickyKidPix)
4th Grade Books Recommended by a 4th Grader (PickyKidPix)
Favorite Book Ever by 90 6th Grade Students
Josh in 6th Grade Shares His Favorite Books
Ajani in 6th Grade Reviews Chapter Books
10 Favorite Books by my 6th Grade Daughter
Best Books for Kids by Middle School Boy
Best Books for Middle School by Actual Middle School Students
Best Read Aloud Children’s Books
10 Multicultural Picture Books to Sing
Best Read Aloud Books for Kids: The E. B. White Award
Best Read Aloud Bedtime Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers
10 Perfect Read Aloud Books for 3rd Grade
A Round Up of Read Aloud Books and Resources
Happy Chapter Books for a Young Girl
Summer Reading Lists for All Ages Set During the Summer
20 Great Books for Kids Set During the Summer
10 Best Coming of Age Books for Girls Set During the Summer
More Summer Reading Lists
Best Picture Books You’ve Never Heard Of
Top 10 Beginning Chapter Books
Best Chapter Books for Newly Independent Readers
Top 10 Books Like Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Funny Books for a 3rd Grade Boy
Newbery Books by Grade Appropriateness
Summer Reading List of Books for Kids
10 Best Chapter Books for Summer Reading for Ages 9 – 12
Best Hockey Chapter Books for Ages 9-12
Best Skateboard Books for Ages 9-14
Top 10 Best Baseball Chapter Books
Best Books for Boy Readers, Reluctant or Otherwise
Top 10 Books For a Florida Beach Vacation
Top 10 Chapter Book with Activity for Boys
World Book Night Books for Kids and Teens
Massachusetts Book Awards for Ages 8 through 14
Best Old Fashioned Conflict Free Families in Chapter Books
Funny Books for Boys with Math or Science Twist
Best Books for Tweens Who Read 2 or 3 Grades Below
20 Gentle Chapter Books for a Young Boy
20 Gentle Chapter Books for a Young Girl
Funny Books for a 3rd Grade Boy
Choosing Books for Advanced Young Readers
Children’s Books with Animals
Top 10 Crocodile Picture Books
Children’s Books to Learn About Different Cultures
Multicultural Books for Children: 40+ Book Lists
Contemporary Native Americans in Children’s Books
Undocumented Workers in Children’s Books
27 Books for Kids About the Arab World
Notable Native American Children’s Author: Joseph Bruchac
Top 10: Native American Children’s Books (ages 2-16)
Top 10: Japanese American Children’s Books (ages 2-16)
Top 10: Best Asian American Books by CoolAsianKids
Bilingual Japanese Books for Kids
Top 10: Chinese American Children’s Books (ages 2-14)
Best Korean American Books for Kids
Multicultural Winners from ALA Awards
Multicultural Books from Multicultural Children’s Book Day
Summer Reading Programs: Read for Free Books or Prizes
Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge
Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Earn Free Book Program
This group Pinterest board has great book lists and book reviews from KidLit Bloggers. Search here for more ideas of what to read with your kids.
Follow PragmaticMom’s board Multicultural Books for Kids on Pinterest.
Follow PragmaticMom’s board Children’s Book Activities on Pinterest.
My books:
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
- California Eureka Non-Fiction Gold Award
- Junior Library Guild Gold Selection
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Barbed Wire Between Us by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Violeta Encarnación
- ⭐ Starred review from Kirkus
- Kirkus: The Most Anticipated Children’s Books of Spring 2026
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
The Traveling Taco:
- California Eureka Non-Fiction Silver Award
- Reading Rockets’ Summer Reading Guide 2025
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
We Sing from the Heart: How the Slants® Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court
- ALSC Notable Children’s Book
- 2025 Carter G. Woodson Book Award Middle Level Honoree
- Orbis Pictus Recommended Book for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children
- 2024 Julia Ward Howe Prize for Children’s Literature Winner
- California Eureka Non-Fiction Award Honor Book
- Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner (from National Council for the Social Studies and Children’s Book Council)
- Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year 2025
- Recommended Reading for the Social Justice Literature Award 2025 (International Literacy Association)
- Junior Library Guild Gold Selection
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- ⭐ Starred review from School Library Journal!
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Massachusetts Book Award Long List
- dPICTUS 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
- Green Earth Book Award Long List
- Nautilus Silver Winner, Nonfiction Children’s Picture Book
- Sunshine State Young Readers Award Orange Blossom List for Nonfiction
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Bank Street College’s The Best Children’s Books of the Year
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
The organization of lists is handy; I bet people will be bookmarking this page! Do you think as time goes by, you’ll expand to include high school?
One thing I’ve done to encourage summer reading is read aloud together–especially at the upper grades. It’s worked so well that I’ve proposed it as a program at our town library. If that works out, I may blog about it (even if it doesn’t work out, I may blog about it).
Hi Asakiyune,
My oldest is starting high school next year so hopefully, we’ll be able to add books for high school soon!
I love the idea of read alouds at the high school age! My daughter — the 8th grader — would love that!
always love your summer reading lists Mia! Natasha starts school in September so I’ve already started digging through your lists. It’s crunch time hahaha.
Thanks so much Vanita!! Wow, can’t believe Tash is starting K!!!
This list is fabulous!!! Thank you so much for putting together such a thorough list.
Thanks so much Amelia!!
Thanks for sharing your comprehensive and well-organized lists! Well-done as always!
Thanks you so much Barbara!
You are the queen of reading lists, Mia!
Thanks so much MaryAnne. It’s my list of lists. I need to really do a comprehensive one for all my book lists. On my To Do list for the summer!
I can tell you put a lot of work into this. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks April! It’s a labor of love!
Hi, Mia. I wanted your readers to know that we are once again opening our PopUp Library for the entire month of July. All children – subscribers or not – can read as many eBooks as they want for free all month long. We have 500 high quality, narrated eBooks for grades K-8, with lots of high interest nonfiction to entice reluctant readers. Parents should give this a try – our eBooks work on any device with Internet access. Teachers can go to our website to find a downloadable flyer to send home with students. We are committed to doing what we can to keep kids reading in the summer. Thanks for your support with these great summer reading lists!
Thanks so much for the heads up Liz!! Let me add your link here: http://starwalkkids.com/
That’s perfect for summer reading! I’ll have my kids pop over!
This is such a great summer resource!
Thanks so muchn JDaniel4’s Mom!!
Wow, this is one extensive list. I know you are going to have an awesome reading summer. We will be eating hot soups and warming our fingers by the heater instead, but all the same, it will be an awesome reading winter. Thanks for joining us on the Kid Lit Blog Hop
Thanks so much Julie!! It’s a list of lists but I really need to do a comprehensive one this summer of all my (good) book lists in an index. On my list to do!
This is fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing this awesome list!
Thank you Lisa!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! We will be using your recommendations this summer.
XOXO
Thank you so much Mrs. AOK!
Love this resource of summer reading lists. I am pinning it to our Summer Reading board. I know it will be handy to all the participants of our Traveling Through the Pages Summer Reading program.
Thanks so much Pam! I really appreciate your sharing my lists!
Thanks for the great resource! We are going to the library tomorrow and I will be using many of these suggestions/lists. THANKS!
Thanks Meeghan,
Have a wonderful trip to the library! I’m so glad you like the lists!!
I love the list. And I love the idea of “caught in reading” looking forward to reading more of your posts!!!
Thank you for sharing your great site and post on the Kid Lit Blog Hop
Maria
Thanks so much Maria! I hope readers will send me photos of kids caught in the act of reading this summer!
What a great resource! Pinning! My kids always do the library summer reading program – they give a medal at the end of the summer. Apparently that is all the incentive they need. They just love reading, so it’s not much of an issue in our household thankfully. Thanks for sharing in the Kid Lit Blog Hop Mia!
Hi Renee,
What a great program your local library has! A medal is a wonderful prize!!! Your kids do such great book reviews too!
These are all awesome! I especially like your chapterbook lists, such as your chapterbook and activity lists for boys. Do you have a list of fiction books for older struggling readers? This may be helpful as well. More and more parents are sharing that there is a real need for books and accessible lists like this, I’m finding.
Great idea Jim! I’m looking forward to posting your list and then I can add it to this list. It’s in the queue.
Hi Jim,
I would love to make a list of fiction books for older struggling readers by topic. Would you want to collaborate with me on that?
Thanks, Mia.
I can easily put one together: something really helpful and objective. Yes, I’ve written a book that fits into this category, but it won’t receive any more attention than the many other books that will go on this list. Thanks. Certainly, please add any you feel that belong. There are so many good books written for struggling readers that deserve more attention and can be very, very helpful for this category of reader: publishers like Capstone, Ransom, Orca, Saddleback, publish some excellent books for this specific reason.
Hi Mia,
I would love to:)
Jim
Hi Jim,
Yay!
Nice reading lists. It is very importnat your kids read good quality books all summer long.
Thanks so much Little Lady!
Hi Little Lady,
I hope it helps to keep your kids reading happily!
Funny, we don’t even acknowledge summer reading; in our house it’s just reading. My kids are all voracious readers and we usually have our summer reading sheets filled out before most kids even start. My kids love picking out books at the library and while I understand why we have summer reading lists I find my boys will pick out a wide variety of genres when left on their own.
Hi Mother of 3,
I think you are right; there’s no difference. But I do love the summer reading programs to motivate kids! And I also love to read books set during the summer to read in the summer. That’s a fun twist when the characters are also on summer vacation. I made a list of 20 books we’ve enjoyed.