Summer Reading Recommendations from the Quad Prep Library

Other Book Recommendations

To get you started, I’ve curated two lists each for lower school, middle school, and high school:

1. The Quad Prep Five — I’ve hand-picked these books because, in my opinion, they are especially delightful. They have been selected specifically for joy and wonder more than anything else, which is what summer reading is all about. Additionally, the Quad Prep Five lists include titles the whole family might enjoy on long drives.
2. Need More? — These lists include links to other great lists of books that have my stamp of approval. They include titles our students go through like I go through Pringles!

I have divided the lists by age group, but please don’t feel too bound by these categorizations. Some of your 4th graders are likely to love The Great Brain, while some of your middle schoolers are going to miss the light-hearted humor of the elementary titles. Perhaps if your high schoolers were to go back and reread The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, they would be surprised by the humor and the sophistication of the language.  

Happy reading!

Lower School (grades K-5)

Quad Prep Five

• Oldie but Goodie: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum is charming, funny, and fresh at age 126. It's a great read-aloud for the family to enjoy together, regardless of age. If you like it, there are 13 titles in the original series, and the quality holds up. There is so much more than you know from the movies.
• Hot Off the Presses: The Summer of the Bone Horses by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve was published to universally positive reviews. It tells the story of a boy spending the summer on the Rosebud Reservation with his grandparents while his father is having surgery, and beautifully balances adventure and heart.
• Graphic Novel: Cabin Head and Tree Head by Scott Campbell. I have not been able to keep this title on the shelf since we got it this spring. Its sequel comes out in August, so if your child loves it (and they will), it's a twofer.
• Super Series: Anna Hibiscus by Antinuke is the first in a series of eight books by this esteemed Nigerian author about a little girl growing up in Africa (“amazing, Africa” as she always says) with her twin brothers Double and Trouble. Delightful and accessible.
• Thrilling Facts: Hurricane by Jason Chin is a fact-filled procedural account of the path of a hurricane and its impact on a town, covering the aftermath as well as the storm itself, and offering tons of information without sacrificing its narrative thrust. 

Need More?

• For our non-fiction lovers: Best Nonfiction Elementary Books 2025 | SLJ Best Books
• For our graphic novel readers: 2025 Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading List (all 2025 publication dates in case your child has read everything else already!)
• For our “can’t stop, won’t stop” kids: Summer Reading Picks: Fun and Fast-Paced (mixed age titles)
• Bonus: The Strategist | Best Books of 2025 is a particularly well-curated list of new titles, and I strongly commend the picture books listings. I cannot express how meaningful and valuable picture books are to read to and with your kids for as long as you can, and avoid the urge to move them on to chapter books. Both are great, but they have different strengths and values. This list bridges that gap.

Middle School (grades 6-8)

Quad Prep Five

• Oldie but Goodie: The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald is a true American classic. It's funny, heartfelt, and, dare I say it, possibly educational (the horror, the horror). It’s a story of a kid with a boy genius, money-loving big brother, growing up in Utah right before it became a state. It’s also the first in a series, so if it's a hit, you can go for the home run.
• Hot Off the Presses: The Nine Moons of Han Lu and Luli by Karina Yan Glaser is a genre-bending, realistic/historical fiction novel following two children’s adventures a thousand years apart in China and Chinatown. It’s written by the author of the delightful Vanderbeeker series and can be found on every best book of the year list. 
• Slapstick Science Fiction: The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex is hilarious. (Adam Rex is always hilarious! Please read everything written by him for every age group.) My daughter and I listened to this for close to 10 hours on a train across the Great Plains and were sorry when it was time to get off the train because we didn’t want it to end.  
• A Picture is Worth 1000 Words: Monster Locker, vol. 1, by Jorge Aquirre. This one is for the graphic novel lovers looking for a good time and an old god. How about a story about accidentally releasing an Aztec God while coping with middle school?
• Just the Facts, Ma’am! (Well, not really…) An Immense World: Young Readers Edition by Ed Yong is a lovely book for every lover of nature, animals, and most importantly, context! The Pulitzer Prize winner, Yong, gives us the world from animals’ perspectives, thereby broadening our own. 

Need More? 

• 25 Essential Middle School Reads From the Last Decade | Edutopia
• Award Winning Titles   
• The Best New Books for Kids Published in 2025 | The Strategist

High School (grades 9-12)

Quad Prep Five(ish)

• Coming Classic: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. Hanging out in that ambiguous space between relatively new and not old enough to be a classic, this title kicks off Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. Beautifully written and deeply in conversation with C.S. Lewis, Milton, and Blake, the series is the perfect bridge from middle-grade fiction to adult literature, dressed up as cyberpunk science fantasy. (Great for multigenerational audiobooks on long drives!)
• Stranger than Fiction: Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green. For our non-fiction lovers, this book by an award-winning YA author is about the history, cultural impact, and continuing impact of TB. It's a wonderful exploration of how disease is not just a biological phenomenon but exists and persists in specific cultural contexts.  Centered in part on individuals Green met and built relationships with at a TB hospital in Sierra Leone, it manages to be both personal and global in scope, like all the best non-fiction.  
• Great Adaptations: I could not choose…so we’ve got two!
  • Song of the Lioness, Book 1: Alanna by Tamora Pierce is a straightforward graphic novel adaptation of Tamora Pierce’s classic series. (And if graphic novels aren’t your preference, go back to the original.) Either way, I hope you enjoy the story of Alana, who sets out on a journey to become a knight (something women are not supposed to be). Along the way, she develops her magic, makes new friends, and learns more about herself and where she wants to be.
  • Dan in Green Gables: A Graphic Novel: A Modern Retelling of Anne of Green Gables by Rey Terciero is a gender-bending modern take on the beloved classic, Anne of Green Gables. This version tells the story of 15-year-old Dan, whose mother drops him off with his grandparents in rural Tennessee, where he needs to figure out how to fit in and make where he is.
• Beyond YA: Mostly, the modern explosion of YA books thrills me. We have all sorts of subgenres and options I would have adored in high school. However, here are two great starter titles to encourage teens to read more broadly outside the “just right” boundaries of the YA shelf.
  • James by Percival Everett is a reimagining of Huckleberry Finn from Huck’s companion, Jim’s, perspective. 
  • Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is a time-slipping classic of World War II. 
• Hot Horror Summer: Hazelthorn by CG Drews is the next in an extensive catalog from this fan-favorite author! Evander’s only chance for survival may be the boy who once tried to kill him. Haunted and twisted! Ideally, read this while camping or in an isolated house in a forest. 

Need More?

• Great Graphic Novels | Young Adult Library Services Association (all 2025 publication dates in case your kid has read everything else already)
• For your car trips, plane trips, or while you craft: Amazing Audiobooks | Young Adult Library Services Association (Remember, Quad Prep families have access to Quad’s Sora/HVLA ebook and audiobook collection as well as NYPL’s all summer!)

Bonus! (Slightly More Than) One List to Rule Them All!

• To celebrate 125 years of New York Public Library, they created a list of 125 Books We Love for Kids | The New York Public Library. It can be searched by age or genre and includes links to the books at NYPL.  
• If your kid likes to check boxes, this is the list for you: The Complete Checklist: 100 Must-Read Books
• Best of the best for 2025 compiled by the American Library Association: American Library Association announces 2025 Youth Media Award winners | ALA
• Quad Prep Families: Summer reading suggestions from Sora/HVLA are available all summer using your student's Google account:
  • Lower Summer
  • Middle Summer
  • High Summer

Happy reading!