Are the dog days of summer melting your family down? Then it’s time to head to your local library to see what “adventure begins” with this year’s summer reading program and theme. Kids can prevent the summer slide in their reading skills by reading or listening to books for twenty minutes a day—and score some prizes at their library, too!
COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS
Fitz and Cleo: Put a Party on It
By Jonathan Stutzman & Heather Fox
Henry Holt, 2023
Ages 4–6
Ghost siblings Fitz and Cleo decide to lift their spirits by throwing a party! Will it be an epic celebration or leave them bored to death?
P.I. Butterfly: Disappearing Daisy
By Karen Kilpatrick & Germán Blanco
Genius Cat, 2023
Ages 6–8
It is kid investigator P.I. Butterfly’s job to solve mysteries, so when an actor is missing before her school’s production of Little Red Riding Hood, she is on the case!
By Johnnie Christmas
HarperAlley, 2024
Ages 8–12
Max is ready to compete at Gamerville and win the video game championship until his mom sends him to Camp Reset. He’s stuck with no screens, just fresh air . . . and a camp escape plan.
By Lily LaMotte, Ann Xu, & Sunmi
HarperAlley, 2024
Ages 8–12
Even though only one sister wants to go, Claire and Michelle are sent to a Taiwanese American summer camp where they’ll learn more about their culture, friendships, and own sibling relationship.
Cooking with Monsters: The Beginner’s Guide to Culinary Combat
By Jordan Alsaqa & Vivian Truong
IDW, 2023
Ages 12–18
Hana is excited to start her warrior chef training at Gourmand Academy of Culinary Combat. She will not only learn how to slay monsters and turn them into tasty meals, but also how to navigate high school crushes and friendships.
MIDDLE GRADE
By Donna Barba Higuera
Levine Querido, 2023
Aft er humans destroyed the earth 400 years ago, pockets of survivors live on, trying to make a life, including Leandro and his sister Gabi. When they are in danger, the pair decides to escape the settlement of Pocatel.
By Nasug˙raq Rainey Hopson
Roaring Brook, 2023
Pina climbs the same mountain where his brothers disappeared to gather obsidian, running into Savik, the eagle god, who sends him on a journey in this retelling of the Iñupiat story of the first Messenger Feast.
By Alyson Gerber
Scholastic, 2024
Weatherby is excited to get a crew scholarship to the same Boston school that her mysterious father attended. She gets involved in a secret society and immersed in a scandal that is bigger than she could have imagined.
The Misfits: A Royal Conundrum
By Lisa Yee & Dan Santat
Random House, 2024
Olive’s parents drop her off at a remote boarding school called RASCH, where she learns she is a recruit for a student group of crime fighters.
By Stephen Bramucci
Bloomsbury, 2023
Jake must spend the week with his great aunt who he barely knows in a remote, swampy area of Oregon. He doesn’t expect to learn about a ruby-backed turtle or to be part of a race to find it.
YOUNG ADULT
By Terry J. Benton–Walker
Tor Teen, 2023
Twins Clem and Cris are the grandchildren of a murdered magic queen. When they learn their ailing mother has been cursed, they try to discover the truth about their ancestor.
By K. Ancrum
HarperTeen, 2024
Art thief Icarus Gallagher gets tangled up in a family feud when he is caught by Helios, the son of one of Icarus’s victims. But his father’s desire for vengeance may negate any future Icarus and Helios could have together.
By Jen St. Jude
Bloomsbury, 2023
When the news leaks that an asteroid will hit North America in nine days, severely depressed Avery decides not to kill herself. Instead, she reconnects with her family and best girl friend, who she is secretly in love with, while waiting for the apocalypse.
By Mackenzie Reed
HarperTeen, 2023
After Lily’s father died and her mother abandons her, she moves in with her wealthy grandmother, poised to take over the family fashion business. But when Gram dies and leaves behind clues to her fortune, Lily must work with her peers to find the truth.
By Daniel Kraus
MTV Books, 2023
Jay sets out to recover the bones of his father, who died a few years ago by suicide, from the ocean in the hopes of healing his family. He is swallowed by a sperm whale and through memories of his father, he wonders if he can escape alive.
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