Right on the heels of School Vacation Week (a.k.a. Spring Break) here in Massachusetts, we bring you the Horn Book’s annual Summer Reading list! Parents and other caregivers, we suspect you’re saying, “SUMMER reading?!” But bookmark this list or download the PDF — you’ll thank us later. And librarians, teachers, and booksellers, we listened to your feedback, and we hope this earlier publication date is helpful.

When it comes to children’s reading, some people are strictly hands-off, some prefer to “leave the books on the bed,” some enjoy discussion (guilty; sorry kids, I love talking books). A small number of others are loudly attempting to control what all children read. With increased book bans and rampant challenges — including books by our Newbery-winning Five Questions interviewee Jerry Craft (here talking about his new graphic novel School Trip) — do stay alert and speak up! After all, summer reading is a particularly perfect opportunity to enjoy reading for its own sake. And that special book that turns people into readers — and it could be, tantalizingly, absolutely anything — must at the very least be discoverable.

This week is ALA’s National Library Week (“There’s More to the Story” is this year’s theme); and Saturday, April 29, is one of our favorites: Independent Bookstore Day! Print out the handy-dandy PDF version of our Summer Reading booklist (designed by the talented Marina Brolin), with cover art by Richard Jones from Yoshi, Sea Turtle Genius by Lynne Cox, and bring it with you as reference to your local library or to: Frugal Bookstore, All She Wrote Books, Porter Square Books, Harvard Book Store, Brookline Booksmith, Papercuts, or any/all of your own favorite local indies.

[Yoshi, Sea Turtle Genius. Illustration © 2023 by Richard Jones.]

Picture Books | Beginning Readers and Primary Grades
Intermediate | Middle School | High School

From the April 2023 issue of Notes from the Horn Book: Summer Reading. For past years’ summer reading lists from The Horn Book, click on the tag summer reading.