D65 2025 Summer Reading Lists

Summer is a great time to read! Each year District 65 librarians compile summer reading lists; this year there are 38 suggestions for K-5 and middle school readers. This is not a required reading list, but suggestions to keep up with literacy skills.

K-5

Picture Books

1. Mole Is Not Alone by Maya Tatsukawa
2. The Great Lakes by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Jamey Christoph
3. Safe Crossing by Kari Percival
4. Butt or Face? Volume 2: Revenge of the Butts by Kari Lavelle
5. Dusk Explorers by Lindsay Leslie, illustrated by Ellen Rooney
6. The Iguanodon's Horn by Sean Rubin
7. Benita y las Criaturas Nocturnas by Mariana Llanos, illustrated by Cocoretto

Chapter Books and Graphic Novels

1. Kwame's Magic Quest #1: Rise of the Green Flame by Bernard Mensah, illustrated by Natasha Nayo
2. The Eyes & the Impossible by Dave Eggers, illustrated by Shawn Harris
3. The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass
4. The Girl in the Lake by India Hill Brown
5. Just a Girl: A True Story of World War II by Lia Levi, illustrated by Jess Mason
6. Srta. Quinces by Kat Fajardo
7. Gamerville by Johnnie Christmas

View K-5 flyer

6-8

1. The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko
2. What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski
3. Weirdo by Tony Weaver, Jr., illustrated by Jes & Cin Wibowo
4. We Who Produce Pearls by Joanna Ho
5. A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner
6. Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour Encyclopedia
7. I Remember: Poems and Pictures of Heritage compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins
8. Sing It Like Celia by Mónica Mancillas
9. The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander
10. Forgotten Founders: Black Patriots, Women Soldiers, and Other Thinkers and Heroes Who Shaped Early America by Mifflin Lowe, illustrated by Wiliam Luong
11. Witchlings by Claribel A. Ortega
12. Apple in the Middle by Dawn Quigley
13. One Big Open Sky by Lesa Cline-Ransome
14. Read at Your Own Risk by Remy Lai
15. Fake Chinese Sounds by Jing Jing Tsong
16. Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu
17. Troublemaker by John Cho
18. Lola by Karla Arenas Valenti
19. Black Girl You Are Atlas by Renée Watson, illustrated by Ekua Holmes
20. Game Changer by Neal Shusterman
21. Throwback by Maurene Goo
22. Almost Flying by Jake Maia Arlow
23. The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day, illustrated by Brett Helquist
24. Westfallen by Ann Brashares and Ben Brashares

View 6-8 flyer

View all recommendations in one place on the District 65 Libraries website!