2025 Summer Reading Program: Grades 3-5

Updated March 5, 2025
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Dogtown
Applegate, Katherine
Paper Book
The New York Times bestseller, Indie bestseller, and Amazon Best Children's Book from beloved authors Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko and with illustrations by Wallace West, Dogtown is at once an uplifting story and a page-turning adventure, sure to find a forever home...
Finch house
Burch, Ciera
Paper Book
Encanto meets Coraline in this "supremely successful, atmospheric" (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade story that deals with family ties, fear of change, and generational trauma as it follows a girl who must convince an old, haunted house to release its hold on her and her family.<...
How to save a unicorn
Cannistra, Meg
Paper Book
To save a unicorn's life, Giada the Healer will have to risk it all. Giada Bellantuono has traveled all the way from Italy to New York City to follow her dreams: begin her official training as a magical veterinarian! It wasn't easy going against generations of family tradition, not to...
The girl from Earth's end
Dairman, Tara
Paper Book
Gifted gardener Henna embarks from her island home to search for the plant that might save her papa's life in this vibrant story of love, grief, and growth. Twelve-year-old Henna loves living with her two papas and cultivating her beloved plants on the tiny island of Earth's End-...
The eyes & the impossible
Eggers, Dave
Paper Book
A wild, lyrical, hilarious and beautiful story of a wild dog living and surviving in an urban park Johannes, a free dog, lives in a park hemmed in on three sides by dense human neighborhoods, and on one side by the ocean. His job is to be the Eyes--to see...
Galapagos George
George, Jean Craighead
Paper Book
This is the story of the famous Lonesome George, a giant tortoise who was the last of his species, lived to be one hundred years old, and became known as the rarest creature in the world. His story gives us a glimpse of the amazing creatures inhabiting the ever-fascinating Galápagos Islands. ...
Ruby lost and found
Li, Christina
Paper Book
For fans of Kelly Yang and Rebecca Stead, this touching middle grade novel maps one girl's quest to remember her grandfather through his scavenger hunts; reconnect with her family; and fight for her community in her rapidly changing hometown. Winner of the APALA Youth Literature Award! ...
The Labors of Hercules Beal
Schmidt, Gary D.
Paper Book
From award-winning author Gary D. Schmidt, a warm and witty novel in the tradition of The Wednesday Wars, in which a seventh grader has to figure out how to fulfill a seemingly impossible school assignment--and learns about friendship, community, and himself along the way....
The labors of Hercules Beal
Schmidt, Gary D.
Paper Book
From award-winning author Gary D. Schmidt, a warm and witty novel in the tradition of The Wednesday Wars, in which a seventh grader has to figure out how to fulfill a seemingly impossible school assignment--and learns about friendship, community, and himself along the way....
I found a dead bird : the kids' guide to the cycle of life & death
Thornhill, Jan.
Paper Book
I found a dead bird. It made me sad...but I also had a lot of questions, like why did it have to die? How did it die? What would happen to it now that it was dead? This is Jan Thornhill's jumping-off point for an intelligent, sensitive, and wide-ranging look at death and the cycle of life for young...
The unadoptables
Tooke, Hana
Paper Book
A delicious fairy tale full of mysterious spirits, daring escapes, and a beautiful message about the power of found families. In all the years that Elinora Gassbeek has been matron of the Little Tulip Orphanage, not once have the Rules for Baby Abandonment been broken. Until the...
The Ojja-wojja : a horror-mystery, or whatever
Visaggio, Magdalene
Paper Book
The first in a new graphic novel series from indie comic stars Magdalene Visaggio and Jenn St-Onge is a coming-of-age story about the transformative power of friendship. And an immortal demon with the power to take over the world. But mostly the friendship thing. Welcome to...
The collectors
West, Jacqueline
Paper Book
2019 Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book "Original, brave, and addictive."--Adam Gidwitz, bestselling author of the Newbery Honor Book The Inquisitor's Tale Fast-paced, witty, and riveting, this contemporary fantasy adventure has magic woven through every page. The Collectors...
Gone fishing : a novel in verse
Wissinger, Tamera Will.
Paper Book
Nine-year-old Sam loves fishing with his dad. So when his pesky little sister, Lucy, horns in on their fishing trip, he's none too pleased: "Where's my stringer? / Something's wrong! / The princess doll does not belong!" All ends well in this winsome book of poems--each labeled with its proper...
Ancient warfare : from clubs to catapults
Woods, Michael
Paper Book
Ancient Technology provides a fascinating look at a particular area of technology as it developed in ancient times, from the first humans to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in A.D. 476. Each chapter covers a different ancient civilization, beginning with Stone Age cultures and progressing...
Heroes of the water monster
Young, Brian
Paper Book
An unmissable companion to Healer of the Water Monster, which won the American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Award, this novel by Navajo author Brian Young tells the story of two contemporary young Navajo heroes--and one water monster--who must learn to work together...

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