2025 Summer Reading Program: Grades 3-5

Updated January 22, 2025
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Monster Locker
Aguirre, Jorge
Paper Book
In this first volume of a thrilling middle grade graphic novel series, a sixth-grader named Pablo discovers his locker is a portal to the realm of monsters! For hundreds of years, something in the basement of Glenfield Middle School has waited for its chance to open a portal into the realm of...
Dogtown
Applegate, Katherine
Paper Book
Now a New York Times bestseller, an Indie bestseller, and an 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...
Lost in the Empire City
Avi
Paper Book
Newbery Medalist Avi is back with a gripping exploration of the immigrant experience at the turn of the twentieth century. A must-read for fans of Moon over Manifest and Echo Mountain. When Santo's father left their tiny town in Italy for America, he made Santo promise to...
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.<...
The other side of tomorrow
Cho, Tina
Paper Book
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection Perfect for fans of Illegal and When Stars Are Scattered, this poignant and moving graphic novel in verse captures the dangers and hope that come with fleeing North Korea and reaching for a brighter future through the lives of...
Down to earth
Culley, Betty
Paper Book
Counting by 7s meets See You in the Cosmos in this heartwarming coming-of-age story perfect for the budding geologists and those fascinated by the mysteries of the universe. Henry has always been fascinated by rocks. As a homeschooler, he pours through the R...
Buffalo dreamer
Duncan, Violet
Paper Book
Summer and her family always spend relaxed summers in Alberta, Canada, on the reservation where her mom's family lives. But this year is turning out to be an eye-opening one. First, Summer has begun to have vivid dreams in which she's running away from one of the many real-life residential schools...
Eyes and 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...
Kids at work : Lewis Hine and the crusade against child labor
Freedman, Russell.
Paper Book
Photobiography of early twentieth-century photographer and schoolteacher Lewis Hine, using his own work as illustrations. Hines's photographs of children at work were so devastating that they convinced the American people that Congress must pass child labor laws.
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. ...
Heroes
Gratz, Alan
Paper Book
The instant #1 New York Times bestseller! From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Refugee, Ground Zero, and Two Degrees comes this heart-pounding, inventive, and powerful new novel about the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor... as only Alan...
Summer vamp
Karim, Violet Chan
Ebook
What happens when a very human kid ends up at the wrong summer camp--FOR VAMPIRES?! This quirky and heart warming graphic novel about making friends and getting in trouble is perfect for fans of Witches of Brooklyn. After a lackluster school year, Maya anticipates an even...
Sona and the golden beasts
LaRocca, Rajani
Paper Book
From Newbery Honor and Walter Award-winning author Rajani LaRocca comes a gripping middle grade fantasy perfect for fans of The Serpent's Secret and The Last Mapmaker. Though music is outlawed in the land of Devia, Sona hears it everywhere. Sona is a Malech, a member of the...
Mallory in full color
Leahy, Elisa Stone
Paper Book
A funny, poignant middle grade novel about a tween who navigates questions of identity and friendship when her anonymous web comic goes viral, from the acclaimed author of Tethered to Other Stars. Mallory Marsh is an expert at molding into whatever other people want her to be...
Please bury me in the library
Lewis, J. Patrick.
Paper Book
There's nothing like curling up with a good book, but you have to be careful. Before you know it, a minute turns into an hour, an hour turns into a day, and a day may turn into . . . eternity. Inspired by the likes of Edward Lear, X. J. Kennedy, and Lewis Carroll, the author of Arithme...
Lei and the fire goddess
Maunakea, Malia
Paper Book
"Lei and the Fire Goddess blends preteen angst and beloved Hawaiian moʻolelo in a way that hasn't been done before." -Auliʻi Cravalho, actress and voice of Disney's Princess Moana Curses aren't real. At least, that's what twelve-year-old, part...
Ribbon Skirt: a Graphic Novel
Paper Book
A joyful coming-of-age middle-grade graphic novel by debut Indigenous creator Cameron Mukwa about the journey of a two-spirit kid who wants to create a ribbon skirt for the upcoming powwow.Ten-year-old Anang wants to make a ribbon skirt, a piece of clothing typically worn by girls in the...
Uprising
Nielsen, Jennifer A.
Paper Book
#1 New York Times bestselling author of Iceberg, Jennifer A. Nielsen inspires readers with a brand-new thriller based on the remarkable true story of a young Polish girl who bravely fought, participating in the Warsaw city uprising, and took a stand in the name of freedom.<...
Pink and Say
Polacco, Patricia.
Paper Book
When Sheldon Russell Curtis told this story to his daughter, Rosa, she kept every word in her heart and was to retell it many times. I will tell it in Sheldon's own words as nearly as I can. He was wounded in a fierce battle and left for dead in a pasture somewhere...
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....
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...
Lulu Sinagtala and the city of noble warriors
Villanueva, Gail D.
Paper Book
In this fast-paced, thrilling middle grade fantasy rooted in Tagalog mythology, a young Filipino girl discovers realms beyond our own full of monsters and gods, a terrible evil who wants her magic, and even a talking duck! The first book in a duology from Gail D. Villanueva (My Fate According to...
Lunar Boy
Paper Book
Stonewall Children's Literature Award Winner 2025 Rainbow Book List Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2024 NPR's Books We Love of 2024 GLAAD Media Awards Nominee 2024 Harvey Awards' Best Children's Book Nominee For fans of The Witch Boy and Squished,...
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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