FAMILIES: If you would like to provide your reader(s) with opportunities to engage in books this summer,
scroll below to find some optional book title recommendations! Award winners and new titles are included.
Please make sure to check the books your child reads to make sure it is an appropriate and "Just Right Book". The topics of the books vary in maturity and age range.
Feel free to read reviews from the Common Sense Media website.
Notable should be thought to include books of especially commendable quality, books that exhibit venturesome creativity, and books of fiction, information, poetry and pictures for all age levels (birth through age 14) that reflect and encourage children's interests in exemplary ways.
Bea Wolf
Zach Weinersmith & Boulet
Calling the Moon
Ed. Aida Salazar & Yamile Saied Mendez
Black Bird, Blue Road
By Sofiya Pasternack
Chinese Menu: The History, Myths, and Legends Behind Your Favorite Foods
Grace Lin
Elf Dog & Owl Head
By M.T. Anderson & Junyi Wu
The Eyes and the Impossible
By Dave Eggers & Shawn Harris
Good Different
By Meg Eden Kuyatt
The House of the Lost on the Cape
By Sachiko Kashiwaba & Yukiko Saito
Honoring literature about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage based on literary and artistic merit.
Ruby Lost and Found
By Christina Li
Parachute Kids
By Betty C. Tang
Recognizing fiction that has the potential to transform children’s lives.
The Probability of Everything
By Sarah Everett
You Are Here
By Ellen Oh
Mascot
By Charles Waters and Traci Sorell
Awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
The Eyes and the Impossible
By Dave Eggers
Eagle Drums
By Nasugraq Rainey Hopson
Mexikid
By Pedro Martín
Elf Dog & Owl Head
By M.T. Anderson & Junyi Wu
The NCTE Award for Excellence in Children's Poetry Committee creates an annual list of Notable Poetry Books and Verse Novels published in the current year by any poet, living or deceased, and of any nationality.
Call Me Adnan
By Reem Faruqi
Ruptured
By Joanne Rossmassler Fritz
When Clouds Touch Us
By KThanhha Lai
Aniana del Mar Jumps In
By Jasmine Mendez
Nearer My Freedom: The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano by Himself
By Monica Edinger & Lesley Younge
The Song of Us
By Kate Fussner
Presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.
Mexikid
By Pedro Martín
Alebrijes
By Donna Barba Higuera
Aniana del Mar Jumps In
By Jasmine Mendez
Awarded annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished informational book published in the United States in English.
2024 Winner
The Mona Lisa Vanishes
By Nicholas Day & Brett Helquist
Honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.
The Fire, the Water, and Maudie McGinn
By Sally J Pa
Good Different
By Meg Eden Kuyatt
Simon Sort of Says
By Erin Bow
Recognizing outstanding works that portray cultures, histories, or contemporary issues in South Asia or dealing with South Asians living abroad.
Thirst
By Varsha Bajaj
Honored for exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience.
Cross My Heart and Never Lie
By Nora Dasnes
The Otherwoods
By Justine Purcella Winans
Recognizing diverse authors whose works feature diverse main characters and address diversity in a meaningful way.
Grounded
By Aisha Saeed
Remember Us
By Jacqueline Woodson
Given to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.
Kin Rooster in Hope
By Carole Boston Weatherford