School’s Out for Summer: Our Favorite Kids Books for Summer Reading 

Amelia Bedelia takes on a rundown summer camp in this installation of the always hilarious and chaotic Amelia Bedelia series. Amelia’s big plans for summer are dashed by her mother’s insistence that she spends the summer at the same all-girls camp that her mother attended as a child. Even though it can’t compare to the fancy computer camp across the lake, Amelia Bedelia still figures out how to make the summer great! 

Bad Kitty is back again with Kitty wanting nothing more than to sleep all day every day with food delivered to her! But no. Instead, Puppy and Baby get a bit rambunctious, bonk her on the head, and she starts to think she’s a dog. When Puppy gets freaked out by this and goes to Uncle Murray’s Camp for Stressed-Out dogs, Kitty sneaks along, fitting in as a canine guest until Uncle Murray and her encounter a bear and her claws come flying out! Hilarious and full of mischief and mishaps, Bad Kitty Camp Days is a fantastic summer read!  

Sunnyview summertime and swimming lessons result in Eugene McGillicudy’s alter ego, Captain Awesome, to save his class from a comical cast of “bad guys.” While his alter ego is fighting these “bad guys” alongside his sidekick, Turbo, we can’t help but wonder how Eugene will find the time to dive into the deep end before it’s time to go back to school. This fun and action-packed chapter book is perfect for young readers looking to make a splash this summer! 

This box set of summer fun is giggle inducing and has the perfect books for any summer occasion. Full of quintessential summer things (the sun, sea, and ice cream), these three books follow A.J. and the Ella Mentry School gang as they go on their weird adventures full of unforgettable characters. These books have a little something for every reader whether they love reading or not! 

Okay, I know this book probably isn’t the first one that comes to mind when you think of summer, BUT it totally fits! See, the whole story starts when Amari discovers the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs and attends their summer program! Full of magic, adventure, and friendship, this book is the perfect one to read this summer, especially with the sequel (which is so worth the wait, trust me), Amari and the Great Game, releasing in August! Whether your reader loves fantasy or not, this book will capture their hearts and keep them turning page after page to find out what happens! 

This book is a beautiful story of the complexities of family, forgiveness, and growing up. Gillian McDunn’s debut young reader will always have a special place in my heart, and I hope it finds its way into yours as well! Cat and her brother Chicken are extremely close, with Cat being the one who best knows what Chicken needs, particularly since her mom has been working super hard since their dad passed away to make ends meet. When their summer trip goes awry, Cat and Chicken find themselves spending 3 weeks with grandparents they only just met, and for the first time in years, she gets to just be a kid at the beach without any extra responsibilities.  

For another story centered around meeting grandparents for the first time, check out this one by Saadia Faruqi! This book is all about two girls in the midst of a summer of change as Mimi heads to Karachi, Pakistan to spend the summer with grandparents she’s never met. She’s not thrilled, but her goal is to find her long-absent father and spends time writing to him in her journal. She meets the cook’s daughter, Sakina, whose goal is to get into school by improving her English, but it will cause a loss of income for her family, so her parents don’t know. At first, the two girls don’t get along, but as the summer passes, they find their commonalities and work together towards their separate goals. 

This book is perfect for fans of The Watsons Go to Birmingham and it follows three sisters who go to spend their summer in California with their estranged mother, Cecile. When they arrive there, Cecile is nothing like they expected, and instead of spending the summer the way they hoped (going to Disneyland), they spend it at a day camp run by the Black Panthers where they learn more about their family, their country, and themselves than they ever expected.  

Yumi wants nothing more than to spend the summer studying her favorite YouTube comedians, but she’s stuck in test-prep tutoring to get a private school scholarship. Her family’s restaurant is going through a bit of a rough spot, so the scholarship would be helpful. And then one day after class, she stumbles upon a kids’ comedy camp by one of her favorite YouTubers…except they think she’s someone else. In a funny story full of mistaken identity, your reader will find themselves taken by Yumi and her dreams of being a stand-up comedian! 

If you have a kiddo heading to their very first summer camp, they’ll find a little bit of themselves in this wonderful graphic novel about kids at summer camp for the first time, stepping out of one’s comfort zone, and being 100% themselves. It follows Olive and Willow, and while Olive makes friends with the other campers quickly, Willow struggles and clings to Olive as the one person she knows. When this causes friction between the two of them, they have to figure out how to save their friendship.  

This graphic novel is perfect for any kid who just wants to fit in. It follows Vera, a Russian girl in the suburbs whose single mother’s income can’t compete with her friends’ families who live in fancy houses and go to the best summer camps. So, when she ends up at the one camp in their price range, a Russian summer camp, she’s excited to have a place to fit in, but she never expected everything else that comes with it! With brilliant artistry and a fantastic story, this book is certain to become a favorite!

When Sunny is sent to Florida to spend the summer with her grandfather, she’s optimistic thinking of all the fun it might bring, but once she gets there, she realizes that Gramps doesn’t live in a particularly exciting place. There’s a lot of old people, but Sunny’s pleased to meet Buzz, a boy who makes it so she’s not the only kid around! Together they’re adventuring through their summers, and while the fun is distracting, it doesn’t take away from the one big question she has—why did she get sent to Florida in the first place? 

This coming-of-age story following Bina is both hilarious and heartwarming as it hits on friendship, music, and the summer. When her best friend Austin heads off to his soccer camp for a month, Bina’s not quite sure how much fun she’s going to have on her own, especially since he’d been acting kind of weird lately anyways. But she finds that Austin’s older sister enjoys music as much as she does and spends the month hanging out with her. When Austin returns and is acting even weirder than before, the two must figure out what it means for their friendship.