Summer Reading List ALSC 2023 Gr. 6-8

Created on April 7, 2023, 3:26 pm

Last Updated April 7, 2023, 3:49 pm

The list is full of book titles to keep children engaged in reading throughout the summer. Titles on the 2023 Summer Reading Lists were compiled and annotated by members of ALSC's Quicklists Consulting Committee. ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children), a division of ALA (American Library Association), reading lists are created as a resource for children's librarians to share with patrons. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to explore these titles to find resources that may match or spark their child's interest. To view, download or print the full lists, go to www.ala.org/alsc/publications-resources/book-lists/summer-2023.

1) Alma presses play

Author

Description

"Alma's life is a constant of halfways: She's half-Chinese, half-Jewish; her parents spend half the time fighting, and the other half silent; and, at thirteen, she's halfway through becoming a woman. Then comes the year when everything changes, and her life is overtaken by constant endings: friends move away, romances bloom and wither, her parents file for divorce, and just like that her childhood seems to be over. Among this world of confusing beginnings,...

2) Black bird, blue road

Author

Pasternack, Sofiya

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

Pesah has lived with leprosy for years, and the twins have spent most of that time working on a cure. Then Pesah has a vision: The Angel of Death will come for him on Rosh Hashanah, just one month away. So Ziva takes her brother and runs away to find doctors who can cure him. But when they meet and accidentally free a half-demon boy, he suggests paying his debt by leading them to the fabled city of Luz, where no one ever dies--the one place Pesah...

3) The Chronicles of Deltovia

Author

Series

Very genius notebooks volume 1

Description

Three friends. Two worlds. One epic notebook. Escape into The Chronicles of Deltovia, the greatest story still being written! Three middle school girls-Misha, June, and Ollie-know their epic fantasy story could be the next Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. The only holdup is they have to write it first. But that's a trifling concern: they've bought a $1.99 composition notebook, and they're going to pass it back and forth over the course of their...

4) The Davenports

Author

Marquis, Krystal

Series

The Davenports (Krystal Marquis) volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

The Davenports are one of the few Black families of immense wealth and status in 1910 Chicago, and the two daughters, Olivia and Helen, are finding their way and finding love--even where they are not supposed to.

5) Demon in the wood: a shadow and bone graphic novel

Author

Description

"Before he led Ravka's Second Army, before he created the Fold, and long before he became the Darkling, he was just a lonely boy burdened by an extraordinary power. Eryk and his mother, Lena, have spent their lives on the run. But they will never find a safe haven. They are not only Grisha--they are the deadliest and rarest of their kind. Feared by those who wish to destroy them and hunted by those who would exploit their gifts, they must hide their...

6) The door of no return

Author

Alexander, Kwame

Series

Door of no return volume 1

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, Playaway, Talking Book

Description

11-year-old Kofi Offin dreams of water. Its mysterious, immersive quality. The rich, earthy scent of the current. The clearness, its urgent whisper that beckons with promises and secrets... Kofi has heard the call on the banks of Upper Kwanta, in the village where he lives. He loves these things above all else: his family, the fireside tales of his father's father, a girl named Ama, and, of course, swimming. Some say he moves like a minnow, not just...

Author

Description

Cory's dance crew is getting ready for a major competition. It's the last one before they graduate eighth grade and go their separate ways to high schools all over New York City, so they have to make it count! The group starts to have problems as their crew captain gets increasingly intense about nailing the routine, and things go from bad to worse when Cory's parents ground him for not taking his grades seriously. He gets stuck with a new tutor,...

Author

Ortega, Claribel A

Formats:

eBook, Graphic Novels & Manga, Kindle

Description

"Marlene loves three things: books, her cool tía Ruby, and hanging out with her best friend Camila. But according to her mother Paola, the only thing she needs to focus on is school and 'growing up.' That means straightening her hair every weekend so she could have 'presentable good hair.' But Marlene hates being in the salon and doesn't understand why her curls are not considered pretty by those around her. With a few hiccups, a dash of embarrassment,...

9) Growing pangs

Author

Ormsbee, Kathryn

Description

Eleven-year-old Katie navigates life as a homeschooler, forms a better understanding of the OCD she experiences, and learns that growing apart from friends is sometimes part of growing up.

10) Invisible: A Graphic Novel

Author

Gonzalez, Christina Diaz

Formats:

eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway, Talking Book

Description

A USA TODAY and Indie Bestseller!

For fans of New Kid and Allergic, a must-have graphic novel about five very different students who are forced together by their school to complete community service... and may just have more in common than they thought.

Can five overlooked kids make one big difference?

There's George: the brain

Sara: the loner

Dayara: the tough kid

Nico:

...

Author

Gonzalez, Christina Diaz

Formats:

Book, Bluebonnet Books - 14 Days

Description

"Can five overlooked kids make one big difference? There's George: the brain Sara: the loner Dayara: the tough kid Nico: the rich kid And Miguel: the athlete And they're stuck together when they're forced to complete their school's community service hours. Although they're sure they have nothing in common with one another, some people see them as all the same...just five Spanish-speaking kids. Then they meet someone who truly needs their help, and...

12) Karthik delivers

Author

Formats:

Description

One summer during the Financial Crisis, fourteen-year-old Karthik Raghavan makes deliveries for his father's ailing Indian grocery, but he is secretly cast in a play about the young Leonard Bernstein. Includes author's note.

13) The Kate In Between

Author

Swinarski, Claire

Description

In this timely, call-to-action contemporary middle grade novel from Claire Swinarski, author of What Happens Next, a twelve-year-old girl must face herself, and the truth, after her participation in a bullying incident goes viral. Kate McAllister is desperate for a change. Something to hit refresh and erase the pain of her mother leaving town without her. So when a group of popular girls folds Kate into their clique, it feels like the answer to all...

14) The last mapmaker

Author

Soontornvat, Christina

Formats:

Book, Bluebonnet Books - 14 Days, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

A high-seas adventure set in a Thai-inspired fantasy world. This is the story of a young woman's struggle to unburden herself of the past and chart her own destiny in a world of secrets. As assistant to Mangkon's most celebrated mapmaker, twelve-year-old Sai plays the part of a well-bred young lady with a glittering future. In reality, her father is a conman - and in a kingdom where the status of one's ancestors dictates their social position, the...

15) Lolo's light

Author

Scalon, Liz Garton

Formats:

Description

"Once in your life, sometime after your first memory but before you can drive a car, something is going to happen to you that doesn't happen to anyone else you know. It might be something good. It might be something bad, or special, or funny, or shocking. For Millie, it's something really sad. Lolo, her neighbors' infant daughter, dies--unexpectedly, suddenly, inexplicably--on the night Millie babysits. There's nothing she could have done. There's...

16) Rabbit chase

Author

LaPensée, Elizabeth

Description

"Anishinaabe culture and storytelling meet Alice in Wonderland in this coming-of-age graphic novel that explores Indigenous and gender issues through a fresh yet familiar looking glass. Ai�me, a non-binary Anishinaabe middle-schooler, is on a class trip to offer gifts to Paayehnsag, the water spirits known to protect the land. While stories are told about the water spirits and the threat of the land being taken over for development, Ai�me zones...

17) Rain rising

Author

Comrie, Courtne

Series

Rain novels (Comrie) volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

Thirteen-year-old Rain, who struggles with low self-esteem, must overcome sadness after her older brother Xander is severely beaten up at a frat party, but through the help of an after-school circle group, Rain finds the courage to help herself and her family heal.

Author

Hicks, Faith Erin

Description

Victoria has always loved horses. But riding in competitions is high stakes, high stress, and shockingly expensive. And even though Victoria's best friend Taylor loves competing, Victoria has lost her taste for it. After a heartbreaking fight with Taylor, Victoria needs a new start--at a new stables. A place where she doesn't have to worry about anything other than riding. No competition, no drama, no friends.

19) Solito: a memoir

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

"Trip. My parents started using that word about a year ago--'one day, you'll take a trip to be with us. Like an adventure.' Javier's adventure is a three-thousand-mile journey from his small town in El Salvador, through Guatemala and Mexico, and across the U.S. border. He will leave behind his beloved aunt and grandparents to reunite with a mother who left four years ago and a father he barely remembers. Traveling alone except for a group of strangers...

20) summer and july

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