Summer Reading Together 2022
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Summer Reading Together 2022 is sponsored by the Boston Public Library (BPL), Boston Public Schools, and WGBH.
These booklists were compiled by librarians from BPL, the Departments of English Language Arts and Library Services, and ELA teachers from BPS.
Summer Reading Together engages students to share the experience of reading and talking about books they read over the summer when school begins.
To access books in an eBook format:
1. Go to your Clever access and login2. Find the Sora App - It has a blue spaceship3. When Sora opens, click the Summer Reading Together 2022 banner and find your book.This initiative aims to prevent summer reading loss, encourage pleasure reading, and foster a culture of readers. Our focus is to motivate, engage, and cultivate a culture of readers.
Summer Reading Lists
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Summer Reading List for Grades K-2
English | Español | العربية | Cabo-Verdiano | 中文 | Français | Kreyòl Ayisyen | Português | Soomaali | Tiếng Việt
Summer Reading Together
Please read at least two books from the attached PDF.
Read an additional book from the list below
Beginning to Read Books
Bradford Street Buddies (series)…Nolen
Chick and Brain: Smell My Foot…Bell
Confetti Kids (series)…Woo and others
Elephant and Piggie (series)…Willems
Fly Guy (series)…Arnold
Ty’s Travels (series)…Lyons
Unlimited Squirrels (series)…Willems
What About Worms?…Higgins
Informational Books
A is for Axolotl…Macorol
Bee Book…Milner
Beak Book…Page
Don’t Let Them Disappear…Clinton
The Elephant…Desmond
Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee…Leung
How Do You Say Hello to a Worm?…Percival
If You Had Your Birthday Party on the Moon…Lapin
Leaf Detective: How Margaret Lowman Uncovered Secrets in the Rainforest…Lang
Look Up With Me: Neil DeGrasse Tyson…Berne
My Stinky Summer By S. Bug…Meisel
North Pole (Pole to Pole: A Flip Book)…Bright
One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of Gambia…Paul
Packs: Strength in Numbers…Salyer
Pura’s Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Reshaped Libraries…Pimentel
Summertime Sleepers: Animals That Estivate…Stewart
What Do You Do If You Work at the Zoo?…Jenkins and Page
Yes We Will: Asian Americans who Shaped this Country…Yang
Picture Books
All Because You Matter…Charles
Alma and How She Got Her Name…Martinez-Neal
Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao…Zhang
The Arabic Quilt…Khalil
Dad Bakes…Yamasaki
Dream Street…Walker
Electric Slide and Kai…Baptist
Eyes That Kiss in the Corners…Ho
Fry Bread…Maillard
Going Down Home with Daddy…Lyons
Help Wanted: Must Love Books Sumner…Johnson
I Am Every Good Thing…Barnes
I Am Golden…Chen
Josie Dances…Lajimodiere
Kaia and the Bees…Boelts
Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea…Harris
Let’s Go to Taekwondo…Kim
Love Grows Everywhere…Timms
Luis Paints the World…Farish
Malaika’s Surprise…Hohn
Mel Fell…Tabor
My Big Family…Canetti
My Day with the Panye…Charles
Paletero Man…Diaz
The Proudest Blue…Muhammad
Room for Everyone…Khan
Salam Alaikum: A Message of Peace…Harris
Señorita Mariposa…Gundersheimer
Show the World!…Dalton
Soul Food Sunday…Bingham
To Carnival!…Paul
We Are Water Protectors…Lindstrom
We Laugh Alike/Juntos Nos Reímos…Bernier-Grand
Why Not You?…Wilson
Your Mama…Ramos
Your Name is a Song…Thompkins-Bigelow
Nursery Rhymes, Poetry, Riddles, and Songs
Dirt Book: Poems about Animals that Live Beneath Our Feet…Harrison
Family Poems for Every Day of the Week…Alarcón
Flutter & Hum: Animal Poems / Aleteo y Zumbido: Poemas de Animales…Paschkis
I am the Wind…Karg
Just Like Me…Brantley-Newton
Kiyoshi’s Walk…Karlins
La Madre Goose: Nursery Rhymes for Los Niños…Elya
The Neighborhood Mother Goose…Crews
Seeing into Tomorrow…Wright
Folk Tales and Fairy Tales
Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella…Fleischman
High-Five to the Hero…Murrow
Power to the Princess…Murrow
La Princesa and the Pea…Elya
The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess…Gauld
The Princess and the Warrior: A Tale of Two Volcanoes…Tonatiuh
A Year Full of Stories: 52 Folktales and Legends from Around the World…McAllister
Chapter Books
Ana & Andrew (series)…Platt
Camila (series)…Salazar
Dragons and Marshmallows (series)…Citro
King and Kayla (series)…Butler
Ling and Ting (series)…Lin
Penny (series)…Henkes
Jasmine Toguchi: Mochi Queen…Florence
Jo Jo Makoons (series)…Quigley
Juana & Lucas…Medina
Mr. Grizley’s Class (series)…Avery
Owl Diaries (series)…Elliott
Press Start! (series)…Flintham
Princess in Black (series)…Hale
Sofia Martinez (series)…Jules
Stink (series)…McDonald
Yasmin (series)…Faruqi
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Summer Reading List for Grades 3-5
English | Español | العربية | Cabo-Verdiano | 中文 | Français | Kreyòl Ayisyen | Português | Soomaali | Tiếng Việt
Summer Reading Together
Please read at least two books from the attached PDF.
Read an additional book from the list below
Contemporary Fiction
Dumpling Days…Lin
EllRay Jakes (series)…Warner
Frankie Sparks and the Class Pet (series)…Blakemore
From the Desk of Zoe Washington…Marks
Front Desk…Yang
The Great Treehouse War…Graff
Jasmine Toguchi: Mochi Queen…Florence
Just Right Jillian…Collier
Lety Out Loud…Cervantes
Maizy Chen’s Last Chance…Yee
Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel (series)…Grimes
Merci Suarez Can’t Dance…Medina
Midsummer’s Mayhem…LaRocca
Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business (series)…Lee
Nikki and Deja (series)…English
Operation Sisterhood…Rhuday-Perkovich
Sadiq and the Desert Star (series)…Nuurali
Scientific Life of Azaleah Lane (series)…Smith
The Season of Styx Malone…Magoon
Simon B. Rhymin’…Reed
Sofia Valdez and the Vanishing Vote (series)…Beaty
Something To Say…Ramée
Stella Diaz Never Gives Up…Dominguez
The Terrible Two (series)…Barnett
Ways to Make Sunshine (series)…Watson
Zayd Saleem, Chasing the Dream…Khan
Folktales, Fairy Tales, & Legends
Feathered Serpent and the Five Suns…Tonatiuh
High-Five to the Hero…Murrow
The Legend of Gravity: A TALL Basketball…Tale Palmer
Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales…Mandela
Power to the Princess…Murrow
The Sea-Ringed World: Sacred Stories of the Americas…García Esperón
Tales Our Abuelitas Told: A Hispanic Folktale Collection…Campoy and Ada
Treasury of Magical Tales From Around the World…Napoli
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Dory Fantasmagory…Hanlon
The Fairy Tale Detectives (series)…Buckley
Gumazing Gum GIrl (series)…Montijo
Midnight War of Mateo Martinez…Yardi
Mulan: Before the Sword…Lin
Pip’s Guide to Magical Creatures…Pearce & Steifvater
The Coin Slot Chronicles…Jennings
The Unicorn Rescue Society (series)…Gidwitz
Sisters of Neversea…Smith
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon…Lin
Biography & Autobiography
Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball…Bryant
Becoming Kid Quixote: A True Story of Belonging in America…Sierra
Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks…Slade
I Am Not A Label…Burnell
Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers…Menéndez
Look Up With Me: Neil deGrasse Tyson…Berne
One Step Further: My Story of Math, the Moon, and a Lifelong Mission…Johnson
She Persisted: Sonia Sotomayor (series)…Medina
Sprouting Wings: The True Story of James Herman Banning…Jaggar
When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop…Hill
Who is Greta Thunberg? (series)…Leonard
Who is Kamala Harris? (series)…Anderson
Historical Fiction
I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, 1919 (series)…Tarshis
Lincoln Project (Flashback Four series)…Gutman
Marika Marches for Equality…Alikhan
The Mighty Miss Malone…Curtis
One Crazy Summer…Williams-Garcia
Out of Left Field…Klages
Riding Freedom…Ryan
Turtle in Paradise…Holm
Informational Books
A Child’s Introduction to African American History…Asim
Brave. Black. First: 50+ African American Women Who Changed the World …Hudson
A Child’s Introduction to Egyptology…Alexander
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls…ed. by Workneh
I Am An American: The Wong Kim Ark Story…Brockenbrough
It’s A Numbers Game! Basketball…Buckley
Just Right: Searching for the Goldilocks Planet…Manley
King of Ragtime: The Story of Scott Joplin…Costanza
The Last Straw: Kids Vs. Plastics…Hood
More Than Just A Game: The Black Origins of Basketball…Moore
Sanctuary: Kip Tiernan and Rosie’s Place…McDonnell
Saving American Beach…King
Sharks: Nature’s Perfect Hunter (Science Comics series)…Flood
Water: A Deep Dive into Discovery…Mihaly
What’s In Your Pocket? Collecting Nature’s Treasures…Montgomery
Winged Wonders: Solving the Monarch Migration Mystery…Pincus
Your Place in the Universe…Chin
Poetry Books
Bravo: Poems about Amazing Hispanics…Engle
Family Poems for Every Day of the Week…Alarcón
In the Spirit of a Dream: 13 Stories of American Immigrants of Color…Salazar
The Taco Magician Gonzales…Bertrand
The Undefeated…Alexander
Voices of Justice: Poems about People Working for a Better World…Lyon
Write! Write! Write!…Vanderwater
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Summer Reading List for Grades 6-8
Summer Reading Together
Please read at least two books from the attached PDF.
Read an additional book from the list below
Fiction
Amina’s Voice … by Khan
Ancestor Approved … ed. by Smith
The Best At It … Pancholy
Black Boy Joy … ed. by Mbalia
As Brave As You … Reynolds
The Chance to Fly … Stoker
Click’d … Stone
Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora … Cartaya
Fast Pitch … Stone
Finding Junie Kim … Oh
From the Desk of Zoe Washington … Marks
Genesis Begins Again … Williams
I Can Make This Promise … Day
King and the Dragonflies … Callender
The Last Last-Day-of-Summer … Giles
Lupe Wong Won’t Dance … Higuera
Maizy Chen’s Last Chance … Yee
The Many Meanings of Meilan … Wang
The Only Black Girls in Town … Colbert
Operation Sisterhood … Rhuday-Perkovich
Other Words for Home … Warga
Playing the Cards You’re Dealt … Johnson
The Season of Styx Malone … Magoon
Stand Up, Yumi Chung … Kim
Starfish … Fipps
Take Back the Block … Giles
Thanks A Lot, Universe … Lucas
Too Bright to See … Lukoff
Yusuf Azeem Is Not A Hero … Faruqi
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Amari and the Night Brothers … Allston
Amira & Hamza: The War to Save the Worlds … Ahmed
The Insiders … Oshiro
The Last Cuentista … Higuera
Paola Santiago and the River of Tears … Mejia
The Serpent’s Secret … DasGupta
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky (series) … Mbalia
Mystery
City Spies (series) … Ponti
Goldie Vance: The Hotel Whodunit … Rivera
The Parker Inheritance … Johnson
Pepper’s Rules for Secret Sleuthing … McDonald
A Soft Place to Land … Marks
Legends, Myths, and Poetry
Across the Rainbow Bridge: Stories of Norse Gods and Humans … Crossley-Holland
Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing Up Latino in the United States … ed. by Carlson
Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes … Latham & Waters
Dreams From Many Rivers: A Hispanic History of the United States Told in Poems … Engle
Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance … Grimes
Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes … Riordan
The Sea-Ringed World: Sacred Stories of the Americas … García Esperón
We Rise. We Resist. We Raise Our Voices … Hudson & Hudson
Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice … Browne
Informational Books
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team … Soontornvat
Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickels, America’s First Black Paratroopers … Stone
Destination Moon: The Remarkable and Improbable Voyage of Apollo 11 … Maurer
Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown … Sheinkin
How to Change Everything (the Young Humans’ Guide) … Klein
Science Comics series … various authors
Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below in the Chilean Desert … Aronson
Women Artists A to Z … Labarge
Historical Fiction
The Blackbird Girls … Blankman
Echo … Ryan
Echo Mountain … Wolk
It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel … Dumas
Lifeboat 12 … Hood
Mighty Inside … Frazier
The Night Diary … Hiranandani
Northwind … Paulsen
Red, White, and Whole … LaRocca
Show Me a Sign … LeZotte
Spy Runner … Yelchin
Talking Leaves … Bruchac
The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA … Woods
We Dream of Space … Kelly
Graphic Novels
Borders … King
The Legend of Auntie Po Yin … Khor
Measuring Up … LaMotte
Miles Morales Shock Waves … Reynolds
New Kid and Class Act … Craft
Rabbit Chase … LaPensée
Swim Team … Christmas
Biography & Autobiography
African Icons: Ten People Who Shaped History … Baptiste
Bee Fearless: Dream Like A Kid … Ulmer
Brave. Black. First: 50+ African American Women Who Changed the World … Hudson
Defiant: Growing Up in the Jim Crow South … Hudson
Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina (Young Reader’s Edition) … Copeland
March Forward, Girl: From Young Warrier to Little Rock Nine … Beals
Maya Lin: Thinking with Her Hands … Rubin
Nuestra América: 30 Inspiring Latinas/Latinos … Vourvoulias
Ordinary Hazards … Grimes
Reach for the Skai: How to Inspire, Empower, and Clapback … Jackson
Someone Like Me: How One Undocumented Girl Fought for her American Dream … Arce
Speak Up, Speak Out!: The Extraordinary Life of “Fighting Shirley Chisholm” … Bolden
This Promise of Change … Boyce
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Summer Reading List for Grades 9-12
Summer Reading Together
Please read at least two books from the attached PDF.
Read an additional book from the list below
Fiction
A Very Large Expanse of Sea … Mafi
Angel of Greenwood … Pink
Anger is a Gift … Oshiro
Born Confused … Desai-Hidier
Color Me In … Diaz
Darius The Great is Not Okay … Khorram
Dear Martin … Stone
Does My Head Look Big in This? … Abdel-Fattah
Fat Chance, Charlie Vega … Maldonado
Felix Ever After … Callender
Fountains of Silence … Sepetys
Frankly In Love … Yoon
Gabi, A Girl In Pieces … Quintero
Like Other Girls … Lundin
Give Me Some Truth … Gansworth
Kneel … Buford
Let Me Hear a Rhyme … Jackson
Rani Patel in Full Effect … Patel
Slay … Morris
The Astonishing Color of After … Pan
The Downstairs Girl … Lee
Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun … Garza Villa
The Education of Margot Sanchez … Rivera
One of the Good Ones … Moulite
Patron Saints of Nothing … Ribay
The Place Between Breaths … Na
The Rock and the River … Magoon
We are Not From Here Torres … Sanchez
White Rose … Wilson
With the Fire on High … Acevedo
A Clash of Steel … Lee
Mystery & Suspense
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder … Jackson
Fake ID … Giles
Ace of Spades … Abike-iyimide
Monday’s Not Coming … Jackson
Sadie … Summers
Disappeared … Stork
Three Truths and a Lie … Hartinger
Science Fiction & Fantasy
An Ember in the Ashes … Tahir
Cemetery Boys … Thomas
Children of Blood and Bone … Adeyemi
Dark Rise … Pacat
Labyrinth Lost … Cordova
Legendborn … Deonn
The City of Sand … Bachang
A Snake Falls to Earth … Little Badger
Iron Widow … Zhao
We Hunt the Flame … Faizal
We Set the Dark on Fire … Mejia
Anthologies
#NotYourPrincess … Charleyboy & Leatherdale (ed.)
A Thousand Beginnings and Endings … Oh (ed.)
All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories Of Queer Teens Through The Ages … Mitchell (ed.)
Black Enough … Zoboi (ed.)
Blackout Clayton (ed.)
Come On In Alsadi … (ed.)
Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices … Charleyboy & Leatherdale (ed.)
Fresh Ink … Giles (ed.)
Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World … Jensen (ed.)
Once Upon an Eid … Ali (ed.)
Take the Mic!: Fictional Stories of Everyday Resistance … Morrow
Graphic Novels
Almost American Girl … Ha
Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World … Bagieu
Dragon Hoops … Yang
March (series) … Lewis
Monster: A Graphic Novel … Myers
The Best We Could Do … Bui
The Magic Fish … Nguyen
The Outside Circle: A Graphic Novel … LaBoucane-Benson
Heartstopper … Oseman
They Called Us Enemy … Takei
Witch Hat Atelier … Shirahama
Biography & Autobiography
All Boys Aren’t Blue … Johnson
Autobiography of Malcolm X … X
Becoming Maria … Manzano
Chadwick Boseman: Forever Our King … Johnson
From Broken Glass … Ross
Lost Boy, Lost Girl: Escaping Civil War in Sudan … Dau
Notes of a Native Son … Baldwin
Queer, There, and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World … Prager
Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story … Stelson
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates … Moore
The Truths We Hold … Harris
Things That Make White People Uncomfortable … Bennett
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running … Murakami
Non-Fiction
An Indigenous People’s History for Young People … Reese
Are Prisons Obsolete … Davis
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out … Kuklin
Big Ideas Simply Explained (series) … DK (pub.)
Black Birds in the Sky … Colbert
Disability Visibility … Wong
Just Mercy (Young Readers edition) … Stevenson
Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny … Harper
Marvel Comics: The Untold Story … Howe
Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement … Okamoto
Simeon’s Story: An Eyewitness Account of the Kidnapping of Emmett Till … Wright
Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement … Bowers
Stamped: Racism, Anti Racism and You … Reynolds & Kendi
The 57 Bus … Slater
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks … Skloot
Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team … Sheinkin
Voces sin fronteras: Our Stories. Our Truth / Nuestras historias, nuestra verdad … Latin American Youth Center
What if?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions … Munroe
Poetry
A Time to Dance … Venkatraman
Between the Lines … Grimes
Burned / Smoke … Hopkins
Clap When You Land … Acevedo
Long Way Down … Reynolds
Punching the Air … Zoboi
The Sun and Her Flowers … Kaur
Under the Mesquite … McCall
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This summer, please enjoy at least two books from the lists above. You can read aloud to your child, invite your child to read to you or read together. Audiobooks eBooks on Sora are available at the Boston Public Library (bpl.org).
As you are reading, please find ideas that stand out to you. You can also think about the following questions:
Fiction
- How are the characters feeling? What in the book tells you how the characters feel?
- Who is your favorite character in the story and why?
- What connections can you make between your own life and the characters and situations in this book? What is different from your experiences?
Non-Fiction
- Why is the topic of this book important or interesting to you? What would you want other people to know about this topic?
- What new information are you learning?
- What more do you want to learn about this topic? What in the text makes you want to learn more about this topic?
Discuss your questions and reactions to the book. Consider making notes with Post-its or on a piece of paper as you read or share your thoughts in your way: a picture, bookmark, flip-book, padlet, Tik-Tok, Flipgrid. Share your creations with someone. Have fun reading across Boston in parks, on the Greenway, and along the Charles.
In September, bring your book to school. Be prepared to discuss this with your school community.
Enjoy Boston Public Library’s Summer Reading Program. There are reading activities planned all summer long at https://www.bpl.org/youth-
summer-reading/.