Take a look at Collaborative Summer Book Lists created by the Alachua County Library District and Alachua County Public Schools. These top award winners and quality titles are perfect to keep students engaged and learning all summer long.
We encourage parents to take an active role in their child's summer reading. Please review titles to see if they suit your children and ask them about what they are reading.
- Kindergarten - 2nd Grade
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Readers will delight in turning their book sideways and upside down to follow Mel on her journey from downward fall to triumphant flight in this tale of self-confidence and taking a leap of faith.
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Outside, Inside by LeUyen Pham
A moving picture book celebrating essential workers and the community coming together to face the challenges of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
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Unlimited Squirrels: Guess What!? by Mo Willems
Zoom Squirrel and the Squirrel pals are looking forward to going to the beach.
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Embarrassed about gathering watercress from a roadside ditch, a girl learns to appreciate her Chinese heritage after learning why the plant is so important to her parents.
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Fly Guy & Fly Girl: Friendly Frenzy by Tedd Arnold
Buzz, Fly Guy, Liz, and Fly Girl meet a boy a named Carlos in the park, but Carlos has a pet lizard with a taste for flies--so it looks like this is a friendship that is doomed from the start.
- 3rd Grade - 5th Grade
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The One Thing You’d Save by Linda Sue Park
Explore different answers to this provocative question in linked poems that capture the diverse voices of a middle school class.
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A graphic novel about the unexpected friendship between the loneliest girl in class and the coolest canine in town.
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North and South: A Tale of Two Hemispheres by Sandra Morris
Get a global view of how animals adapt to the seasons and threats to their survival in their northern and southern hemisphere homes.
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In Oaxaca City, Mexico, ancient friends Life and Death discuss free will while engaged in a game of chance, with eleven-year-old Clara as the protagonist of their theories and a pawn in their game, moving inevitably towards her ultimate fate.
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The House That Wasn’t There by Elana Arnold
Dismayed when his neighbors cut down a beloved old walnut tree that has always been a source of comfort, Alder forges an unexpected friendship with the new girl next door over a series of mysterious connections.
- 6th Grade - 8th Grade
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Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood by Gary Paulsen
The three-time Newbery Honor-winning author of Hatchet shares the story of his turbulent childhood, his escape into military service and the life-changing impact of an encouraging librarian who handed him his first book.
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The Canyon’s Edge by Dusti Bowling
A year after the death of her mother in a restaurant shooting, Nora is left struggling to stay alive when a climbing trip with her father goes terribly wrong.
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Black Boy Joy: 17 Stories Celebrating Black Boyhood by Kwame Mbalia
Featuring contributions from such critically acclaimed Black authors as Jason Reynolds, Jerry Craft, and Kwame Mbalia, this celebration of Black boyhood is told through a brilliant collection of stories, comics, and poems.
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Out of my Heart by Sharon M. Draper
Summary: Because she loves horses but is scared of them, Melody wants to conquer her fears, so she hopes a summer camp will be the place to welcome someone with cerebral palsy who wants to learn to ride.
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Set Me Free by Ann Clare LeZotte
Summary: Set Me Free is a masterful stand-alone companion to Show Me a Sign, and a searing exposé of ableism, racism, and colonialism that will challenge you to think differently about the dignity and capacity within every human being.
- 9th Grade - 12th Grade
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Ain’t Burned all the Bright by Jason Reynolds
A smash up of art and text that viscerally captures what it means to not be able to breathe, and how the people and things you love most are actually the oxygen you most need.
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I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
A gut-wrenching, startling historical thriller about communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation.
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Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
Daunis, who is part Ojibwe, defers attending the University of Michigan to care for her mother and reluctantly becomes involved in the investigation of a series of drug-related deaths.
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Raised among doomsday preppers, Becca Aldaine's life has centered on planning for the worst, but when her escape plan is jeopardized, she turns to the boy she is expected to marry and hopes for the best.
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Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon
Summary: After picking up a book from the library, Yvette--who has given up on love--gains the ability to see how other people's romantic relationships will end.
Join the Alachua County Library District's Summer at the Library: Oceans of Possibilities for fun programs and chances to win cool prizes May 28-July 31.