Our 2025 Summer Reading List
This summer, I’m trying to be a bit more intentional about the books we’ll be reading around here and thought I’d share our plans. These picks are for my kids, ages 6, 8, and almost 12 and you’ll notice many of our choices were inspired by our recent Eastern US Trip.
Family Read Alouds
Eleven: This is a fictional story about 9/11. I skim read this —worried it might be too heavy as a family read aloud, but I think it’ll be okay. It is sad though. FYI there is some language in the book I am going to edit out.
The Penderwicks: We’re going to start with The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy and if we like the series we’ll keep going. Last school year we read Vanderbeekers on 141st Street and someone told me this series has a similar feel. I didn’t love it, but all my kids did and my girls ended up reading the entire series.
The Little House on the Prairie: If we have time, I’d like the girls to read at least the first 3 books of this series to my younger boys sometimes over the summer or by the end of 2025.
Greek Mythology: As part of our morning routine we’ll also be reading some short greek myths.
Age 11-12
The False Prince Series: The girls are half way through this series and have raved so much about it that I am planning to read it this summer too.
Voice of The Wilderness Series (A Wolf Called Wander): They’re also half way through this series. It’s one that’s perfect for animal lovers!
A Childhood of Famous American Series: Have you listened to the Literary Life Episode about Why Read Biographies? I decided we need more of these in our homeschool. So, I loaded up on a bunch for the girls. At this level they’ll be easy reads, but hopefully they’ll mean a little more now that we’ve visited and seen some of the places (like the Hershey factory) and even things these people have made —like one of the original Wright Brother’s planes!
Because of Winn Dixie: On our recent trip, the girls picked this out in a thrift book store and just started reading it. We love anything by Kate DiCamillo.
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh & Rasco and the Rats of Nihm: The girls have already read the first book and are working their way through the sequel right now. They both loved the first one, but not sure they’re loving the second one.
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler: This is a story about two kids who run away to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is on it’s way so I haven’t looked through it yet and I don’t know anyone else who’s read it, but I’ve heard it mentioned in homeschool circles so I think it looked promising. I thought this would be an especially fun one for my girls since we were just in NYC.
Age 8
TGTB Level 2 A/B Readers: I recently stocked up on a bunch of level 2 readers for my son and I just keep them in a bin on our bookshelves so he can pick whatever he wants to read next. He’s reading from these books morning and evening to practice fluency. He especially loves the Animal Adventure Series. TGTB has readers for every level and they’re our favorite go-tos for reading practice. I think I have all but one or two of the level 2 readers from TGTB now so I think we will have plenty to last us alllll summer.
My son also loves when I read a loud to just him and these are the three series we’re currently reading together:
Dragon Masters (skipping book 22)
He started with both the Boxcar Children and Dragon Masters on Yoto. (PS if you’re new to Yoto you’ll want to check out this post and remember my 10% off Yoto discount code is AFF-CASSIE10)
When we’re done with these series I’d like to read some of the biographies from A Childhood of Famous American Series because I definitely think he’ll like these after our trip.
Age 6
TGTB Level K Readers: Just like my older son, we’re reading lots of these readers to work on his fluency as well. He also has a bin on our bookshelf he can pick leveled books out of to read each day. We just started My First Poetry Reader and that’s been really fun. He is also loving the Little Go Books.
100+ Picture Books to Read with Your Kindergartner: With my youngest we’re definitely in the stage where we are reading and re-reading our favorite picture books and it’s so fun because now he is starting to be able to read some of the books on this list. He especially loves anything by Mo Williams and is just starting to read Dr. Seuss. So, we’ll just be pulling lots of these off our shelves and I’ll be reading some and he’ll be reading some. He also listens to his Yoto almost every day. Mercy Watson is still his absolute favorite and always on repeat.
That’s a wrap! Let me know what you’re reading this summer —I’d love to hear! Next week I’ll be sharing more about our summer rhythm and what we’ll be learning about! Stay tuned.
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