Summer Reading List for Teens: Ghosts, Teen Fighting Cancer, and Updated Fairy Tale

Posted by ReadKiddoRead

This summer, consider these important facts:

• In what’s commonly known as the “summer slide,” children entering the sixth grade who do not read over the summer can fall as much as two years behind the kids who do.
  
  
• Kids read more when they are given books they like—especially if they can choose their own books. 

The Diviners

By Libba Bray

For ages 12 and up

A series of occult-based murders in 1920s New York City put Evie O’Neill and her uncle, curator of what’s known as “The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies,” center stage in investigating the crimes. The tightly-woven plot and palpable setting combine with supernatural elements, rich themes, and terrific storytelling to make for a compelling read.

On the Day I Died

By Candace Fleming

For ages 11 and up
Scary is always in season, and summer is an especially good time to welcome a shivery chill.  On appropriately dark and moonless nights, kids will find themselves scaring friends with the stories in this collection, whether examinations of pure evil, ancient curses, alien encounters, or psychological dramas.

The Fault in Our Stars

By John Green

For ages 13 and up

Hazel Lancaster, a teen with cancer, dropped out of school at 13 to concentrate on getting well. Now 16, she meets Augustus Waters, a former basketball player who’s lost a leg to cancer. Their connection is instantaneous. Green skillfully uses their lives to ask the big questions — Why me? Why now? Why risk love? What does being alive mean?

Scarlet: Lunar Chronicles Book Two

By Marissa Meyer

For ages 12 up

A second fresh view of a classic fairy tale – with another stop-you-in-your-tracks cover. Here Scarlet (Little Red Riding Hood) and her street-fighter boyfriend Wolf are in search of Scarlet’s grandmother.  Their search runs right into Cinder’s story as the three race to keep ahead of the evil Lunar Queen Levana.  Or start with the first book in the series: Cinder

The False Prince

By Jennifer A. Nielson

For ages 13 and up

Carthya is on the brink of civil war.  Conner, one of the noblemen, has a treacherous plan to install an imposter on the throne. But first he must find just the right young man to play the part:  Could Sage win the role?  As in any high stakes game, all is not as it seems. Amid layers of deception and manipulation, readers are in for surprises as Sage draws closer to the goal.

Shadow on the Mountain

By Margi Preus

For ages 12 and up

Espen is fourteen, a Norwegian boy, whose country is occupied by the Nazis and who, with his friends, joins the Norwegian resistance.  Margi Preus reveals his story in an engrossing text that combines spy thriller with teen-coming-of-age story, enhanced by photographs, maps and brochures from the time.

Eleanor and Park

By Rainbow Rowell

For ages 14 and up

In 1980’s Omaha, Eleanor, new to town and quirky, and Park, half-Korean, are outsiders in their high school.  It’s worse for Eleanor, with an abusive stepfather and bullying classmates, so bad that she accepts Park’s father’s invitation for her to stay with their family.  In small steps, and completely believably, Eleanor and Park’s friendship grows into love.  But Park realizes that the solution to Eleanor’s troubles means that she will have to move away.

After Eli

By Rebecca Rupp

For ages 12 and up

Since his older brother was killed in Iraq, Danny Anderson has been keeping a Book of the Dead where he chronicles how people from the past have died.  It’s his way of understanding loss.  But it is not until three years later that Danny begins to pull away from grief: he falls for a girl, finds a new friendship, and works on a farm.  A crisis at the end of that summer pushes Danny and his parents toward healing in this moving and emotionally-rich novel.

Out of the Easy

By Ruta Sepetys

For ages 14 and up

The Big Easy has been anything but easy on Josie. She’s tried distancing herself from her mother — an addict, prostitute and thief.  Josie dreams of escaping Easy altogether, but doesn’t believe she can make that happen … until she meets a tourist who offers the encouragement she needs.  Ruta Sepetys vividly describes the sights, sounds, and smells as well as the shady underbelly of New Orleans in 1950 and breathes life into her cast of characters.  Teens will be pulling for Josie as she moves  ahead, learning that some decisions are anything but easy.

The Raven Boys

By Maggie Stiefvater

For ages12 and up

For as long as Blue Sargent can remember, she’s been told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. And in her family – one filled with bona-fide psychics – predictions are never taken lightly. Now sixteen, Blue befriends three Raven boys from the posh private school nearby and gets caught up in their quest and adventures.  Blue fears that one of them just might be her true love. A compelling story from the outset, Stiefvater’s first installment in a planned four-part cycle will have readers on the edge of their seats.

The Cay

By Theodore Taylor

For ages 12 and up

When World War II threatens the Dutch island of Curacao where 11-year-old Philip lives, he and his mother decide to return to the U.S.  On the journey their boat is torpedoed, and Philip is stranded on a life raft with a cat and Timothy, a black man. Later, when Phillip becomes blind, he has no choice but to overcome his prejudices and trust Timothy.  Their friendship develops beautifully in this exciting survival story.

5,000 Awesome Facts (About Everything!)

National Geographic

For ages 11 up

From 15 peanut butter facts that stick and 50 furry facts about bears to 100 facts about oceans to make your head swim, this big, colorful, packed-to-the-brim compendium is sure to fascinate, entertain, and be a source of great conversations for everyone who takes a look.  Photographs illustrate the great variety of information, a playful design makes every page inviting, and a ticker at the bottom of each spread counts the facts kids learn as they go through the book.  You’ll find your teen dipping in and out of this book all summer long.

EXTRA CREDIT

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann