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  • General Recommendations
  • Staff-Created List

Summer Learning: Beat the Heat With Summer Stories

When you've had several 100 degree days on end, instead of melting in the sun you may want to crank up the AC and crack open a book. These books are all about summer. Go for a splash on the shores of your imagination, camp in the wilderness of your cranium, and even if it's too hot to actually go out, know you can always dive headfirst into someone else's summer adventure, and a new read, instead. This is a multigenerational booklist that features selections for Pre-Readers (0-5), Readers (5-10), Pre-Teens (10-12), Teens (12-17), and Adults (18+). Selected by SJPL Staff.

User from San José Public Library

40 items

  • For Pre-Readers. Follows a young girl enjoying fun and exciting activities on a perfect summer day.
    Book, 2024New York : Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2024. — J PICTURE BOOK Watson
  • For Pre-Readers. A day at the community pool is full of unwater magic--dunking and diving with friends; somersaulting, walking on your hands, and bursting up through the surface like a tortoise. But when a thunderstorm comes and a little brother…
    Book, 2021New York, NY : Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2021] — J PICTURE BOOK Davies
  • A Boy Named Isamu

    a Story of Isamu Noguchi

    Yang, James, 1960-
    For Pre-Readers. Imagines a day in the boyhood of Japanese American artist, Isamu Noguchi, while wandering through an outdoor market, through the forest, and then by the ocean, seeing things Isamu sees through the eyes of a young artist.
    Book, 2021New York : Viking, 2021. — J PICTURE BOOK Yang
  • For Pre-Readers. Illustrations and easy-to-read text introduce the colors, songs, and activities of summer.
    Book, 2020New York, NY : Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2020] — J PICTURE BOOK Henkes
  • For Pre-Readers. A picture book about a mermaid named Mabel, who unlike the rest of her family does not have a moustache, and the seven-armed octopus who becomes her friend and helps her see that she is just right the way she is.
    Book, 2020San Francisco : Chronicle Books, [2020] — J PICTURE BOOK Watkins
  • For Pre-Readers and Readers. POP! As a hot day sizzles into evening, everyone on stoops and sidewalks looks skyward on this special summer night--the Fourth of July! Words and art blossom into flowers of fire across the sky, making this a perfect…
    Book, 2025New York, NY : Clarion Books, [2025] — J PICTURE BOOK Burgess
  • For Pre-Readers and Readers. Owl and friends gathering up gifts of love from the woodlands to honor the shining spirits of new life on the longest day of the year.
    Book, 2024New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024. — J PICTURE BOOK Gross
  • For Readers. Mole struggles to hit the ball during summer baseball season, but with Bear's support and a new pair of glasses, he finds the confidence to enjoy the game and the joys of summer with his best friend.
    Book, 2025New York : Holiday House, [2025] — J PICTURE BOOK Hillenbr
  • For Readers. Three African American boys, including one visiting from New York, form a meaningful connection during a summer trip to rural Mississippi.
    Book, 2025New York, New York : Kokila, 2025. — J PICTURE BOOK Laymon
  • For Readers. Follows residents of Seashell Key as they welcome summer visitors to their coastal town.
    Book, 2024New York : Amulet Books, 2024. — J FICTION Heuer
  • For Readers. It's beach day in Soggy Hollow! Everyone is enjoying fun in the sun - everyone, that is, except for Bruce. It's too hot, too sandy, and too windy! Bruce's favorite thing about summer? Doing nothing. In the shade. Where it's cool.…
    Book, 2024Los Angeles, CA : Disney Hyperion, 2024. — J PICTURE BOOK Higgins
  • For Readers. Alf is scared of water--but he's not about to let that keep him from enjoying summer with his water-loving friends. In this slyly humorous story, Alf creatively confronts his fears and comes up with a surprising solution.
    Book, 2024New York : Astra Young Readers, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers, 2024. — J PICTURE BOOK Lindstro
  • For Readers. When twelve-year-old former best friends Maddie and Chloe arrive at camp and discover they are cabin mates, they must decide if they want to continue staying mad at each other or give their friendship another go.
    Book, 2023New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2023. — J FICTION Kapit
  • For Readers and Pre-Teens. With her best friend away at camp, tons of chores to do, and her dad always on her case for being such a tomboy, Lucy is dreading summer. That is, until Milforth's plan to revive an old carousel for the town's 150th…
    Book, 2025New York : Quill Tree Books, Harper Alley, imprints of HarperCollins Publishers, [2025] — J FICTION Carousel
  • For Readers and Pre-Teens. This novel told from multiple points of view follows a diverse cast of young people whose lives intersect...over the course of a summer day at the beach.
    Book, 2025New York : Clarion Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2025] — J FICTION Schmidt
  • For Readers and Pre-Teens. Samira knows this is going to be the worst summer ever. Her best friend, Kiera, ditched her for the cool girls. Her parents and older sister are taking a trip to India, so Sammy is staring down endless weeks spent with…
    Book, 2024New York : Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2024] — J FICTION Hamza
  • For Readers and Pre-Teens. Forced to take Physical Education Equivalency, aka "Slugfest" in summer school so he can maintain his star spot on the JV football team, Yash recruits his fellow PE rejects to train with him and pass this course, an…
    Book, 2024New York, NY : Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2024] — J FICTION Korman
  • For Pre-Teens. Thirteen-year-old Cuban American Gonzalo joins his estranged grandfather on a road trip to promote his grandfather's fantasy book series, although he feels no connection to either.
    Book, 2025New York, New York : Kokila, 2025. — J FICTION Cartaya
  • For Pre-Teens. Four sisters find their summer vacation taking a magical turn when they stumble into the world of some rather unexpected fairies in this moving middle grade story that’s perfect for fans of The Penderwicks.
    Book, 2023New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [2023] — J FICTION Bouwman
  • For Pre-Teens. Caleb Franklin and his younger brother, Bobby Gene, spend an extraordinary summer with their new, older neighbor, Styx Malone, a foster boy from the city.
    Book, 2019New York : A Yearling book, 2019. — J PB FICTION Magoon