Summer Reading 2025: Middle School

This volume recognizes women who left their birth countries for a multitude of reasons- some for new opportunities, some out of necessity. Readers will whip up a plate with Asma Khan, strategize global affairs alongside Madeleine Albright, venture into business with Rihanna, and many more. All of these unique, yet relatable stories are accompanied by gorgeous, full-page, full-color portraits.

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Note: this is actually a memoir, but it reads like realistic fiction!

When she was just a tiny baby, something terrible happened to Lexi. It left her with an out-of-control body and without a voice. Now, as a precocious, superhero-obsessed thirteen-year-old, Lexi is counting down the final 24 hours to a risky brain surgery that might help her talk or--dare she dream it?--to walk and use her hands. As surgery grows closer, Lexi finds an urgent, relentless need to share the story of the year in her life she calls The Year of the Buttered Cat. That year, on the verge of shutting out the rest of the world, Lexi began a gutsy and solitary quest to find her "missing" body... and she learns new ways to reach out to the world to save her friendships and uncover the startling truth about what happened to her as a baby.

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In the fictional town of Maple Grove, New Jersey, the local kids gather at the community center to discover new crushes, fight against ignorance, and even save a life. Cheer for Chaya as she wins chess tournaments (unlike Andrew, she knows stupid sugary soda won't make you better at chess), and follow as Jeevan learns how to cook traditional food (it turns out he can cook sabji-- he just can't eat it). This short story collection, edited by Pakistani-American author Hena Khan, is filled with humor, warmth, and possibility.

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Nyuki is a brand-new honeybee--and she has a lot of questions. Like: When does a bee go through metamorphosis? Why does a queen bee sometimes leave her hive? And where does all this honey come from, anyway! But Nyuki's biggest question is, "What is this inner voice I hear, and why does it tell me to go forth to adventure?" Follow Nyuki on a lifelong journey as she annoys her sisters, avoids predators, and learns to trust her inner voice as she masters the way of the hive. And if you still have questions at the end, the back of the book uncovers even more mysteries about the lives of these incredible insects!

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Scoring a goal against your own team. Copying a classmate's schoolwork. Accepting a dare to jump down the stairs . . . and getting hurt. This engrossing poetry anthology explores making mistakes and learning from them. Twenty brave poets―Linda Sue Park, Margarita Engle, Allan Wolf, David Elliott, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Lacresha Berry, George Ella Lyon, Jaime Adoff, Vikram Madan, Kim Rogers, Douglas Florian, Tabatha Yeatts, Jorge Argueta, Jane Yolen, Charles Waters, JaNay Brown-Wood, Irene Latham, April Halprin Wayland, Darren Sardelli, and Naomi Shihab Nye―share real-life mistakes they made as young people . . . and what happened next.

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At the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, Chloe Kim became the youngest woman to ever receive an Olympic gold medal in snowboarding, and she was only seventeen! This amazing accomplishment led to Chloe winning three ESPY awards, becoming the inspiration for her own Barbie doll, and gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated. She is also the only athlete to have won three gold medals at the X Games before turning sixteen. Learn about Chloe's brilliant career and her lifelong love of snowboarding in this biography for young readers.

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It's true that the first Earth Day encouraged people around the globe to clean up their act when it came to the environment. But activists have been working for centuries to save the planet! Native people across the world developed sustainable farming practices, women in eighteenth-century India stood up to protect trees, and amateur scientist Eunice Foote discovered the science behind global warming all the way back in the 1850s! Join the History Smashers team to bust history's biggest misconceptions and figure out what in the world really went down before (and after!) the first Earth Day--and how you can join the fight to protect the environment.

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This unique book celebrates all the amazing ways communication shapes our lives, including through text messages on phones, Braille buttons in elevators, and endangered languages at risk of disappearing.

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Inclusivity sets this beautifully illustrated picture book apart in its exploration of thirty-six inspirational Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, such as disabled hero Daniel Inouye, immigrant astronaut Kalpana Chawla, and biracial entertainer Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Olympic medalist siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani felt compelled to create a book showing the undeniably positive impacts that Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans have made in this country and around the world.

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Have you ever wondered about the best way to chop an onion or separate an egg? Or even how to make fancy-looking Chocolate Pastry Puffs for breakfast and Oven-Baked Chicken with Teriyaki Sauce for dinner? Kids Can Cook Anything! has delicious recipes that will wow. Recipes were thoroughly tested by America's Test Kitchen test cooks AND more than 15k ATK kid testers to get them just right for cooks of all skill levels.Step-by-step photos of tips and techniques will help young chefs feel like pros in their own kitchen.QR codes throughout the book link to video examples of relevant techniques and skills to help kids visualize concepts.

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Do you remember what career you dreamed of having when you were a kid? Right up there along with firefighter, doctor, and astronaut, you'll find veterinarian as one of the top kid's dream jobs. This usually stems from that childhood love of a beloved pet or even the adventure of visiting the exotic animals at the zoo. But there are so many other careers that are focused around animals that kids don't know exist. Covering industries from domestic and exotic veterinary medicine, wildlife protection and conservation, farming and fisheries, research, and even animal training and handling (like police dogs), So, You Want to Work with Animals? explores what these jobs are really like--the fun stuff, the hard stuff, and even the gross stuff.

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The #1 New York Times bestseller freshly adapted for the next generation. Out of the depths of the Great Depression comes the astonishing tale of nine working-class boys from the American West who at the 1936 Olympics showed the world what true grit really meant. With rowers who were the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington's eight-oar crew was never expected to defeat the elite East Coast teams, yet they did, going on to shock the world by challenging the German boat rowing for Adolf Hitler.   At the center of the tale is Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, whose personal quest captures the spirit of his generation--the generation that would prove in the coming years that the Nazis could not prevail over American determination and optimism.

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Do you want to get started as a babysitter and be successful with kids and their parents? Everything you need to know is right here! You'll learn about basic childcare skills, staying safe while babysitting, and starting your own babysitting business. Also find out how to: communicate with and be professional around parents. plan fun and safe activities for children of all ages. find where to go for first aid and CPR training.  market yourself as a great babysitter. Get the facts and skills you need to become a confident and responsible babysitter!

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Too many Jews have been told: "You don't look Jewish!" It begs the question, "What does Jewish look like?" Well, there are over fifteen million Jews in the world, which means there are more than fifteen million ways to look and be Jewish. It can look like setting out menorahs on tribal land, adding kimchi to the seder plate, organizing for change, and living out loud. Shining a light on Paralympians and chefs, anthropologists and activists, dancers and dreamers, the individuals in these pages represent a range of identities. But they are threaded together by one unmistakable truth: Their lives, work, and commitment to Jewish values have changed our world for the better.

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In 1692, a few paranoid Puritans accused their neighbors of being witches sending the town flying off the (broomstick) handle. Before it was all over, dozens of women in Salem, Massachusetts were executed-burned at the stake. RIGHT? WRONG! There was some serious witch worry, but no one in the United States was put on a pyre (though the truth isn't much better). And women weren't the only ones caught in crossfire...maybe don't read this one aloud to your dog. What really happened? The truth is historians aren't totally sure. But it is certain that religious beliefs, a changing world, and a few super nosy neighbors collided to spell disaster for one New England town.

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Follow the footsteps of the father of American horror fiction. Edgar Allan Poe was an oddity: his life, literature, and legacy are all, well, odd. In Poe-Land, J. W. Ocker explores the physical aspects of Poe's legacy across the East Coast and beyond, touring Poe's homes, examining artifacts from his life--locks of his hair, pieces of his coffin, original manuscripts, his boyhood bed--and visiting the many memorials dedicated to him. Along the way, Ocker meets people from a range of backgrounds and professions--actors, museum managers, collectors, historians--who have dedicated some part of their lives to Poe and his legacy.

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"30 Days Learning to Draw Like an Artist" is a complete journey for kids who dream of becoming confident creators. It's a how to draw book that begins with the basics--lines, shapes, and forms--and gently guides children toward more advanced techniques like shading, sketching, and perspective. Inside this how to draw everything guide, children will enjoy drawing animals, faces, nature, and more.

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Rudi has learned the terrible secret hidden behind the heavily guarded fences of concentration camps across Nazi-occupied Europe: the methodical mass killing of Jewish prisoners. As trains full of people arrive daily, Rudi knows that the murders won't stop until he reveals the truth to the world--and that each day that passes means more lives are lost. Lives like Rudi's schoolmate Gerta Sidonová. Gerta's family fled from Slovakia to Hungary, where they live under assumed names to hide their Jewish identity. But Hungary is beginning to cave under pressure from German Nazis. Her chances of survival become slimmer by the day. The clock is ticking. As Gerta inches closer to capture, Rudi and his friend Alfred Wetzler begin their crucial steps towards an impossible escape. This is the true story of one of the most famous whistleblowers in the world, and how his death-defying escape helped save over 100,000 lives.

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