2025 Summer Reading Recommendations
Summer is coming! As a parent or student, you may have a list of books to choose from or simply just need a place to start.
One of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman, says, “Fiction has two uses. Firstly, it’s a gateway drug to reading. The drive to know what happens next, to want to turn the page, the need to keep going, even if it’s hard, because someone’s in trouble and you have to know how it’s all going to end … that’s a very real drive. And it forces you to learn new words, to think new thoughts, to keep going. To discover that reading per se is pleasurable. Once you learn that, you’re on the road to reading everything. And reading is key.”
When you pick a good book, you want to keep reading, and as you keep reading, you turn into… well… a reader!
He continues, “The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity. And that means, at its simplest, finding books that they enjoy, giving them access to those books, and letting them read them.”
I would love for you or your child to fall back in love with reading. There is no right or wrong book, and there are so many great options out right now.
My teammate, Kelly, and I gathered a list of a few books that have hit the shelves recently, and in this post, I will give a quick summary in hopes that one may ignite your interest.
Part of our job is helping your kids to want to read, and it starts with getting a good book into their hands.
2025 Recommendations List
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner- Dill has had to wrestle with vipers his whole life—at home, as the only son of a Pentecostal minister who urges him to handle poisonous rattlesnakes, and at school, where he faces down bullies who target him for his father’s extreme faith and very public fall from grace.
The only antidote to all this venom is his friendship with fellow outcasts Travis and Lydia. But as they are starting their senior year, Dill feels the coils of his future tightening around him. The end of high school will lead to new beginnings for Lydia, whose edgy fashion blog is her ticket out of their rural Tennessee town. And Travis is happy wherever he is thanks to his obsession with the epic book series Bloodfall and the fangirl who may be turning his harsh reality into real-life fantasy. Dill’s only escapes are his music and his secret feelings for Lydia—neither of which he is brave enough to share. Graduation feels more like an ending to Dill than a beginning. But even before then, he must cope with another ending—one that will rock his life to the core.
Debut novelist Jeff Zentner provides an unblinking and at times comic view of the hard realities of growing up in the Bible Belt, and an intimate look at the struggles to find one’s true self in the wreckage of the past (Goodreads).Review from Kelly: This was my son’s favorite coming-of-age novel. Also, it is a great audiobook read. He is a local author to Nashville and great for older teens.
Please Pay Attention by Jamie Sumner- There is a Before and an After for eighth grader Bea Coughlin. Before the shooting at her school that took the lives of her classmates and teacher and After, when she must figure out how to grieve, live, and keep rolling forward. But as her community rallies in a tidal wave of marches and speeches and protests, Bea can’t get past the helplessness she felt in her wheelchair as others around her took cover.
Through the help of therapeutic horseback riding, Bea finally begins to feel like herself again. And as she heals, she finds her voice and the bravery to demand change (GoodReads).Review from Paige: Jamie Sumner was my sophomore level English teacher. She has written a few middle grade series, but this one hits close to home. This book is dedicated and inspired by the events that happened in Nashville at The Covenant School. It is dedicated to Nate’s beloved aunt and our community. I am so thankful that Jamie explored this topic in her new book.
Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green- Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.
In 2019, John Green met Henry, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone while traveling with Partners in Health. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal and dynamic advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, treatable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing 1.5 million people every year.
In Everything is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.Review from Paige: I love anything by John Green. But this is quite a departure from his The Fault in Our Stars era. In a non-fiction exploration (but that reads like a work of fiction), John explores Henry’s story and truly makes exploring this disease fascinating even to those who do not love science or anything related to a hospital (insert hand raise here!).
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins- As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.
Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.
When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena (GoodReads).Review from Paige: The Hunger Games is back, baby. But this prequel was SO fun! I loved getting more insight into Katniss’s parents’ story and of course Haymitch. I am pumped to see this movie, but of course, read the book first!
The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Septys and Sheinkin- Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister Lizzie share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they’re living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find themselves amidst one of the greatest secrets of World War II—Britain’s eccentric codebreaking factory at Bletchley Park. As Jakob joins Bletchley’s top minds to crack the Nazi's Enigma cipher, fourteen-year-old Lizzie embarks on a mission to solve the mysterious disappearance of their mother.
The Battle of Britain rages and Hitler’s invasion creeps closer. And at the same time, baffling messages and codes arrive on their doorstep while a menacing inspector lurks outside the gates of the Bletchley mansion. Are the messages truly for them, or are they a trap? Could the riddles of Enigma and their mother's disappearance be somehow connected? Jakob and Lizzie must find a way to work together as they race to decipher clues which unravel a shocking puzzle that presents the ultimate challenge: How long must a secret be kept? (GoodReads).Review from Paige: Again, another favorite author- Ruta Septys. If someone is doing historical fiction correct, in my mind, it’s Ruta Septys. I have read most of her middle grade works, and I love them all. They are captivating and pull you into the story (while subsequently teaching you about a specific moment in history). This book was no exception to the others.
In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner- Life in a small Appalachian town is not easy. Cash lost his mother to an opioid addiction and his Papaw is dying slowly from emphysema. Dodging drug dealers and watching out for his best friend, Delaney, is second nature. He’s been spending his summer mowing lawns while she works at Dairy Queen.
But when Delaney manages to secure both of them full rides to an elite prep school in Connecticut, Cash will have to grapple with his need to protect and love Delaney, and his love for the grandparents who saved him and the town he would have to leave behind (GoodReads).Review from Kelly: Again, another great one by Jeff Zentner! All of his books have Tennessee connections too. And he came to our book club!
