In my world, summer means lazier days with the family, hot days by the pool and reading. 

Lots and lots of reading. 

From adult fiction to picture books, middle grade novels to memoirs, I spend the summer tending to my reading life like others might tend to their summer gardens (I do NOT have a green thumb). 

I like to think of my summer as one long reading retreat. In fact, each summer I teach Children’s Literature at my University and we read our way through a staggering amount of books together. 

Every summer, I decide which books we will read together as a class and which books I’ll recommend for teachers’ personal TBR stacks. 

It’s one of my favorite things. 

I compile book lists of current reads and old favorites, bestselling books and backlist titles, well-known award-winning books and lesser known gems to be discovered. And since I’m often asked for recommended titles both inside this course and outside of it on social media, I’m sharing my list in hopes it inspires your summer reading (and classroom libraries), too.

Here’s a sneak peek into 5 of my favorite picture books to recommend:

How did I choose?

Well, I went back to my own reading logs, my social media feeds, the best-of lists and reached out to some bookish friends, too. From there, I created a list of 100 books spanning multiple genres:

  • Picture Books
  • Early Readers
  • Middle Grade
  • Young Adult
  • Historical Fiction
  • Fantasy
  • Poetry & Verse
  • Graphic Novels
  • Biography & Memoir
  • Non-Fiction

Condensing all of my favorite book recommendations down to just 100 books was a tall order. Are there books missing that I love? Yes. Are there newer books that could replace a title or two here? Yes. Are there genres that overlap? Yes. Will this list change in the future? It sure will. Next summer, in fact. 

My goal is to get books into teachers’ hands that should ultimately find their way to their classroom libraries. Books that are new, are diverse and can act as mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors for all of us. 

I release this guide at the start of every summer in hopes of sparking your own summer reading retreat and fueling your reading life beyond that, too. These are books that I’ve loved, books that I’ve needed to read and books that are on my TBR stack. 

Let’s get reading!

Download the guide here!