My Favorite YA Fiction (Summer Reading Edition)
While studying to get my Masters in Curriculum and Instruction, I read A LOT of Young Adult fiction. I was introduced to many titles that I loved (some featured here) as well as some that I could never see myself using in the classroom or recommending to others. That is one of my favorite things about books—there is a perfect reader for every book, even if I am not that reader. The books featured in this post are all books that I recommend equally to kids and adults. As you read through the descriptions, you will see my suggested age range. I wouldn’t recommend going younger than that age range, but going older is just fine. One of these books was my own adult book club’s choice several years ago, and we all greatly enjoyed the change of pace. Read on to see which one it was!
Esperanza Rising is a beautiful coming of age story set in Mexico and California. Esperanza’s story takes her from a life of privilege (and dare I say leisure?) on a Mexican ranch to a life as a migrant farmworker in California. Esperanza experiences deep loss and prejudice along the way. She somehow finds the strength on this unexpected journey to continue on, proving herself as one of the most resilient characters in young adult fiction.
I have always found Esperanza to be a highly relatable character. Kids and adults will connect with her authenticity and challenges. This book is recommended for students in grades 5-6, but I think a strong fourth grade reader would also enjoy it. I have a featured reading guide for the book available in my store for anyone hoping to guide their child through the reading this summer. This is a great book to give a middle school or about to be high schooler, as well. Esperanza’s life is suddenly upended and filled with challenging unknowns, which most of us can relate to in one way or another.
Buy your copy of the book here.
Refugee took me by surprise when I first read it. It captured and kept my attention from page one, which stands out to me in the world of YA fiction. This action-packed story follows three different kids through three very different times and places in history. The connecting thread of their lives is filled with disaster and an immediate, intense need to escape. Josef, a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany, boards a ship bound for Havana, Cuba. Isabel, a Cuban girl in 1994, sets out in a raft with her family to escape the dangerous unrest in her country. Mahmoud, a Syrian boy in 2015, makes the long journey to Europe with his family after his homeland becomes increasingly unsafe. They each face unimaginable challenges on their journeys to a new life, but somehow a small light of hope remains with them throughout their ordeals.
I recommend this book for students in grades 6-9. I dare anyone to read this book and not feel deep compassion for refugees all over the world and throughout history. Alan Gratz does a beautiful job portraying the harsh realities refugees face while maintaining a hopeful tone. You will be rooting for these characters to find safety and peace from start to finish.
Grab your copy of the book here.
Holes is the darkly humorous story of Stanley Yelnats, a boy who knows a thing or two about bad luck. “The curse” has followed him and his family around for generations, and now it has led to Stanley being unjustly sent to a boys’ detention center. His job there? Digging holes. As Stanley works to navigate life at Camp Green Lake (the detention center), he also begins to unravel the true history of his family’s curse.
This book won the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award for a reason. It is engaging, funny, and well-written. I have yet to meet a student who read this book and didn’t enjoy it. It is my go-to choice for fourth to 8th grade boys who “don’t like to read.” Something about Stanley seems to resonate particularly strongly with this group of kids. That being said, it’s a great read for anyone in grades 5-8 (or older).
I have a complete Holes reading guide available in my store for anyone hoping to guide their child through the book, as well. You can grab the reading guide here.
Grab your copy of Holes here.
Piecing Me Together is one of those books that opened up a new world to me. That world was one that had been right in front of my eyes, but that I had never truly been able to enter into. Jade takes the bus away from her friends and her life every day to the private school where she always feels like an outsider. She believes that functioning within this community is her change to escape her poor neighborhood, a necessity if she is ever going to succeed in life. When she joins Woman to Woman, a mentorship program at her school, in order to get a scholarship she finds that she resents feeling like someone who is always singled out for help and support in her school community. This book explores issues of race, privilege, and relationships.
I recommend this book for students in grades 8-12. There are so many moving scenes in the book that help readers understand what it feels like to be living in a world that feels foreign to you. It will force you to consider the struggle that so many people face when forced to decide between fitting in and being true to themselves.
You can buy your copy here.
Echo tells the story of Otto, a boy living in Germany “fifty years before the war to end all wars” and the way his story echoes and intertwines through the lives of Friedrich (in Germany), Mike (in Pennsylvania), and Ivy (in California). This book has it all—epic challenges for the characters, a bit of magical surrealism, and music. The same harmonica finds each of the children in the story and remains with them as they face their challenges. My adult book club read this book several years ago, and we all loved it. It is a great choice for students in grades 6-8.
Similarly to Refugee, this book highlights the connectedness of humanity despite the differences in our circumstances. We all face challenges in life whether we want to or not. Echo shows us that good will find us in the end.
You can buy your copy of the book here.
Happy reading!
