Books on My Summer 2025 to-Read List – Literacious

*I got my weeks all mixed-up so this is actually next week’s topic, but I’ll circle back around and get to the one I missed next week!

For many people summer is here! And while summer doesn’t officially start until June 20th, on the summer solstice, I always like to think of the summer season from Memorial Day until Labor Day! Summers are fairly busy in the public library world as programming for kids increases and even more adults seem to find time to pick up a little reading of their own. I think the idea that the days are “longer” the sun sets later at night encourages people to take some time for themselves. And if you’re lucky, maybe your work schedule allows for shortened Fridays or more of rest for well-deserving teachers. Whatever the reason, summer is a great time to pick up your reading habit again!

Today, I’m sharing some middle grade and young adult novels that have been or are going to be released this summer – hot off the presses! Each summer, my mom would take all of us kids to Barnes and Noble and we got to pick out a new book to read. We had plenty of books in our house growing up and made frequent trips to the local library, but starting out the summer with something new that was just mine was always a great time. So, whether you stop by a local independent book store or your local library, add these titles to your summer reading list!

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Books on My Summer 2025 to-Read List

If a book on the list has yet to be published, I’ll make sure to include an expected publication date, otherwise these are now available!

Confessions of a Junior Spy by Rosaria Munda

Bea dreams of becoming a spy like her mom. Growing up in the Pangean Hotel, a secret sanctuary for spies, she spends her time studying self-defense, languages, codebreaking, and field medicine, preparing for the day when she can follow in her mother’s footsteps. But her mom has a different plan for Bea: She wants Bea to attend boarding school like one of the normal folk. Bea can’t think of a worse fate, the Life is all she’s ever known. But you do not say no to the Pangean League’s top spy.

While Bea is juggling test prep and applications with desperate plans to avoid going to normal school at all costs, a new girl moves into the hotel with her family. Chantal’s family is clearly on the run, and Bea and her best friend Tommy are certain they can use their skills and knowledge to help her…. If boarding school doesn’t get in the way first.

The Extraordinary Orbit of Alex Ramirez by Jasminne Paulino

Seventh grader Alex’s favorite things to do are watching YouTube videos of rocket launches with his Papi and spending hours on the NASA website reading about astronauts and planets. He even dreams of going to space one day himself, and knows he’ll have to study hard in order to get there.

But Alex is in his grade’s SC (self-contained) classroom, which means doing the same dull worksheets every day and reading books his sister read back in the third grade. Worst of all, being in SC means nobody thinks he’s ready to join Ms. Rosef’s mainstream science class—the class Alex knows will be the first step on his path to NASA.

When his teacher says “not yet” for the millionth time, Alex decides it’s time to make a change. Now he’s ready to try everything he can to get the people in his life—his teachers, his parents, and the kids at school—to understand that he, Alex Ramirez, is capable of the extraordinary.

A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim

Truyan Saigas didn’t choose to become a con artist, but after her father is lost at sea, it’s up to her to support her mother and two younger sisters. A gifted art forger, Tru has the unique ability to paint the future, but even such magic is not enough to put her family back together again, or stave off the gangsters demanding payment in blood for her mother’s gambling debts.

Left with few options, Tru agrees to a marriage contract with a mysterious dragon lord. He offers a fresh start for her mother and sisters and elusive answers about her father’s disappearance, but in exchange, she must join him in his desolate undersea palace. And she must assist him in a plot to infiltrate the tyrannical Dragon King’s inner circle, painting a future so treasonous, it could upend both the mortal and immortal realms. . . .

The Girl with Gills by Becca Rogers

Expected Publication Date: July 3, 2025

In a time and place which might be now, people with gills, outcast larkers, live in secret communities.

They have houseboats along the river. Concealing their gills from land lubbers, they scour the mudbanks, trade their finds and live off their wits. Thirteen-year-old Effra has been supporting her brother, Fleet, alone since their beloved grandfather died six months ago.

When merciless Rivermun, a larker gone bad, threatens Fleet, Effra’s quests begins. Rivermun asks for the impossible – he wants to overpower Mother River, to possess the river serpent’s pearl and for age-old debts to be settled. Effra must bargain with the imposing Mother River, dive into the underwater parts of the city, venture deep into the Rat Queen’s lair and confront the terrible river serpent to save not only Fleet, but everything the larkers stand for. Luckily, she is not alone. She befriends a sentient sewer rat and a landlubber girl called Bow, who will help her in her quest.

The Incorruptibles by Lauren Magaziner

Fiora Barrowling lives in a world where sorcerers rule over humans. After surviving an encounter with The Radiance—the very worst of the sorcerers—she’s whisked away to the incredible Incorruptibles (“Inc”) Academy, a school for resistance fighters in training. But most of the other students think Fiora hasn’t earned her place there, and when things start to go wrong and it seems the sorcerers have a spy in the academy, all eyes are on Fiora. With all odds stacked against her, can Fiora prove that she belongs?

Kickturn by Brie Spangler

Expected Publication Date: June 17, 2025

Lindy doesn’t love living a nomadic life with her influencer parents in their renovated RV-school bus—but she’s used to it. They travel from national park to national park, where her mom creates #yogalife content. Lindy is supposed to be homeschooling, but really, she’s watching her favorite skateboarder on YouTube, day to night.

When the bus breaks down in San Jose, Lindy happens to meet a few local girls who want to take her to a real, live skate park. And when they do, Lindy immediately falls in love. With skateboarding. And with having friends that aren’t her cat. With staying in the same place for a little while.

Lindy’s parents want to get back on the road as soon as the bus is fixed—but Lindy is willing to do anything to get them to stay. Even if that means sabotage. Will they ever be able to put down roots? And will Lindy’s parents ever forgive her if they do?

The Last Tiger by Julia Riew and Brad Riew

Expected Publication Date: July 29, 2025

In a colonized land where tigers are being hunted to extinction and ancient magic stirs, two star-crossed teens—Lee Seung, a servant yearning for freedom, and Choi Eunji, a noble girl defying tradition—join forces to try and reshape their respective fates.

But their relationship evolves from begrudging accomplices to bitter adversaries as they soon find themselves on opposite sides of a battle over the last tiger, a symbol of their people’s lost freedom and key to the liberation of their country. As the ties between Seung and Eunji are complicated by their conflicting loyalties, tensions rise—especially when a charming princeling of the empire begins to rival for Eunji’s affection.

In this friends-to-enemies-to-lovers story of forbidden romance, antagonists turned allies, oppression and liberation, neither Seung nor Eunji can abandon their mission—or each other. And as they embark on separate quests to find the elusive creature, each must also find the power within themselves to make their own destiny.

The Lucky House Detective Agency by Scarlett Li

Felix and his best friend Isaac love mysteries – chasing clues, identifying suspects, catching criminals – they can’t wait to open their own detective agency.

So when Felix’s parents’ Lucky House takeaway is cursed with a spate of bad luck, Felix is determined to find the culprit. The boys’ investigations lead them to a clue: an ancient coin with a square hole at its centre. Could this lead them to secret treasure?

(Un)fortunately, ‘Nosy’ Nina Ding, Felix’s sworn enemy, may have the answers. While volunteering at the local museum, Nina spotted an old Chinese jewellery box with an indentation in the same shape as the mysterious coin. Does Leighton-on-Sea have more links to Hong Kong than Felix could ever have imagined?

Skipshock by Caroline O’Donoghue

Margo is a troubled schoolgirl. After the death of her father, she’s on her way to a new boarding school in a new city. Moon is a salesman. He makes his living traveling through a series of interconnected worlds on a network of barely used train lines.

They never should have met. But when Margo suddenly appears one day on Moon’s train, their fates become inextricably linked. If Margo wants to survive, she has to pass as a traveling salesman, too—except it’s not that easy.

Move north on the train line and time speeds up, a day passing in mere hours. Move south and time slows down—a day can last several weeks. Slow worlds are the richest ones: you live longer, your youth lasting decades. Fast worlds are sharp, cruel, and don’t have time for pleasantries. Death is frequent. Salesmen die young of skipshock. That is, if they’re not shot down by the Southern Guard first.

As Margo moves between worlds and her attachment to Moon intensifies, she feels her youth start to slip between her fingers. But is Moon everything he seems? Is Margo?

Spark by Chris Baron

Expected Publication Date: July 15, 2025

Finn and his friend, nicknamed Rabbit, live in a rural area that’s been hit hard by wildfires. Families were displaced and school was interrupted. Moreover, their beloved forest is suffering — animals and plants haven’t been able to come back, and the two friends wonder if there’s anything they can do to help. Rabbit’s uncle, a science teacher, is part of a study that may help bring the forest back to life, but Finn and Rabbit wonder if the forest can wait. And what if another fire comes in the meantime? They believe a small part of the forest — the forest heart — that survived the wildfire may hold the key to regrowth, but first, they have to find it and then convince the adults around them to listen.

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

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