Engaging in summer reading early not only lays a strong foundation for your education but also nurtures personal growth. It enhances your ability to express yourself, broadens your worldview, and cultivates critical thinking skills.
We’ve carefully created a recommended Top 10 book list which you can also download and print to use as a checklist and track your reading progress through the summer!
The full reading list is also available in case you complete these 10 books. Click here to download it.
Here is Our Top 10 Reading list, with reviews from acclaimed critics:
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
“Cisneros draws on her rich [Latino] heritage . . . and seduces with precise, spare prose, creat[ing] unforgettable characters we want to lift off the page. She is not only a gifted writer but an absolutely essential one.”
Bebe Moore Campbell of the New York Times Book Review
The Outsiders by SE Hinton
“The Outsiders is a classic in young adult fiction that revolutionized the genre by presenting adolescent characters that were the opposite of everything a teenager, by adult standards, should have been.”
The Guardian, dated September 23, 2015
The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
“The genius of the movie (Play) is the way it sidesteps all of the obvious cliches of the underlying story and makes itself fresh, observant, tough, and genuinely moving.”
Roger Ebert's review of the movie is based on the bestselling Play
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
“This is the adventure of a lifetime. You will not be disappointed. I would give this book a solid 9/10 because it was just a great read overall. Being at the same level as the Lord of the Rings is no mean feat, but this book manages it with ease! ”
The Guardian, dated July 18, 2013
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Altogether we take great joy in recording our conviction that Great Expectations is a masterpiece.
Review in The Atlantic
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
There is something in the force of Alexie’s description that captures your heart, even while some of his raunchiest statements can turn your stomach…Knowing that he fought a successful fight against all the things that oppressed him as a kid gives (the book) even greater resonance. Hope is indeed the thing with feathers.
Jana Siciliano's review on Bookreporter.com
The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas
“Beautifully written in Starr’s authentic first-person voice, this is a marvel of verisimilitude.”
Michael Cart writing in Booklist
The Giver by Lois Lowry
“With a storyline that hints at Christian allegory and an eerie futuristic setting, this intriguing novel calls to mind John Christopher’s Tripods trilogy and Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl. Lowry is once again in top form – raising many questions while answering few, and unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers.”
Review by PublishersWeekly.com
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
“I can promise you that you’ll finish the book, left with a new and fresh outlook on the world around you and perhaps a thought as to what exactly Lord of the Flies is about. Indeed its inner meaning is very dark, making the reader wonder how thin the line between good and evil really is.”
The Guardian, dated January 24, 2012
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler by Phillip Hoos
The heroism in Phillip Hoose’s “The Boys Who Challenged Hitler” reads almost like a pulp-fiction tale of juvenile swashbuckling…Told in straightforward, even prosaic language, this account will help young readers imagine themselves in the midst of the unimaginable — and will show them how kids much like them managed to survive.”
M.T. Anserson reviewing for The New York Times, dated September 11, 2015
Do share this summer reading list with your friends too! Happy Reading!
