I’ve had so many requests for my Summer Reading Challenge booklist, I thought I’d make it accessible here.

My plan is my kids will each set their own goal for how many books they want to read over the summer. Then, they can choose from any books on the list!

It’s a good list. I’ve scoured other lists, vetted the books, tried to find things that are fun, interesting, and not just fluff. I’ve also tried to include a wide variety to interest everyone.

It’s alphabetized, and anything with an asterisks is non-fiction.

Get those kids reading!

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne)

A Long Walk to Water (Linda Sue Park)

A Night Divided (Jennifer A. Nielsen)

A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle)

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl*

Anne of Green Gables (LM Montgomery)

Arabian Nights

Because of Winn-Dixie (Kate DiCamillo)

Black Beauty (Anna Sewell)

Bonhoeffer* (Eric Metaxas)

Brown Girl Dreaming* (Jacqueline Woodson)

Brian’s Winter (Gary Paulsen)

Brighty of the Grand Canyon (Marguerite Henry)

Bud, Not Buddy (Christopher Paul Curtis)

Cabin on Trouble Creek* (Jean Van Leeuwen)

Canoeing with the Cree* (Eric Sevareid)

Castle Glower Series (Jessica Day George)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl)

Christian Heroes Then and Now* (entire series on different missionaries put out by YWAM)

Cricket in Times Square (George Selden)

Danny the Champion of the World (Roald Dahl)

Dear Mr. Henshaw (Beverly Cleary)

Detectives in Togas (Henry Winterfeld)

Dogsong (Gary Paulsen)

Escape from Warsaw* (Ian Serraillier)

Follow My Leader (James B. Garfield)

Gentle Ben (Walt Morey)

Hans Brinker (Mary Mapes Dodge)

Hatchet (Gary Paulsen)

Hattie Big Sky (Kirsten Potter)

Hero Tales* (Dave and Neta Jackson)

Heroes of History* (biographies of historical figures put out by YWAM)

Homer Price (Robert Mccloskey)

Incident at Hawk’s Hill* (Alan W. Eckert)

Inside out and Back Again* (Thanhha Lai)

Johnny Tremain (Esther Forbes)

Lassie Come Home (Eric Knight)

Little Britches (Ralph Moody)

Little House Series* (Laura Ingalls Wilder)

Little Pear (Eleanor Frances Lattimore)

Man Who Was Left for Dead* (Jenny Tripp)

Moon over Manifest (Claire Vanderpool)

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (Robert C. O’Brien)

My Side of the Mountain (Jean Craighead George)

Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story*

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes (Jonathan Auxier)

Return to Hawk’s Hill* (Allan W. Eckert)

Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)

Rocket Men* (Robert Kurson)

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Mildred D. Taylor)

SeaBiscuit* (Laura Hillenbrand)

Shel Silverstein poems

Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World* (Jennifer Armstrong)

Snowshoe Thompson* (Nancy Smiler Levinson)

Sounder (William H. Armstrong)

Stubby the War Dog* (Ann Bausum)

Tarzan (Edgar Rice Burroughs)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)

The Bark of the Bog Owl (Jonathan Rogers)

The Boundless (Kenneth Oppel)

The Boys in the Boat* (Daniel James Brown)

The Cabin Faced West (Jean Fritz)

The Call of the Wild (Jack London)

The Candy Shop War (Brandon Mull)

The Chronicles of Prydain (Lloyd Alexander)

The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler (John Hendrix)

The False Prince (Trilogy) (Jennifer A. Nielsen)

The Family Under the Bridge (Natalie Carlson)

The Giver (Lois Lowry)

The Green Ember series (S.D. Smith)

The Hiding Place (Corrie Ten Boom) 

The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkein)

The Hundred Dresses (Eleanor Estes)

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series (Maryrose Wood)

The Incredible Journey (Sheila Burnford)

The Island of the Blue Dolphins (Scott O’Dell)

The Light in the Forest (Conrad Richter)

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (J.R.R. Tolkein)

The Penderwick Series (Jeanne Birdsall)

The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic (Jennifer Trafton)

The Swiss Family Robinson (Johann David Wyss)

The Twenty-One Balloons (William Pene DuBois)

The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street (Karina Yan Glaser)

The War I Finally Won* (Kimberly Brubaker Bradley)

The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Elizabeth George Speare)

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Joan Aiken)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum)

Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson)

True Adventure Collection* (Paul Dowswell)

True Survival Stories* (Paul Dowswell)

Unbroken* (Laura Hillenbrand)

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Grace Lin)

Where the Red Fern Grows (Wilson Rawls)

White Fang (Jack London)

Wingfeather Saga (Andrew Peterson)