What to Read to Your Kids

I’m wrapping up my better-late-than-never Summer Reading Guide with a post for the teens! I’ve got twelve fantastic new YA picks for you, all of which published in the first half of this year. (Please note that none are graphic novels because I already included my two favorites in the Graphic Novels installment.) If you’ve got young teens, I also encourage you to check out some of the 10+ titles in my Middle Grade installment.

In this list you’ll find fiction and nonfiction, thrillers and romances, historical fiction and contemporary coming-of-age stories. What I admittedly didn’t do a great job of vetting for you is fantasy. I’m not including sequels here, which is why you won’t see Sunrise on the Reaping (but it’s soooo good), but I’ve heard Ava Reid’s Fable for the End of the World is the queer dystopian book we didn’t know we needed, and Divine Rivals­ fans have also been loving Laura Steven’s Our Infinite Fates.

I’ve read and loved all of these, with the exception of one I haven’t gotten to yet but my daughter adored; I indicate which one it is below. Some of these (Everything is Poison; Death in the Jungle; Truth, Lies, and the Questions in Between; Under the Same Stars) have tremendous crossover appeal for adults, so I encourage you to add them to your own TBR list as well!

Onwards! Remember that summer break comes with a chance at new routines, fresh starts, and screen-free trips, all of which can jump start reading for fun.