It’s the perennial question of teachers, librarians, and parents alike: How do you get kids to read more over their summer break? Research has shown that kids’ favorite books—and the ones they’re most likely to finish—are the books that they choose themselves. Understanding this, publishers focus on fun books for summer reading.

David Glover, marketing director at Flowerpot Press, believes it’s all about sparking curiosity. “Unless you get the curiosity going, the children won’t read it,” he says. “So we want to get the kids involved and get them reading using humor and entertainment to bring facts forward.” He says setting the tone with fun illustrations that make a book appear accessible and entertaining is key to Flowerpot’s strategy. “We're not interested in doing textbooks. We're trying to produce something that is highly entertaining.”

Skybound Entertainment does the same thing through “candy coating the action, adventure, and humor,” says Arune Singh, vice president, brand, editorial. “We want everyone to pick up a graphic novel, have a good time, and then say, when do I get the next one? To me, that's summer reading.”

Similarly, Julie Matysik, editorial director at Running Press Kids, believes in offering younger readers books to escape into. She shares three light, young adult romances that are perfect beach reads. “The possibility is, any one of those books could be that book that sparks a lifelong reader,” she says.

Here, five publishers share the summer reading recommendations whose books, they hope, will do just that.

Sequoia Kids Media

Sequoia Kids Media is the school and library imprint of Chicago-based Phoenix International. The company publishes 100 titles per year for grades K–5, most of which come in library-bound, audiobook, ebook, and read-along formats. Three of its high-interest nonfiction series make for fun and educational summer reads.

The all-new “Awful Animal Facts” series by Ellen Lawrence for grades 2–5 features fast-fact-style titles with color photos and illustrations. The first four 32-page titles in the series, Prehistoric Predator Meglodon (ISBN 9798765409961), Poop, Spit & Poison: Animal Habits (ISBN 9798765409954), Dangerously Deadly Monster Fish (ISBN 9798765409978), and Blood, Slime, and Vomit: Animal Defenses (ISBN 9798765409947), all came out in January 2025. “They’re comic book–like on the inside,” says Casey Griffin, senior marketing manager. “They’re all super colorful and very gross!” For example, one of the awful animal facts from Blood, Slime, and Vomit, is that horned lizards can shoot blood from their eyes at predators up to three feet away.

The 11th and 12th titles in the “It’s Her Story” graphic biography series for grades 2–5 include It’s Her Story: Billie Jean King by Donna Tapellini, illustrated by Maria Lia Malandrino, September 2024, ISBN 9798765409756, and It’s Her Story: Mae Jemison by Lesley Williams, illustrated by Brooke O'Neill, September 2024, ISBN 9798765409763. King was an iconic tennis champion and continues to be a feminist whose activism helped pass historic laws against gender discrimination, and she continues to fight for women and the LGBTQ+ community. Jemison was the first black woman to go into space in 1992; she was also a doctor, engineer, writer, teacher, and dancer, in addition to being an astronaut.

The first foray of Sequoia Kids into chapter books, the new “George the Flybot” series by Nessa Bellido Schwarz, illustrated by Jason Fruchter, centers on a robotic fly that travels around the world to solve historic mysteries. The first two titles, George the Flybot and the Golden Owl of France, ISBN 9798765409626, and George the Flybot and the Lost Camera on Mount Everest, ISBN 9798765409619, were published in July 2024. In Mount Everest, George searches the mountain for the camera that British mountaineer George Mallory lost there in 1924. “But he has his own mission aside from the missions he’s given,” Griffin says. “He wants to learn more about how humans act and feel and maybe find his own friends. It’s STEAM and SEL.”

Skybound Entertainment

Founded in 2010, Skybound is a creator-driven comics publisher and multiplatform entertainment company. In 2022, it launched its Skybound Comet imprint aimed at middle grade and YA readers. “We don’t want to just create your new favorite comic. We also want to create your first favorite comic,” says Arune Singh, vice president, brand, editorial. “And we know those favorite comics are often discovered in the middle grade or teen years.”

Through a partnership with Ameet Publishing, Skybound Comet publishes graphic novels tying into the 15-year-old LEGO Ninjago franchise and popular animated series. LEGO Ninjago: Shatterspin, created by Tri Vuong, May 2025, ISBN 9781534353725, tells the backstory of Garmadon, the franchise antagonist, training a group of students in the special martial art, shatterspin. “You get to see Garmadon, who is this traditionally antagonistic character, in a more mentorlike, heroic role, and the challenges he faces as he is trying to train a group of new students and also discovering his own thirst for power,” Singh says.

For anyone who grew up with the Power Rangers or the Incredibles, Family Force V by Matt Braly, art by Ainsworth Lin, June 2025, ISBN 9781534340336, is a diverse and inclusive YA graphic novel about a family who fight giant monsters together. The eldest daughter is caught between her desire to be a regular teenager and her family destiny that’s forced upon her. “This is ultimately a graphic novel about how to be yourself when you also have to be something you may not want to be,” Singh says.

In G.I. Joe Vol. 1 by Joshua Williamson, art by Tom Reilly, June 2025, ISBN 9781534328075, Transformers have come to Earth. The U.S. government and other entities around the world know what the public doesn’t: that alien robots exist and that they have an energy source called “Energon” that could transform weaponry and transportation. The forces of G.I. Joe and Cobra are trying to figure out what’s happening and how to gain control of this energy source. “G.I. Joe Vol. 1 is a perfect starting point if you have never read a G.I. Joe comic,” Singh says.

In 2023, Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead, launched a series called “Void Rivals,” in which the characters of G.I. Joe and Transformers share the same sci-fi, high-adventure universe. In Kirkman’s Void Rivals Vol. 3, art by Lorenzo De Felici, June 2025, ISBN 9781534328174, Hot Rod, a character introduced in the 1986 Transformers film, comes back. “It is a series about these two warring races and two soldiers, one on each side, who realize they’re not so different,” Singh says. “It’s about questioning what we're taught and questioning the systems and structures around us, while also including the fun, fantastical stuff.”

Transformers: Worst Bot Ever by Brian Smith, art by Marz Jr., July 2025, ISBN 9781534327993, is a middle grade Transformers graphic novel. Lead character Ballpoint is the biggest failure of the bad-guy Decepticons. When he arrives on Earth to defeat the Autobots, he hears that the pen is mightier than the sword and chooses to be a pen. He then must find creative ways to fight. “It’s really a story about a Decepticon trying to figure out who he is and what his role is in fighting what he considers ‘the good fight,’” Singh says. “It’s a common theme in our Skybound comic books—discovering who you are.”

Flowerpot Press

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Flowerpot Press publishes 40 titles per year. These include board books, picture books, and fiction and nonfiction titles for readers from birth through middle grade, with an emphasis on elementary nonfiction. “Our series are all about arousing curiosity in the readers,” says David Glover, marketing director. “Part of the emphasis is trying to show readers that every answer starts with a question. We’re essentially teaching them the Socratic method.” Talk about sneaky!

Flowerpot’s “Why Do” introductory nonfiction series for ages 4–7 answers kids’ most burning questions about animals that probably aren’t addressed in their curriculum. Two new titles by Jack Beard, illustrated by Jayri Gómez, Why Do Crabs Walk Sideways?, March 2025, ISBN 9781486731138, and Why Do Okapis Look So Funny?, March 2025, ISBN 9781486731145, feature sea creatures and rainforest animals, respectively.

Posing questions like the title’s, “why do crabs walk sideways?,” the books offer a funny answer before delving into the scientific one. For example, “You may think it’s because they’re doing the crab cha-cha-cha, but they are not,” says Senior Editor Katrine Crow. “They’re doing it because that’s how their joints are built, and they’re evading predators. It’s a great introduction to teaching kids without making it feel like a textbook or stuffy.”

In addition to the featured animals, every spread includes labels of other plants and animals in the same environment, so kids learn more words as they go. Most spreads also include some kind of fun activity or question. “We love to include a lot of backmatter, a lot of support material,” Crow says. “We feature real photographs of the animals we’re talking about, so readers can understand what crabs look like in real life. They add another layer [of realism] to reinforce that science.”

The math- and science-focused “How Do” series for ages 7–10 comprises 23 titles, including the new How Do Seeds Grow into Gardens? by Clayton Grider, illustrated by Srimalie Bassani, March 2025, ISBN 9781486731091, and How Do Fires Protect Nature? by Dinyar Minocher, illustrated by Srimalie Bassani, April 2025, ISBN 9781486731121. Inspired by the questions that curious kids ask, these interactive books are written by experts in their field. Minocher, for example, has served as the Visitor Safety & Fire Operations Coordinator at Grasslands National Park, Canada. He has a master’s degree in resource management and experience as a field biologist.

“These fires are happening. It’s timely now, but it’s evergreen,” Crow says. “This is a conversation that’s going to come up, and we’re hoping that this book is a resource for educators and librarians to reach for from a really knowledgeable source.” The book explains the difference between wildfire and prescribed fire, human-made fire and natural fire. It also explains what fire does for nature, how nature is adapted to it, and what happens after a big fire.

How Do Seeds Grow into Gardens? is a guide for kids interested in gardening—no backyard required. “The author talks about ways to grow things in your home even if you live in an apartment or in a different living situation,” Crow says. The “How Do” series also includes topic-specific backmatter activities, which could be anything from crafting to a science experiment.

“These books make really great summer reading in the sense that they have a lot of the support material that lends itself to programming for librarians,” Crow says. “And then you’re sneakily adding education in a book that is fun and enjoyable to read.”

Running Press Kids

An imprint of Hachette Book Group, Running Press Kids publishes 30 titles a year across board books, picture books, middle grade nonfiction, YA fiction, and YA nonfiction. This summer, the imprint is offering “three new YA romances that are all very different in their approach to the teen coming-of-age romance narrative,” says Editorial Director Julie Matysik.

Roll for Love by M.K. England, April 2025, ISBN 9780762488179, is a coming-of-age romance about identity with a Dungeons and Dragons theme. A queer teen starting her senior year in a new school is worried about being perceived as different and fitting in, until she finds community (and maybe love?) in a local Dungeons and Dragons campaign. “This is a very relatable experience for all teens—these moments of feeling as if people are not going to accept you for who you are,” Matysik says. “There’s a really big emphasis in this book on how these tabletop role-playing games can create that safe space for all kinds of teens.”

Nikki Van De Car’s debut novel, The Invisible Wild, May 2025, ISBN 9780762487066, focuses on identity, conservation, and humans’ connection to nature. Inspired by her Hawaiian upbringing, Van De Car’s book incorporates magical realism and Hawaiian folklore. Sixteen-year-old Emma meets a mysterious boy in the forest who helps her reconnect with a portal to Hawaii’s magical folkloric beings of the natural world. “It’s a soft, sweet YA romance, perfect for teens looking for something magical and wholesome,” Matysik says, “but who also care about making sure that we still have a world to live in and nature to enjoy.”

Matysik dubs 13 Days of Summer by Stephanie Kate Strohm, June 2025, ISBN 9798894141206, “the perfect summer read for Swifties.” Three best friends embark on a cross-country road trip to a Taylor Swift concert. But when they pick up a mysterious teen boy hitchhiker, sparks begin to fly and the girls’ friendship dynamic shifts. “It captures this liminal moment between the end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood where you have all this uncertainty of where you’re going but also limitless possibilities of where you will end up,” Matysik says. “There’s a tug and pull throughout the book that mimics a lot of Taylor Swift’s albums and songs.”

The Collective Book Studio

The Collective Book Studio is a woman-owned, California-based publisher in its sixth year in business. It specializes in lifestyle books, children’s self-help, and nonfiction, particularly from women’s, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and Jewish voices. Children’s titles make up half of the publisher’s list. “My ‘why’ in publishing children’s books is always, I haven’t seen this on the shelf,” says Owner and Founder Angela Engel. “I always ask, does this do something different to the bookshelf?” Here, she shares three new titles that passed that test.

Author and educator Sarah M. White noticed that the low-income children she works with in Madison, WI had no idea where food comes from beyond the grocery store. To show them, she wrote Our Food Grows, illustrated by Tessa Gibbs, April 2025, ISBN 9781685557775, for children ages 3–5. The book illustrates how foods like strawberries, tomatoes, asparagus, and corn grow and make their way into our favorite meals. The book has an accompanying downloadable teacher guide for classroom use.

Ruby Finkelman Finds the Real Magic by Mike King, illustrated by Shahar Kober, May 2025, ISBN 9781685559281, for ages 4–8, is about a little girl who stops brushing her teeth and triggers a whole chain of events in her town. Told through the lens of Jewish culture and values, the story shows how Ruby eventually makes a connection between the grime building up in her mouth and in her town and realizes the value of taking care of herself and her world. “I wanted to publish something celebrating Yiddish, celebrating fun, and celebrating kvelling,” Engel says. “And wrapped into the concept of this book was how to be a mensch, how to be a good person.”

After the passing of her father, author Laura Atkins wanted to write a book celebrating the beauty of a father-child relationship. Bringing the Beach Home, illustrated by Evgenia Penman, July 2025, ISBN 9781685558369, is a story about a boy who is tired of going back and forth between his divorced parents’ houses, until he and his dad have a great day at the beach collecting things. “We want to develop empathy in children’s books,” Engel says. “And both the kids who have divorced families can see themselves in this book, and also the children who have friends with divorced parents can learn to be empathetic with their friends.”

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