Between glasses of lemonade, warm days on the beach, and chilling in a hammock in our woods, I find myself reading dozens of books every summer.
While any tale could be enjoyed in the summer months, here are 8 books your kids and teens are guaranteed to love that feature summertime settings, adventurous plots, and noble characters worth emulating.
Ages 8-11
The Treasure of Pelican Cove
While visiting his Granny’s house in Pelican Cove, Jimmy is shocked to discover an expensive jewel that may have belonged to a pirate’s treasure years before. But now Pelican Cove is overrun with tourists and everyone wants their hands on a piece of the treasure. Can Jimmy solve the true mystery of its disappearance?
Ages 8-11
Beyond Mulberry Green
Lydia Green doesn’t want her pleasant life in Mulberry Glen to change. But when rumors of the creeping Darkness spread to the Valleylands, two of her friends decide to save the world from its evil. The only problem? Now Lydia has to try and rescue her friends from making a huge mistake that could completely destroy them.
Ages 8-11
Captive Treasure
Carrie Talbot is the daughter of a missionary and is thrilled and excited when her parents accept the offer to come and work at the Indian mission started by her uncle. But as the Talbot family journeys across the American West, a sudden raid rips Carrie away from her parents and leaves her alone in the hands of the Cheyenne Indians. As time and distance separate her from her family even more, Carrie clings closely to the only possession she was able to save: her family’s Bible. But there are those who hate her and what she teaches, and Carrie’s life may be at risk.
Ages 12-14
The Star That Always Stays
When Norvia’s Ma remarries, their family must leave their beloved home on Beaver Island and move to the city that isn’t anything like living along the shores of Lake Michigan. But even worse than that, Norvia’s Ma tells all of the children to never reveal to her new husband that they are Ojibwe. Can they keep their Ma’s secret? Or will their heritage ruin the new marriage and their new life?
Ages 12-14
The Blossoming Summer
With the German front encroaching on London during the air raids of World War II, Rosemary’s family is forced to flee England to her grandmother’s home in Wisconsin. But Rosemary has never met her grandmother, and years of separation have hidden a secret about Rosemary’s past, identity, and place in the world.
Ages 12-14
The Secret of the Golden Cowrie
When Connie Lawrence, her brother, and her mom go to visit her Aunt Laura, she stumbles into a mystery that could bankrupt her aunt’s home. As Connie desperately searches for the missing golden cowrie her uncle may have hidden before he died, she finds herself entangled in a problem that only she can figure out.
Ages 15+
The Hobbit
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit, and this means comfort. When he is called by Gandalf into an adventure to reclaim what rightly belongs to the dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield, Bilbo is at first reluctant. But as the journey progresses, he throws himself physically, emotionally, and mentally into the battle to save his friends and to protect the treasure.
Ages 15+
If We Survive
What was supposed to be a simple missions trip turns into a harrowing escape attempt when rebels take over the Central American country of Costa Verde with no concern for the lives of its people. And for Will Peterson and his other teenage friends on the missions trip, their simple goal of getting community service hours has turned into a literal adventure of life and death.
