2026 Summer Reading 6th – 8th Grade Guide
While this is a newer project for me, I’ve been having a really great time creating these reading guides for this summer! Its fun sifting through different genres, checking out award winning titles from a variety of places and seeing what kids, teachers, and librarians are saying about these books. For kids (most likely) in middle school (grades 6 – 8), I wanted to include a lot of options because I really think its at this time that we start losing kids to all the other amazing activities that they participate in and reading drops to the wayside. And it doesn’t have to!
There are some really phenomenal books being written for middle grade and middle school readers and I hope that with this collection of titles, kids might find something that resonates with them. After all, isn’t that why anyone reads? To find something that’s fun or silly, adventurous or perfectly matches how you feel. Books have the power to create connection and I think we need to keep reminding kids that books for them exist, it just takes some figuring out of what they like and will connect with.
Book Suggestions
And that’s what I’m hoping comes out of this 2026 Summer Reading 6th – 8th Grade Guide. I’m hoping that kids can sift through these suggestions and find books that resonate with them and expand reading beyond the book to reading logs, book reviews, and other fun summer activities. I’ve included 50 book suggestions across a wide variety of genres and formats, in the hopes that kids will again, find something they’ll love.
Reading Logs, Reviews, & Activities
Beyond the curated book list, this 50+ page guide also includes a few different options for logging book titles, a few different options for writing book reviews, and a number of activities and challenges that you can do over the summer. For this guide, Ive also included some information about goal setting as well as a worksheet to set reading goals for the summer (or any time of year!). I love the idea of setting your own reading goals that are not only S.M.A.R.T., but are also something that you’ve taken ownership of and are excited to achieve. So much of the time, kids are working toward goals that are set by adults, and I think its a great opportunity for them to set some of their own goals of what they think they want to try to accomplish.
Some of my favorite activities in this reading guide include book bingo and the just for fun challenge that was created specifically for my readers. I’ve also included a couple of helpful resources like definitions on formats and genres to help kids find the books that interest them and a “how-to” guide for when kids need help looking for a book at the library or the bookstore!
If you haven’t had a chance to review the PreK Guide, the Kindergarten – 2nd Grade Guide, or the 3rd – 5th Grade Guide, you should definitely check out those curated book lists too! And remember, kids don’t have to read from a specific list because they’re in a specific grade, kids should be encouraged to read whatever they want and if they’re enjoying themselves, then that’s the most important part! And check back in the next few weeks to see the final summer guide for high school students!
