Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Sumer 2026 To-Read List
Summer is here and with it comes more time to read and relax… if you don’t work in a public library! We’re headed into our busy season with our Summer Reading Program having kicked off last week! And while it may be busier than usual at work, I’m hoping to squeeze a little time in for reading, especially these newly published middle grade novels that look so good. I hope that you’ve got a great list of books of your own to read this summer and plenty of time to do so!
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Books on My Sumer 2026 To-Read List
Auntie Q’s Golden Claws Nail Salon by Van Hoang
Twelve-year-old Domi Pham had the perfect summer planned: lounging by the pool, making art with her best friend, and celebrating her escape from seventh grade. But one costly mistake puts her dream summer on hold. Instead, she finds herself deep in debt to her parents, and shipped off to New Mexico to work at her Auntie Q’s nail salon for the next three months.
At first, Domi is miserable―surrounded by nosy aunties, constant nail polish fumes, and endless work. But as she gets to know Auntie Q and the people in the salon, she starts to see their struggles and resilience in a new light. When she discovers that the salon is at risk of closing, Domi puts her creativity and determination to the test to help save it.
Casting April by Wendy Lu
Sixth grader April Xue lives and breathes all things Broadway. When she builds up the courage to audition for the lead role in the school play, she thinks she’s knocked it out of the park — until she finds out that she’s been assigned to the stage crew. April is devastated—it seems like the curtain is closing on her dream of being an actor.
A day later, April overhears that the theater director, Ms. Rooney, decided not to cast her because she’s disabled. With the help of her best friend, a sneaky student reporter, and her spirited castmates, April learns to confront her own insecurities as a performer and proves to everyone (including Ms. Rooney) that she deserves a fair shot — all in time for opening night.
Confessions of a Mango by Kate Lumsden and Nate Pieplow
Ruby Emmerson has always felt like the “dumb” twin. Struggling with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia, she feels out of place at her competitive charter school, especially as her twin brother Bryce excels both academically and socially. When she fails a math test despite getting extra help, she fears she’ll flunk out of Benton Academy and drag her brother back to their old school.
In a moment of frustration, Ruby vents anonymously online, describing herself as an imposter—a mango among lovebirds. But to her surprise, she’s far from alone.
As her account gains a following, tensions rise with her brother and her posts draw the unwanted attention of the school administration. Now, Ruby must find the courage to challenge Benton’s high-pressure environment and advocate for herself and all the other “Mangoes” out there.
The Edge of Forever by Meghan Browne
Maisie is still reeling from the loss of her dad when her mom deposits her with Aunt Gertie at the start of summer in Heaven, TX. Population: tiny. Gertie is nothing but nice, but Maisie doesn’t want to be there – surrounded by cactus and tumbleweeds.
Thankfully, the Heaven Library is well air-conditioned. Here, Charlene the librarian offers Maisie much-needed solace and book recommendations. Then Maisie meets another actual kid, Walt Wise, Aunt Gertie’s nearest neighbor. As she and Walt work odd jobs together and become friends, they also stumble upon a stealth campaign to develop one of Heaven’s most beloved natural resources.
As Maisie and Walt research the development plan, they also uncover a long-buried, life-changing secret about Maisie’s family. This secret, along with an explosive event at the Heaven County Fair, will turn a sleepy summer into one Maisie and Walt will never forget.
Found Sound by Meg Wolitzer and Charlie Panek
Felix used to love summer vacation, when his family would trade the bustling noise of New York City for the small-town quiet of Blissfield, Massachusetts. But vacation hasn’t been the same since his big brother left home, and Felix is sure this summer is going to be the worst yet. Then he finds a mysterious box with the words OPEN ME written on the outside. Inside, there’s an audio recorder, headphones, and a list of timecodes. What does it mean?
Felix and his offbeat neighbor, Marigold, follow a string of clues through town. But as the hunt builds to a crescendo, Felix begins to wonder about the identity of the anonymous puzzle-maker behind their adventure.
Inbetweens by Faith Erin Hicks
Twin sisters Sloane and Ash are two peas in a pod, and they do everything together: watch movies, attend classes, and most importantly, draw! So when the summer animation classes of their dreams are about to start, they can barely contain their excitement!
Well…Ash is excited but Sloane is surprised to find she isn’t as jubilant about it, which makes no sense, since she loves art. Meanwhile, Ash discovers that just because you love something, doesn’t mean you’ll automatically be good at it, and she struggles under the weight of her own expectations and those of her teacher’s. Soon, the trials of challenging classwork and new friendships drive a wedge between the twins. Can their bond survive the summer?
On the Roady to Happy by Goldy Moldavsky
Gigi and her older sister, Yasmin, are spending the summer at a Jewish bungalow colony in upstate New York, thanks to their dad, who will be the handyman there. Sure, there will be day camp to go to, and the forest to explore, and maybe new friends to make. But Gigi doesn’t feel she fits in. Despite the fact that she’s Jewish too, she can’t help but feel that her Judaism is totally different from the other kids’. It doesn’t help that Mom isn’t around to talk to—she’s back in Brooklyn working. Yasmin has her own friends, and even though her dad speaks five languages, he and Gigi never seem to be speaking the same one.
There’s only one thing Gigi can do—escape. So, she hatches a plan to run away. But unexpected surprises keep drawing her back. Like, why do the boys at the camp keep doing flips? What kind of lake has fish with mustaches? Can Gigi sneakily use her dad’s tools to build a secret treehouse?
Try as she might, Gigi can’t figure out why everyone else loves this place so much. Will she eventually find her way back home, or will she—just maybe—discover something special hidden within the colony?
The Replay Trap by Juliana Brandt
When Sydney heads to a sleepover birthday party at a wildlife center, she’s sure it’s a terrible idea. Not only because she’ll be staying in a creepy cabin surrounded by wolf enclosures, but because she wasn’t actually invited to the party. Instead, her mom asked Ari’s mom if Sydney could join, and now she’s crashing the event with a group of kids she barely knows. Ugh.
It turns out she isn’t the only party crasher when a strange, wolf-like creature bounds out of the woods and throws the night into chaos. In the rush to escape, Sydney hits her head, is knocked out cold…and wakes up back in the car, headed to the party.
Sydney realizes she’s living the same night again and again and again. Why is the evening stuck in a loop, and what is the creature prowling around the center? And—most importantly—how can she break the loop and finally see the morning?
The Summer Scrapbook by Florence Migga
Outgoing Ava is dragged to London by her family. Anxious Becca is sent to summer camp. Quiet Cat is left at home.
Phones aren’t allowed at Becca’s camp, and Ava’s parents restrict her use of devices, so to make the separation bearable, they vow to collect materials for a joint scrapbook that they’ll compile at the end of the summer. But as they work on their separate parts of the scrapbook, they step out of their comfort zones―and out of the roles they each play in the trio.
Who is Ava when she’s not the leader? Who is Becca when she’s not the peacekeeper? Who is Cat without the other two to keep her busy?
Can their friendship survive this summer of growth and change?
When You’re Brave Enough by Rebecca Bendheim
Before she moved from Austin to Rhode Island, everybody knew Lacey as one half of an inseparable duo: Lacey-and-Grace, best friends since they were toddlers. Grace and her moms were practically family. But at school, being lumped together with overeager, worm-obsessed, crushes-on-everyone Grace meant Lacey never quite fit in—and that’s why at her new middle school, Lacey plans to reinvent herself. This time, she’s going to be cool. She’s going to be normal.
At first, everything seems to go as planned. Lacey makes new friends right away, she finds a rabbi to help her prepare for the bat mitzvah that got deprioritized by her parents in the chaos of the move, and she even gets cast in the lead role of the eighth-grade musical. Which is when things start to get stressful, because it turns out the students at her new school have a long-standing, unofficial tradition: No matter what the show is, in the final performance, the leads always kiss for real.
Lacey’s never kissed anyone before—she’s not even sure she’s ever had a crush. And in Bye, Bye, Birdie, there are a few different co-lead kiss possibilities for Lacey to choose from. There’s confident, cocky Andre. There’s sweet, friendly Jaden. And then there’s the other new girl at school: dryly funny, impossibly cool Violet.
But while her new friends and older sister create whiteboard wall charts and botched field trip schemes to help her decide, suddenly Lacey can’t stop thinking about Grace, who she was so sure she wanted to leave behind. When Grace comes back into her life, Lacey needs to decide if she’s brave enough to be who she really is, in front of the person who matters most.
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
