Disney Hyperion Summer Reading List
Thanks to Disney Hyperion for helping us create this summer reading list by sending review copies to our family.
Our family is split between serious avid readers that can’t put down a book and those I search for ways to inspire to read more. To prevent summer slide, we put together this fabulous summer reading list for the whole family to enjoy together. It only takes one story to hook your child in so they want to read more.
Summer Reading List
I love when my nieces come to visit. I am always giving them new books to encourage them to increase their reading levels. From pictures books we can laugh at together to beginner chapter books they can start to enjoy on their own, this summer I filled their reading lists.
Picture Books
You are never too old for picture books. I still love reading some of these stories with my kids and nieces. We have a select set of picture books on our shelf in our home that I’ll always keep.
By Ryan T. Higgins
Released June 19, 2018 – order We Don’t Eat Our Classmates
We love finding adorable picture books like this one to read. They are funny and a light read. The perfect way to introduce your kids to learning how to read.
It’s the first day of school for Penelope Rex, and she can’t wait to meet her classmates. But it’s hard to make human friends when they’re so darn delicious! That is, until Penelope gets a taste of her own medicine and finds she may not be at the top of the food chain after all.
By Adam Rex
Released July 3, 2018 – order Star Wars: Are You Scared, Darth Vader?
Have a young Star Wars fan? Then this book is for them.
It’s midnight and the moon is full, but Darth Vader isn’t scared.
OF COURSE I AM NOT SCARED.
Nothing can scare Lord Vader!
CORRECT.
Not monsters or witches or ghosts, and especially not the dark. So what is Darth Vader scared of? Read on in Adam Rex’s hilarious and spooky Star Wars tale to find out!
By Brandon T. Snider; Illustrated by Jessika von Innerebner
Released June 5, 2018 – order Grow Up, Ant-Man!
Just in time for the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp in theaters, this children’s book will let them in on the fun at home.
Ant-Man is a very mischievous Super Hero. So it’s up to Cassie to tell her dad to GROW UP! Watch as Ant-Man shows you just how big he can grow. Can Ant-Man grow bigger than the Hulk? Can Ant-Man grow bigger than the Avengers Tower? But what happens when Ant-Man grows TOO BIG?!
Told using playful repetition, this story will have parents and children alike saying “Grow Up, Ant-Man!” This book also includes your very own growth chart printed on the inside of the book jacket.
By Sarah Jane Marsh; Illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham
Released May 29, 2018 – order Thomas Paine and the Dangerous Word
This book is great for reading and discussing Independence Day. Make learning history fun with a picture book.
With the use of Thomas Paine’s own clever quotes throughout, Thomas Paine and the Dangerous Word is a robustly informative nonfiction picture book. An abundance of primary sources paired with Fotheringham’s eye-catching artistic style, gives this book an engaging, contemporary feel that sets it apart from other historical biographies.
As an English corset-maker’s son, Thomas Paine was expected to spend his life sewing women’s underwear. But as a teenager, Thomas dared to change his destiny, enduring years of struggle until a meeting with Benjamin Franklin brought Thomas to America in 1774—and into the American Revolution. Within fourteen months, Thomas would unleash the persuasive power of the written word in Common Sense—a brash wake-up call that inspired resilience, rallying the American people to declare independence against the mightiest empire in the world.
By Cale Atkinson
Released June 5, 2018 – order Off & Away
We love books that take you on an adventure. Living in the middle of the sea is the biggest adventure ever.
How would you get mail if you lived in the middle of the sea? It’s Jo’s dad’s job to deliver it, taking bottles wherever they need to go. He always comes home with exciting stories to tell—but Jo is far too afraid to go out on the ocean herself. Until Dad gets a bad sea cold, that is. With no one but Jo to deliver the bottles, she must find her courage and set sail alone. As she embarks on her mission, her fears just might be replaced with new friendships… and grand stories of her own.
With beautiful, atmospheric art and endearing new characters, Cale Atkinson tells the story of one little girl’s courageous spirit as she sets out to follow in her father’s footsteps. Readers will treasure Jo’s journey long after sharing in her monster of a tale. Perfect for Father’s day!
Chapter Books + Early Readers
The early reading stage is the most exciting. My niece is at the age where she is proud of her reading skills and eager to test her boundaries. She loved digging through the box of new summer books and diving into a story.
By Mo Willems and LeUyen Pham
Released May 15, 2018 – order Elephant & Piggie Like Reading!: The Itchy Book!
This is a cute book to encourage early readers. Perfect for my niece.
Triceratops has an itch… so does Pterodactyl. . . and Brontosaurus… and T-Rex! But Dino-Mo reminds them all of the BIG rule: Dinosaurs do not scratch! What’s an itchy dinosaur to do? Find out in this hilariously charming beginning reader by author/illustrator LeUyen Pham.
By Kallie George; Illusrated by Stephanie Graegin
Released July 3, 2017 – order Heartwood Hotel, Book 4: Home Again
Have you read the first three books in this series? You can’t miss the finale this summer.
It’s summer at the Heartwood Hotel, and everyone is in a flurry getting ready for Ms. Prickles’s wedding to Mr. Quillson! Meanwhile, a new mouse guest named Strawberry comes to stay. She’s sweet and soft-spoken like Mona, and gifted in the kitchen just as Mona’s mother was—could Strawberry be a long-lost relative?
But when lightning strikes part of Fernwood Forest and starts a fire, all thoughts go to the guests and staff hurrying to leave to make sure their homes and families are safe. Mona works to protect the Heartwood from harm, but as the fire rages on, it’s becoming dangerous to stay. Can Mona and her friends save their home before it’s too late?
In the final installment of the Heartwood Hotel series, Mona faces her greatest challenge yet, and she might discover just what family truly means.
Middle School Books
Middle school is the crucial time for encouraging reading. This is the age where kids either love it or try to avoid it. My son has never been a strong reader so it is extremely important that we find books that he is fascinated by the story.
By Mary Winn Heider
Released June 5, 2018 – order The Mortification of Fovea Munson
This chapter book sounds like a really fun read. The main character may be a girl but even the boys will enjoy this weird and fascinating plot.
Fovea Munson is nobody’s Igor. True, her parents own a cadaver lab where they perform surgeries on dead bodies. And yes, that makes her gross by association, at least according to everyone in seventh grade. And sure, Fovea’s stuck working at the lab now that her summer camp plans have fallen through. But she is by no means Dr. Frankenstein’s snuffling assistant! That is, until three disembodied heads, left to thaw in the wet lab, start talking. To her. Out loud.
By Robert Beatty
On Sale: July 10, 2018 – Pre-order Willa of the Wood
Having family that lives in the Great Smoky Mountains, this book peaked an interest in our family. My teenage daughter and mother both plan to finish this story this summer.
Willa, a young night-spirit of the Great Smoky Mountains, is her clan’s best thief. She creeps into the homes of day-folk under cover of darkness and takes what they won’t miss. It’s dangerous work—the day-folk kill whatever they do not understand–but Willa will do anything to win the approval of the padaran, the charismatic leader of the Faeran people.
By Tom Angleberger
Released May 25, 2018 – order Star Wars: The Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest of Fear!
My son instantly took to this book. I love encouraging him to read during the summer months and if it means adding more Star Wars to his life, win-win.
When Chewbacca the Wookiee finds out that a job he thought was just ferrying tooka cats is actually much more, he’s excited to have something to do! But when he, a young bounty hunter/librarian, and a droll cargo droid–who, unbeknownst to the others is rebel spy droid K-2SO–land in the middle of a blue forest that emits a fear-causing mist, Chewie realizes the job may be too dangerous for his liking. He and his companions will have to fight off snarlers, sniffers, and their own fears as they try to recover a sacred book–and rescue Han Solo in the process! Perfect for reading before or after seeing Solo: A Star Wars Story in theaters!
Young Adult
by Preston Norton
Released June 5, 2018 – order Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe.
This book is on mine and my oldest daughter’s list to read this summer.
Cliff Hubbard is a huge loser. Literally. His nickname at Happy Valley High School is Neanderthal because he’s so enormous—6’6” and 250 pounds to be exact. He has nobody at school, and life in his trailer-park home has gone from bad to worse ever since his older brother’s suicide.
There’s no one Cliff hates more than the nauseatingly cool quarterback, Aaron Zimmerman. Then Aaron returns to school after a near-death experience with a bizarre claim: while he was unconscious he saw God, who gave him a list of things to do to make Happy Valley High suck less. And God said there’s only one person who can help: Neanderthal.
by A.W. Jantha
On Sale: July 10, 2018 – Pre-order Hocus Pocus & the All-New Sequel
Every year at Halloween time, we watch Hocus Pocus on the Disney Channel as a family. It has become a tradition. When my oldest and I saw this new sequel – we instantly knew we had to read it. The only question, who gets to read it first?!
Twenty-five years later, Max and Allison’s seventeen-year-old daughter, Poppy, finds herself face-to-face with the Sanderson sisters in all their sinister glory. When Halloween celebrations don’t quite go as planned, it’s a race against time as Poppy and her friends fight to save her family and all of Salem from the witches’ latest vile scheme.
By Rae Carson
Released May 25, 2018 – order Star Wars: Most Wanted
Calling all Star Wars fans! This book is geared towards young adults and is the perfect length for relaxing summer reading. If you loved Solo: A Star Wars Story but couldn’t get enough? Then try this book on for size.
Set before the events of Solo: A Star Wars Story! Han and Qi’ra don’t have a lot in common other than not having a lot. They’re street kids on the industrial planet Corellia, doing whatever it takes to get by, dreaming of something more. They each jump at a chance to prove themselves in the perilous world of Corellia’s criminal underbelly, only to discover they are on the same mission for the same unscrupulous boss. When the job goes disastrously wrong, Han and Qi’ra are on the run–from pirates, a droid crime syndicate, the Empire, and their boss–and will have to learn to trust each other if they are going to survive.
