Summer book lists for young readers

It is summer once again and whether your library is doing a summer reading program, a summer learning program or anything in between if you spend any time at the reference desk you will be asked to recommend a book (or two, or three or ten).

Even if you read a lot of jfic this is sometimes tricky since some readers red so voraciously that even after you produce good books with a flourish you're met with those dreaded words, "I've already read it." Thus, I scoured the corners of the web for some good recommendations and what follows are three of the ones that I found to be the broadest and most useful.

Professional organizations usually have some good resources and often times you can find some great annotated lists. Every year, ALSC (Association of Library Service to Children) provides a great summer reading list that contains some of the best books published recently. This year's list is no different and is handily divided up into categories for the different reading levels.  The 6-8th grade list has a few of the books that this blog has reviewed and I am pleased to see that it features many diverse titles. It is important for readers from all backgrounds to see themselves represented in literature.

Mental floss is not a site that I think of when I think of book lists-they do have some awesome fact lists-but last week or thereabouts they published a list that was compiled by the Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education. What I like about this list is that it features both fiction and nonfiction titles from both the U.S. and Canada and there are very thought-provoking titles on the lists for older readers as well.

Hashtag lit (I made that term up) is big right now as people are inspired by trending hashtags to search out literature that goes with their personal ethos or perhaps to learn more about a topic. School Library Journal recently published a post about buzzworthy nonfiction.  The titles on this list deal with gender inequality, STEM and maker spaces and quite a few other topics.

These are but a few lists, there are many more out there that are worth a look. Feel free to share them in the comments and have a great summer!