Some Middle Grade and YA Books to Read Out Loud This Summer

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One of my oldest friends asked for some book recs for his kids (ages 6 and 9). I’m not totally up on what’s hot these days, but I definitely have some faves.  He reads out loud to his kids, which I think gives some wiggle room with the intended age range of the books.

This list is a mashup of Middle Grade and Young Adult, mostly fantasy but not all. 

  1. Airborn, by Kenneth Opel

  2. Garth Nix’s Keys to the Kingdom series 

  3. Garth Nix’s Abhorsen series 

  4. The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman

  5. Skellig, by David Almond

  6. Because of Winn Dixie, Kate Dicamillo

  7. The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley

  8. The Blue Sword, Robin McKinley

  9. The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner

  10. Tom Angelberger’s Origami Yoda series

  11. Cornelia Funke’s Inkspell series, or The Thief Lord

  12. Phillip Pullman’s Golden Compass series

  13. The Sword in the Stone, TH White

 

Books that were already on his list:

  1. The Prydain Chronicles, Lloyd Alexander

  2. The Dark is Rising series, Susan Cooper

  3. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien

  4. Everything Roald Dahl

  5. Elizabeth Enright’s Melendy Series

  6. The Chronicles of Narnia, CS Lewis

  7. The Redwall series, by Brian Jacques

  8. The Harry Potter series, by JK Rowling