Thank you for checking out the Summer Reading List for 2026!
For Jackalope Collective’s 2026 Summer Reading List, we wanted to gather books for many kinds of readers: grown-ups, young adults, middle grade readers, growing readers, picture book lovers, families, educators, and anyone looking for a good story to carry through the summer season and beyond.
This year’s list is divided into two parts: Adult Fiction & Nonfiction and Young Adult & Children’s Books. Together, they offer memoir, essays, science, literary fiction, mystery, romance, fantasy, friendship stories, family stories, summer adventures, big questions, strange futures, tender moments, and plenty of curiosity! A whole lot for all kinds of people!
We think that these books are worthy of your suitcase space, library holds, bookshop orders, classroom shelves, and growing TBR piles. I remember traveling as a teenager and stuffing half of my large suitcase with books and we hope that a few of these make it in yours this summer.
Part I: Adult Fiction & Nonfiction
The adult list begins with nonfiction that asks us to look closely at ourselves, our bodies, our histories, and the systems we move through.
In My Mother’s Daughter: Finding Myself in My Family’s Fractured Past, Tracy Clark-Flory explores family secrets, inherited shame, and what happens when a daughter begins asking difficult questions. Jesmyn Ward’s On Witness and Respair offers essays on grief, memory, Black life, and truth-telling while still leaving room for repair.
For readers drawn to science, bodies, and strange possibilities, Becoming Martian by Scott Solomon imagines what living in space could do to human bodies and minds, while You’ve Been Pooping All Wrong by Trisha Pasricha, MD, MPH turns one of the body’s most awkward topics into something smart, practical, and somehow delightful.
C. Thi Nguyen’s The Score looks at gamification, metrics, rankings, and the ways we start chasing someone else’s definition of success.
Adult Fiction: Satire, Secrets, Romance, and Summer Drama
For literary fiction, the list moves from political satire to family drama to lush, escapist settings.
Ben Fountain’s Rasputin Swims the Potomac brings a wild, near-future political bite, while Leave Your Mess at Home by Tolani Akinola gathers four grown siblings at their Nigerian parents’ Thanksgiving table, where old secrets and resentments quickly rise to the surface.
Andrew Sean Greer’s Villa Coco offers an elegant, sun-soaked literary escape, and Brawler by Lauren Groff brings another powerful entry for readers looking for prose with force and bite.
The mystery and thriller picks include Burn Down Master’s House by Clay Cane, Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, and Good People by Patmeena Sabit. These are books for readers who want tension, secrets, uneasy questions, and stories that keep turning long after the first reveal.
The romance list brings summer feeling in several forms: sports, second chances, friendship, artistic ambition, and emotional repair. Score by Kennedy Ryan, The Open Era by Edward Schmit, Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune, Into the Blue by Emma Brodie, and The Winged Game all offer their own version of longing, connection, and what happens when people risk wanting more.
And because anticipation is part of the fun, Fishbone Cinderella is included as a “coming soon” literary fiction pick to keep an eye on.
Part II: Young Adult & Children’s Books
The second half of the list is for young readers, though we're totally for grown-ups reading from this section too!
The Young Adult picks are full of big emotions, identity, romance, grief, power, history, magic, and possibility. This Thing of Ours by Frederick Joseph follows a teen rethinking his future after a torn ACL ends his basketball dreams and leads him into a school writing club. Shards of Silence by Brian Lee Young brings Native boarding-school history into focus through a moving story of memory and generational silence.
For romance readers, I Could Give You the Moon by Ann Liang and Smash or Pass by Birdie Schae bring different kinds of emotional spark: family secrets, slow-burn tension, breakup fallout, competition, and the sometimes impossible task of figuring out what you really want.
The YA fantasy and speculative picks include Goldenborn by Ama Ofosua Lieb and The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue by Zoulfa Katouh. These stories move through magic, grief, identity, power, and survival, giving teen readers worlds that feel both fantastical and deeply personal.
Middle Grade Adventures
The Middle Grade section is full of summer energy: dragons, road trips, horses, pool parties, K-pop with powers, mysteries, and friendships that get messy before becoming meaningful.
In The Dragon’s Apprentice by James Riley, a forbidden book of magic leads to an accidental dragon-summoning and a lesson in powers. A Hero’s Guide to Summer Vacation by Pablo Cartaya turns a seemingly boring road trip into a journey shaped by unexpected detours and buried family stories.
Horse Camp: A Horse Girl Mystery by Carrie Seim brings horses, trail rides, new friends, and a disappearance that turns the ranch mysterious! Last Day Pool Party by Emma Steinkellner captures the chaos of the final day of school, where six very different kids head toward one pool party before friendships, plans, and stories collide.
And in K-Pop Power: Raise Your Voice by Erin Yun, a rising K-pop group balances stardom, friendship, and magical powers when a new threat appears.
Growing Readers
For ages 7–10, the Growing Readers section includes books that blend humor, mystery, history, emotional transition, and high-energy adventure.
Barbed Wire Between Us by Mia Wenjen and Violeta Encarnación tells the mirrored stories of two girls imprisoned at the same internment site decades apart: a Japanese American child during World War II and a Latina migrant child in the 2010s. Told through reverse poems, each story reveals and reframes the other in a emotional and powerful way.
In Investigators: Weather or Not by John Patrick Green, Mango and Brash face strange weather, sticky clues, and another wonderfully absurd mystery. Pocket Peaches: Game On by Dora Wang offers a cozy, heartfelt story about cozy gaming, virtual friendships, and learning to embrace change. The Terrible Trio: The Not-So Superheroes by Swapna Haddow and Minky Stapleton brings unlikely heroes, questionable powers, and plenty of hilarious disaster.
Picture Books
The Picture Books section is for ages 4–8, but these are the kinds of books that can speak to readers well beyond that range.
The Outermost Mouse by Lauren Wolk follows a tiny but determined mouse living at the edge of the sea as a fierce storm reshapes the world around her. The beautiful book, While We’re Here by Anne Wynter and Micha Archer offers a touching reminder to slow down and notice the small pleasures around us.
Watermelon Pool by Bonsoir Lune a translated Korean children's book, turns a giant watermelon into a village-wide summer gathering place, complete with swimming, carved slides, and a day spent together until sunset. The Future Book by Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris imagines a hilarious future filled with strange customs, surprising inventions, and colorful possibilities.
The Umbrella by Sylvia Walker begins with a sudden rainstorm and becomes a story about shelter, welcome, and making room for others. Navigating Night by Julie Leung and Angie Kang follows a girl riding beside her dad on his nighttime delivery route, where she becomes a navigator, translator, and trusted guide.
For Library Trips, Book Orders, and Summer Days
Thank you for reading along with us. We hope that you are able to use this list to find some great new reads this summer. Save it for your next library trip. Bring it to your local bookshop. Use it to plan read-alouds, road trip entertainment, classroom wishlists, bedtime stories, recommendations, or your own summer TBR.
However this summer is unfolding for you, we hope this list helps you find something worth reading, sharing, and remembering!
Explore the complete Jackalope Collective 2026 Summer Reading List in the shop, and tell us what you’re reading this summer.
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