Kids Discover Talks with Book Editor Karen Cicero from The Week Junior About Summer 2025 Reading Book Ideas
- July 10, 2025
- By Alice Knisley Matthias
What are you reading this summer?
Are you ready to get lost in a mystery to solve or do you want to catch up with your favorite book series? There are all kinds of genres of books to choose from for summer afternoons or reading in bed at night in the glow of a flashlight.
We caught up with Karen Cicero, Book Editor at The Week Junior, who helps put together exciting reading lists for young readers and she shared what many kids are looking for when making book selections for 2025 summer reading.
“The Week Junior book list for the summer of 2025 is made up of kids’ choices,” says Cicero. “We asked kids what books they have read that they would recommend for our summer reading list. This is a list of kid-approved books!”
Each book recommendation also comes with a quote from one of the kid readers about the book.
There are books about adventure, kid problems, historical fiction, nonfiction, realistic fiction, sci-fi and graphic novels.
Have you read a book of short stories?
“A book of short stories offers something a little different for a reader,” says Cicero. “Each short story in a book has a beginning, middle and end. “The Ice Cream Machine” by Adam Rubin is a group of six short stories by the same author about everything from alien encounters to an ice cream eating contest.”
The list also includes books about joining a swim team, everyone’s favorite wimpy kid, Greg, a horrible haircut, the American Revolution and the latest Harry Potter.
Cicero shared ideas about what to read and how to make reading time in the summer a fun activity for you and as a group.
Create a Book Club
“Choose a book as a family, or group of friends, and have everyone read the same book and talk about it,” says Cicero.
Have a Book Exchange
Do you have some books you have read that you can share with friends? “Get a group of friends together and have a book exchange,” says Cicero. You and your friends can gather books you have already read and share recommendations with each other to read new books.
Make a Reading Space
Where you read is just as enjoyable as what you read. Cicero suggests creating a space that is just for your summer reading time. Put a bean bag chair in a corner and a small rug with a table and lamp to make a cozy reading space to read your summer books. .
Make an Outdoor Reading Space
“Go outside!” says Cicero. Find a quiet place under a tree or in your yard where you can sit with a cool drink and a book on a summer afternoon.
The Week Junior asked more than 200 children across the country about the books they would recommend to other kid readers.
We hope you find a book on this list that will give you the feeling of getting lost in the pages and become the book on your shelf that you recommend to friends.
Read the Summer of Reading List from The Week Junior here.
Happy Summer Reading!
