Jumpstart your students' summer reading by pairing assigned books with one of Vocabulary.com's curated vocabulary lists.
Learning essential vocabulary in advance will help your students get the most out of the books they read independently during the summer months.
You can boost student comprehension and foster accountability — without creating any extra work or grading for yourself. Best of all, Vocabulary.com will automatically follow up with students over time so they really learn the words they struggled with.
Here's how to seamlessly integrate vocabulary instruction into your summer reading plans:
1. Select assigned texts, or invite students to choose their own books. Looking for some great summer reading suggestions? Our list of recommended titles below appeals to a range of interests and abilities.
2. Check out our high-quality, ready-made lists. Developed by seasoned educators, our lists are designed to align with your curriculum and to support independent reading. You can use the lists as they are, or copy and customize them.
3. Assign a Practice activity. When students practice the words on the list you assigned, they learn key vocabulary and preview the text before they tackle the reading.
4. Leave the follow-up to us. When students play The Challenge on Vocabulary.com, we automatically follow up with them until they master any words they struggled with.
Below, you'll find recommended 2020 summer reading, along with links to our curated vocabulary lists for each text. Bear in mind that these recommendations are just the tip of the iceberg. You can find more great resources on our Lists page, and we're adding new lists every week.
High-Interest Books
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
Children of Blood and Bone and Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
Internment by Samira Ahmed
Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson
Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
Here to Stay by Sara Farizan
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds
Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds
Race to the Sun by Rachel Roanhorse
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Clean Getaway by Nic Stone
Sadie by Courtney Summers
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
Front Desk by Kelly Yang
Frankly in Love by Daniel Yoon
Pride by Ibi Zoboi
2020 Award Winners
New Kid by Jerry Craft (Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Book Award)
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez (Pura Belpré Award)
Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly (Schneider Family Book Award)
Dig by A.S. King (Printz Award)
Free Lunch by Rex Ogle (YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction)
White Bird by R.J. Palacio (Sydney Taylor Book Award)
They Called Us Enemy by George Takei (Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, Young Adult)
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki (Walter Dean Myers Award)
Stargazing by Jen Wang (Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, Children’s Literature)
Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams (Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent)
The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman (Walter Dean Myers Award)
Past Award Winners
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (National Book Award, Printz Award, Pura Belpré Award, and Walter Dean Myers Award)
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (2016 Newbery Medal)
The Unwanted by Don Brown (YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction)
A Few Red Drops by Claire Hartfield (Coretta Scott King Award)
Monster by Walter Dean Myers (2000 Printz Award)
Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson (Coretta Scott King John Steptoe Award for New Talent)
Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram (William C. Morris YA Debut Award)
Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina (Newbery Medal)
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (2018 Walter Dean Myers Award)
Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Walter Dean Myers Award)
Esperanza Rising by Pamela Muñoz Ryan (2002 Pura Belpré Award)
Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman (2015 National Book Award)
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (2018 William C. Morris YA Debut Award)
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (2014 National Book Award)
Middle Grade Favorites
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Matilda by Roald Dahl
The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies
Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein
The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson
Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin
The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McNulty
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien
Holes by Louis Sachar
Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
Popular Graphic Novels
This Was Our Pact by Ryan Andrews
El Deafo by Cece Bell
Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova
In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang
Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson
March by John Lewis
Snapdragon by Kat Leyh
Queen of the Sea by Dylan Meconis
I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Drama by Raina Telgemeier
Guts by Raina Telgemeier
Smile by Raina Telgemeier
The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Classics
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson BurnettThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Animal Farm by George Orwell
1984 by George Orwell
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Compelling Nonfiction
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
March Forward, Girl by Melba Pattillo Beals
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Spooked by Gail Jarrow
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Astronauts by Jim Ottaviani and Maris Wicks
Americanized by Sara Saedi
The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Educated by Tara Westover
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
Beloved Series
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Percy Jackson & the Olympians by Rick Riordan
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Track series by Jason Reynolds: Ghost, Patina, Sunny, Lu
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Divergent by Veronica Roth