3 Middle Grades Books for Teachers to Read This Summer

Ahh, summer. A time to totally forget about students, the classroom, testing, and . . . reading?

Mmmmmm, maybe not.

I’m all for taking a break during the summer months and keeping those boundaries strong, but even summer-teacher-me loves to read a good middle-grades novel in the sun.

Am I evaluating the book to see whether my students will like it too? Maybe a little.

But mostly, these books are just so much fun to read!

Here are 3 middle-grades books you should read this summer if you haven’t already. (affiliate links included)

The Superteacher Project, by Gordon Korman

I can never get enough Korman books, and I was so excited to find out he wrote a book about an undercover AI teacher! This book made me laugh and almost cry. I kept my tears in my eyelids, but as a teacher, I felt really emotional as the robot teacher became exactly who . . . nope. That would spoil it. You’ll have to read it for yourself!

Out of My Heart, by Sharon M. Draper

In this sequel to Out of My Mind, Melody goes to summer camp and has a brand-new adventure. In my opinion, the sequel isn’t not nearly as poignant as the first book, but it’s super cute. There’s even a summer-camp romance! This book is perfect as a sweet, summer read.

What Not to Do If You Turn Invisible, by Ross Wellford

This book is absolutely ridiculous, and I loved every second of it. Ethel is a middle-school girl with raging acne, and she tries to cure it with herbs and a tanning bed. (Honestly, I can relate.) Unfortunately, this DIY approach turns her invisible, and her problems go downhill from there. I’m a sucker for invisibility plots in general, but this book was especially fun.

I hope you enjoy these books as much as I did, and I hope you successfully stay away from your classroom this summer! Stay strong!

If you haven’t read my blog post about my favorite read-alouds for middle-school ELA, bookmark it now and check out the books in August!