June 2025 Book Recommendations

Lighthouses, Stolen Necklaces, Dead Bodies, and More!

Happy 5th Anniversary! Five years ago today, on June 1, 2020, I published the very first Books for Kids newsletter. I think it went to my mom, sister, and three friends. I am so grateful for each person over the last five years who has opened up space in their email inbox to get these recommendation lists.

My goal is simple: Provide book recommendations you can trust so your 8-12 year-old reader can find their next right book. So, if you are looking for specific book recommendations for the 8-12 year-old reader in your life, let me know and I’d love to help out!

I recently published my 2025 Summer Reading Guide, so don’t miss out on those resources for summer reading!

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Confessions of a Class Clown

(Humor, Realistic Fiction) Jack Reynolds has one goal: Make people laugh. His MyTube channel is really starting to take off, but what he really needs to take it to the next level is a collaborator. Which would be easy, if he had any friends. Will he be able to find a partner for his videos? And if he does, what will it cost him? Laugh out loud funny.

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The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry

(Historical Fiction) Selena Lucy Landry has been frightened of the water ever since she lost her father at sea. Now she has no one to care for her and so she is sent to live with a family on a lighthouse in the middle of stormy Lake Superior. Things don’t go quite as planned, but there is one big advantage, it’s near the site of a famous shipwreck that went down a priceless ruby necklace. Can Lucy find the treasure before anyone else? And what if looking for the treasure turns deadly?

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Summer of the Gypsy Moths

(Realistic Fiction) Stella loves living with her Great-aunt Louise while her mom is off "finding herself." Stella fantasizes that someday she'll come back to the Cape and settle down. But then tragedy unexpectedly strikes, and Stella and Angel (the foster girl who lives with them) are forced to rely on each other to survive, and they learn that they are stronger together than they could have imagined.

Disclaimer: Great-aunt Louise dies early on in the story and the girls decide they don’t want to get placed in other foster homes so they won’t tell anyone she died…which means they have a dead body on their hands. I loved this book and it made me laugh and cry, but if you think having a dead body is a trigger for your reader, I’d skip this one.

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Trouble at the Tangerine

(Mystery, Realistic Fiction) Simon's family is always on the move. Every few months, they set off for a new adventure, but all Simon wants is to settle down. As they move into what Simon hopes is their forever home, the Tangerine Pines, a priceless necklace is stolen. Simon worries he'll have to move again if the thief isn't caught, so with the help of his neighbor Amaya, Simon is determined to solve the case.

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And now, in honor of this being the 5th anniversary of the newsletter, I thought it would be fun to include two recommendations from the very first newsletter…

Coo

(Magical Realism) Coo is abandoned by her mother as an infant and rescued by a flock of pigeons. The pigeons raise her until she is discovered by a retired postal worker, Tully. Tully takes her in and teaches her what it is to be human, but Coo struggles with knowing where she belongs...with these new humans or with her flock of pigeons. A sweet and wonderful story.

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Music for Tigers

(Animals) Louisa is not happy about being shipped halfway around the world to spend the summer with her mom’s eccentric Australian relatives. But then Louisa learns the truth: Convict Rock is a sanctuary established by her great-grandmother Eleanor for Tasmanian tigers, thought to be extinct. But one tiger remains. The only problem is, nobody has seen the tiger since her great-grandmother. Will Louisa be able to help the tiger or will the enigmatic Tasmanian tiger disappear once again, this time forever?

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