May 2025 Book Recommendations

Baseball, Code Cracking, Orcas and More!

Happy Almost Summer! My school has just nine days left until summer break, but who’s counting?! Here’s a few books to read in these last few weeks of school or to add to your summer reading list. As a reminder, 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!

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My goal is simple: Provide book recommendations you can trust so your 8-12 year-old reader can find their next right book.

Astrid the Unstoppable

(Realistic Fiction) Astrid loves to spend her days racing down the hillside on her sledge or skis. Her speed has earned her the nickname, “the little thunderbolt.” Astrid longs for other children to come to her village and join her adventures, but instead, she has to put up with a grumpy old seventy-four year old for a best friend. Changes are coming and Astrid’s world is about to be turned upside down. Astrid will make you think of Heidi and Pippi Longstocking.

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The First State of Being

(Science Fiction) Admittedly, I’m not a big reader of science fiction, but I enjoyed this one! It’s August 1999 and concerns of Y2K are looming ahead. Then Michael Rosario meets a mysterious boy from the future and his life is changed forever. Ridge isn’t where he belongs and he’s not sure how to return. Michael discovers that his new friend has a book that outlines the events of the next twenty years and he decides he needs to get his hands on that book. How far is he willing to go to get it? What will Ridge need to do to get back to his time?

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How I Became a Spy: A Mystery of WWII London

(Historical Fiction, Mystery) After recently reading an adult book about code cracking in World War II, I knew I wanted to recommend a kid’s book on the same topic. Bertie Bradshaw never set out to become a spy. But when a young woman goes missing, leaving behind a coded notebook, Bertie is determined to solve the mystery. With the help of two friends and his trusty pup, Little Roo--Bertie must decipher the notebook in time to stop a double agent from spilling the biggest secret of all to the Nazis.

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Inside the Park

(Realistic Fiction) Home Alone meets baseball! Pumpsie has been waiting his entire life for his favorite team to make it to the playoffs. And this year they’re just one win away. But then Pumpsie accidentally gets trapped in Lookout Field the night before the last game of the season. For a baseball fan like Pumpsie, using the pro batting cages, running the bases, playing with the public address system, eating all the concession-stand junk food he can find is a dream come true . . . until he realizes he’s not alone in the stadium. Now it’s up to Pumpsie to save the Wildcats’ postseason chances.

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Race to the Bottom of the Earth

(Nonfiction) A thrilling nonfiction book capturing two expeditions to the South Pole, one in 1910 and one in 2018. In 1910 Captain Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen were in a race to become the first to complete a journey to the South Pole. Then in 2018, Captain Louis Rudd readied himself for a similarly difficult task: the first unaided, unsupported solo crossing of treacherous Antarctica. What he didn’t know was that athlete Colin O’Brady had the same goal. Just like in 1910, it’s a race to see who can complete the journey first.

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A Whale of the Wild

(Adventure, Survival) When Vega, a young orca whale, and her brother are separated from their pod when a devastating earthquake and tsunami render the seascape unrecognizable, she must lead her brother to be reunited with their pod. It is a dangerous journey and requires Vega to use all of her skills. The book is gorgeously illustrated and includes information about orcas and their habitats.

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