Grades
K - 8
50 Summer Reading Books Under $5
These budget-friendly books will motivate your students to stick to a reading routine while school’s out.
Even though summer means pencils down, it doesn’t mean your students have to put books down! You can encourage your students to keep up with their reading routine during the summer by stocking up on these summer-themed books for under $5.
Whether you’re refreshing your classroom library or sending your students home with books (or both!), these highly engaging reads will open up their imagination and help them hone their reading skills while school’s out of session.
Browse the best summer reads by grade! Jump to:
Grades K-2
Younger elementary school students love picture books and early chapter books for their easy-to-decode text and simple sentence structure.
Take the widely adored Scholastic Branches book, Diary of a Pug #7: Pug's Road Trip. Your students will follow along as Bub and Bella search for the perfect souvenir on their road trip to bring back for their friend, Jack. The easy-to-follow text and engaging plot will grasp your student's attention and encourage them to read more!
Princess Truly is very curious! In these three rhyming stories, Princess Truly visits a museum and learns about dinosaurs and butterflies, she solves a mystery when her snack goes missing, and she takes a trip to outer space in a rocket ship with her pug, Sir Noodles.
Best friends Sniff and Scratch love to play together! Across three giggle-inducing short stories, Sniff and Scratch have fun with toilet paper, they enjoy chasing each other's tails, and they snuggle with Sniff's stuffed duck.
A silly read-aloud story with funny rhymes and hilarious illustrations.
What lives in the sea?
Pete and his mom and his brother are spending the day at the seashore. Pete has fun collecting shells and building a sand castle until he gets too hot. Luckily there is a whole ocean for Pete to cool off in, but it looks scary. Pete's brother, Bob, offers to teach Pete to surf. Will that be enough to help Pete get over his fear of the water?
Eva is ready to rock out at the Woodlandstock Music Festival! But when another band can't make it, Eva and her friends are ready to step in. Will they be able to form their own band in time to save the festival? And who will be their band's star singer? With speech bubbles, easy-to-read text, and adorable characters, this bestselling series is perfect for newly independent readers!
Pete the Cat is going scuba diving! Before he hits the water, Captain Joe tells him about all the sea creatures he might find, and Pete is super excited to see a seahorse.
Meet Mia Macarooney, an ordinary eight-year-old who finds out she has an extraordinary super-secret! With easy-to-read language and illustrations, these chapter books are perfect for emerging readers.
Grades 3-5
Many upper elementary students spend their summers at camp and might feel anxious about making new friends and joining activities. Reading books about similar experiences will help your students feel seen and give them the tools to troubleshoot tricky social situations.
Adventure is out there, and summer is the perfect time to explore national parks. In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967 , Eleven-year-old Melody Vega is camping with her family and encounters a fearsome grizzly bear. This thrilling book is a great reminder of how unpredictable nature can be.
Meanwhile, growing readers will love Summer Vacation from the Black Lagoon — a hilarious chapter book centered around Hubie's plans to survive a boring summer vacation. Students will not only improve their literacy skills, but also get a good laugh in about relatable experiences.
This boy visits friends in 13 different countries spanning all six populated continents. Along the way, he introduces readers to each friend's environment and customs. Each country has a dedicated spread with a small map that shows geography, letting readers imagine they are traveling too.
Meet “the human fish!” An introduction to the life and achievements of the remarkable Hawaiian surfer and five-time Olympic medalist who saved eight people from a shipwreck with his surfboard.
History's most exciting and terrifying events come to life in these stories of amazing kids and how they survived.
Ten-year-old George Calder can't believe his luck: He and his little sister, Phoebe, are on the famous Titanic, crossing the ocean with their aunt Daisy. The ship is full of exciting places to explore, but when George ventures into the first class storage cabin, a terrible boom shakes the entire boat. Suddenly, water is everywhere, and George's life changes forever.
Visiting his dad's hometown in Japan four months after his father's death would be hard enough for Ben. But one morning the pain turns to fear: first, a massive earthquake rocks the quiet coastal village, nearly toppling his uncle's house. Then the ocean waters rise and Ben and his family are swept away and pulled apart by a terrible tsunami.
Now Ben is alone, stranded in a strange country a million miles from home. Can he fight hard enough to survive one of the most epic disasters of all time?
Grades 6-8
Chapter books are a great way to boost vocabulary and build critical reading skills in middle schoolers.
Theory, Practice, and Destructive Properties: Liar, Liar is a thought-provoking story about Kevin, one of the best liars out there. Kevin lies not to get in trouble, but to make things easier for everyone. But when he finds his lies starting to snowball, Kevin's life is turned upside-down, and he must finally do the most difficult thing he can think of: tell the truth.
Meanwhile, Finding Someplace takes readers along thirteen-year-old Reesie Boone's journey to become a fashion designer. But when Hurricane Katrina destroys Reesie's city, her journey back home has only just begun after the waters recede.
Shop the best summer reading books under $5 below! You can find all books and resources at The Teacher Store.
Stealing Home is a moving and poignant account of a man who was determined to play baseball regardless of the color of his skin. This biography tells the story of Jackie Robinson, the first black man to play in baseball's major leagues in the United States.
Fourteen-year-old Kevin is one of the best liars out there, but he doesn't think it's a problem. It's not like he means to cause trouble by lying all the time; he just tells lies to make things easier for everyone...and, okay, maybe for himself as well.
Like telling his social studies project partner that he has a serious disease so she'll do all the work. Or lying to his teachers to get out of class so he can spend time with his crush.
But as his lies start to snowball, Kevin's friends, family, and teachers aren't very happy with him at all. Now he just might have to do the unthinkable: tell the truth.
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