Summer Reading Suggestions: Taking an Adventure Through Reading

With about six weeks of summer vacation just around the corner, there is plenty of time to take adventures to new cities, beaches, parks or stores. But this summer, you can take an adventure to a new place by reading one of the suggested books below.

If you like Romance…

“Once and For All” by Sarah Dessen

This novel by popular young adult fiction author Sarah Dessen follows a young woman named Louna who, the summer before college, works for her mother’s wedding planning company. Louna is skeptical about love after her parents’ divorce and the death of her first boyfriend. This all changes when she meets Ambrose, the very flirtatious brother of one of the brides that summer. Ambrose and Louna work together all summer with love and romance in the air as they attend wedding after wedding.

If you like Adventure or Dystopia…

“All Rights Reserved” by Gregory Scott Katsoulis

Teenager Speth lives in a futuristic society where most words and gestures are copyrighted and anyone who uses them is charged a fine to the company or corporations. Every child under 15 can speak for free, but at 15, the teens go through a ceremony to receive sponsorships for their adult word use. Speth, whose parents are locked away for outstanding debts, makes a vow of silence after seeing her best friend kill himself before her birthday ceremony.

If you like Short Stories…

“Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean” by Kirsty Murray, Payal Dhar and Anita Roy

This collection of short stories, all set in futuristic societies that share some resemblances to modern day, is written by a group of Australian and Indian women. Each author has one story published in this collection. The team of women wrote these stories on their own time, so there are not connected in plotlines, yet they all feature feminist sentiments. The protagonist of each story is typically a young woman who deals with some overarching problem in her society that she deals with or falls victim to by the end of each tale.

If you like Realistic Fiction or Historical Fiction…

“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien

English 11 students are already familiar with this story about soldiers in the Vietnam War, but it is an entertaining read for anyone. The chapters of this book each tell their own little part of the bigger story of Tim O’Brien’s experience in the war. While readers might know the non-specifics of the War in Vietnam, this book provides specifics of the loss, grief, guilt and trauma of war. In this unique novel, O’Brien reveals events that seem so fictitious that they might just be true. O’Brien uses this book to share his experiences in and feelings about the war and help civilians better understand.