Sunshine and Stories
Reading over the summer helps kids stay curious, creative, and ready for the year ahead. From beach days and hurricanes to camp adventures and coming-of-age awakenings, this list brings you the full spectrum of summer—there's something here for every kind of summer reader.
This list originally appeared in the Summer 2025 issue of Canadian Children's Book News.
Picture Books
A Day for Sandcastles
storyline by JonArno Lawson
illustrated by Qin Leng
Candlewick Press, 2022
This wordless picture book evokes the wonder of beach days and celebrates the joy of creative problem-solving and teamwork. Three siblings spend their day at the beach building sandcastles. Each iteration is met with unforeseen obstacles—a large hat, a toddler and the ever-creeping tide. But each time, the determined siblings rebuild… until it’s time to head home.
Kits, Cubs, and Calves: Arctic Summer
written by Suzie Napayok-Short
illustrated by Tamara Campeau
Inhabit Media, 2020
Akuluk is visiting family in Nunavut. Out on the Arctic Ocean in her uncle’s boat, Akuluk experiences the beautiful sights, sounds and animals that abound in the ocean and along the shore during the short Arctic summer—from a mother polar bear and her cubs to a family of belugas and tiny Arctic fox kits.
One Summer in Whitney Pier
written by Mayann Francis
illustrated by Tamara Thiébaux-Heikalo
Nimbus Publishing, 2022
Eleven-year-old Mayann’s two best friends are away for the summer, and she’s too young to play on her sister’s baseball team. Bored, she helps out at home, cooking delicious Caribbean foods and practicing her embroidery. While stitching a project, Mayann gets an idea—one that will help the baseball team, bring her community together and maybe even save her summer!
Summer Feet
written by Sheree Fitch
illustrated by Carolyn Fisher
Nimbus Publishing, 2020
This rhyming, tongue-twisting picture book celebrates all things summer. Summer is the time to kick off shoes and let out our summer feet, our freedom feet. Bare-naked summer feet are wandering-wild, salty-toed, beach-loving, mud-slippery and huddled-up-cozy! Summer feet flutter kick, somersault, hide-and-seek, and dance in the rain, soaking up all the season has to offer.
A Summer without Anna
written by Kate Jenks Landry
illustrated by Risa Hugo
Kids Can Press, 2025
Junie misses her sister—and their summers together before Anna got sick. When Junie’s mum and dad leave her with Nan and Pop for the summer, they promise they’ll be back to get her “the minute Anna’s well enough.” Then they hand her Anna’s camera with a note that reads, “In case you find Edmund.” Throughout the long summer, Junie spends her days floating in the lake, fishing with Pop and taking lots of pictures—though none of Edmund, the elusive giant turtle. Edmund will have to wait, just like Junie is waiting, until she finally gets to see her sister again.
JUNIOR FICTION
Izzy’s Dog Days of Summer
(Izzy, Book 3)
written by Caroline Adderson
illustrated by Kelly Collier
Kids Can Press, 2023
Izzy and Zoë are very disappointed in their summer day camp and decide to start their own, better camp in Izzy’s backyard. Izzy’s neighbour, Mr. Entwistle, grumbles about all the noise Izzy, Zoë and Izzy’s dog Rollo are making playing games. So, there’s only one thing to do… invite Mr. Entwistle to join in! Who can resist fun?
My Summer Camp Has Mega Sloths
written by Rebecca Wood Barrett
illustrated by Jaimie MacGibbon
Orca Book Publishers, 2025
In this follow-up to My Best Friend Is Extinct, Henry and his friends attend a summer camp led by a shady head counsellor. Luckily, there’s still fun to be had: Henry reunites with Yarp, a prehistoric short-faced bear, and discovers a herd of gentle mega sloths. When a wildfire approaches, everyone must band together to escape.
Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles
written by Shari Green
Pajama Press, 2022 © 2016
Sent to stay with her estranged grandmother on the West Coast for the summer while her parents are at Marriage Repair camp, 11-year-old Bailey longs for a miracle to hold her family together. So, when an eccentric deposed minister proclaims “a stranger from the sea will change everything,” and then she finds a driftwood mermaid, a gift from the sea… Bailey hopes this “stranger” will bring the miracle her family really needs.
A Summer of Dragonflies
written by Natasha Deen
DCB Young Readers, 2025
When her dad is chosen for a year-long teacher-exchange program, Gupta “Guppie” Persaud and her whole family pack up for a big move from Calgary to New York City. A new city sparks both new fears and new opportunities for Guppie, who’s ready to overcome her “terminal shyness” and become as brave as the heroes in her favourite books. But first, she must survive the three-week summer road trip across America to their new temporary home.
Summer’s End
written by Joel A. Sutherland
Scholastic Canada, 2024 © 2017
In the last summer before high school, four friends become entangled in a grisly, ghostly mystery when they discover an abandoned house on a forgotten island. Terrified by what they learn about the house, called Summer’s End, but unable to resist its call, the four decide to camp out on the island. And the summer to remember becomes a nightmare they’ll never forget.
YA FICTION
Hurricane Summer
written by Asha Bromfield
St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2021
When Tilla learns she’ll be spending the summer with her father in Jamaica, she dreads the idea,
but also longs to discover what life on the island has always held for him. Forced to face the
storm that unravels in her own life, Tilla learns about the dark secrets that lie beyond the veil of
paradise… all in the face of an impending hurricane.
The Queen of Junk Island
written by Alexandra Mae Jones
Annick Press, 2022
Reeling from recent trauma, 16-year-old Dell is happy to head to the family cottage to help her mom clean up garbage left by a tenant. They’re joined by her mom’s boyfriend and his daughter. Ivy makes Dell uncomfortable—yet she’s drawn to her. As Dell uncovers family secrets in the wreckage, Ivy leads her toward revelations about her sexuality and identity.
The Summer Between Us
written by Andre Fenton
Formac Publishing, 2022
High school is over. Biracial, 18-year-old Adrian is facing decisions that will change the course of his life. Should he accept a university scholarship or take off on a tour across the country with his punk-rock girlfriend, Mel? Does he want to choose either of these options? Adulthood is far more complicated than he’s ever imagined.
The Summer of Bitter and Sweet
written by Jen Ferguson
Heartdrum, 2022
Lou faces a summer working at her family’s ice cream shack with her ex-boyfriend and her long-absent former best friend. On top of that, she gets a letter from her biological father—the white man who raped her Métis mother—who’s out of jail and wants to talk to her. A powerful novel about the sweetness that can live alongside the bitterest truth.
Tahira in Bloom
written by Farah Heron
Skyscape, 2021
Aspiring designer Tahira is spending the summer working in her aunt’s boutique in Bakewell, Ontario. Learning that the prize for the annual Bakewell floral sculpture design competition involves meeting a New York fashion designer, Tahira sets her sights on winning. Only two problems: she’s allergic to flowers, and Rowen, who’s a genius with flowers, hates influencers like her.
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Boy vs. Shark
written and illustrated by Paul Gilligan
Tundra Books, 2024
In the summer of 1975, Paul Gilligan, 10, doesn't have a whole lot to worry about other than keeping his comic books untarnished, getting tennis balls off roofs and keeping up with the increasingly bold stunts of his best friend, David. And then Jaws comes to town, leaving young Paul a cowering mess, and underlines the growing gap between him and David as well as the distance between where he stands and the world's expectations of a boy's "manliness."
Carousel Summer
written and illustrated by Kathleen Gros
Quill Tree Books, 2025
With her best friend away at camp, tons of chores to do, and her dad always on her case for being such a tomboy, 12-year-old Lucy Stulligross is dreading summer. That is, until Milforth's plan to revive an old carousel for the town's 150th anniversary brings artist Ray and her daughter, Anaïs, to town. Anaïs is smart, funny, and easy to talk to, and Lucy—who's used to being judged for her looks and interests—finally feels at ease in her own skin. And she thinks she may feel something for Anaïs, too.
The Good Fight
written by Ted Staunton
illustrated by Josh Rosen
Scholastic Canada, 2021
Toronto, summer, 1933. Thirteen-year-old Sid and his friend Plug are looking for ways to make ends meet. Their plans take them down a path they never intended and right into the centre of the city’s boiling point—the riot at Christie Pits. Sid needs to choose how far he will go to do what’s right. And he has to choose fast.
Long Distance
written and illustrated by Whitney Gardner
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2021
Vega is miserable about moving to Seattle with her two dads and leaving behind her best friend, Halley. Sent off to summer camp to make new friends, Vega is determined to get her old life back. But things at camp start getting strange, and Vega teams up with her bunkmates to figure out what’s going on!
PAWS: Hazel Has Her Hands Full
(PAWS, Book 4)
written by Nathan Fairbairn
illustrated by Michele Assarasakorn
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2025
Summer break is just around the corner, and the PAWS team is gearing up for a busy season full of dog-walking, travel, and fun! Gabby’s got a packed schedule with about a hundred different camps, and Mindy is headed to her dad’s house for a month-long stay. When the opportunity to cat-sit two new fur babies arises, Hazel jumps at the chance. Soon, she learns that juggling multiple cats and dogs, along with her own physical therapy, while also keeping a big secret, is no easy task.