Summer 2019 Book Releases You and Your Children Should Look Out For!

July 29, 2019

We are well into summer now, nearing the end of July and entering the month of August! Depending on where you live, you may find yourself unbearably hot in the scorching summer heat. But there’s nothing quite like curling up front of your air conditioner, sipping ice cold lemonade, and reading a good book!

You are in luck, for this summer is a gold mine of exciting new book releases for you and your children to discover! Divided between picture books, middle grade, and young adult novels, check out some of the most exciting new and upcoming book releases of summer 2019!

Picture Books:


Rocket Says Look Up! – Nathan Bryon
(Release Date: June 25th)
Rocket is very excited to watch a comet that will be visible tonight and she wants everyone to see it with her! Even her older brother Jamal, whose eyes are always glued to his phone. This book dares its readers to dream big, let their curiosity run free, and to always look up to the stars!

Goodbye, Friend! Hello, Friend! – Cori Doerrfeld
(Release Date: July 2nd)
This is a beautiful picture book about the difficulty of change and the magic of new beginnings. This is the story of two best friends and their many goodbye’s and hello’s, including their final goodbye when one of them has to move away. But there’s no guessing what new adventures tomorrow might bring!

What’s Your Favorite Food? – Eric Carle
(Release Date: July 23rd)
The newest book in the ‘Eric Carle and Friends What’s Your Favorite’ series! This gorgeously illustrated picture book asks various children’s picture book artists from various cultural heritages what their favorite foods are and why they love them.

Just Like Beverly: A Biography of Beverly Cleary – Vicki Conrad
(Release Date: August 13th)
Beverly Cleary was one of my favorite authors as a child (the Ramona series being my favorites) so I am very excited for this upcoming picture book release! This is the illustrated biography of Beverly Cleary, beloved children’s author, from her childhood longing for more books about girls like her to her career as a successful children’s author.

Why? – Laura Vaccaro Seeger
(Release Date: August 13th)
All Bear wants is to quietly stargaze, but Rabbit keeps asking him “why?” Bear tries his best to answer all of Rabbit’s questions until eventually he is stumped! This beautiful watercolor picture book is heartfelt and perfect for the most curious of children.

Nya’s Long Walk: A Step at a Time – Linda Sue Park
(Release Date: September 3rd)
This is a companion picture book to Linda Sue Park’s bestselling novel A Long Walk to Water. Follow Nya, a Sudanese girl, as she takes her younger sister Akeer on the two-hour walk to fetch water for their family. Though the walk is difficult, Nya is determined and persistent enough to brave the whole way in order to return to her mother’s loving arms.

Middle Grade:


Midsummer’s Mayhem – Rajani LaRocca
(Release Date: June 11th)
A contemporary-fantasy retelling of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream about 11-year-old Indian-American girl entering a cooking competition! But perhaps the ingredients Mimi found in the depths of the forest with a strange boy named Vik might have magical properties… and might be messing with her family and causing trouble in her town!

My Fate According to the Butterfly – Gail D. Villanueva
(Release Date: July 30th)
This beautiful middle grade novel depicts the war on drugs in the Philippines from the perspective of an almost-11-year-old girl. The superstitious Sab knows she is doomed after encountering a black butterfly, an omen of death. She has one week before her birthday to change her fate – to get her father and estranged older sister to reconcile. But in doing so she must dig through her family’s past in order to learn why her sister left in the first place, and discovers some dark secrets along the way…

Rise of the Dragon Moon – Gabrielle K. Byrne
(Release Date: August 6th)
This delightful high fantasy follows Princess Toli, heir to the throne, who longs to be a fierce hunter. When the Queen is captured by the same dragons who killed the king, Toli will stop at nothing to save her. Even team up with another young dragon who might be the only key to her mother’s rescue!

The Trouble With Shooting Stars – Meg Cannistra
(Release Date: August 20th)
Luna loves the nighttime best. It’s the only time of day she can be fully herself. The only time of day she can take off her mask, the mask she must wear to hide her facial disfigurement caused by a car accident. But one day she meets a boy and girl who fly a magical airship and together they explore the stars…

My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich – Ibi Zoboi
(Release Date: August 27th)
Follow 12-year-old Ebony-Grace, granddaughter of one of NASA’s first black engineers, in the summer of 1984. Ebony-Grace struggles to find her place in a rapidly changing world, often finding herself retreating into her imagination where things are safer and easier to understand. But soon she starts to find the world around her is quite similar to her favorite sci-fi stories, and perhaps there is a place for her in it after all.

Count Me In – Varsha Bajaj
(Release Date: August 27th)
Nextdoor neighbors Katrina and Chris become close friends after Katrina’s Indian grandfather moves in and begins tutoring Chris in math. But when Katrina’s grandfather becomes the victim of a racially-charged assault, she and Chris accidentally become internet-viral activists!

Young Adult:

Sorcery of Thorns – Margaret Rogerson
(Release Date: June 4th)
I couldn’t leave out one of my favorite books of the year! Follow Elisabeth, raised as a foundling in one of the Great Libraries. There they keep the grimoires – magical books that contain the secrets of sorcery. The grimoires must be protected, for if they are damaged they transform into terrible monsters! When one of the most dangerous grimoires in the library is released from its cage, Elisabeth must embark on a dangerous mission to uncover who released it and why. Explore a rich world filled with demons, sorcerers, and peculiar books with minds of their own.

Symptoms of a Heartbreak – Sona Charaipotra
(Release Date: July 2nd)
16-year-old Saira is a medical prodigy and the youngest doctor in America. Her life isn’t easy – she’s constantly trying to prove herself to her adult co-workers and working in the same hospital as her mother doesn’t make it any easier. But things get a lot messier when she finds herself falling for one of her patients…

Wilder Girls – Rory Power
(Release Date: July 9th)
Advertised as the new, feminist Lord of the Flies, this horror novel takes place on an island that was once a boarding school for girls. Now it’s under quarantine after a virus called the Tox infected the students and turned their bodies strange. Told in dual perspectives, follow Hetty and Byatt as they try and survive life after the Tox whilst learning dark secrets about the island and the virus itself.

Ziggy, Stardust and Me – James Brandon
(Release Date: August 6th)
In this historical coming-of-age novel, follow 17-year-old Jonathan in the year 1973. Anxious, asthmatic, and simultaneously dealing with bullies and an alcoholic father, his life isn’t easy. Life is even harder when he realizes he is gay in a world that still considers homosexuality an illness. The only place he feels safe is in his own imagination, where David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and various dead relatives help him to navigate through life…

The Downstairs Girl – Stacey Lee
(Release Date: August 13th)
By day, Jo Kuan is the maid for a wealthy man’s spoiled daughter in Atlanta. By night, she is the author of the southern ladies advice column Dear Miss Sweetie. When her column grows in popularity, she starts using her new platform to highlight the negatives of society. What she wasn’t prepared for was the backlash she’d receive, or the clamored attempts to uncover her true identity…

Color Me In – Natasha Diaz
(Release Date: August 20th)
16-year-old Nevaeh Levitz is biracial – her mother is black and her father Jewish. She doesn’t think much of her roots until one day her parents separate and she finds herself moving to her mother’s childhood home in Harlem. It isn’t until she uncovers some secrets about her mother’s past and the prejudices her family faces that she discovers she has a voice and the ability to choose her own place in the world.


There are always so many exciting book releases every year! These are only a small sprinkling of books that have been released or are soon-to-be released this summer. What are some of you and your children’s most anticipated releases?

Don’t forget to support authors, especially debut authors, by purchasing their books or by requesting them at your local library!

Happy reading! 🙂

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning I get a small commission if you make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

Other Related Articles:


Sarah CookSarah Cook has been writing since she was old enough to hold a pencil. She loves to read, daydream, and fangirl over her favorite anime and manga. As a K – 12 homeschool survivor and graduate, she is currently a creative writing major in college. She hopes to someday travel the world, write bestselling novels, and own 152 cats. You can follow her on YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

Browse the course work
people are raving about

Curriculum

About Build Your Library

Have you been looking for a literature based homeschool curriculum that is secular? How about a way to incorporate narration, copywork, dictation and memory work into your child’s education? Or art study that ties into history?

Read more

 

feedburnertwitterfacebookpinterestyoutubeamazoninstagram