Reading Lists

Harvard-Westlake Middle School does not have a required summer reading program. Instead, your librarians encourage students to read whatever catches their eye. You can find some ideas in Sora's Collections and linked below. We also encourage you to message or email a librarian for personalized suggestions — it's what we do!

Genres

Mysteries 🔍

Reading Is Timeless: Historical Fiction ⏳

Thrills & Chills: Horror 🧟

Magical Tales: Fantasy ✨

Brave New World: Sci Fi 🛸

Odd Futures: Dystopias 🔮

The Thrill of Victory: Sports Fiction 🤸

Quick Bites: Short Stories

themeS & Topics

Mental Health & Wellness 🧠

Life at Home 🛋

Category Is: LGBTQIA+ Authors 🏳️‍🌈

Transgender & Nonbinary Authors 🏳️‍🌈

African American Authors & Characters

Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Authors

Native American & Indigenous Authors

All About Sports (nonfiction)

Professional Growth

ANTI-RACISM

People are rising up against long-standing injustices and anti-Black violence all over the country, including in Los Angeles. Author Jason Reynolds' short radio segment answering young people's questions about racism and the protests is a worthwhile listen.

Wondering where to start? Check out the Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources document. It'll help you identify where you are in your anti-racist work and what your next steps could be.

Many of us turn to reading to understand the world around us, process our reactions to it, and transform ourselves and the world in positive ways. Using the Anti-Racism Resource Guide by Tasha K, we've compiled some titles that we hope will help each of us do just that:

Lists to come, also based on Tasha K's Anti-Racism Resource Guide:

Anti-Racism: Asian & Pacific Islander Studies
Anti-Racism: Chicanx/Latinx Studies
Anti-Racism: Indigenous Studies
Anti-Racism: Black Studies
Anti-Racism: White Studies
Anti-Racism: Health & Medicine, Land & Housing
Anti-Racism: Immigration
Anti-Racism: Mass Incarceration & Voting
Anti-Racism: Healing & Restoration
Anti-Racism: Religion & the Church

For now, we invite you to search our collection for any of the titles you've seen mentioned in the Anti-Racism Resource Guide, Anti-racism resources for white people, the outstanding Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources, or elsewhere.

Many of these source lists are being revised on an ongoing basis, and so are ours.

A few other collections of ebooks and audiobooks in Sora:

The Anti-Racist Bookshelf for Young Adults
Nonfiction written for young adults, excellent for any age.
The Anti-Racist Bookshelf
After The Hate U Give, try...
Angie Thomas's stunning novel The Hate U Give is a favorite of many. This list contains other novels (and some nonfiction) touching on key issues. Many titles on this list concern police brutality, but some are about different matters of justice.

Our top recommendations are This Book Is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell (ebook), which focuses on practical, everyday antiracism, and Stamped (ebook; audiobook) by Jason Reynolds and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, which traces racist ideas from their very beginning to the present day.

'If you liked...'

Rick Riordan Presents
Do you love Rick Riordan's mythological adventures, including the Percy Jackson series? Rick Riordan Presents publishes more amazing adventures based on mythology and folklore, by authors with roots all over the world.

After The Hate U Give, try...
Realistic fiction, and select nonfiction, tackling the issues that shape the world around us.

Awards

2020 Walter Dean Myers Awards 🏆

2020 Teens' Top Ten Nominees 🔟

Community favorites

Most Popular
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