Summer Reading 2025

It’s time for my annual summer reading list, and unlike the the recent AI-generated Chicago Sun-Times list, all of these books actually exist and I have held in my hands! I’ve had a very full school year and the summer break provides me with a much-needed opportunity to slow down and find time to read. This is part of my summer self-care routine, which will also include spending quality time with family, being more active and diving into my extensive cookbook collection and cooking more meals from scratch.

I look forward to my annual summer goal of reading 9 books and creating my #summerreads list is something that I look forward to, having shared it via this site since 2018.

I will read some of these books for pleasure, some for personal and professional development, and hopefully, some will fulfill both categories. At the end of the blog post I share a collection of fantastic book list suggestions from other sites. There is ALWAYS something for everyone in my annual #summerreads blog post.

Where Wolves Don’t Die by Anton Treuer ($13)

This is the first book that I’ll dive into (OK, I’ve already read a few chapters). I like to add Young Adult books to my summer book stack, plus it’s become a tradition of mine to add Native American authors to my list (see The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones, Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty and (of course) There There by Tommy Orange).

The book is about Ezra Cloud, a 15-year-old Ojibwe boy who is trying to find himself, while looking for clues to a murder and Anton Treuer, the author, said that he wrote Where Wolves Don’t Die to turn Native fiction on its head. “We have so many stories about trauma and tragedy, with characters who lament the culture that they were always denied. I wanted to show how vibrant and alive our culture still is. I wanted to create a story that was gripping but where none of the Native characters were drug addicts, abused or abusing others—one more like the Native life that I know. The oppressions Natives have endured are real, so I kept my work unflinching, but focused on healing.”

This book is getting great reviews. For more book ideas depicting characters from Native, First Nations, and Indigenous communities, check out the site Indigenous Reads Rising.

Native Nations by Kathleen Duval ($23)

I’m a sucker for a prize-winning book, and Native Nations has quite the haul of prizes. It’s winner of the Bancroft Prize, the Cundill History Prize, the Mark Lynton History Prize, and most recently a Pulitzer Prize.

Long before the colonization of North America, Indigenous Americans built diverse civilizations and adapted to a changing world in ways that reverberated globally. And, as award-winning historian Kathleen DuVal vividly recounts, when Europeans did arrive, no civilization came to a halt because of a few wandering explorers, even when the strangers came well armed.

I need to read this book so that I can better understand the history of the country that I now find myself living in.

Listen to a sample from Native Nations.

The Ground Breaking by Scott Ellsworth ($16)

Another award-winning history book – I’m starting to sense a theme.

These are turbulent times, but turbulence is nothing new. The Ground Breaking tells the long-suppressed story of the notorious Tulsa race massacre. It also unearths the lost history of how the massacre was covered up, and of the courageous individuals who fought to keep the story alive. Most important, it recounts the ongoing archaeological saga and the search for the unmarked graves of the victims of the massacre, and of the fight to win restitution for the survivors and their families.

I studied history in school, but the older I become, the more I realize that I only studied a version of history. Books like this one (and the one mentioned above) will help help me fill in some of the many gaps in my US history knowledge.

Listen to a sample from The Ground Breaking.

Generations by Dr. Jean Twenge ($18)

I’ll admit, I was first drawn to this book because the author, Dr. Jean Twenge, is keynoting the Wonder Years online Teaching Summit — the same event I signed up for to watch Christopher Pepper’s keynote. But I digress.

I’ve never really bought into the research behind the different generations, and having finally realized that Gen Z students require different pedagogy from their Millennial counterparts, this book will hopefully equip me with ideas needed to face the coming Alpha/Polar generation.

Generations is a deep dive into a treasure trove of long-running, government-funded surveys and databases to answer these questions. Drawing from 24 national datasets including 43 million people, the book explores how the generations differ in mental health, political beliefs, sexual behavior, gender identity, attitudes about race, life goals, drug and alcohol use, income, self-confidence, trust, and materialism – complete with 282 charts.

Listen to a sample from Generations.

10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People by Dr. David Yeager $24

Here’s another book that will help me serve my young students more effectively, and it’s a book that has been recommended to me by my PLN quite a few times this year.

10 to 25 helps adults develop an ear for the difference between the right and wrong way to respect young people and avoid frustrating patterns of miscommunication and conflict.

Yeager explains how to adopt what he terms the mentor mindset, which is a leadership style that’s attuned to young people’s need for status and respect. The author shares easy-to-learn practices and his scientific experiments have shown these practices reduce a wide variety of behavior problems, including school dropout, unhealthy eating, stress, purposelessness, mental health problems, and more.

Listen to a sample of 10 to 25.

Slow Productivity by Cal Newport $18

Another recommendation, this time from Jeff Bartlett (you are signed up to his newsletter aren’t you?). I listened to Cal Newports podcast and immediately wanted to read one of his books, and the concept of slow productivity (pursuing meaningful accomplishment while avoiding overload) resonated with me.

This book promises a roadmap for escaping overload and arriving instead at a more timeless approach to pursuing meaningful accomplishment, providing an alternate to deciding between giving into soul-sapping hustle culture or rejecting ambition altogether

Forest Bathing by Dr. Qing Li $15

Another book feeding into my desite to slow down, get outside, spend less time online, and more time being mindful.

This is a beautiful book, and a quick read. It’s the definitive–and by far the most popular–guide to the therapeutic Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, or the art and science of how trees can promote health and happiness.

Dr. Qing Li, the world’s foremost expert in forest medicine, shows how forest bathing can reduce your stress levels and blood pressure, strengthen your immune and cardiovascular systems, boost your energy, mood, creativity, and concentration.

I’ll give Sarah Gietschier-Hartman a shout out for this one, because I’m sure she’s mentioned forest bathing to me on more than one occasion.

Listen to a sample of Forest Bathing.

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green $12

Another recommendation, this time from a co-worker, who knew that I’d appreciate the bite-sized essays in John Green’s popular book. Adam Grant, #1 bestselling author of Think Again called it “Masterful… a beautiful, timely book about the human condition—and a timeless reminder to pay attention to your attention.”

John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale—from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar. Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity.

I do indeed appreciate books that I can dip in and out of. I now keep a book in my car at all times that I can read while on the sidelines at a game, waiting in a parking lot for a practice to end, or to pull out while enjoying a cheeky coffee shop visit.

This concept for this book came from the podcast of the same name.

Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan $17

Some of the books on this list I have purchased, some came from my (AWESOME) school library. This book is one that I have lined up on my Libby, audiobook account that is offered by my local (again, AWESOME) library.

In the summer of 1986, James and Tully ignite a friendship based on music, films and the rebel spirit. With school over, they rush towards a magical weekend of youthful excess in Manchester played out against the greatest soundtrack ever recorded. And there a vow is made: to go at life differently.

Thirty years on, the phone rings. Tully has news.

I was 16 in ’86, and so the musical references certainly take me back to my formative years. I’m an hour into this 7 hour listen, and will blow through this on the upcoming family next road trip. I’ll also be listening to the Mayflies playlist compiled by a reader. Get in my ears!