Penguin Young Readers Summer Showcase

I don’t need to explain to readers of this blog why it’s important for us to continue to highlight as much diverse and inclusive literature as we can. Today’s summer list from Penguin Young Readers centers LGBTQIA+ stories/characters and race/racism. Get these books on your shelves, display them, read them, review them, and stand up for them when the time comes that you will have to.

All descriptions from the publisher. Thank you to Penguin for all that they do.

A Hero’s Guide to Summer Vacation by Pablo Cartaya (ISBN-13: 9780451479754 Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Publication date: 05/06/2025, Ages 8-12)

Reality proves more epic than fantasy in this family road trip story starring a reluctant young hero and his curmudgeonly grandfather.

Gonzalo Alberto Sánchez García has never considered himself the hero of his own story. He’s an observer, quietly snapshotting landscapes and drawing the creatures he imagines emerging from them. Forced to spend the summer with his estranged grandfather, Alberto William García—the very famous reclusive author—Gonzalo didn’t expect to learn that heroes and monsters are not only the stuff of fantasy.

But that’s precisely what happens when Gonzalo’s CEO mother, Veronica, sends Alberto on tour to promote the final book in his fantasy series for children and Gonzalo must tag along, even though he feels no connection to his grandfather or the books. Together, they embark on a cross-country road trip from Mendocino to Miami in a classic 1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass S Convertible named Mathilde. Over the course of ten epic days on the highway, they will slay demons, real and imagined; confront old stories to write new ones; and learn what it truly means to show up for your family.

Summer Girls by Jennifer Dugan (ISBN-13: 9780593696897 Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Publication date: 05/13/2025, Ages 12-17)

From the author of Some Girls Do comes a YA sapphic romance about two girls from different sides of the tracks.

Cass has a rule about dating summer girls—just say no. Every year, her idyllic beach town is flooded with summer girls, the obnoxious daughters of the rich, who stay in their families’ summer homes, sail their yachts, and generally make things unbearable for townies like Cass.

Birdie is the ultimate summer girl. She’s the daughter of a wealthy real estate developer dad and a social media influencer mom, and this summer Birdie happens to be in big trouble for accidentally crashing her boyfriend’s very expensive car.

Birdie’s punishment is to spend the summer with her father at the beach—but it won’t be a vacation. He’s enlisted the help of Cass, whose dad works for him, to keep Birdie on the straight and narrow, including getting her a job at the public beach where Cass lifeguards.

At first the two despise each other. Birdie doesn’t want a babysitter, and Cass doesn’t want to be one. But as the season heats up, Birdie surprises Cass time and again, and before long both girls can’t help but wonder: Are some rules made to be broken?

Papa’s Coming Home by Chasten Buttigieg, Dan Taylor (Illustrator) (ISBN-13: 9780593693988 Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Publication date: 05/20/2025, Ages 3-7)

A charming picture book about unconditional love from New York Times bestselling author Chasten Buttigieg, perfect for families who love each other the whole year through.

Jojo and Rosie’s papa has been away on a trip, and they can’t wait to welcome him home! They make signs, they pick flowers, and with Daddy’s help, they bake a cake and pack the car with absolutely everything Papa might have missed while he was away.

When Papa’s plane arrives, they give him a huge hug—but when they bring him to the car, they realize there’s one small problem: Where will Papa sit?

Delightfully illustrated by Dan Taylor, this charming story filled with love celebrates dads and familial bonds. Chasten Buttigieg shines a beautiful light on the humorous musings of toddlers and a parent’s unconditional love for their child.

JIM!: Six True Stories about One Great Artist: James Marshall by Jerrold Connors (ISBN-13: 9780593859346 Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Publication date: 05/20/2025, Ages 5-8)

A picture book biography of the late, great James Marshall—illustrator of Miss Nelson is Missing and the George and Martha series—and as clever, delightful, and daring as Jim himself

Author and illustrator James Marshall let kids in on the joke. He knew little kids were smart, and he didn’t talk down to them in his stories. He was right—kids loved his picture books. Decades after his death, the characters he illustrated—Miss Nelson, Viola Swamp, George and Martha, Goldilocks, Fox and His Friends—are still beloved. James Marshall should be at least as famous as his characters, and now he is, in his own picture book biography. Created in an irreverent style inspired by James Marshall’s own art and storytelling, this delightful biography, featuring James as a fox, celebrates in both form and content what made James—“Jim” to his friends—so talented, funny, and special, and what has made his tales last. This time, Jim is the main character.

Amina Banana and the Formula for Friendship by Shifa Saltagi Safadi, Aaliya Jaleel (Illustrator) (ISBN-13: 9780593699225 Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Publication date: 05/20/2025 Series: Amina Banana #1, Ages 6-9)

Meet Amina Banana! She’s a determined and clever third grader, and star of a new chapter book series with a STEM twist. Perfect for readers of The Questioneers and Junie B. Jones!

Amina loves bananas, science, and all things yellow! Her family recently arrived from Syria to Indiana, and she’s starting at a brand-new school in a brand-new country. She’s excited but also nervous, especially about making friends! But she develops the perfect formula to get everything just right:

Speak English + wear a perfect outfit + be a good student + eat American food = Make American Friends!

When the first few days are harder than Amina imagined, she’s left worrying: why doesn’t her formula add up?

The History of We by Nikkolas Smith (ISBN-13: 9780593619681 Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Publication date: 05/20/2025, Ages 4-8)

An awe-inspiring picture book about the origin and advancement of humans, from author and #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Nikkolas Smith.

Fossil records show that the first humans were born in Africa. Meaning, every person on Earth can trace their ancestry back to that continent. The History of We celebrates our shared ancestors’ ingenuity and achievements and imagines what these firsts would have looked and felt like.

What was it like for the first person to paint, to make music, to dance, to discover medicine, to travel to unknown lands? It required courage, curiosity, and skill.

The History of We takes what we know about modern human civilization and, through magnificent paintings, creates a tale about our shared beginnings in a way that centers Black people in humankind’s origin story.

One Day in June: A Story Inspired by the Life and Activism of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline, Charlot Kristensen (Illustrator) (ISBN-13: 9780593525371 Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Publication date: 05/20/2025, Ages 4-8)

You can sparkle, shimmer, shine – just like Marsha did.

This vibrant and joyful picture book celebrates the legacy of Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans woman and activist who played an instrumental role during the Stonewall Riots that lead to PRIDE month, written by award-winning filmmaker and artist Tourmaline.

You wouldn’t even believe the things Saint Marsha used to get up to—she had more of a zest for life than anyone I’ve ever known, and the biggest heart, too.

It’s a hot summer day and New York City is buzzing like a hive of eager honeybees. From Riis Beach to the Flower District, into the West Village and over to the Brooklyn Museum, folks young and old embrace the resolute and love-filled spirit of icon activist Marsha P. Johnson in all that they do.

Told through the eyes of an old friend and with bright, buoyant artwork, this jubilant story celebrates the indelible stamp that Marsha P. Johnson left on New York City and beyond, culminating in a powerful convergence one day in June 2020, when activists from across all five boroughs rallied loudly for Black trans lives.

The spirit of Marsha has never been more alive and present in what we do.

The Uncertainty Principle by Joshua Davis, Kal Kini-Davis (ISBN-13: 9780593660300 Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Publication date: 06/03/2025, Ages 12+)

From New York Times bestselling author Joshua Davis and his son Kal Kini-Davis, comes an epic, breathtaking story of self-discovery, love, and adventure—perfect for fans of Nina LaCour and John Green.

Seventeen-year-old Mia is stranded in the middle of the Caribbean. After a mortifying incident in the school cafeteria, her parents decide there is only one way to deal with her meltdown: move onto a battered sailboat and leave everything behind. Her mom and dad think it’s the best decision they’ve ever made. Mia feels like she’s been kidnapped and imprisoned in paradise with no internet and no destination.

Her only hope is to hack together a solar-powered satellite phone so she can call her best friend and fix everything. To do it, she’ll have to build a mobile laboratory on the boat and ignore her neurotic mother, who thinks Mia is falling apart.

The problem is, Mia is falling apart. By day, she scours deserted islands, looking for anything she can use to build the phone. At night, she squeezes into a narrow bunk and talks to an imaginary friend. She knows, with absolute certainty, that she needs to abandon her family to save her sanity.

And then two teenagers sail into her world, promising friendship, and maybe even romance. Thoughtful, soulful Alby was raised in Australia but now his family calls the sea their home. The only thing missing is his soulmate. Bold, beautiful Nisha is simply vacationing on her dad’s megayacht when a chance encounter upends her life.

Now—with everything hanging in the balance—Mia must decide who she is and what she wants. And with this decision comes the revelation that her past and future are more uncertain than she thought.

Dan in Green Gables: A Graphic Novel: A Modern Reimagining of Anne of Green Gables by Rey Terciero, Claudia Aguirre (Illustrator) (ISBN-13: 9780593385586 Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Publication date: 06/03/2025, Ages 12-17)

In this modern reimagining of Anne of Green Gables, effervescent extrovert Dan Stewart-Álvarez is surprised to find home and community in rural Tennessee.

Despite a life on the road with his free-spirited mother, fifteen-year-old Dan Stewart-Álvarez has always wanted to settle down. He just didn’t think it’d be like this: with his mother abandoning him in rural Tennessee with two strangers—his gentle grandmother and conservative, rough-around-the-edges grandfather. Here, he is forced to adjust to working the farm, entering high school, and hardest yet—reckoning with his queerness in a severe Southern Baptist community.

But even as Dan grows closer to his mawmaw, befriends fellow outsiders at school, and tries to make a new life for himself in Green Gables, he has to discover whether he can contend with intolerance and adapt to change without losing himself in the process.

From award-winning author Rey Terciero and Eisner Award nominee and illustrator Claudia Aguirre comes a new retelling of Anne of Green Gables about unconventional families, queer identity, and finding the meaning of home in the most unlikely of places.

Pretty Girl County by Lakita Wilson (ISBN-13: 9780593525647 Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Publication date: 07/01/2025, Ages 12+)

The glitz of Gossip Girl meets the hustle of Leah Johnson’s You Should See Me in a Crown in this charming and hilarious story of ex-BFFs from PG County, Maryland, perfect for fans of Joya Goffney and Elise Bryant.

Girls like Reya Samuels always come from Prince George’s County. Reya is rich and she’s not afraid to show it—she wears designer clothes, drives a custom pink Audi, and lives in a neighborhood tucked behind a fancy cast iron gate. She works hard, but she can get anything she wants with a snap.

Sommer Watkins is from Seat Pleasant, where the cast iron gates are significantly smaller—and attached to the windows, where most folks are still trying to make ends meet. Every day for Sommer is a hustle, working at her dad’s bookstore, and using her art skills to scrounge up enough scholarship money for her dream school, Spelman.

Reya and Sommer used to be BFFs—back when Reya lived in Seat Pleasant, too. Now the girls are from different stratospheres—but when Reya desperately needs help to prove to FIT admissions officers that she has what it takes to make it in fashion, the only person who can help is Sommer. Reya promises to help Sommer in return—she’ll pay her for her services, helping Sommer afford the school her parents can’t.

As the girls work together, slowly they begin to trust each other again. But when new relationships push them both, and Sommer’s dad’s bookstore is suddenly in danger of closing, old wounds bubble up. Can the girls find a way to repair their friendship and stay true to themselves along the way?

Sundust by Zeke Peña (ISBN-13: 9780593700112 Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Publication date: 08/05/2025, Ages 4-8)

In his striking author-illustrator debut, Zeke Peña offers an immersive and fantastical look at his hometown of El Paso, where the sun reigns over the vast desert and shapes all that it touches.

Where the rock wall ends, the desert beyond begins.

The desert is home to unique fauna and flora that have adapted to thrive under the intense sun, making it an endless landscape for two curious siblings to roam free. Old discarded tires, gnarled nopal trees that beg to be climbed, enormous rocks that demonstrate how to sit still and listen. Rain brings a welcome reprieve from the heat, followed by the mud slowly drying out on their skin, cracking like clay, until it’s hard to tell where the kids end and the desert begins.

Sundust is the author-illustrator debut from the acclaimed illustrator of My Papi Has a Motorcycle; it celebrates the bonds that develop between a person and their hometown through spare, lyrical text and dazzling desert landscapes.

Menudo Sunday: A Spanglish Counting Book by María Dolores Águila, Erika Meza (Illustrator) (ISBN-13: 9780593462256 Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Publication date: 08/05/2025, Ages 3-7)

Paletero Man meets Besos for Baby in this Spanish-English counting picture book that’s bursting with all the love, laughter, and chaos found at a large family gathering.

Sundays are the best: that’s when a little girl and her mamá, abuelitos, tías and primos all gather together to eat yummy menudo, a traditional Mexican soup. But when playtime with the cousins and family dogs gets out of hand and Abuelito Esteban’s special bowl of menudo breaks, everyone has to pitch in to make a new batch! Through all the menudo mishaps and sneaky snacks for perritos with wagging tails, young readers will giggle as they learn to count from 1-15 in Spanish and English. Bonus materials at the back of the book include a glossary of Spanish words, a note from the author, and tips for hosting your very own Menudo Sunday!

Dancing with Water by Gwendolyn Wallace, Tonya Engel (Illustrator) (ISBN-13: 9780593617908 Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Publication date: 08/12/2025, Ages 4-8)

An intergenerational story about a nonbinary child who learns the tradition of well digging in this picture book about community, hope, and protecting the Earth’s water.

As soon as Kit’s old enough to ride in Grandpa’s truck, they begin joining him to dig wells for their community. Grandpa is magic. He can feel the weather in his bones, and he’s able to dance with water. With just a tree branch in his hand, Grandpa sways and spins over the land until he finds a spot to dig a hole into the waiting earth. When the water springs up, Grandpa and Kit jump for joy.

As new hotels and factories pop up across town, clean water becomes harder to find. Sometimes, no water flows at all. Kit is sad for Grandpa—and for Earth. But one day, Grandpa senses that Kit is ready to dance with water too. Grandpa reminds Kit that the energy and strength of their people flows through the water. As they wait and watch for fresh, clear water to flow up from the ground again, Kit recognizes the power shared between themself and Earth.

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