July Summer Reading Hub
July means fireworks, family picnics, and more summer reading! Complete the July bonus activity for a chance to win this month’s book giveaway and one of five grand prize packs. (Just jumping in and not sure what the summer reading program is all about? Learn more and see the prizes here!)
Here are the books we’re excited to add to our reading list this month!
Reads for Kids
The Dead Sea Squirrels Series
Mike Nawrocki, co-creator of VeggieTales, is back with a new and hilarious chapter book series, The Dead Sea Squirrels! Meet Merle and Pearl, two 2,000-year-old squirrels from Bible times who were petrified in sea salt, rehydrated, snuck into the United States in a 12-year-old boy’s backpack, and now live in modern-day Tennessee with their new friend, Michael. The Dead Sea Squirrels series is humorous, fun, and filled with character-building lessons.
Check out the entire series here, including the new releases Merle of Nazareth and A Dusty Donkey Detour!
Reads for Teens
Pudge & Prejudice by A. K. Pittman
Pudge and Prejudice is an homage to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, transported to the fictitious Northfield Texas High School in the year 1984. After moving to Northfield with her family, Elyse Nebbit faces the challenge of finding her place in a new school, one dominated by social status and Friday night football. When Elyse’s effortlessly beautiful older sister Jayne starts dating Charlie Bingley, the captain of the school football team, Elyse finds herself curious about Charlie’s popular and brooding best friend, Billy Fitz. Elyse’s body insecurities eventually complicate her relationship with Billy, leaving Jayne and Elyse’s exceedingly blunt friend, Lottie, to step in and help Elyse accept herself for who she is, pant size and all.
Read a preview and get the book here!
A Gentle Tyranny by Jess Corban
What if women unraveled the evils of patriarchy? With men safely “gentled” in a worldwide Liberation, the matriarchy of Nedé has risen from the ashes. Seventeen-year-old Reina Pierce has never given a thought to the Brutes of old. Itching to escape her mother’s finca and keeping her training for the Alexia and her forbidden friendship a secret, her greatest worry is which Destiny she’ll choose on her next birthday. But when she’s selected as a candidate for the Succession instead, competing to become Nedé’s ninth Matriarch, she discovers their Eden has come at a cost she’s not sure she’s willing to pay.
Jess Corban’s debut novel presents a new twist to the dystopian genre, delivering heart-pounding action, thought-provoking revelations, and a setting as lush as the jungles of Central America.
Read a preview and get the book here!
The Defiance by Laura Gallier
Four months after the deadly overlord Molek has been banished beyond the city limits of Masonville, Texas, Owen Edmonds’s crucial mission to save lives escalates when seven Cosmic Rulers of darkness close in to decimate his town—and nation. As the battle between good and evil culminates in an epic standoff, Owen and his girlfriend, Ray Anne, must make the decision of a lifetime: will they face their fears or run? The Defiance is the third book in the Delusion series.
Read a preview and get the book here!
Reads for Adults
The Beirut Protocol by Joel C. Rosenberg
In the fourth installment of Rosenberg’s gripping new series, Marcus Ryker finds himself in the most dangerous situation he has ever faced—captured, brutalized, and dragged deep behind enemy lines. Should he wait to be rescued? Or try to escape? How? And what if his colleagues are too wounded to run? This is the CIA’s most valuable operative as you have never seen him before.
Learn more and read a preview here (plus find other adventure fiction reads here!).
A Piece of the Moon by Chris Fabry
An inspiring southern fiction story from the bestselling author of War Room
When eccentric millionaire Gideon Quidley receives a divine revelation to hide his earthly treasure somewhere in the hills, he sets out to find a fitting hiding spot, choosing only a few Bible verses as clues leading to untold riches of gold, silver, cash . . . and one very unexpected—and very costly—item.
Learn more and read a preview here (and find other great books to take to the beach here!).
Canary in the Coal Mine by Dr. William Cooke and Laura Ungar
One doctor’s courageous fight to save a small town from a silent epidemic that threatened the community’s future—and exposed a national health crisis.
When Dr. Will Cooke, an idealistic young physician just out of medical training, set up practice in the small rural community of Austin, Indiana, he had no idea that much of the town was being torn apart by poverty, addiction, and life-threatening illnesses. But he soon found himself at the crossroads of two unprecedented health-care disasters: a national opioid epidemic and the worst drug-fueled HIV outbreak ever seen in rural America.
Learn more and read a preview here (and be inspired by other true stories here!).
What's on your reading list this summer? Share on social media with hashtag #summerofstory!