What Are Your Top 3 Beach Reads?

In celebration of July 4th and all of summer’s fun activities, I asked a few Lee & Low authors and staff members what their favorite beach reads are. I’m sure it was difficult to pick just three, but here’s what they came up with:

Don Tate, author of It Jes’ Happened, says: “Reading here has been slow lately. But here’s what’s tops on my summer reading list, books written by friends and critique partners in my local writing community.”

1. Laugh With The Moon by Shana Burg
2. Chronal Engine by Greg Leitich Smith
3. Think Big by Liz Garton Scanlon

 Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, explains why she made her choices:“During the summer, despite my best intentions, I seldom actually make it to the beach, so here are my favorite travel-centric reads that help me imagine I’m on vacation.”

1. A Sense of Direction:  Pilgrimage for the Restless and the Hopeful by Gideon Lewis-Krauss
2. The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost
3. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Maryann Yin, Lee & Low marketing intern, explains: “For me, a good beach read is something that is relaxing, yet humorous. Books that inspire real laugh-out-loud laughter can really uplift your mood.”

1. Cat Girl’s Day Off by Kimberly Pauley
2. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner
3. Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Bryce Moore, author of Vodnik, has a list which ranges from 80’s pop culture (he’s a huge fan of pop culture), to a world where people can hear each other’s thoughts and a middle grade novel he devoured as a child and still loves as an adult:

1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
2. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
3. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

Kimberly Pauley, author of Cat Girl’s Day Off, includes an Austen (of course!) in the books that make her happy:

1. A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson
2. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
3. Any Xanth book by Piers Anthony (“for the punny!”)

Beth Lo, author of Auntie Yang’s Great Soybean Picnic, responds: “I love memoirs! Although these are not books that I have read on the beach anywhere, they are some good ones that I’ve read over the last few years.”

1. The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund de Waal
2. Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalaya by Jamaica Kincaid
3. Don’t Let’s Go To the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller

And our very own Hannah shared her list which ranges from a light, happy read to a calm-inducing and engrossing fantasy, to a collection of short stories that are a quick read yet always make her think.

1. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
2. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
3. Nine Stories by J. D. Salinger

What a wonderful and diverse collection of beach reads! What do your Top Three Beach Reads look like? We’d love to know!