Looking for a book to get lost in during the waning days of August? One of these seven long, immersive novels for middle- or high-school readers should do the trick. See also our middle school and high school Summer Reading Recommendations.

This Ends in Embers [Divine Traitors]
by Kamilah Cole
High School    Little, Brown    416 pp.
2/25    9780316534956    $19.99
e-book ed.  9780316535250    $12.99

This story of dragons and magic set in the warring nations of San Irie and Langley picks up shortly after the cliffhanger ending of So Let Them Burn (rev. 3/24). Faron, linked spiritually and mentally with the dragon Lightbringer and with Iya, the would-be god possessing the body of the boy she loves, hopes to free him, undermine the war effort from inside Langley, and keep innocents alive. Back on San Irie, her sister, Elara, is the new Maiden Empyrean, chosen by the gods to wield their power and charged to defeat Iya and send all dragons away, regardless of the attachments that humans — especially her own girlfriend — have with dragons. Many of the first novel’s charms carry through this one, topmost amongst them the complex, flawed, yet easy-to-root-for sister protagonists and their dedication to each other. The writing successfully balances the tension between the pain of separation and comfort found in moments of connection and solidarity. The world is lushly built, though some aspects of the series (blood magic; the fallibility of gods and dragons alike) could be further explored. Cole sticks the landing, however, with a satisfying ending including hard-fought wins, believable losses, and the end to war as its own kind of magic. AMANDA R. TOLEDO

The Glass Girl
by Kathleen Glasgow
High School    Delacorte    464 pp.
10/24    9780525708087    $21.99
Library ed.  9780525708094    $24.99
e-book ed.  9780525708100    $10.99

Bella deals with what feels like a million pressures: family, schoolwork, a breakup with a boyfriend who said she was “too much,” and grief over the recent loss of her grandmother. Without a robust support system, Bella turns to alcohol to relieve the pressures and numb the pain; she had her first drink at eleven, and now, at fifteen, it’s an addiction. She remains in denial about that addiction until it blows up in her face, landing her in a rehab program, where she must learn to confront and process her problems in a healthier way. Glasgow paints an empathetic portrait of a young woman struggling to cope with life, giving her ample depth and complexity. The first-person narrative offers a clear depiction of the character’s subjective experiences of anxiety, depression, loss, and trauma as well as a nuanced exploration of the various factors that contribute to substance use disorders. Similarly, it recognizes the nonlinear nature of recovery and the contributors to relapse. Even as it acknowledges personal accountability and agency, it does not let the adults and peers who fail Bella off the hook. The story unflinchingly examines the darkness in life but ultimately brims with hope for intrapersonal change. An author’s note connects the story to Glasgow’s life; resources are also appended. SHENWEI CHANG

Among Ghosts
by Rachel Hartman
Middle School, High School    Random    400 pp.
6/25    9780593813720    $20.99
Library ed.  9780593813751    $23.99
e-book ed.  9780593813744    $10.99

In this novel set in the world of Hartman’s Seraphina volumes (most recently In the Serpent’s Wake, rev. 5/22), soggy St. Muckle’s is a “peasants’ paradise”: after staying a year and a day, anyone may win independence from husband, master, or lord. Charl’s mother brought him there to escape his abusive father, hoping Charl, now thirteen, could grow up in peace. But the local bully won’t let that happen; nor will Charl’s father, who bribes three vulnerable figures to retrieve him: a spy who unleashes a deadly plague; a dragon happy to burn St. Muckle’s to the ground (if only it weren’t so damp); and Mother Trude, a treacherous abbess with her own secret history to expiate. Life becomes even more difficult for Charl when he takes refuge in an old abbey haunted by the ghosts of a vicious bishop and several murdered girls. How could these ancient girls possibly help Charl — and he them? Hartman’s many plots, subplots, dramatic events, and images create a suitably overwhelming tangle of circumstance, identity, and motivation. Here, remorse, forgetfulness, and repression come to the foreground in the ghosts’ ability both to share and to evoke painful memories, offering a complex consideration of the mistakes and compromises that are inevitable parts of growing and living. In addition, subtly, quietly, Hartman allows us to perceive Charl’s transgender identity, a welcome, nourished aspect of his being. DEIRDRE F. BAKER

When the World Tips Over
by Jandy Nelson
High School    Dial    528 pp.
9/24    9780525429098    $21.99
e-book ed.  9780698195042    $10.99

Nelson (Printz Award winner for I’ll Give You the Sun, rev. 11/14) begins with definitions of a fantasia — one of which is “a literary work composed of a mixture of different forms or styles.” This fantasia features the author’s use of magical realism, along with lyrical prose, an epic plot, and the kind of flawed characters who are essential in stories of dysfunctional family relationships and the resultant themes of loss, betrayal, and redemption. The novel opens with the rotating third-person viewpoints of a trio of siblings: twelve-year-old Dizzy, a supernaturally gifted girl muddling through prepubescent friendship issues; seemingly perfect seventeen-year-old Miles, who struggles with depression and coming out as gay; and nineteen-year-old Wynton, the violin virtuoso who is still haunted by their father’s abandonment. Each has an early encounter with a mysterious rainbow-haired girl named Cassidy, newly arrived in Paradise, California, who eventually largely takes over the narration. Her first-person perspective provides the backstory, alongside the plethora of letters, emails, transcripts, and newspaper articles interspersed throughout. It’s a lot to take in, but patient readers will eventually feel the pull of Nelson’s carefully woven storytelling and succumb to her special kind of magic. Not every subplot is resolved, and not all that are resolved have happy endings, but there’s catharsis in the realization that “when the world tips over,” there is still joy to be experienced. JONATHAN HUNT

All Better Now
by Neal Shusterman
High School    Simon    528 pp.
2/25    9781534432758    $21.99
e-book ed.  9781534432772    $12.99

In the near future, the Crown Royale virus is wreaking havoc on the world. One in every twenty-five people who contract it will die from it, but those who recover experience a blissful, euphoric state. This has advantages and disadvantages, both for individuals and for society. These fertile conditions allow Shusterman to leverage his prodigious imaginative and storytelling skills, as well as the inherent moral ambiguity of the premise, to tell the tales of three young adults. Mariel Mudroch and her mother, perpetually down on their luck, treat themselves to a luxury rental in San Francisco for one night. They are ushered into it by Rón Escobedo, sixteen-year-old son of the third richest man in the world, who owns the property. Meanwhile, in London, Morgan Willmon-Wu, nineteen, has been handpicked by elderly curmudgeon Dame Havilland for her resourcefulness. Morgan will inherit a considerable estate and the charge to eradicate the virus from the Earth. Gradually, their stories begin to converge — and before the expansive plot reaches its denouement, there will be twists and turns, surprises and revelations, intriguing characters and far-flung settings, and plenty of food for thought. JONATHAN HUNT

This Moth Saw Brightness
by A. A. Vacharat
High School    Dutton    448 pp.
5/25    9780593698600    $20.99
e-book ed.  9780593698624    $10.99

D (short for ’Wayne; the D is “invisible”), who lives in a somewhat off-kilter version of Baltimore, keeps to himself and doesn’t care about much. Half his life ago, his mother left the family during a serious depression. Then D enters a coveted health study and gets to know his crush and fellow participant Jane, who is autistic and who can relate to D’s loss. An oddball, conspiracy-heavy mystery begins as D, Jane, and D’s tech-and-surveillance-hobbyist bestie, Kermit, investigate the clandestine study’s purpose and intentions. The storytelling leans into absurdity and surrealism as the trio seeks answers about the shadowy operation through obstacles such as cartoonish adult characters (be they villainous or clueless) and distractions from their eccentric peers. Told in short chapters, dialogue scripts, screenshots, footnotes, and more, a trippy plot unspools in unpredictable directions. Cleverly placed motifs, unique turns of phrase, plays on ­stereotype and archetype, and meta elements (the mall sells “experiences”; a selfie theme park) together enhance the book’s timely themes: identity, ableism, the stigmatization of mental illness, and the impact of technology on human experiences. Vacharat’s debut is a standout work of speculative fiction and a foreboding social satire about unethical governing and the corrosive values of Big Tech. KATRINA HEDEEN EFTEKHARI

Junius Leak and the Spiraling Vortex of Doom
by Allan Wolf
Middle School    Candlewick    528 pp.
7/25    9781536217452    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781536244939    $18.99

Junius Leak, nearly thirteen, is “exiled to a strange, watery land” in Louisiana. He’s a timid and anxious boy, afraid of yet fascinated by what he calls “waterbodies” and reluctant to spend twelve days on a houseboat on Lake Peigneur with Uncle Spot, whom he has never met, while his parents “figure things out” at a “marriage boot camp.” Based on an astounding true story of a day in 1980 when Lake Peigneur disappeared, the tale is told from the alternating viewpoints of Junius and the lake. The twin narratives converge at the mining disaster scene, though it takes four-hundred-plus pages to get to the chapter titled “And Now, What We’ve All Been Waiting For.” It is worth the wait, as events are relayed with all the liveliness of a disaster-thriller movie. But readers will realize that this is not just about waiting for disaster to strike — it is Junius’s story, too, and if the lake changes, so does he, as these circumstances require heroism. Bold action, solid characterization, and an adept handling of subjects ranging from neurodivergence and environmental science to the slave trade and the origins of Cajun culture along the Gulf of Mexico make this an example of dramatic storytelling with substance. Back matter includes a map of Lake Peigneur and the surrounding area, an author’s note, lists of “Amazing Words of Southern Louisiana” and “Amazing Waterbodies of the World,” and suggested reading about the real event. DEAN SCHNEIDER

From the August 2025 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.