Are you wondering what to read this summer?

How about reading America-themed books to celebrate America’s 250th birthday?

I’m old enough to remember 50 years ago when America celebrated its 200 year/bicentennial birthday. I was only 5. I remember the enthusiastic spirit in the air. As a family, before we watched fireworks we ate Dolly Madison Zinger snack cakes, similar to Twinkies. They had been promoted with the Charlie Brown Peanuts clan featured on the packaging. The little cakes had red, white and blue frosting with stars and stripes. We normally did not eat such unwholesome fare but my mom decided a once in a while tossing cares to the wind indulgence was OK. We didn’t know about such things as toxins from red and blue food coloring back then.

50 years later, here we are, about to celebrate 250 years of America, and I am doing something more meaningful to celebrate than eating junk food. Today launches the day where I start a series of blog posts of fun, meaninguful educational ways to celebrate America 250. I’ll be popping into the blog once in a while, especially in June 2026, to share America 250 celebration ideas.

Idea #1 to celebrate America 250 is to read books from the curated list of books by homeschool mom Summer Smith. I’ve sprinkled this post with some of the books she lists.

Listen to the New Mason Jar podcast episode with Summer here where she talks about the list. Or watch the video below. Hosts Dawn Duran and Cindy Rollins chat with her about how she came up with it.

Get the list here. She has 250 book title suggestions to celebrate 250 years!

I love that Summer has categories in the list. Here they are:

-stories from across the 50 U.S. states

-presidential and first ladies’ biographies

-American non-fiction literature, biographies and letters

-American fiction and literature, including some books for children, as shown below.

-American poetry

She has one suggested title for each U.S. president and one title for each state.

I’m printing the list and putting it on my fridge to inspire the whole family.

What a great way to celebrate America 250! Happy reading!