Summer Books

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 In the car, on a plane, on a train, in the house, with a mouse, at the park, in the dark (with a flashlight), in a tent, a tree, where else can you think of that would be fun to read?

Baby-Preschool

Bailey Goes Camping
by Kevin Henkes
A cozy, comfortable book that will leave youngsters smiling.(buy)

Grandma Summer
by Harley Jessup
Initially grumpy about his trip with Grandma to her beach cottage, Ben slowly comes around as he falls under the spell of the old house, the seashore, and his upbeat and mildly unconventional relative.(buy)

Maisy's Pool
by Lucy Cousins
Maisy makes a zebra costume, bakes cookies, gets ready for bed, and goes for a swim.(buy)

Miss Mary Mack: A Hand-Clapping Rhyme
by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott
"Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack / All dressed in black, black, black." The sheer silliness of the pictures will attract an audience(buy)

 

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AGES 4-8

Albie the Lifeguard
by Louise Borden, illustrated by Elizabeth Sayles
Albie gains the courage to go the distance at the town pool one summer.(buy)

Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping (An Avon Camelot Book)
by Peggy Parish, illustrated by Lynn Sweat
Amelia Bedelia, who takes everything litterally, has never been camping before and she's trying her best to do exactly as she's told. You can just imagine what happens when she is told to hit the road, pitch a tent, put the coffee on the grill, or catch a fish.(buy)

Arthur's Nose: 25th Anniversary Limited Edition
by Marc Tolon Brown
Arthur fans old and new can see how their favorite aardvark and his friends have developed over the twenty-five years since this first Arthur Adventure was published. Includes coloring pages.(buy)

By the Light of the Captured Moon
by Julian Scheer, illustrated by Ronald Himler
10-year-old Billy wishes he could capture the moon and "put it away and take it out" whenever he likes, even though the moon is thousands of miles away. Surprisingly, Billy manages to pull the real moon into his bedroom. But when he is unable to hide its light, he pushes the moon out the window. It rolls "over a hill and out of sight," leaving a trail that baffles his parents the next morning.(buy)

The Camp Knock Knock Mystery (Yearling First Choice Chapter Book)
by Betsy Duffey, illustrated by Fiona Dunbar
Crow and Willie have a not-entirely-friendly competition at camp over who tells the best knock-knock jokes. Willie spends the week looking for his joke book, which Crow has hidden.(buy)

Camp Out (Rugrats Ready-To-Read, No 6)
by Rebecca Gold, illustrated by Sergio Cuan, Becky Gold
Stu has built a camper, and everyone is going camping. But when Angelica tells Chuckie that camping is about ghosts, wolves, and vampires, he becomes afraid -- until Tommy shows him that it's all about having fun! (buy)

Canoe Days
by Gary Paulsen, illustrated by Ruth Wright Paulsen
Poetic words bring the beauty of a solitary day on a lake to life.(buy)

Come On, Rain!
by Karen Hesse, illustrated by Jon J. Muth
Portrays the tenderness of the mother-daughter relationship, the rhythms of urban society, and the power of nature to transform and reinvigorate all forms of life.(buy)

Cool Ali
by Nancy Poydar
One hot summer day, Ali takes her sidewalk chalk and draws the things that everyone needs - a little lake for Mrs. Frye to dip her toes into, a beach umbrella, the North Wind. But what will happen when a summer storm comes?(buy)

Dragons of Summer Flame
by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Michael Williams, Larry Elmore
Filled with magic, elf-like fellows, spells, magicians, thieves, swords and sorcery.(buy)

Ed Emberley's Fingerprint Drawing Book
by Ed Emberley
Use your fingerprint to create a world teeming with colorful creatures. Be an artist! Paint a mural or decorate gifts - this book is a surefire way to leave your mark on the world!(buy)

Edward in Deep Water
by Rosemary Wells
Edward isn't ready to swim, spend the night at a friends house or go to playschool, but that's okay. Not everyone is ready for the same things at the same time.(buy)

Froggy Learns to Swim
by Jonathan London, illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz
Despite his amphibious nature, it takes persistent parental encouragement and the singing of silly songs to help Froggy overcome his reluctance to learn to swim.(buy)

From the Bellybutton of the Moon and other summer poems/Del ombligo de la luna y otros poemas de verano
by Francisco X. Alarcon, illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez
A collection of 22 bilingual poems inspired by the poet's memories of childhood summers spent in Mexico.(buy)

Last One in Is a Rotten Egg (An I Can Read Book)
by Leonard P. Kessler
Freddy can't swim in the deep water. When some big kids throw him into the pool his friends and mother encourage him to ask the lifeguard for lessons. Freddy learns how to float, to breathe and blow bubbles in the water, and how to move his arms and legs, until he can jump into the deep water with his friends. And the lifeguard gets rid of those bullies.(buy)

Little Ned Stories: A Chapter-Picture Book for Kids
by Edward Allan Faine, illustrated by Joan C. Waites
Three separate stories describe the adventures of a six-year-old boy in West Virginia in the 1950s.

No Soap--Little Ned and Mr. Jenkins scour the West Virgina countryside in Mr. Jenkins' truck looking for the "Man with the Money."

The Boy Who Hated Halloween--Little Ned goes to a Halloween party in a strange town with Caspar the Ghost, Snow White, Pocahontas, Frankenstein and other monsters and gets the surprize of his life!

The Ocean Vacation--Little Ned loves his nightly bath, loves the water, and wants to swim in the ocean, but not with spiders, snakes and goopy, slimy things. Find out how Little Ned overcomes his fear of the big blue endless ocean and learns how to swim.(buy)

The Other Side
by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Earl B. Lewis
Clover lives in a big yellow house on one side of the fence. Annie Rose lives on the other side, the white side. Their mothers say it isn't safe to climb over. First the girls sit together on the fence, getting to know each other and watching the whole wide world. Then one day Annie Rose jumps down to join Clover and her friends jumping rope.(buy)

The Magic String (Giant First Start Reader)
by Francene Sabin, illustrated by Joel Snyder
When his mother gives him a piece of string, and tells him it's magic, a young duck learns to swim.(buy)

Muskrat Will Be Swimming
by Cheryl Savageau, illustrated by Robert Hynes
Living in a lakeside community of "cellar holes, trailers, and old winterized cottages," a girl of Native American and French descent feels demeaned when classmates call her a lake rat. Grampa reminds her of a legend concerning Muskrat. A dream and a symbolic dive into the lake help the girl fully accept where she's from and who she is.(buy)

Sally Goes to the Mountains
by Stephen Huneck
Sally goes for a ride to the mountains, where there will be all kinds of new friends to meet: bears, moose, rabbits, and skunks! There will be berries to pick, sticks to fetch, and a lake to swim in. Sally can hardly wait!(buy)

Spunky's Camping Adventure
by Janette Oke
Spunky the dog and his master, Mark, find mishaps and excitement on their first camping trip together. Will Mark and Spunky be able to make friends with the tough Buzz and his pesky dog, Snapper, or will Mark and Spunky's vacation be ruined?(buy)

Stella & Roy Go Camping
by Ashley Wolff
Stella and Roy are camping with their mother, and Roy really hopes to see a bear. Every time he thinks he sees bear tracks, new reader Stella is pleased to say, "Wrong, Roy," and to look in her book of animal tracks for ones that match the prints. There are coyote tracks and marmot tracks and raccoon tracks and lots of other animal tracks to.(buy)

Summer Camp Crack-Ups : And Lots S'More Knock-Knock Jokes to Write Home About (Lift-The-Flap Knock-Knock Book)
by Katy Hall, Lisa Eisenberg, illustrated by Stephen Carpenter
Summer vacation is finally here! So pack your trunk, unroll your sleeping bag, and set sail for Camp Lotsafun. Lift the flaps along with a troop of silly campers as they enjoy nature hikes, the mess hall, and a toasty campfire. (buy)

The Summer My Father Was Ten
by Pat Brisson, illustrated by Andrea Shine
A young girl tells how every year she and her father plant a garden together, and every year he tells her the story of the summer he was 10 when he led his mates in vandalizing the garden of his lonely, old Italian neighbor but later righted the wrong. (buy)

Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe
by Vera B. Williams
Follow the red canoe from page to page as it journeys down river carrying the family on a camping tour. (buy)

Toasting Marshmallows : Camping Poems
by Kristine O'Connell George, illustrated by Kate Kiesler
Everything that happens when you go camping can be an adventure, from getting dressed inside your sleeping bag on a chilly morning to meeting a moose to sharing secrets in a tent at night.(buy)

When Daddy Took Us Camping
by Julie Brillhart
Daddy takes two of his children on a fun-filled camping trip into the forest, where the kids pitch a tent, learn to use a compass, identify bugs and animal tracks, cook over an outdoor stove, and wake up to the "clunk" of a skunk.(buy)

Young Cam Jansen and the Baseball Mystery (Puffin Easy-To-Read)
by David A. Adler, illustrated by Susanna Natti, edited by Lisa Moore
Super sleuth Cam Jansen is in hot pursuit of a missing baseball. (buy)

AGES 9-12

Alice the Brave
by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
The summer before eighth grade, Alice and her friends spend days at a swimming pool, and Alice works to disguise her fear of deep water. With her older brother's help, she conquers her fear and also faces her worries that her best friends are changing and leaving her behind.(buy)

Aquamarine
by Alice Hoffman
Two best friends must soon part ways at the end of the summer. Despite the girls' fear of change, everything shifts with a summer storm. At the beach club, the next morning, the girls find that the storm has brought a mermaid to shore. What will happen next?(buy)

The Berenstain Bears-- Phenom in the Family
by Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain
There's a brand-new pool at Bear Country School, and all the cubs are raring to try out for the swim team. When Sister Bear outswims every cub in every event Papa has visions of Bearlympics gold and insists on being Sister's personal trainer as she prepares for the big meet. (buy)

Cam Jansen and the Birthday Mystery
by David A. Adler, illustrated by Susanna Natti, editor Deborah Brodie
After her grandma and grandpa are robbed in an airport parking lot, Cam Jansen uses her photographic memory to track down the thief and recover her grandparents' luggage and birthday presents.(buy)

Cam Jansen and the Catnapping Mystery
by David A. Adler, illustrated by Susanna Natti
One of the guests at the hotel Aunt Molly is staying at gives her beloved Little Tiger to a bellhop to bring up to her room. But the cat never arrives and now the bellhop has vanished. Can Cam's photographic memory help find the catnapped kitty?(buy)

Cam Jansen and the Chocolate Fudge Mystery
by David A. Adler, illustrated by Susanna Natti, editor Joy Peskin
Raising money for charity, Cam Jansen and her sidekick, Eric, are selling fudge bars door to door. With her photographic memory and her eye for the suspicious, Cam matches a stranger in the neighborhood with an unsolved bank robbery. (buy)

Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Dinosaur Bones
by David A. Adler, contributor Susanna Natti
Cam's photographic memory reveals that there are dinosaur bones missing from the museum.(buy)

Cam Jansen and the Mystery at the Haunted House
by David A. Adler, illustrated by Susanna Natti, editor Joy Peskin
A fun day at the amusement park turns into a creepy mystery when Cam's Aunt Katie realizes that her wallet has been stolen. (buy)

Cam Jansen and the Scary Snake Mystery
by David A. Adler, illustrated by Susanna Natti
Cam's got a whole new m-hisss!-tory to solve! First a snake is let loose on the steps of the city library, then Cam's mother's bag is stolen. Could the two events be related? It will take Cam's photographic memory to find out and to help catch the slippery criminal!(buy)

Flea Circus Summer
by Cheryl Ware
Twelve-year-old voracious writer Venola Mae writes letters to the advertisers of flea circuses, her summer employer, her best friend away at camp, and "Dear Abby's Bosses," among others. (buy)

Hot and Cold Summer
by Johanna Hurwitz
Rory and Derek were best friends but with Bolivia visiting next door would their friendship last? (buy)

The Mermaid Summer
by Mollie Hunter
Anna Anderson goes up against a tempermental mermaid bringing her exiled grandfather home and saving her fishing village. (buy)

Summer of the Monkeys
by Wilson Rawls
Tag along with 14 year old Jay Berry Lee as he attempts to capture 29 monkeys that have (it turns out) escaped from the circus.(buy)

Summer of My German Soldier
by Bette Greene
When her small hometown in Arkansas becomes the site of a camp housing German prisoners during World War II, 12-year-old Patty Bergen learns what it means to open her heart. Although she's Jewish, she begins to see a prison escapee, Anton, not as a Nazi--but as a lonely, frightened young man with feelings not unlike her own.(buy)

Summer Reading Is Killing Me! (Time Warp Trio)
by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith
Sam, Fred, and Joe--the Time Warp Trio--find themselves face-to-beak with a giant, 266-pound chicken ... who, unfortunately, looks hungry. It seems the boys are in the middle of Daniel Pinkwater's The Hoboken Chicken Emergency! How did they get there? Fred accidentally stuck the school's summer reading list between the pages of "The Book"--a time-warping, green-mist-expelling book that triggers time travel.(buy)

Wind Spell (Magic Elements 3)
by Mallory Loehr
Three feathers fall out of the sky and into the hands of three siblings. Exactly what they are supposed to do with the feathers Joe, Polly, and Sam don't know. That is, until they see the words written by the wind and magic is once again a part of their lives. (buy)

Young Swimmer
by Jeff Rouse, illustrated by James Jackson & Peter Coombe
Briefly mentioned are the physical and mental benefits gained from these sports, the perseverance required, and some historical facts.(buy)

Zoom FunTM with Friends
by Amy E. Sklansky
Now revised and expanded - with more than 100 delicious recipes - the book that tells you everything you need to know to turn your backyard grill into a true slowcooking barbecue machine. Full of entertaining projects kids can do with their buddies-how to throw a great party, how to volunteer and make a difference, how to create a secret code, and how to put on a play.(buy)

PARENT HELPS

Crafts to Make in the Summer
by Kathy Ross, illustrated by Vicky Enright
Presents twenty-nine easy-to-make craft projects with summertime themes, including a mouse sunglasses case, a firecracker finger puppet, and a seashell candle holder.(buy)

The Kids Campfire Book
by Jane Drake, Ann Love, illustrated by Heather Collins
Kids learn how to make pizza over an open fire, tell a spooky ghost story, or create musical instruments for a singalong. 125+ pages of fun things to do.(buy)

Kids Outdoors : Skills and Knowledge for Outdoor Adventures
by Frank Logue, contributors Mark Carroll, Victoria Steele Logue & Frank Logu
Everything from road warrior's cuisine, fireside games, and orienteering to selecting sleeping bags, tents, and footgear. There are even some projects for backyard campers, like making plaster casts of animal prints.(buy)

Water Babies : Teach Your Baby the Joys of Water - From Newborn Floating to Toddler Swimming
by Francoise Barbira Freedman
A how-to guide for parents.(buy)

 

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