This is the kind of math we don’t mind doing in the summer: We asked three local independent bookstore buyers to come up with reading suggestions for three age ranges that cover six great chances to read during the summer (from road trips to read-alouds). That adds up to… a lot of ways to battle “I’m bored!” this summer!
Books to read under the covers
A healthy scare — whether it’s around the campfire or under the covers with a flashlight — can be found in these mysterious spine-tinglers this summer. Start with What Really Happened to Humpty Dumpty? (Jeanie Franz Ransom, Charlesbridge Publishing), which Willi Brennaman, book buyer at The Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, describes as “a darn good mystery” for the picture-book set. Neil Gaiman adds a similarly delicious scare to the ABCs in The Dangerous Alphabet (HarperCollins).
Midlevel mystery lovers can explore what Wild Rumpus co-owner Collette Morgan describes as “the fine art of corpse-raising” in The Bone Magician (F.E. Higgins, Macmillan). Throw together a boy, a bug, and an art heist and you’ve got the perfect mystery according to
The Bookcase of Wayzata’s Nancy Caffoe, who likes Masterpiece (Elise Broach, Henry Holt).
Teens can kick off their scary summer reading with The Forest of Hands and Teeth (by Carrie Ryan, Delacrote) which needs no further explanation than Morgan’s simple declaration “think zombies!”
Books to read on a trip
Summer road trips offer plenty of time to kill in transit — time that can fly by when filled with a favorite book. A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever (Marla Frazee, Harcourt) is Brennaman’s picture book pick and a Caldecott Medal runner-up this year. Caffoe says Eye Find (Klutz editors, Chicken Socks) comes with its own set of 3-D glasses for young travelers to spot hidden pictures (a great way to update the old I-Spy game).
The Middle of Somewhere (J.B. Cheaney, Yearling) sends intermediate readers in search of wind power sites with Ronnie Sparks and her active little brother, leading Brennaman to declare, “Who would have thought there were so many amazing things in Kansas!” And present a young reader with The Yggyssey: How Iggy Wondered What Happened to All the Ghosts, Found Out Where They Went, and Went There (Daniel Pinkwater, Houghton Mifflin) and they’ll enjoy it even without an explanation of the classic plot.
Carpe Diem (Autumn Cornwell, Square Fish) will “make your family vacation look like a walk in the park,” says Morgan, who likes this YA book’s tale of a backpacking trip to Asia.
Books to impress your friends
Forsaking the confines of classrooms and desks doesn’t mean kids aren’t interested in learning; it just helps if that knowledge is funny, bizarre, and far-fetched. Brennaman starts picture-book fans out with Trout are Made of Trees (April Pulley Sayre, Charlesbridge), which clearly explains how animals, plants, and even bacteria are interconnected in the circle of life. Brennaman also likes the Children’s Miscellany series (various authors, Chronicle Books) for answers to questions like how to milk a cow or where to find the fastest rollercoasters.
Intermediate readers can learn tips and tricks that will be useful for (gulp!) school in Thirty Days Has September: Cool Ways to Remember Stuff (Chris Stevens, Scholastic), which Caffoe describes as “Full of little tricks to remember the order of the planets, the difference between parallel and perpendicular, etc.” For those who prefer to get their hands dirty there’s The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science (Sean Connolly, Workman), which has 64 different experiments to sample. “With nothing more than the contents of the kitchen pantry, kids can make things pop, fizz, and fly,” says Caffoe.
And according to Morgan, just saying the title The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (Julian Jaynes, Mariner Books) will have teens atwitter about — wait for it — brain science.
Books to read aloud
From tot to teen, there’s one thing we never grow out of: having a great story read out loud. Morgan says taking turns reading Knuckleheads: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing Up Scieszka (Jon Scieszka, Viking) aloud is a necessity because “You’ll be laughing too hard to go on.” The same can be said for the story of a cake-hating cow in A Birthday for Cow (Jan Thomas, Harcourt).
Brennaman declares The SOS File (Betsy Byers, Henry Holt) “One of my all-time favorites!” thanks to the 12 tales of distressing situations (think runaway go-carts and accidentally eating all your fundraising candy).
For Caffoe, family read-alouds are the perfect time to touch on the classic tales in Aesop’s Fables (John Cech, Sterling). “Each fable is short, but gives even the youngest family members an insight into human behavior.” Or she suggests celebrating the 40th anniversary of the moon landing with the picture book One Giant Leap (Robert Burleigh, Philomel), a book that has enchanting paintings to illustrate this true story.
Books you’ll never forget
We call them new classics; you’ll call them go-to family favorites. Both Brennaman and Caffoe point to the Fancy Nancy (Jane O’Connor, HarperCollins) series, which boasts a main character so memorable that she “has taken her place alongside Madeline and Eloise as the ‘it’ girl of this decade,” explains Caffoe. The Birchbark House (Louise Erdrich, Hyperion) is the first of a trilogy about an Ojibwe orphan who wants to be like her adopted big sister that will quickly become a must-read for middle-schoolers. “Set in the Minnesota/Wisconsin area, it is another historic novel that has lots to teach us,” says Brennaman.
Life in a postapocalyptic world is the setting for Morgan’s selection The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins, Scholastic), the first in a series of books about teen Katniss Everdeen and her struggle to support her family in a society dominated by mindless television.
Local books you’ll love
To “read local,” start with the Mercy Watson series (Kate DiCamillo, Candlewick), which has the popular pig doing everything from fighting crime to dressing like a princess. Red Sings from the Treetops (Joyce Sidman, Houghton Mifflin) “Is a visual feast illustrating in both words and pictures how colors appear in every season,” says Caffoe. Both Caffoe and Morgan point to the local baseball book Top of the Order (John Coy, Feiwel and Friends) while Brennaman suggests the Minnesota Book Award-winning Tomorrow the River (Dianne Grey, Houghton Mifflin), which follows an inquisitive young female protagonist on an exciting boat journey. And it’s hard to beat a local author who mixes magic with the Wild West, which is exactly the pairing YA readers will find in The Thirteenth Child (Patricia Wrede, Scholastic), which will expand into a multi-book series.
