Whew! Is it hot enough for you?
Summer is sweltering just outside your door, but there’s no need to sweat it out if you don’t want to. Plop your kiddo on the couch with one of these adventuresome books. You might even snag a minute to read for yourself!
Stay tuned for the next Katie’s Corner where I recommend a book for the mamas.
THE TRUTH ABOUT MY UNBELIEVABLE SUMMER
words by Davide Cali, pictures by Benjamin Chaud
best for: ages 4-8
Remember that kid in second grade who swore he had been to Antarctica…twice? Or the girl who had a pet unicorn at home, but no one else could see it because it turned invisible every time the doorbell rang? Maybe you have a little one with a big imagination. THE TRUTH ABOUT MY UNBELIEVABLE SUMMER is chock full of tall tales and topsy turvy turns. The cartoonish illustrations complement the often sparse text, providing loads of laughs. You and your young reader will giggle your way through the narrator’s recounting of his summertime shenanigans. Giant squid attacks? You bet. Space travel? Obviously. Yetis? I thought you’d never ask.
And I bet you’ll never see the surprise ending coming!
PETER AND ERNESTO: A TALE OF TWO SLOTHS
words and pictures by Graham Annable
best for: ages 6-9
Summer is a great time for exploring. Maybe your family visited a new city, state, or country! Maybe you stayed closer to home and experienced your own town in a new way. Whether venturing near or far, there is always excitement to be had. Peter and Ernesto, two tree-dwelling sloths, are very best friends. One is cautious, the other curious. One is a homebody, the other filled with wanderlust. When Ernesto sets off on a journey across the world, Peter is panicked. Will Ernesto ever return??? Despite the two traveling very different roads, they both manage to have incredible adventures, and each returns home with a newfound appreciation for their own little patch of sky.
This graphic-novel-style book will delight your independent reader with silly jokes and a warm tale of friendship. If your reader falls in love with this adorable sloth duo, there are more books in the series to enjoy!
WRETCHED WATERPARK (Sinister Summer Series, Book 1)
by, Kiersten White
best for: ages 8-12
Though we all enter summer with the highest hopes, sometimes things don’t go as planned. This couldn’t be more true for Theodora and her twin brother Alexander. When their parents inexplicably ship them off to their Aunt Saffronia’s for the summer, things go from odd to alarming. Unused to children (and the basics necessary to sustain them, like toys, books, or…food), Aunt Saffronia gets the children a week-long pass to the Fathoms Of Fun Waterpark. But rather than a chlorine-soaked, sugar-filled week in the sun, Theo and Alexander are confronted with a dark and creepy place, more like a haunted house than a waterpark. And what’s worse, a mournful air hangs over Fathoms of Fun. The owner of the park has mysteriously disappeared, and others are soon to follow.
Fans of LEMONY SNICKET will enjoy this spooky but funny middle grade novel. The gothic setting, clever protagonists, and cliff-hanger chapter endings will keep your kiddo turning those pages, right through the end of summer (which is hopefully going a lot better than Theo and Alexander’s).
