Summer Reading Guide 2013

Tito Puente was born to be a musician. He grew up to become the Mamba King to whose music people danced the mambo, rumba, and cha-cha. Rhythmic language — in English and Spanish — and animated illustrations briefly present Tito’s life and the impact of music throughout.

Benjamin Bear is full of ideas, not all of them good. Each of Benjamin’s bright ideas are presented on one page as a short comic strip and present a problem to solve or a puzzle to explore, sure to encourage discussion as well as chortles.

Jesse wants a book from the floating library/bookstore that visits his town. Though he has worked and saved money, Jesse wonders if it will be sufficient. Art evokes the story’s 19th century setting, inspired by an article about early barges from the author’s hometown.

The oldest child narrates the family’s move from the city to build their own house on farm land. How the family works together planning and building while living in a tiny trailer pays homage to the author’s parents who are introduced in photographs and a note at the end.

Search and find each intricate photograph to identify toys and other familiar play objects. Ultimately, a space traveler and a princess come together in a toy room in this latest installment by Wick.

Chu, a young panda, could hold his havoc-causing sneeze while at the library and even while dining but not at the circus. Expressive illustrations and few words are needed to highlight the chaos, its humorous results, and Chu’s continued warm place in his family.

Lazlo is afraid of the dark but gets unexpected help from The Dark when his nightlight goes out. Illustrations enhance the tension as Lazlo slices through inky night to overcome his fear and find a replacement bulb. And the dark isn’t so frightening any longer.

Whenever an emergency happens, there are vehicles staffed by trained people to help. Photographs and brief information are presented for both familiar and unique vehicles and situations. Additional material includes access to a digital book.

The frumpy Frazzle family is very forgetful. They forget most things including pants and umbrellas — until Aunt Rosemary comes to help them out. Watercolor illustrations appear slapdash but complement the laugh-filled, list-filled telling for a satisfying saga.

The animals of Sunny Acres farm try to befriend its newest arrival, but goat remains grumpy until he discovers a beautiful dandelion. They remain by goat as he grieves the flower’s loss and are revived when yellow dots appear on the hillside. Lush illustrations enhance the tale.

A mother humpback whale and her calf travel from the Caribbean Sea to the coast of New England and back over a year. Informative text is formatted to be read as a whole or in chunks and illustrated with luminous pastel illustrations. Additional information is included.

If a whale is what you want to see — as does the boy in this expressive, delicately illustrated tale — then patience (plus an ocean) is needed. Images combine with poetic language to create a quiet, deeply satisfying book rich enough for multiple readings.

There are things to do indoors and outside. But the inside goes outside and the reverse with cutouts on pages in this attractive wordless book. Simple lines and flat colors are appealing on brown paper, and encourage careful — and multiple — examinations.

While at the library, Isabella imagines herself in the lead role of several children’s classics. The Yellow Brick Road she follows as Dorothy brings her back to reality where she checks out as Isabella. Textured illustrations and an overview of the works cited conclude the book.

A child travels to visit her grandmother, “practically on the other side of the world” on a lime green train with orange doors. The scenes from urban to rural to imagined are depicted in delicate black and white line drawings narrated by a confident, perceptive child.

Starting in space, an alien family bids adieu to their offspring (they look a lot like octopuses) who then head for earth landing in the ocean. When read the other way, he journeys home. The vertical format and strong design create a sophisticated literary and visual jaunt.

Look! Watch various animals in their own environment with a young dreamer. Here, expressive but realistic watercolor illustrations are truly worth a thousand words. They are accompanied by brief, repeating language just right for new readers.

While Mama Duck and her five ducklings left their pond for a trip to town, the ducklings fall into trouble. With help from the townspeople, the Duck family is reunited in this handsomely illustrated, touching story based on an actual event.

Benign-looking, cheerful creatures love playing with color as they lend red, blue, and yellow to make new colors for gray monsters. Energetic lines and lively language swirl and dance across the pages of this spirited homage to color and creativity.

At the behest of Pete, the pirate parrot, a group of grubby pirates clean themselves up for a little girl’s party. Polly, however, wants real pirates at her birthday celebration! Comic illustrations combine with straightforward text.

Ol’ Mama Squirrel scares off anyone or anything that tries to encroach on her tree home with a fierce “chook, chook, chook!” Onomatopoeic language and comic illustrations tell a recognizable tale about a small but heroic rodent.

Whether or not the primates introduced from 1 to 10 are familiar, readers are sure to appreciate meeting them in arresting portraits. A self-portrait of the illustrator other humans are accompanied by concluding text: “All primates. All one family. All my family … and yours!”

An unseen narrator asks a terrified rabbit to depict the not-so-big-bad wolf on a chalkboard. When it arrives, rabbit is no longer frightened but hugged by a child in a wolf suit. The rabbit’s reactions create humor as tension builds to a satisfying conclusion in simple illustrations.

The children are distressed that it’s raining while visiting their grandfather. But Grandpa has the children don rain gear to “find colors for garden stew.” Vegetables collected, the family makes and eats a delicious stew. Joy-filled illustrations accompany the rhythmic text.

No visit to a beach is complete without finding shells. Those who visit the Northeast coast of the U.S. are sure to gain information and insight from a small but instructive, clearly illustrated book on seashells.

Willy’s barbeque is about the best around, even attracting green, 3-eyed, barbeque-loving aliens! Laughs abound in the rhyming tale and swirling, understated illustrations and its surprise ending.

A tiger roars out of the boy’s alphabet soup for a lively, well-illustrated adventure until his sister agrees to read to him. One wonders, however, if the tiger disappears entirely. This is Imaginative, quirky and well-told story, lushly illustrated.

Trixie TEN tires of her noisy nine siblings, from pink, sneezy Wanda ONE to Nathaniel NINE who likes to roar like a lion and so longs for a quiet place. Characters, created from fingerprints and lines, are sure to engage children and may inspire aspiring illustrators.

The ingredients needed to make cookies launch a journey around the world to find out who contributed what from different parts of the world. Rhyming couplets and cheery illustrations reminiscent of folk art combine to answer the question posed as a title.

A bee sounds like “BUZZ’ in English, but “SURR’ in Swedish and “ZZZ’ in Italian. Many animals sounds from different countries (with a national flag) are presented in lighthearted illustrations and large typeface.

Count colorful butterflies in natural settings in this small, sturdy, attractively illustrated concept book. Each of the colorful ten butterflies is identified by name on the back cover.

Cats don their hard hats and go to the site where they use big trucks to build a playground. Simple illustrations and language are sure to appeal to construction and truck aficionados!

Dinosaurs of many colors zoom, splash, chug, and more in different kinds of vehicle in order to get to a special birthday celebration for the smallest dinosaur in this lively, fresh adventure.

Works by many artists uniquely depict people from many parts of the world. No words are needed to view varied portraits, in many styles from many places all of which are identified.

Travel by air begins with one sign for the airport, all the way up to 33,000 feet in the air, ending with one happy meeting. Stylized illustrations and simple text me present what can be seen from start to finish.

An old game is again fresh as each die-cut lets reader spy with their little eye a farm animal of a specific color that begins with a specific letter. A page turn reveals the entire animal and the sounds it makes.

Whether in the den or a log, in the water or lodge, young animals are kept safe and sound by their parents. Soft illustrations and a gently rhyming text present a comforting tale.

Maisy and her friends plant a garden, tend it, and watch the vegetables and flowers grow. Pull tabs on sturdy pages let young readers see the results in this participatory garden tale.

Mama Hen looks for just the right place to lay her egg, safe and away from other animals. Jaunty, comical illustrations animate the straightforward text and its cozy conclusion.

Mary’s little lamb is well known, but Maria lives in Peru and has a fleecy llama. The well-known cadence in English and Spanish and fresh illustrations present the familiar in a lively new setting.

Monkey Ono longs for a beach day and ultimately gets there with help from family pets and a bit of creativity. Colorful collages and bright text combine for an inspired beach day to remember!

Taylor loves her tutu so much she wears it every day and everywhere — that is until she trades it in for pink bunny slippers. Sprightly illustrations and text present a familiar family occurrence.

Meet marine animals in lush photographs and informative, straightforward text. Count familiar and lesser known sea animals from 1 to 10 and learn more from factual back matter.

Carefully placed holes create eyes for different creatures, real and imaginary, in a series of questions and answers. Young readers are sure to respond aloud as they finger the die-cuts.

Fast and sluggish, over and under, in and out as well as other concepts are simply demonstrated by a cheerful, quick duck and a comical, slow snail in companion board books. Also see Quick Duck (opens in a new window) by the same author.

Who’s hiding? Lift the flap to find out! Sturdy pages and flaps combine with simply shaped, brightly colored illustrations for a playful game even for the youngest child.

Bright colors and simple patterns on sturdy pages present simple images of familiar farm animals, enhanced by textured paper. On the opposite side of each page is a pattern that incorporates the animal.

Peter is now 12 and still tormented by younger brother, Fudge. And then he learns that his parents want to leave New York City for some time in the country — and a new baby in the family. One Fudge is bad enough, but how will Peter cope with yet another? Humor abounds in this recognizable tale.

The four easy readers, modern classics, are effectively read by their author and sprinkled with music and sound effects.

Anna Hibiscus and her life in contemporary Africa come to life occasionally using authentic-sounding accents to create a strong sense of place.

There’s something for every member of the family in this carefully selected and expertly performed poetry by a well-known mother-daughter team.

In this Magic Tree House book, siblings Jack and Annie time travel to ancient Greece to help Alexander the Great, successfully read by the book’s author.