Children's books for summer 🌻

Can we read? Special edition on summer: 2024

I’ll be the first to admit that summer is my least favorite season, but last year I made a commitment to myself that if I can’t love it, I can at least learn to enjoy it — or something like that — and I am happy to report that this experiment succeeded: I’m not looking forward to it, exactly, but I’m not filled with the same amount of dread with which I’ve approached this season for many years.

(My strategy was taking my top wintertime survival secret — “sport your way through it by getting outside every day no matter what” — and applying it to the flip side. And I swear, while I don’t think I’ll ever have a body that fully enjoys the press of heat and humidity — I am more of the “please, oppress me with a bracing wind” and “Grant me the gift of shoveling two feet of snow off my deck every other day” sort, which I cannot explain, and yes I know it’s completely freakish — I did train my body to acclimate so that I suffer less, and, importantly, so does my family. I’m not kidding when I say I ruined my husband’s proposal to me because I am a miserable, crabby creature when it’s hot — I ended up getting engaged in the bathroom, and then went on to have a baby in the bathroom, though not the same one — but those are other stories for other times.)

I hope, whatever your feelings about this season — whether “hot” for you is anything above 75 degrees, like it is for me, or 100+ — that you find some fresh reads for you and your family here, and maybe you too learn to enjoy being right here, right now, no matter the weather outside or in.

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The World Belonged to Us by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Leo Espinosa (2022)

It’s hard to describe what’s so great and lovely about this book, so just let me say that the first time I read it to my kids, I got tears in my eyes, and I don’t quite even know why: it’s just perfect.

On the surface, it’s a story about the way summers used to be, not so long ago — “the minute school ended, us kids were free as air” — but in a deeper sense, it’s about the freedom and joy that comes from childhood friendship, imagination, and everyday moments filled with heat, possibility, fun, and wonder.

In lesser hands this would have been a lesser book, but — as is her immense talent — in Woodson’s hands, the prose is as poetic as it is straightforward: “And our block was the whole wide world / and the world belonged to us.”

Add in Espinosa’s vivid pencil and digital illustrations, which capture the spirit of urban summer in nothing less than a visual feast, and this is a title that transports readers to another world, where the ordinary is extraordinary, and — unbelievably — it all belongs to us.

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The Moon Jumpers by Janice May Udry, illustrated by Maurice Sendak (1959)

Set against the backdrop of a moonlit evening — and complemented by Sendak’s expressive illustrations — this spare but utterly perfect story follows a group of children as they embark in the dark on a whimsical journey of exploration and play, jumping, running, hiding, all beneath a mysterious and magnificent moon.

Beyond a doubt, my favorite part of this classic is its incredible sense of enchantment, rendered perfectly by Udry’s lyrical prose and evocative language — she describes the smallest details with childlike wonder and delight, which of course, appeal greatly to children themselves, but not only to children, to be sure — and the imagery she creates is so poetic and beautiful, it really needs to be experienced to be fully appreciated.

This is a magical summertime read for toddlers all the way up to — I’m not kidding — adults.

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Down Under the Pier by Nell Cross Beckerman, illustrated by Rachell Sumpter (2020)

Set against the backdrop of a bustling, fun-filled pier, here four children discover a hidden world teeming with marine life beneath the wooden planks.

They look and wonder: “Is it alive? Will it bite? Will it pinch? Will it pierce? Will it do anything at all if we just poke it?”

The vivid imagery here — alongside Sumpter’s, well, sumptuous digital illustrations — will bring readers immediately to the seashore and the delights of exploring the shallows, or to one’s imagination of what it might be like to look, see, touch, and feel all the wonder and beauty on display.

This is a gentle story that celebrates curiosity, exploration, and the interconnectedness of life — a lovely addition to a beach vacation, or just a beach vacation you take in your mind.

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Nicholas Cricket by Joyce Maxner, illustrated by William Joyce (1989)

This review first appeared in my 2020 special edition on summer

Occasionally on hot summer nights I will spontaneously shout at my children, “Listen! It’s the Bug-a-Wug Cricket Band!” and they will side-eye me (this look already honed to perfection even when they were tiny). But I cannot help myself: this book is so beautifully musical, the language so richly evocative of the noises of a summer night.

Nicholas Cricket is the lead banjo picker in a hopping insect orchestra that plays to the hilt on a night of glowing moonlight and delicate summer wind.

“Ladybugs strut and toads sashay, moths and mantises wing their way, snap-turtles swing and grasshoppers sway while Nick and the crickets just play and play.”

It’s absolute poetry with pictures. So I really can’t help myself.

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Moon Pops by Heena Baek (2021)

If you know anything about this book, it’s probably something you heard about its incredible illustrations, and I am here to tell you it’s all true: Baek’s mixed-media 3D shoebox dioramas are ethereal, unlike anything else I’ve ever seen in a children’s book, and stunning.

They play a huge part in the sheer enchantment here — a super hot summer night that drives Granny out of the apartment with a bucket to catch some falling moon drops. She mixes up the melted moon into — you guessed it — moon pops, and honestly, this is only the beginning of the deep charm of this story, where neighbors and then strangers arrive, and things just weirder and hotter and more magical as the night wears on.

This is a truly captivating read for preschoolers through mid-elementary kiddos (though I wouldn’t hold back from sharing it with older kiddos and talking about its origins in Korean folklore).

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Big Bear and Little Bear Go Fishing by Amy Hest, illustrated by Erin E. Stead (2024)

I received a copy of this title from Holiday House — all opinions are my own

In this quiet, heartwarming tale, the action starts and stops right from the beginning — Big Bear and Little Bear are almost ready, but they need fishing rods, then they’re almost ready, but they need blueberry scones, then they’re almost ready, but the need a book of stories. When they finally make it out to the lake, the see Fish and Fish sees them, and they go back and forth for awhile, in a rhythm any fisherman will recognize as familiar (and, for me, the reason I don’t care for it — I can’t take the boredom and don’t even bother anymore; I just bring a book).

It’s hard to believe that Stead’s warm, evocative illustrations are getting better with each book given how unbelievably warm and evocative they already are, but it’s true: she’s outdone herself here, with images that evoke the peace and beauty of fishing (I can admit that much).

This is a perfect way to welcome in summer if you’re looking for a calm, almost meditative read for preschoolers through late elementary. (I was curious if this one resonated with my now-10yo, and when I asked her if she liked it, she responded, “YES!”)

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I’ll Meet You at the Cucumbers by Lilian Moore, illustrated by Sharon Wooding (1988)

Not gonna lie: I bought this book, sight unseen, based solely on its adorable title that charmed me to within an inch of my life (the only other book that has had this effect on me was one I covered in my 2022 Spotlight On: Gardening, I Heard It from Alice Zucchini: Poems About the Garden by Juanita Havill — which is, incidentally, another one I highly recommend for summer).

But I digress. The point is that it was a risk but this sweet little story did not disappoint: an updated version of Aesop’s fable, “The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse,” here, die-hard country mouse Adam is lured to the city by, what else? A girl mouse, his pen pal Amanda, who instructs Adam to show up at the local farmer’s market: “Meet me at the cucumbers.”

Adam’s friend Junius goes along for this adventure, only to discover that the adventure might actually be his: there’s danger, excitement, and most importantly, a library, and that is — of course — where everything changes when Amanda introduces Junius to poetry. (Could I love this more? No. Poetry does change you, even if you’re a mouse.)

Heartwood Hotel fans, take note: this charming tale has the same vibes, which is to say: it’s heartfelt, full of just the right amount of action, and pretty dang adorable. It’s a good read-aloud for early- to mid-elementary kiddos, and certainly anyone who is crazy about mice.

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🌻 Want more?

I’ve got you covered: download my newest seasonal guide, Can we read? Children’s Picture Books for Summer — 30 pages’ worth of reviews, covering 35 picture books for ages 0-10.

Published over a span of 60 years, these titles are among my most recommended — from board books to poetry to short, episodic chapter books suitable for little listeners — including eight reviews that have never before been published in my newsletter, all to make your reading life easier this season.

Summer can be a surprisingly hard time to keep reading routines going — let me save you time and energy, so you can spend it actually reading with your kids.

I also have a Bookshop.org list, Books for summer, in case you’d like to visually browse and/or support this newsletter in another way — I get a tiny commission if you use this link to make a purchase. (Thank you!)

Wishing you and your family the happiest summer you’ve ever had (insofar as that’s possible, doesn’t that sound lovely?)

Sarah