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Summer Books and Activities for Kids

Oceans, Rivers and Ponds

Oceans, Rivers and Ponds

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Great Fiction & Nonfiction Books

Age Level: 3-6 years old

A Long Way Away: A Two-Way Story

A Long Way Away: A Two-Way Story

By: Frank Viva

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

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.

All the Water in the World

All the Water in the World

By: George Ella Lyon | Illustrated by: Katherine Tillotson

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Rich, rhythmic language combines with lush illustration to poetically describe the water cycle and more. This memorable volume will be read aloud -- and perhaps discussed as: "Thirsty air/licks it [water] from lakes/sips it from ponds/guzzles it from oceans..."

Crustacean Vacation

Crustacean Vacation

By: Brian Benoit | Illustrated by: Marty Kelley

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Humans are sure to see themselves in the beach vacation taken by a crab family. From playing in the sand to waterpark slides, energetic, humorous cartoon illustrations continue until "Another crustacean vacation is done,/Filled with marvelous memories of fun in the sun."

Hello Ocean / Hola Mar

Hello Ocean / Hola Mar

By: Pam Muñoz Ryan | Illustrated by: Mark Astrella

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

A child narrates her visit to the ocean, inviting readers to explore it with her. She experiences the sea with all of her senses through realistic illustrations and lyrical language in this gently rhyming tale.

Here Come the Humpbacks!

Here Come the Humpbacks!

By: April Sayre | Illustrated by: Jamie Hogan

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

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 You Want to See a Whale If You Want to See a Whale

If You Want to See a Whale If You Want to See a Whale

By: Julie Fogliano | Illustrated by: Erin Stead

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

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.

In the Small, Small Pond

In the Small, Small Pond

By: Denise Fleming | Illustrated by: Denise Fleming

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

A child (and a small green frog) witness the change of seasons in a small, critter-filled pond. Engaging language swirls and moves across the pages in this vibrantly illustrated Caldecott Honor book.

Leopard & Silkie: One Boy's Quest to Save the Seal Pups

Leopard & Silkie: One Boy's Quest to Save the Seal Pups

By: Brenda Peterson | Illustrated by: Robin Lindsey

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Join Miles, a young Seal Sitter at the Salish Sea (aka Puget Sound) in Seattle, Washington, as he works to help Leopard until his mother returns from finding food. How the baby seal named Leopard grows with a bit of help (but no interference) from humans is revealed in full-color photographs and crisp text. An author's note provides additional information.

Looking Closely Along the Shore

Looking Closely Along the Shore

By: Frank Serafini | Illustrated by: Frank Serafini

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

A full-color, close-up framed by black and a repeated text focuses the reader's eye. Look closely. What do you see? Turn the page to discover an Ochre sea star, sea anemone, a coastal rock, and more. Brief text and crisp photographs introduce children to a different way of seeing and looking.

Looking Closely Around the Pond

Looking Closely Around the Pond

By: Frank Serafini | Illustrated by: Frank Serafini

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

"Look very closely. What do you see?" It may be something familiar or quite out of the ordinary. Readers won't be certain until they turn the page! A close-up photograph of flora and fauna found near a pond becomes larger and is contextualized with a page turn. Additional information is also presented in this multifaceted look at ponds.

Out of the Ocean

Out of the Ocean

By: Debra Frasier | Illustrated by: Debra Frasier

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Open this book and you'll be walking along the ocean shore, looking for all kinds of special things. Some will be small enough to fit in your hand — like shells and sea glass. Others — like the sun and the sky and the waves — will be too big to carry home. But no matter what your journey holds, you'll soon learn that looking for the ocean's treasures can be as important as finding them. [Amazon review]

Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach

Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach

By: Melanie Watt | Illustrated by: Melanie Watt

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Scaredy Squirrel comes by his name honestly; he's a bit frightened of just about everything! Can his preparation for a day at the beach protect him adequately? Readers will laugh at Scaredy Squirrel's ultimate realization that there is a lot to enjoy at the beach!

Seashells: Treasures from the Northeast Coast

Seashells: Treasures from the Northeast Coast

By: Joanne Roach-Evans

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

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.

The Boy Who Wouldn't Swim

The Boy Who Wouldn't Swim

By: Deb Lucke | Illustrated by: Deb Lucke

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

In order to beat the heat that summer, most of the residents of Clermont County practically lived in the pool. That is, everyone except Eric Dooley. He and his rubber giraffe were afraid of the water. How Eric learns to overcome his fear is told with humor and bubbly illustrations.

The Seashore Book

The Seashore Book

By: Charlotte Zolotow | Illustrated by: Wendell Minor

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

A young boy who lives in the mountains and has never seen the sea, asks his mother to describe it. From there, Zolotow carefully chooses her words to create a poem full of the colors, sounds, and sights of a day at the beach. The verbal description is firmly framed within oceans of white space on the left and matched by the equally well-crafted gouache and watercolor paintings on the right. [School Library Journal review]

Trout Are Made of Trees

Trout Are Made of Trees

By: April Sayre | Illustrated by: Kate Endle

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

As two children and their fathers explore a stream and its natural riches, a straightforward text explains how trout are made of trees — just like the bears and people who catch and eat the trout. Warmly hued, textured collages illuminate a down-to-earth, understandable story of a stream habitat.

Undersea Animals: A Dramatic Dimensional Visit to Strange Underwater Realms

Undersea Animals: A Dramatic Dimensional Visit to Strange Underwater Realms

By: Jane Buxton | Illustrated by: Jerry Pinkney

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Though not for the youngest hands, stunning colors and amazing pop-ups are used to introduce sea life — kelp, fish, coral and other creatures — from unique perspectives. This attractive book is sure to engage readers of all ages.

Wave

Wave

By: Suzy Lee

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

No words are needed to share a child's seaside adventure as she plays with the waves, is knocked down by one, and then discovers the sea's gifts brought to shore by the wave. Softly lined wash in a limited color palette evoke a summer afternoon on the beach.

Where the River Begins

Where the River Begins

By: Thomas Locker | Illustrated by: Thomas Locker

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Nature is the star in this affecting tale of a boy and his grandfather who journey to a waterway's source. Locker's paintings magnificently portray the changing landscape at different times of the day and in different kinds of weather. [Publisher's Weekly review]

Wow! Ocean

Wow! Ocean

By: Robert Neubecker

Age Level: 3-6 years old | Reading Level: Beginning Reader

Izzy and her sister were mountain girls, so one summer the family decided to go see something new — the ocean. The girls are wowed by the sea, the beach, and its treasures — both real and imaginary — as they explore above and beneath the water. Readers will revisit highly detailed, labeled illustration including the well-placed, well devised fold-outs.

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Deep Sea Floor

Deep Sea Floor

By: Sneed Collard | Illustrated by: Gregory Wenzel

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

Rich, realistic illustrations accompany clear text as readers explore what lives in the ocean, the geology of the ocean floor, and the biodiversity. Additional resources are suggested to learn more about he subject.

Flotsam

Flotsam

By: David Wiesner | Illustrated by: David Wiesner

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

A bright, science-minded boy goes to the beach equipped to collect and examine flotsam — anything floating that has been washed ashore. Bottles, lost toys, small objects of every description are among his usual finds. But there's no way he could have prepared for one particular discovery: a barnacle-encrusted underwater camera, with its own secrets to share … and to keep. [Amazon review]

Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean

Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean

By: Arthur Dorros | Illustrated by: Arthur Dorros

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

Water is always flowing, from a brook to a stream, to a river to the ocean. Read and find out more about how water shapes the earth and why it is important to keep our water clean. [Amazon review]

Ocean Soup: Tide-Pool Poems

Ocean Soup: Tide-Pool Poems

By: Stephen Swinburne | Illustrated by: Mary Peterson

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

Meet a sea anemone, sea urchin, a sculpin and other inhabitants of a tide pool through poems (in each creature's voice) and an informative paragraph (in a different typeface). Cartoon-like illustrations complete the engaging animal introductions while additional information is provided.

Oceans

Oceans

By: Seymour Simon

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

Simon explores the magnitude of the oceans and their impact on the Earth's climate. He includes good black-and-white diagrams of how tides work and how waves form and transfer energy. The endpapers are maps of the world showing how and where the major currents flow. [School Library Journal review]

Pond and River

Pond and River

By: Steve Parker

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

This Eyewitness book examines the relationship between ponds, rivers, and the larger bodies of water they flow into, as well as the wildlife they support. Viewers tour a variety of lakes, rivers, and ponds, catching sight of mean-spirited piranha and gregarious river dolphins along the way.

The Big Rivers: the Missouri, the Mississippi, and the Ohio

The Big Rivers: the Missouri, the Mississippi, and the Ohio

By: Bruce Hiscock | Illustrated by: Bruce Hiscock

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

The book focuses on the 1993 floods in the Midwest, showing how unusual weather patterns affected rainfall, what happened when the rivers overflowed their banks, and how people prepared for the flooding and handled it after it came. Hiscock's watercolor paintings, some in double-page spreads, demonstrate clearly what is happening. His time line of rainfall and flood levels in 1993 is particularly effective. [Booklist review]

The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks

The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks

By: Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

Ms. Frizzle, an unflappable science teacher, drives the magical school bus into a cloud where the children shrink to the size of water droplets and follow the course of water through the city's waterworks system.

The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor

The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor

By: Joanna Cole | Illustrated by: Bruce Degen

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

When Ms. Frizzle drives the Magic School Bus full speed ahead into the ocean, the class takes a submarine expedition that's anything but ordinary. With a well-meaning lifeguard in tow, the class takes a deep breath and learns about hot water vents, coral reefs, plant and animal life on the ocean floor, and more! [Amazon review]

The Raft

The Raft

By: Jim LaMarche | Illustrated by: Jim LaMarche

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

Nicky isn't one bit happy about spending the summer with his grandma in the Wisconsin woods, but then the raft appears and changes everything. As Nicky explores, the raft works a subtle magic, opening up the wonders all around him — the animals of river and woods, his grandmother's humor and wisdom, and his own special talent as an artist. [Amazon review]

Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe

Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe

By: Vera B. Williams | Illustrated by: Vera B. Williams

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

Follow the red canoe from page to page as it journeys down river carrying the family on a camping tour. It's the next best thing to paddling it yourself. [Amazon review]

Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems

Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems

By: Kate Coombs | Illustrated by: Meilo So

Age Level: 6-9 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

Translucent watercolors and short, varied poems take readers on a trip to the sea. There they meet sea birds, fish, coral, and more in each short verse. Evocative language creates memorable images of the sea and its often hidden treasures.

Age Level: 9-12 years old

Paddle-to-the-Sea

Paddle-to-the-Sea

By: Holling Clancy Holling | Illustrated by: Holling Clancy Holling

Age Level: 9-12 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

A young Indian boy carves a little canoe with a figure inside and names him Paddle-to-the-Sea. Paddle's journey, in text and pictures, through the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean provides an excellent geographic and historical picture of the region. [Amazon review]

The Aquarium Book

The Aquarium Book

By: George Ancona

Age Level: 9-12 years old | Reading Level: Independent Reader

Take a tour through four national aquariums and learn how they are set up, the educational displays they offer, and what sort of things a visitor will see.

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Picnic planner

Ask your child to help you plan a picnic. Begin by using the newspaper to help you find a day that promises to be sunny and clear. Then plan where you will go, what you will eat, and what games to play.

Planificador de picnics

Pídale a su hijo que le ayude a planear un picnic. Comience por utilizar el periódico para ayudarle a encontrar un día que promete ser soleado y claro. Luego, pídale que planee a dónde irá, lo que se comerá, y los juegos que hará.

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