Welcome, Summer!

To celebrate summer’s arrival, and because I am always looking for an excuse to add wonderful seasonal stories to our library, I surprised Isla with a little goody bag of fun new summer themed books (links and descriptions below). I also tucked in a cute new swimsuit and a sweet board book for Cole. We sat out in the yard together while Isla opened her gift. She was so excited and wanted to dive right in to her new books. Miller the cat, curious about all the excitement, joined us for a few stories as well.

Best. Cat. Ever.

Isla’s ideal summer involves swimming, the beach, ice cream, and finding all sorts of critters in the garden, so I looked for books surrounding these themes. I’m super excited to share these fun new titles with you. They’d all be wonderful additions to your libraries!

Jabari Jumps… the sweetest story of a young boy overcoming his fear of jumping off the high dive through the gentle encouragement of his father.

Pairs! Underwater… the cutest lift the flap matching book with clever underwater rhymes and darling illustrations. After the kids match all the pairs they are instructed to look around the surrounding illustrations to find specific numbers of other sea creatures (hooray for counting and observation skill development!). We have the Pairs! In the Garden book as well and absolutely LOVE them both!

Curious About Ice Cream… The Smithsonian released this non-fiction book that details the history and evolution of ice cream around the world.

Ice Cream Soup… a simple rhyming tale about a little kiddo who experiments with crafting his own ice cream cake and is left with ice cream soup. This was perfect for Isla, who is obsessed with creating and testing out her own recipes these days. Great for beginning readers too!

My Awesome Summer by P. Mantis… the life of a praying mantis, told by a praying mantis. It is written as a series of diary entries, and highlights facts about a praying mantis’ life cycle and development. Fair warning, it may not be suitable for more sensitive readers, as the praying mantis talks about eating some of its siblings. However, for our little scientist who finds predators fascinating, it was just fine.

I Like Bugs… a beginning reader that talks about different kinds of bugs… perfect for Isla who is interested in befriending all things creepy and crawly AND who is eager to learn to read.

A Butterfly is Patient… absolutely gorgeous illustrations, and interesting facts about the life cycle, habits, and characteristics of different butterflies.

Uh Oh!… The story of two toddlers seaside adventures summed up in just two words, “Uh oh!” Darling illustrations and just the right length for little baby attention spans.

We hope you’ll find a few summer themed titles in here to add to your libraries. Happy Reading!