Have you reached that point in the summer when your children spend a lot of time complaining, "I'm bored. I have nothing to do."? Here are some books that will not only get them reading but will also encourage them to do something. The first is for beginning readers while the second and third are for middle readers.
The Cool Crazy Crickets
David Elliott has written two lively books,The Cool Crazy Crickets and The Cool Crazy Crickets to the Rescue, about four friends who start a club one summer. These 50-page chapter books about the fun and activities of the club are written for children just beginning to read chapter books. Artist Paul Meisel created the exuberant watercolor and ink sketches that illustrate every page of each book.
The first book details all the steps the friends, Leo, Phoebe, Marcus, and Miranda, go through to start the club. The second book tells the story of the group's fund raising efforts and how they rescue a sick cat. The response of the children I have shared the books with is, "I can make a club, too." The books were published in 2000 and 2001 respectively by Candlewick Press.
We All Scream for Ice Cream
Lee Wardlow's We All Scream for Ice Cream: The Scoop on America's Favorite Dessert is a fascinating book. Written for 8 to 12 year olds, the 200-page book includes illustrations by Sandra Forrest and 17 chapters about ice cream. Did you know that July is National Ice Cream Month or that the first cookbook devoted exclusively to ice creams and sorbets was published in France in 1768? The book is full of interesting tidbits about ice cream, the ice cream cone, soda fountains, sundaes, Eskimo Pie, the Good Humor Man, ice cream companies, and record breaking ice cream concoctions.
Best of all, the last chapter is devoted to easy recipes for ice cream, cones, fudge sauce, and ice cream sodas. You and your children will enjoy learning all about ice cream and then, making your own. While you are licking your ice cream cone, here's another tip to remember, "It takes about fifty licks to eat a single scoop ice cream cone."
We All Scream for Ice Cream was published in 2000 by HarperTrophy, a division of HarperCollins.
Animals Eating
Animals Eating: How Animals Chomp, Chew, Slurp and Swallow is not for the passive reader. It is filled with both information and activities that require action on the part of the child reading the book. The book covers food chains, animal eating and drinking habits, animal teeth and tongues, and how a bird's gizzard works, among other things. Throughout the forty page book, information is presented through paragraphs of text, bulleted lists, illustrations, quizzes, and hands-on activities.
For example, after an illustrated page about the food chain in a marsh, readers are invited to make a model of the marsh's food web. A section on animal tongues talks about how animals like toads, anteaters, and woodpeckers use their tongues to catch insects. This is followed by a page with a materials list and concise illustrated directions for making a working frog tongue model.
If you have active children who are interested in animals and nature, they will love this book. Animals Eating was written by Pamela Hickman, illustrated by Pat Stephens, and published by Kids Can Press in 2001.
