What should your kids be reading this summer? Check out our list
Summer is nearly upon us — and so is the lovely season of agenda-less reading.
No reading logs, no genre requirements, no literature prompts. Those all have their place, but developing a love of reading in this digital age also needs a shot of sheer pleasure.
To that end, here are summer reading picks for all ages, from a modern pioneer’s biography to an undercover warrior’s fantastical adventures in feudal Japan.
“Cinnamon” (Harper Collins, $17.99) is a princess with pearls for eyes “which gave her great beauty, but meant she was blind.” She also cannot talk … until a tiger arrives at the palace. “Coraline” author Neil Gaiman spins Cinnamon’s tale in a luminous, evocative picture book illustrated by Austinite Divya Srinivasan. The tiger announces to the Rajah, Cinnamon’s father, “I am here to teach the girl cub to talk.” How he tackles the task — and what happens
afterwards — is a story that makes this book transcend the read-aloud set. (Billed as ages 4-8, but even older readers will appreciate the twists of Gaiman’s plot and the otherworldly, lush illustrations from Srinivasan.)
Ever wonder why computer glitches are called “bugs”? Find out that and more in “Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code” (Sterling, $16.99), Laurie Wallmark’s picture-book biography of the woman who developed the program that taught computers to recognize words and not just 1s and 0s. Hopper was always fascinated by machines, taking apart clocks as a child and building a motorized elevator for her dollhouse. A gifted student, she went on to become an educator before volunteering for the U.S. Navy during World War II, rising to prominence for her work with coding and computers. There’s a Navy missile destroyer named in her honor, the U.S.S. Hopper, but the sailors aboard have dubbed it “Amazing Grace.” Illustrated with action and verve by Katy Wu, it’s a perfect non-fiction read for tinkerers, mathematicians and budding engineers. (Ages 4-8)
Clayton wants nothing more to have his moment with the Bluesmen. He looks to Cool Papa Byrd for the sign that he’ll have a 12-bar solo with his harmonica, for all the crowds gathered in Washington Square Park to see. Cool Papa keeps telling him to bide his time, wait his turn. But when his grandfather passes away unexpectedly, “Clayton Byrd Goes Underground” (Amistad/HarperCollins, $16.99) doesn’t wait at all to go on the hunt for his beloved Cool Papa’s band out in the city. Newbery Honor author Rita Williams-Garcia (“One Crazy Summer,” “P.S. Be Eleven”) infuses her middle-grade coming-of-age tale with the grit of fellow city-dwellers, the deep love of family and a modern melding of Clayton’s beloved blues and the hip-hop of fellow street musicians. (Ages 8-12)
Mix young love, behindthe-scenes restaurant life and a tight-knit Cuban community and you have the Miami-set “The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora” (Viking/Penguin, $16.99), the debut novel from Pablo Cartaya. Cartaya deftly steers us through Arturo’s life as real-life conundrums and challenges abound, from his romantic feelings for new neighbor Carmen to the developer whose mixeduse high-rise plans threaten the Zamora family’s restaurant. (Indeed, though it’s set in south Florida, surely this storyline will resonate with Austinites). Arturo may fail on occasion, but he is an epically appealing and good-hearted protagonist. (Ages 10 and older)
Gabby Garcia is on top of her game – literally. She’s the only girl on the Luther Lions baseball team and its star pitcher. As befits a beloved school athlete, she gets extra fries from the lunch lady and first choice of seats on the team bus. But when asbestos is discovered at her school, she’s sent across town to Piper Bell Academy, where teams are always co-ed, there’s already a skilled pitcher, and one of her former rivals plays for the school. Enter “Gabby Garcia’s Ultimate Playbook” (HarperCollins, $12.99), IvaMarie Palmer’s funny riff on Gabby’s plans to regain sports dominance at her new school. Billed as a sporty “Dork Diaries,” Gabby’s journey of self-discovery is full of fun, snappy dialogue, doodles, lists and relatable middle-school insights: “I really needed a save now. The problem with life versus baseball is, I can’t just have someone take over for me when things are awful.” (Ages 8-12)
The Black Clan wants potential princess Mariko dead. En route to an arranged marriage, her entourage is attacked and everyone — save her — is slaughtered. So begins “Flame in the
Mist” (Putnam/Penguin, $17.99), Renée Ahdieh’s tale of a sheltered but spirited royal turned renegade: Mariko slips into the Clan undercover, disguised as a peasant boy. She discovers the truth about this band of assassins — and herself — is much more complicated than she’d been led to believe. Rich world-building in feudal-era Japan and plenty of intrigue make this page-turning young-adult novel a winning foray into fantasy. (Ages 12 and older)
Dimple has her post-graduate plan mapped out: Stanford in the fall, preceded by InsomniaCon, a summer program for nascent app developers. This is in stark contrast to the plans of her family, who’s laser-focused on connecting her with an IIH, or Ideal Indian Husband. (“It was like some bizarre version of a geocaching club; the minute somebody’s daughter turned 18, all the aunties began to scheme the shortest route from her parents’ home to the ultimate prize.”) Rishi also has his future mapped out: MIT, arranged marriage according to tradition, and then building a family. Getting dispatched to InsomniaCon to meet his future wife Dimple is just the next logical step. Needless to say, in Sandhya Menon’s “When Dimple Met Rishi” (Simon Pulse, $17.99), nothing goes according to plan. In lesser hands, this tale of mismatched romance could have veered into cliché; Menon’s skill with humor, tech and tradition, all steeped in Indian culture, refreshes the trope. Light and fun, it’s a brainy, breezy summer romance. (Ages 12 and older)