Read about summertime activities
These outdoorsy books introduce a wide range of summertime activities, from tree house building to riding a bike to the always favorite ice cream truck stop.
All sorts of bikes and riders are preparing for Cycle City’s Starlight Parade, Hippo’s camper bike, Polar Bear’s gelato bike, Owl’s bookmobile bike and even Frog’s amphibious contraption. But first, preparations need to occur, and Mayor Small has to deliver invitations to everyone. This is not so easy, because every page scene is jam-packed with the many animal citizens zipping about on bikes as they go about their busy day. From Cycle Circus School, to a crowded park of food bikes, to downtown and the river, bridges, canals and shopping districts, the mayor has to search for the invitees, with readers’ help, of course.
Finally, the elaborately decorated participants are ready and Cycle City beams with active happiness. Alison Farrell’s whimsical, busy pages give kids lots and lots to search for and gaze upon.
For another busy bike book, check out Joukje Akveld and Philip Hopman’s “Get on Your Bike” (published by Eerdmans Books), an energetic, oversized picture book tale of two friends in a spat made better by biking.
With retro softly colored illustrations that remind me a bit of Maurice Sendak’s work, this ode to treehouses begins with two children looking up “and imagining a home of timber and rafters in wrangled, gnarled bark.” Incredibly imaginative and cool, Higgins and Hughes invite kids to picture several types of treehouses and describe what’s needed creatively — “you’ll need a swing or maybe a rope, some twisted twine of spun sugar and sap, a way to climb and sprawl out on a limb and slide back down again.”
Numerous children of all colors nap and read books and play pirate and make shadows in these make-believe and gorgeously fun up-high homes. Kudos to the creators for concocting a lovely book certain to provoke imagination and wonder.
The “Little Truck” series includes boldly colorful near-board books (with slick and sturdy pages perfect for preschoolers) and rhyming, simple text. This one extols the well-loved virtues of ice cream trucks. Here they are heading to the zoo. With a friendly driver named Lou and treats like Berry Crunch, Lemon Ice and Cookie Munch, this polka-dotted vehicle also visits baseball games, birthday parties and the park. A safety page also reminds readers: “I’m a little ice cream truck with signs on front and rear: CAUTION! CHILDREN CROSSING! LOOK BOTH WAYS! STAY CLEAR!”
A super fun ode to a summertime classic, “The Little Ice Cream Truck” is cool and refreshing.