Some of us have more time to read during the summer months whether you’re at a cottage, a backyard or in a public park. I’ve selected a few books to encourage picking up something different.
Immerse your toes in the sand. Find a stone to call your friend. Turn the pages of ISHI slowly. Repeat. With the above recipe in mind, my first suggestion is pitch perfect for ages 3 to 99.
Ishi is Japanese for rock and provides simple tips from a solid friend. This sweet little book is an an award winning, shareable cozy picture book featuring Ishi, an optimistic little rock who reminds readers to choose and share happiness! The ISHI book features a simple rock character, which appeals to a wide audience, with valuable lessons in compassion for the self and for others. The FROM / TO page on the inside cover of this picture book encourages the readers to share the book and pass it on with kindness, which creates opportunities for the readers to experience the joy of giving.
Akiko Yabuki is an Edutainment Producer, who loves creating entertaining content that educates the audience. Akiko learned the ABCs of edutainment as a Global Producer for Sesame Workshop, the producer of the Sesame Street programs worldwide. Akiko lives in Brooklyn NY with her husband, a black lab named Pono and a solid rock friend named ISHI. I think I’d love to be her friend!!
My next suggestion is for an 8-12 year old or me!
I’ll provide you with a warning … if your child opens CHASE you won’t see them for hours! I took this with me on a recent trip & spent two nights glued to the page of this exciting middle grade thriller.
This is Linwood Barclay’s first book for kids! Non-stop action, an adorable and distractable dog and a cliffhanger ending but thank goodness the exciting sequel called ESCAPE in bookstores now!
What’s CHASE about?
Chipper who is a very special dog. He’s part of a multi-million-dollar experiment at a secret organization known only as The Institute. The Institute has been experimenting with dogs, melding them with state-of-the-art computer technology. But there’s a problem with Chipper. His natural dog instincts often overrule his computer side. No matter what he’s doing, if he sees a squirrel or a mouse, he’ll drop everything to chase it. So The Institute has decided it’s time to pull the plug on Chipper. Chipper manages a daring escape with a destination in mind, but a team from The Institute, led by the cold-hearted Daggert, is hot on his heels.
Twelve-year-old Jeff Conroy lives with his aunt and helps run her lakeside cabin-rental business. Jeff desperately misses his parents, who were killed in a plane crash a year earlier. But at least he’s made one friend: Emily, a computer whiz, who has the coolest fort ever: a trackless, abandoned train station in the middle of the forest. After eluding his would-be captors, Chipper boards a bus to the country that ends up taking him to Jeff and Emily, who discover a computer port in Chipper’s collar. Chipper’s arrival is not random, it turns out. He has been looking for Jeff–and now so is Dagger!
There is research that shows children who don’t read during the summer can lose up to three months of reading progress and that loss has a cumulative, long-term effect. So why not something fun? AND this book would be great for a fall book report as there’s science, espionage, friendship, family and more to dig into for a school report.
The majority of women, when they lose their husbands unexpectedly, are paralyzed by grief. Laura Fahrenthold, whose award-winning journalist husband succumbed to a heart attack in 2009, got moving. She packed her two daughters into an RV with a pink steering wheel and proceeded to drive across America and Canada, scattering her husband’s ashes. The result? A journey of self-discovery and renewal, love and hope, punctuated with stops at Walmart and Costco.
Laura’s career in journalism fills The Pink Steering Wheel Chronicles with insight and wit as she shares her adventures and misadventures, her deeply-layered love story, and her hilarious slice of life dispatches during her 30,152-mile road trip. I loved it!
I loved it so much I spent time at Sugar Beach talking to strangers this week. I actually really enjoy seeing someone’s face turn from “who are you?” to “whoa, you’re giving me a free book and making me laugh at the same time!” yep.
I am truly grateful for the books that surround me, the world they open my eyes to and the people who move Muskoka chairs so I can be outside for my segment on Global TV The Morning Show.
Kieran, Nick and David are da best!
GLOBAL TV The Morning Show Sugar Beach Reads