Summer Reading has launched at Central Rappahannock Regional Library! Let the library help you keep the children and teens in your life reading all summer to avoid summer learning loss, and return to school in the fall ready to learn. It’s easy to sign up and keep track of reading minutes. Summer Reading is for everyone, from babies to adults; you can sign up by visiting any library branch, or at librarypoint.org/summer, opens a new window. When an adult reads to a child, both the adult and the child can count that as Summer Reading!
Thanks to support from Raising Cane’s and Habit Burger and Grill of Fredericksburg, the library helps to incentivize student reading over the summer with prizes at milestone reading levels. Depending on their age, children and teens can earn free meal vouchers or coupons for a free burger or lemonade. Plus, thanks to a grant from The Robert Cullen O’Neill Memorial Fund of The Community Foundation, when children and teens reach 1,000 and 2,000 reading minutes, they earn a book of their own to add to their home library.
Keep your family in the summer spirit with these children’s picture books about summer adventures.
A Beach Tail, opens a new window by Karen Lynn Williams and illustrated by Floyd Cooper
A little boy draws a lion in the sand named Sandy. With instructions from his dad to stay out of the water and not leave Sandy, the boy uses his stick to draw a tail on the lion, then continues to drag the stick in the sand, lengthening the tail down the beach as he comes across a washed-up jellyfish, an old sand castle, a horseshoe crab, and a jetty of rocks. When he turns around and can no longer see his dad, he gets scared, but, by tracing Sandy’s tail back the way he came, he finds his way safely back into his dad’s arms.
Bright Lights and Summer Nights, opens a new window by Shauntay Grant and illustrated by Zachary Manbeck
A group of children and fantastical animals are transported magically through a fanciful summer evening. Follow along through a starry sky to a country fair, with all its delights, and on a trolley ride to a firefly garden, where the children catch rides on the back of the fireflies to a pond filled with lilypads and fireworks overhead. The luminous illustrations of this story convey the dreaminess of this enchanted summer night.
The Hike, opens a new window by Alison Farrell
A group of friends heads out on a hike, but, in their enthusiasm to explore, they leave the trail and get lost. By using their map and the detailed notes one has been making in her sketchbook, they are back on the trail soon. After reaching the summit of a hill, they head home and recall their adventure by flipping through the notebook where everything they saw on their hike is documented.
Hike It: An Introduction to Camping, Hiking, and Backpacking in the U.S.A., opens a new window by Iron Tazz and illustrated by Martin Stanev
This informational book is chock full of facts on what a person needs to know when exploring the outdoors. From a list of “Ten Essentials;” such as sun protection, food, water, and a first-aid kit; to what to do if you encounter a bear, there is good information here for readers of all ages, presented in an easy-to-digest format with lots of illustrations.
Look What I Found at the Beach, opens a new window by Moira Butterfield and illustrated by Jesús Verona
Both a story of a day at the beach and a seek-and-find book, readers join the adventures of a group children as they encounter feathers, seaweed, shells, and marine creatures while also following clues on each page to look for more beach finds on the page, such as a “shell shaped like a fan” and “two orange crabs.” Additional information on some pages about what the children come across, such as what different types of beach rocks may be made from, makes this a book that readers will come back to again and again.
Mouse's First Summer, opens a new window by Lauren Thompson and illustrated by Buket Erdogan
Mouse and Minka enjoy the simple pleasures of a beautiful summer day: rolling down a hill of soft green grass, looking up at a bright blue sky, flying a kite, eating watermelon, chasing fireflies, and watching fireworks.
Darcie Caswell is Director of Youth Services at CRRL. This column originally appeared in The Free Lance-Star newspaper.
