Books For the Beach Blanket
by Nancy McLaughlin

It’s summertime and the reading is easy! Here are some suggestions of summer themed books from the Hamden Public Library Children’s Department.

In A Couple of Boys have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee, best friends James and Eamon go to a week of Nature Camp and stay at Eamon’s grandparents’ house. It turns out that their free time spent staying inside, eating waffles and playing video games is way more interesting than nature. Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies is an unusual book where a bunch of fuzzy bats pack their buckets, banjoes and blankets for a visit to the beach — at night! Don’t forget the moon-tan lotion!

In Flip Flops by Nancy Cote, Penny is disappointed when she can only find one flip-flop on the first beach day of the season. Then she discovers that it has many uses, including a shovel, a fan and a crab-catching claw.

From the Bellybutton of the Moon and Other Summer Poems, a charming collection of bilingual poetry by renowned poet Francisco X. Alarcon, is a nostalgic look back at his childhood summer vacations in Mexico. Travel along in the family station wagon across the desert to the old homestead where grandma’s stories amuse and Auntie’s cooking satisfies. A young boy and his mother await the birth of a new baby while sweltering through a summer drought so hot the kids try to fry an egg on the sidewalk in

Silver Rain Brown by Mary-Claire Helldorfer. When the rain finally comes, so does the new baby — Silver Rain Brown. This is a lovely family story of patience and rebirth.

Summerhouse Time by Eileen Spinelli is a great book for grades 4-6. Sophie usually looks forward to the annual vacation at the beach with her large extended family, but this year leaving home is difficult because of a crush on a neighbor boy and her developing awareness of problems such as her aunt’s unemployment and her cousin’s sullenness.

Summer Ball by Mike Lupica (gr. 5-8), a sequel to 2004’s Travel Team, stands on its own. Danny Walker, the star player on his Little League team, is at summer baseball camp where he is among players of his own caliber. However, he finds himself benched a lot of the time — the coach claims that he is “too short,” but is there something else that he has against Danny? Great sports action and a hero you can root for make this a perfect summer read.

If you’re a fan of those sweet, old time children’s books where there’s plenty of action and adventure and you can fall in love with the characters, The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall (gr. 4-6) is the book for you. Four sisters, Rosalind, 12; Sky, 11; Jane, 10; and Batty, 4, along with their widowed botanist dad, spend the summer at a cottage on the grounds of a grand estate in the Berkshires. A summer crush, a snobbish neighbor and youthful misadventures ensue. This is also a great read-aloud for younger kids.

All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn (gr. 4-7) is another spooky ghost story from a master of the genre. Corey and her brother Travis think it’s funny to liven up their grandmother’s old Vermont inn by playing fake ghost tricks on the guests. But their thoughtless pranks wake up something truly evil, and soon they are battling real spirits.

In Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney (gr. 4-6), Greg Heffley is hoping to start the school year with a clean slate as he starts middle school. He definitely wants to forget about the previous summer and the most humiliating event of his life. But will brother Rodrick spill the beans?

The Hamden Public Library invites kids to join their summer reading program, “Catch the Reading Bug,” and have fun reading all summer long. This reading incentive program encourages kids to read by offering small prizes for time spent reading, plus entries into a raffle for larger prizes. Studies have shown that kids who read over the summer lose less ground academically in the fall than kids who don’t. The program runs through August 15. We also offer other fun programs all during the summer including:

• Bug Catchers craft, Wednesday, July 16 at 3 p.m.
• “Stink Bug Bugaloo” with Mary Jo Maichack, Wednesday, July 23 at 3 p.m.
• Bug Mobile Craft, Wednesday, August 6 at 3 p.m.
• Flow Circus, Thursday, August 14 at 2 p.m.
• Drop-in storytime on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.
• Drop-in lunchtime movies at noon on Thursdays (bring your lunch) Summer Science Fun programs for ages six and up include:
• Bug Safari, Wednesday, July 9 at 2 p.m.
• The Bee Man, Tuesday, July 15 at 10:30 a.m.
• Lifecycle of the Butterfly, Tuesday, July 29 at 10:30 a.m. For ages three to five:
• Buzzing Bees, Tuesday, July 22 at 10:30 a.m.
• All About Nature, Tuesday, August 5 at 10:30 a.m.
• Beautiful Butterflies, Tuesday, August 12 at 10:30 a.m.

All programs are free and open to the public. The Hamden Public Library is located at 2901 Dixwell Avenue in Hamden. Registration is required for the crafts and the science programs, so please call us at 203-230-3770 to register or for more information. Also check out our website at www.hamdenlibrary.org for a listing of all of our programs, both at the main library and our two branches.