Summer is meant for exploration and adventure, so encourage kids to turn off their screens and foster their love of the great outdoors with these new summer releases.
These five books explore the world from the wonders of our own nation to faraway seas, towering mountains, and mysterious islands. Set up the hammock, pitch the tent, and break out the books.
Run Wild
Ages: 3 to 5
A young boy ventures outside, forgetting his digital device and leaving the gray tones of the inside world behind. He races a rabbit, splashes barefoot in the mud, and discovers a world of color.
A true appeal to the sense, a simple storyline is paired with intricate and whimsical watercolor illustrations. Your young adventurers will love spotting the many birds and bugs among the vibrant illustrations and they might just be inspired to run wild themselves.
National Parks of the USA
Ages: 6 to 9
Explore 22 of the country’s most iconic National Parks through illustrated maps and playful depictions of wildlife and plants common to each park. Paddle through a mangrove forest in the Everglades, scale the Great Smoky Mountains, and go for a swim with a marsh rabbit. People consider this a prime choice when looking to vacation in the Smoky Mountains, or elsewhere.
With four of the featured parks close to home right here in California, this book might even inspire a family road trip this summer.
The Turtle Ship
Ages: 6 to 10
Inspired by a desire to see the world and resourcefulness found in nature, this book takes young readers to a long-ago Korean village by the sea. Here Sin-sun struggles to design the best battleship to protect Korea and earn a spot sailing with the royal navy. Could his pet turtle offer the inspiration he needs to keep his ship afloat?
The use of color and patterns in the paper collage illustrations sets the tone for the story, gives the sea a personality of its own, and will enthrall a wide range of readers.
The Boy, the Boat, and the Beast
Ages: 8 to 12
This mystery-thriller will take independent readers out of their day-to-day lives and deposit them on an uninhabited beach island along with a young boy who doesn’t know who he is or how he got there. Readers will be eager to unravel these mysteries with him as he navigates the island and sea, his own fears, and the struggles of growing up.
Wild Blues
Ages: 10 to 14
For a reprieve from her chaotic home life, Lizzie heads to her favorite place on earth – her uncle’s renovated schoolhouse cabin. There she spends her time with Matias, her uncle’s neighbor and Lizzie’s best friend, who has proportional dwarfism. But when both Matias and her uncle go missing, Lizzie is the only one who knows the area well enough to find them and bring them home.
Chock full of themes of what it means to be different, friendship, loss, loyalty, and bravery, young readers will find themselves falling into step with Lizzie and her trek through the Adirondack Mountains.