Children's Books
Summertime and the reading is easy! Beat the heat and venture into the pages of a cool book.

PICTURE BOOK: AGES 6 THRU 8
Summer Sun Risiní by W. Nikola-Lisa. Illustrated by Don Tate. (Lee and Low, unpaged, $16.95). As the morning sun rises, an African-American boy begins his routine day on the family farm. In simple, handmade typeface, these rhymes are as comforting and lulling as a lovely summer day: "Bee in the hive/ fruit on the trees./ Summer sunís stirrin'/ a summertime breeze."

Apple Pie Fourth of July by Janet Wong. Illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine. (Harcourt, unpaged, $16.00). Do Americans eat chinese food on the Fourth of July? A Chinese-American girl is plagued with the anxiety that customers won't be ordering chow mein or any other dish on this most American of celebrations. How can her parents be so naive as to open shop for business? A child's fear about cultural differences is rendered with cheerful and bright illustrations as spirited as the holiday.

FICTION: AGES 8 THRU 10
That Summer by Tony Johnson. Illustrated by Barry Moser. (Harcourt, 32 pp., $16.00). The freedom of school ending and the start of blissful summer is harrowingly short-lived when the Fourth of July finds Joey suddenly terminally ill. His brother narrates this story of loss with heartbreaking simplicity. Moser's artwork respectfully reflects the moments of sorrow. As his dedication reads: "For all the courageous people who care for terminally ill children..."

POETRY: AGES 8 THRU 12
Summersaults by Douglas Florian. (Greenwillow, 48 pp., $15.89). Simple rhyming verses capture the essence of summer and all its fun-filled activities from jump-roping to baseball. Clever wordplay adds humor and lighthearted zest to this most carefree of seasons: "June: We seeded/ July: We weeded/ August: We eated." Watery colors drench the pages with a palette of blues, yellows, oranges and greens.

Selene S. Vasquez is a media specialist at Orange Brook Elementary School in Hollywood, Florida. She is formerly a children's librarian for the New York Public Library.

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