Do you like the idea of dragons and griffons and unicorns living among us?  Then you should read the Imaginary Veterinary series by Suzanne Selfors.  This six-book series begins with The Sasquatch Escape.  Ben Silverstein has been sent to spend the summer with his grandfather in Buttonville.  There is nothing there, and yet, somehow Ben manages to find an unimaginable adventure.  It begins just as he arrives in town. He sees something incredible in the clouds, but when he tries to talk about it, he’s called a “storyteller.”  Ben knows what he’s just seen and he knows the girl in the window has seen it too.  Tomorrow, they’ll meet and figure out what is going on.

If you need more convincing, click on this link to watch The Sasquatch Escape trailer.  Pearl and Ben will take you on a funny, exciting and complicated journey as they become apprentices to Dr. Woo and learn to care for real “imaginary” creatures.

Here’s what is says on the back of The Bat:  “As a child, Elise Gravel was already fascinated by disgusting little creatures.  At three-and-a-half, she founded the Organization for the Defense of Disgusting Critters, of which she was both the president and the only member.  Nowadays, when she’s not busy petting a fly or a worm, she writes and illustrates strange children’s books.”

I don’t think they’re strange at all.  I think they are interesting and funny.  They’re certainly favorites in the classroom!  They make you think differently, question and wonder.  Make sure to read the new books in the series:  The Bat, The Cockroach and The Mosquito.  What disgusting creatures would you add to the series?

What are you reading?  What do you recommend?  Let us know, but leaving a comment below.📘

You might need some book suggestions for the summer.  North Hampton Library has some and you can find some here too.  I visit Brightly a lot for book suggestions and this  post:  The Ultimate Summer Reading List for Kids Ages 9 – 12 is awesome!  Of course, I haven’t read all the books (yet), but the ones I have are excellent.

I also look for book recommendations on Imagination Soup.  This post links to their Summer Reading List recommendations. This list is sorted by genre and has excellent titles as well.

I hope you’ll explore these sites and the book suggestions with your parents and begin a new “to be read” list to keep you reading all summer.

Both sites have also created Summer Reading Bingo boards.  That seems like a fun idea.  I’m going to try both: Brightly Summer Reading Bingo and Reading Bingo.

Here are some book recommendations that will help you fill in some Bingo squares.

📕 Magic Treehouse #33 ~ Narwhal on a Sunny Night takes Jack and Annie on a mission to the Arctic.  They travel back in time to meet up with Leif Erikson when he and his family first settled on Greenland.  Leif Erikson went on to become the first European to explore North America, five hundred years before Christopher Columbus.  Readers get to learn a bit of history and some interesting information about the mammals that live in the arctic ~ especially whales.  It’s a fun story about how connection and care lead to hope.

This book could help you fill in the “book that you can finish in one day” or “a book published in 2020” squares.

📙You know how much I love the “Ordinary People Change the World” series by Brad Meltzer.  The newest book in the series is I am Leonardo da Vinci. You probably know many things about him already.  He was a passionate observer of nature and intensely curious about how things work.  He challenged his own thinking by asking “what if?”  He purposely chose to question and think differently than those around him.  “Nothing amazing happens by thinking like everyone else…Do what hasn’t been done before.  Build what hasn’t been built before.  When you do…no one will be able to look away.”  Leonardo da Vinci’s ordinary gift was in recognizing that new ideas were beautiful.  What is your new idea today?

This book could help you fill in the “read a biography” or ” read a book in a series” squares.

📗 What fun!  The best way to introduce this book to you is by listening to the beginning of Doodleville read by the author, Chad Sell.  In this world, art comes to life.  When Drew takes her Doodles to the Art Institute they leave her sketchbook and interact with the masterpieces in the museum.  What will Drew do about the invasion?  How will the Art Club unite their powers for good?  How will each club member find inspiration for the next project?  This graphic novel is exciting to read and then reread and reread again.  You’ll notice more and more each time.  Bring your doodles to life!

This book could help you fill in the “read a book with a female heroine” or “read a book about an adventure” bingo squares.

📘And finally you might like to read The One and Only Bob, sequel to The One and Only Ivan.  Here’s the blurb on the cover:  “Brave hearts come in small packages.  Bob is an independent dog.  He knows he could still make it on his own if he had to, even though he now has a home with his human friend Julia, regular meals belly rubs and a bed to call his own.  But most important of all, he still gets to visit his best friends at their new home.  Ivan, a silverback gorilla, and Ruby, a young elephant, live nearby in a sanctuary.  A home for Bob, a home for his friend, and all there treats he could want …” And then the hurricane hits causing chaos and confusion.  Will anything ever be okay again?

Make sure to read The One and Only Ivan first – one story builds off the events of the other.  This book could help you fill in the “read a book with an animal on the cover” or the “read 30 minutes” squares on your Bingo Board.

If you have books to recommend, tell us about them in the comments.  It inspiring to discover all the different books , how-to’s, magazines, websites, channels etc… you are exploring this summer.☀️📚😎

I’ve got some great books to share! 📕A year ago I was listening to a radio interview of a person who had just won millions of dollars on Jeopardy. The interviewer asked the winner how he knew so much about so many things and he answered, “I read about 5 nonfiction picture books every day. 📙All the important facts are included in picture books ~ and they’re interesting.”  Of course, I may not have the exact quote, but the gist is there.

You can learn about anything.  📗 Just read a book!  Here are some I think you’ll enjoy!  I learned a lot from each one.

WHOOSH! ~ Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton started with a drawing activity.  People attending a seminar were asked to draw a scientist.  Most of them drew someone resembling Albert Einstein ~ white haired, white men in lab coats.  Chris Barton wanted to change that stereotype.  With a little research he discovered Lonnie Johnson, a rocket scientist who also invented the Super-Soaker.  The end flap says: “Lonnie Johnson was always building things.  As a kid he made rockets.  As a teenager he built a robot from scratch.  As an adult he worked for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the Galileo orbiter and probe that studied Jupiter.  And then one day while hooking up his latest invention to the bathroom sink … whoosh!  Water shot across the room.  ‘This would make a great water gun,’ Lonnie thought. ” And so it began

Here’s the story of a man who was always interested in how and why things work.  He was always curious and creative.  He was always  inventive and independent.  He was always encouraged to try.  He still is to this day!  Lonnie Johnson’s story of innovation and creativity continues to unfold.  While inventing, he always makes time to encourage the efforts of tomorrow’s scientists and engineers ~ that might be you!

Have you ever wondered where chocolate comes from?  Did you know that it begins in the rainforest?  In the rainforest, every creature from the pollen-sucking midge to the aphid-munching anole to the brain-eating coffin fly is connected to your chocolate bar.  Read No Monkeys, No Chocolate by Melissa Stewart and Allen Young to discover the complex web of life that is behind that delicious chocolatey truffle melting on your tongue.

In All Different Now ~ Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom, author Angela Johnson shares the story she imagined for her great grandparents.  They were the people in sepia photograph she admired in her grandmother’s home in Alabama.  They had been born slaves.  In this book she imagines the moment of their emancipation.

E. B. Lewis, the illustrator of this story, describes it as his greatest challenge to date.  He shares his process of creating reference photographs to guide his illustrations.  He writes:  “Arriving at a local park direct from the airport, I felt as though I’d walked into the nineteenth century.  Students, teachers, parents, babies … were all dressed in clothing they had researched and provided themselves, ready to pose for their roles.  After an entire day of photographing, the fun easy part was done.”

Next he translated those into images to beautifully interpret the story of a little girl who goes to sleep one day – a day that has been just like all her other days.  She wakes in the same bed the next day to discover everything is different and nothing will be the same again.  The story is supported by a short history of Juneteenth celebrations and a timeline to help readers understand  the final outcome of the Civil War – emancipation process.

“Fractions are at birthday parties.  Fractions are at football games.  Fractions are in shoe stores.  Fractions are in clothing stores.  People use fractions to tell time. People often use fractions.  Fractions are everywhere.”  If you’re not sure this is true, read Working With Fractions by David Adler.  In this book you’ll learn what fractions are and how to understand them.  To demonstrate that fractions are everywhere, Adler shares all the ways you can use them to describe things you find at a birthday party.  You’ll be reminded about numerators and denominators, halves, wholes and equivalent fractions.  Would you rather have 1/12 or 1/15 of your favorite kind of cake?  Not sure?  Read Working With Fractions to find out.

You can find a nonfiction picture book about everything and anything.  📘Read widely enough, and maybe you’ll be the next multi-million dollar winner on your favorite game show.  Who knows?📚Why not!