Summertime fun for little ones

 

Children's Books

REVIEWS BY DEBORAH HOPKINSON

Summer is a wonderful time to share books with children, whether it's a trip to the library for story time or a family outing to a friendly (air-conditioned) bookstore. You can add to the fun by reading books with a summertime theme, and three new picture books for young readers make that activity a real delight.

Summertime Waltz by Nina Payne, with pictures by Gabi Swiatkowska, captures all the magic that makes childhood summers so special. The first page of the book opens to a poem, which begins:

Lovely the lateness
in summertime darkening.
Dinner is over.
The grownups are talking.
Smell of the water
on pots of geraniums.
Lovely the lateness
in summertime dark.

The poem evokes those memorable nights when neighbors or friends gather, perhaps for an impromptu dinner, while children play hide-and-seek, running outside, staying up late (and hoping the adults won't notice how late it's getting!). In the subsequent pages, the poem is illustrated, line by line, with Swiatkowska's whimsical, fanciful artwork.

Linda Ashman's new book, To the Beach, is a humorous story sure to resonate with anyone who's ever tried to get a family out the door for a big outing. For me, this delightful tale brought to mind a vivid childhood memory of the morning of a longed-for beach outing, when my father stood at the window and said calmly, "We can't go. Someone's stolen the car." We were sure he was joking, but it had really happened. And although the car was recovered unharmed later that day, our beach outing was definitely ruined.

Although their car isn't stolen, just about everything else goes wrong for the family in To the Beach. No sooner have parents and kids piled in the car for the beach than they begin remembering what's been forgotten: dog, ducky pail, beach umbrella, kite, ball and cooler—and, whew, the list goes on! And, just when they're on the highway and headed for the sun . . . well, you'll have to read the book to find out what happens next. The liveliness of the text is perfectly matched by Nadine Bernard Westcott's vivacious artwork.

Travels of a different kind are the subject of The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence by Judith St. George, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand. This imaginative, informational book follows the travels of the original Declaration of Independence. With vivid, lively prose, we follow the rather bumpy road this historical document has taken since it was signed in 1776 in Philadelphia.

"Wow," St. George writes in a conversational, question-and-answer format. "The official, one-and-only Declaration of Independence was set forever in Philadelphia's handsome brick Pennsylvania State House on Chestnut Street. Right? Wrong!" And just when readers will be sure the Declaration has been set permanently under glass for the world to admire, another chapter in this fascinating history unfolds. Adults as well as children will find themselves learning from this story by the author of So You Want to Be President? For instance, did you know that during World War II the Declaration spent time at Fort Knox, Kentucky, in Gold Bullion Compartment Number 24, or that it spent 17 years in the library of the State, War and Navy Building in a room with an open fireplace where cigar smoking was allowed?

Accompanied by Hillenbrand's lively illustrations, this is a witty and fascinating story about a document that, as the author says, "has had a true and forever home right from the start . . . in the heart of the American people."

Deborah Hopkinson's newest book for children is Who Was Charles Darwin? She lives in Corvallis, Oregon, where the beach is just an hour away.

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