Young Reading: Steamy summer reading season begins

Perhaps because I was born in the sweltering heat of August, I yearn each year for summer to arrive. The humidity and oppressive haze so many seem to dread make me feel warmth that surpasses anything described by Fahrenheit. The summer months call like a siren's song to gather at the lake or poolside with my children (although they will be quick to note that their mother doesn't enter the water in North Carolina until July. Having grown up on the Gulf Coast, I am still leery of June water temperatures in the Piedmont Triad).

And what better way to while away the days than with a good book, pages a bit waterlogged and dog-eared from reading by the pool or on the boat?

CARL'S SUMMER VACATION. By Alexandra Day. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. All ages. $12.95.

Lovable Rottweiler Carl is up to mischief again. Mrs. Stone's kindergarten class at Vienna Elementary School laughed out loud at Carl's antics as he and Madeleine chose adventure over a nap. Ruby from Mrs. Stone's class liked the adventure that started when Carl pushed Madeleine off the dock and into the canoe. Christopher, Steven, Daphne and Michael liked it when dog and girl fell out of the canoe and ended up with lily pads as hats. Immanuel found the skunk that scared them in the berry patch funny, while David thought that the slide on the playground looked fun.

The irony that Carl and Madeleine fell asleep at the fireworks did not escape Emma and Matthew. After all, enjoying the fireworks was the reason Carl and Madeleine were napping in the first place! Alexandra Day's Carl books have more pictures than text, and emerging readers can make up their own story to accompany the pictures.

MORGY'S MUSICAL SUMMER. By Maggie Lewis. Houghton Mifflin. Ages 8-12 . 100 pages. $15.

The fourth graders at Vienna Elementary thought this book started with good description. Join Morgy as he goes to a camp to learn how to play his trumpet. This is a nice selection for middle elementary readers.

A JEWEL OF A SUMMER. By Vicki Hoss. Tate. Ages 8-12. 111 pages. $10.99.

Written by Winston-Salem author Vicki Hoss, this mystery/adventure takes place on Lake Michigan. Anna is the new girl in a small resort town. She and her new friend Kelsey stumble into a big problem when they realize that a notorious jewel thief is in their sleepy town. They struggle to solve the mystery as Anna is learning to fit into her new surroundings.

Hoss, a fourth-grade teacher at Union Cross Elementary School, read the book chapter by chapter to the children who were her students at the time she was writing the book. She found them a captive and constructive audience, who could not believe that their teacher was the book's author when she finally revealed her secret.

THIMBLE SUMMER. By Elizabeth Enright. Henry Holt. Ages 8-12. 136 pages. $6.99.

First published in 1938, Thimble Summer won the Newbery Medal in its 18th year of recognizing children's literature. The book was republished in 1966 and again this year. I fell in love with Elizabeth Enright's writing as a child when The Saturdays was given to me. Delving into Thimble Summer, which I do not recall reading before, was a delight.

In Thimble Summer, a drought causes worry on 9-year-old Garnet Linden's farm. However, once she discovers a silver thimble in the parched riverbed, her family's luck begins to change. Rains nourish the crops. The little pig Garnet loves becomes a prize-winner at the fair. Many events go Garnet's way that summer. Enright's description of a summer on the farm is rich in its simplicity, and I am captivated again by her talent.

BLACK RABBIT SUMMER. By Kevin Brooks. Scholastic. Ages 14 and up. 488 pages. $17.99.

What a gripping psychological teen thriller! Five friends who were close as children reunite as high school comes to an end. Gathered at their old fort, they pass around bottles of alcohol and a joint. Raymond isn't quite normal, and he is startled when Pete tells him to go on to the fair after Pauly and Eric have left. Pete hopes to rekindle his romance with Eric's twin, Nicole.

Even though nothing occurs with Nicole, the decision to stay alters everything in Pete's life. He follows the others to the fair in a drunken stupor and discovers Raymond being filmed by Stella Ross' television crew. Stella once attended school with the friends, but she launched her own career despite her rocker parents' wishes. Pete loses Raymond when he goes to the Port-a-lets, and eventually goes home without him.

Shock reverberates through Pete when he returns to Raymond's house and discovers Raymond's beloved black rabbit mutilated. Raymond's parents do not seem to care about the rabbit killing or that Raymond is missing. Stella has also disappeared, and the police seem inclined to investigate Pete. Appropriate for older teens.

MY SUMMER ON EARTH. By Tom Lombardi. Simon & Schuster. Ages 16 and up. 183 pages. $8.99.

Teen boys will guffaw at the premise behind this book. An alien teen boy has been sent to earth to retrieve another alien from his planet who has defected and become a well-known movie star on earth. Since the first alien had so much luck as an actor, the powers-that-be send Clint (as in Eastwood) to earth in the youthful form of his namesake. Clint's vocabulary is limited; he spews the f-word and other coarse terms. He becomes obsessed with finding a physical relationship on earth because humans seem so overcome with it. Instead, he discovers love with Zoë, whose pimples he finds beautiful.

Funny, fast-paced and original but full of ribald humor and choice language.

■ Monica Anderson Young can be reached at cyoung9@triad.rr.com.