So Mom is skipping merrily around the house. Opening every window in sight. Crowing about sunshine and summer.

So embarrassing.

But that got one of us thinking. What are some great children’s books set during the sunshine season? The kind that’ll keep kiddos engaged, turning pages and avoiding endless choruses of “I’m boooorred”? Cuz summer is prime reading time! And not just for us dinosaurs (Don’t tell Mom I said that, okay?).

Glad you asked, Cookie. Cuz we made a list. Checked it twice. And here, without further ado, is our Totally Unscientific, 100% Subjective list of warm and wonderful reads for kiddos set during summer. That we’ve actually read:

1. Robert McCloskey’s summer-themed books, like his Maine trilogy—Blueberries for Sal (1948), One Morning in Maine (1952), and Time of Wonder (1957). They’re iconic depictions of childhood summers on the Maine coast. Inspired by his time on Scott Island, these stories emphasize nature, slow-paced island life, family, and adventure.

2. The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White.

Like the rest of his family, Louis is a trumpeter swan. But unlike his four brothers and sisters, Louis can’t trumpet joyfully. In fact, he can’t even make a sound. And since he can’t trumpet his love, the beautiful swan Serena pays absolutely no attention to him.

Louis tries everything he can think of to win Serena’s affection—he even goes to school to learn to read and write. But nothing seems to work. Then his father steals him a real brass trumpet. Is a musical instrument the key to winning Louis his love?

3. A Newbery Award winner. Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins is a classic.

Based on the true story of a young Native American girl, Karana, who survives alone for 18 years on an island off the coast of California in the 1800s. The book chronicles her journey of survival, resourcefulness, and her deep connection with the island’s animals, including befriending a wild dog named Rontu.

4. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt.

A young girl, Winnie Foster, who discovers a family, the Tucks, that has achieved immortality by drinking from a magical spring. 

Published in 1975, the book explores themes of life, death, and the meaning of living forever, as Winnie grapples with the secret and the moral dilemmas it presents, all while a mysterious stranger tries to exploit the spring’s power. (The movie version stinks. Just sayin’.)

5. Old Yeller by Fred Gipson.

Set primarily during the intense heat of a Texas summer. The classic 1956 children’s novel about a boy, Travis Coates, and his loyal dog in the 1860s Texas Hill Country. A Newbery Award winner. Bring tissue. Like, lots.

6. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. A Newbery Award winner.

Jess Aarons is a lonely, artistic boy who finds friendship with a new neighbor, Leslie Burke. Together, they create a secret, magical kingdom called Terabithia in the woods, escaping reality and bullying. Warning: Themes of grief, loss, and death. For older children.

Okay, okay. Not set in solely summer. But it opens in late summer and continues throughout the school year. So lighten up, Buttercup.

7. The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf.

Classic children’s book about a gentle Spanish bull who prefers smelling flowers under a cork tree to fighting. Mistaken for ferocious after a bee sting, he is taken to a Madrid bullfight but refuses to fight, sitting quietly instead, and is returned home.

Set during summer in Spain. De-lightful!

Kimber: Wait. Was that a Brontosaurus?