10 New Picture Books to Celebrate Summer

Super Summer: All Kinds of Summer Facts and Fun, by Bruce Goldstone
Bruce Goldstone has already written Awesome Autumn, Wonderful Winter, and Spectacular Spring, so you know what comes next: Super Summer! This compendium of facts about nearly every kid’s favorite season is lavishly illustrated with bright photographs. Can you name the parts of a flower? Know what it’s called when certain animals enter a sleeplike state during a heatwave? Identify a heliotropic flower? After reading this book, you’ll be able to answer all these questions, plus you’ll probably have to go find some cherries, watermelons, and ice cream cones to eat after gazing at the delicious-looking photos of them.

Grandpa Cacao: A Tale of Chocolate, From Farm to Family, by Elizabeth Zunon
If your favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate, you’re going to want to read this book that explains just how the chocolate we love makes it from its origins in a cacoa pod growing in the Ivory Coast across the ocean to star in a girl’s birthday cake. Zunon, whose vibrant illustrations combine painting, collage, and silk-screening as they take readers step-by-step through the process, grew up in the Ivory Coast. She and the protagonist serve as marvelous guides through the world of chocolate and family love. There’s even a recipe for making a chocolate cake from scratch.

Sea Glass Summer, by Michelle Houts and Bagram Ibatoulline
Are your kids lucky ducks who get to spend a big part of their summer at the seashore? Or kids who like to imagine the lives of coastal kids (as I did during my landlocked childhood)? This touching book travels through time to tell the story of a boy named Thomas who “some years ago…spent the summer at his grandmother’s island cottage.” Thomas goes out every morning to look for sea glass. One day he accidentally breaks his late grandfather’s prized magnifying glass—but in doing so delivers a treasure to the ocean that returns for his own granddaughter to find.

A Father’s Love, by Hannah Holt and Yee Von Chan
Summer also means it’s time to honor fathers, and this charming book does a terrific job of that. Holt’s sweet rhymes and Chan’s adorable pictures pay tribute to the dads of the animal kindgdom, from the lions who babysit their cubs while the moms go hunting, to the pygmy marmosets who tote their babies on their backs, to the emus who solo parent their hatchlings, often “losing 15 percent or more of his body weight while tending the eggs,” according to the animal facts in the back of A Father’s Love.

Hair Love, by Matthew A. Cherry and Vashti Harrison
Speaking of fathers rising to the challenge of parenting, Hair Love by former NFL star turned inventor, film director, writer, and producer (whew!) Matthew A. Cherry is a love letter to any dad who’s ever looked at his daughter’s unruly hair and said, “Yes, I can tame this!” Little Zuri explains that her hair “kinks, coils, and curls every which way.” Her dad thinks Zuri’s hair is marvelous, of course, no matter what shape it happens to take that day, but some special occasions call for a tidy ‘do. Daddy’s first attempts to style Zuri’s hair go awry—three lopsided puffs, raggedy braids, and full ’70s afro. But soon he figures out what the experts know—there’s a video for that!—and Zuri can step out like a princess.

Our Flag Was Still There: The True Story of Mary Pickersgill and the Star-Spangled Banner, by Jessie Hartland
Just in time for Independence Day, Jessie Hartland’s book about the origins of our nation’s flag is fun and informative. Plus, it highlights a few key facts about the War of 1812, which, let’s face it, a lot of us are just a bit fuzzy on. The book opens in 1813, when England has attacked America, and is fighting its way toward capturing Baltimore. Major George Armistead wanted to send a signal to the Brits when they arrived that this was America’s land: with a huge, waving U.S. flag. So he hired Mary Pickersgill, a widow who learned to make flags from her own widowed mother. Pickersgill and her all-woman crew sewed tirelessly to finish the project in six weeks. When it flew over the harbor, it inspired Francis Scott Key to write the words that became our national anthem. And you can visit Mary’s flag today in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Harbor Bound, by Catherine Bailey and Ellen Shi
Speaking of harbors, the author of this book once worked as a deckhand on a sailboat, so she knows her way around dinghys, lighthouses, hatches, and booms. Bailey’s rhymes, paired with Shi’s action-packed watercolors, capture the adventure and drama of an ocean storm. “Thunder rumbles,” she writes, “Windy wraawl!/ Go full flank./ Race the squall.” But don’t worry—the boy and his father make it safely into port.

The Last Peach, by Gus Gordon
When the summer gets started, the last thing you want to think about is its eventual end, but this book is so funny, you might want to make an exception. The two snazzily-attired bugs that star in this book are great friends, until they spot the most marvelous peach they have ever seen. The catch is, it’s the last peach of the season. Will they share it? Leave it uneaten? Try to hoard it for themselves? All the members of the bug community have a say in this hilarious story illustrated with bright cut-paper collages.

It Feels Good to be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity, by Theresa Thorn and Noah Grigni
One summer, my children’s elementary school transitioned to gender neutral bathrooms after a transgender student enrolled, and my kids had questions. It can be difficult to answer when you don’t feel like you’re much of an expert, so this book is a terrific resource. Written by the mother of a transgender child and illustrated by a transgender artist, It Feels Good to be Yourself explains in simple, clear terms what it means for a kid to be transgender, non-binary, cisgender, and more, and affirms the value of each child.

Except When They Don’t, by Laura Gehl and Joshua Heinsz
Kids seem like they’re born curious about gender roles, asking questions like, why don’t we see any women playing in the NFL? Or, why am I the only boy who signed up for dance class? This bouncy, rhyming book with energetic, colorful illustrations provides a good answer—sure, “Girls sashay in sparkly shoes./ Boys wear cloths of only blue./ Boys cut bad guys down to size./ Girls paint purple butterflies./ Except when they don’t.” As this book develops, the kids depicted evolve from pursuing activities typical of their genders to swapping them out and switching back again. As Gehl writes, “You might think you need to choose/ dolls or robots, pinks or blues…/ Except that you don’t.”