Summer time was always my favourite as a child. I remember biking everywhere as a young kid with my siblings. We would bike to the corner store and purchase 5 cent and sometimes even 1 cent candies (yes, I am dating myself). Sometimes we would ride down to our local river and throw rocks or play in the mud sand! Wherever we traveled, whether it was on our bike, by foot, by car or by ferry, we always had books with us. Reading was always encouraged when we were young and we all found books that we loved and tended to read the entire series! I remember Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Babysitters Club, and a lot of arts and crafts books. Here are a few new summer reads your little ones may want to look out for on Amazon.ca or at Indigo Chapters from Chronicle Books.

If you have children who can't read yet or aren't super keen on reading, I would share these activity books with them. Let's Explore Ocean and Let's Explore Jungle by Lonely Planet Kids are wonderful activity books. You can read the explanation on each page and then give them the freedom to create a scene using the provided stickers. The backgrounds and illustrations are gorgeous and realistic to the setting. 

Even Kinsley, my youngest, loves to "read" books. Her definition of reading is looking at the pictures, turning the pages and sometimes even making up her own story. This is a beautiful process to watch and the beginnings of a good foundation for a beginner reader.  The Dress Me Up Mix and Match Play Book allows Kinsley to lift the flaps and change each character's outfit. 

A couple other books that are new to us and we are loving this summer are:

1. How Animals Build by Lonely Planet (we love everything Lonely Planet creates)- very informative but laid out in a kid-friendly way with a lot of lift the flaps.

2. My First Bible Stories by Priddy Books - perfect level for small children with beautiful illustrations and a few sentences on each page. **10.99 online at Chapters right now for 6 books!**

3. Dinosaur Atlas - this is the mother of all dinosaur books! It is filled with information, pictures, diagrams etc. 

What are some books your kids are loving lately? Most of Jake's requests have something to do with dinosaurs, trains, the ocean and every once in a while Pete the Cat! Kinsley is loving anything to do with dolls, princesses, fairies and ponies and Cairo loves reading The Berenstein bears, animal and transportation books.