Summer is a season of adventures and memories with family and friends, sometimes traveling someplace new, sometimes never leaving the neighborhood, but always ending quicker than we'd like. In the following stories, children's authors and illustrators celebrate summer; its heat waves and cool rains, the enthusiastic ways in which children enjoy its days, the cherished moments it provides with family, and the regret we feel when its over.

July, story and illustrations by James Stevenson. Fifty years ago, Stevenson remembers, "each month was a glacier slowly melting until JULY!" In this book Stevenson humorously describes the excitement that filled each moment of his July vacations in the beach town where his grandparents lived. He recounts the things he did (such as ride bikes and roast marshmallows), the things he didn't do (slouch, or at least he was constantly reminded not to), the things he wanted to do (climb the tower and ride in a speed boat), as well as the people of whom he steered clear (townspeople who didn't like children). Young readers will enjoy Stevenson's comical portrayals of familiar summer activities and characters, and adults will appreciate his memories, which perfectly capture the hectic enthusiasm of summer. Ages four to eight. (Greenwillow, 1990)

The Village Tree, story and illustrations by Taro Yashima. Caldecott winning author and illustrator, Taro Yashima, wrote this, his first children's book, to his daughter, to tell her about the happy summers he spent as a child in Japan, centered on the huge tree that stood on the banks of a river that flowed through his village. Yashima chronicles beautifully the fun-filled days he and his friends would spend climbing the tree, checking out its insects, playing games in the river, and practicing amusing dives from the bank. Like Yashima's other stunning children's books, The Village Tree offers flowing, poetic text and vibrant illustrations. Modern readers will find Yashima's activities from so long ago and so far away remarkably and refreshingly familiar. Ages four to eight. (Viking, 1953)

Anna's Athabaskan Summer, story by Arnold Griese, illustrations by Charles Ragins. Anna, a young Athabaskan girl, returns with her family each summer to the traditional fish camp in Northern Canada to fish for salmon. At the camp, Anna cleans fish and picks berries with her grandmother and pregnant mother, who tell her stories about her tribe and its customs.  As the summer ends, Anna looks forward to the next summer when she can begin passing these stories down to her future sibling, keeping the Athabaskan traditions alive. Ages four to eight. (Caroline House, 1995)

Cool Ali, story and illustrations by Nancy Poydar. Ali loves to draw. One sweltering day, when her mother tells her it's too hot to be indoors, she takes the chalk and heads outside,  where she sees her neighbors complaining about the heat and desperately trying to stay cool. She decides to cool each of them down with her drawings. She cools down Mrs. Frye with a lake around her feet, draws a shady umbrella for Ira, and gives Mr. Boyle the North Wind. She even decides to draw snow, lots of snow. As everyone imagines Ali's cold snow, it begins to rain, which has everyone dancing and splashing-except for Ali, who sees her drawings being washed away. The crowd, though, makes her feel better by cheering her drawings that beat the heat.  Poydar's summer-in-the-city story introduces a creative way for children to imagine staying cool during the hottest days of summer. Ages four to eight. (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1996)

Come On, Rain, story by Karen Hesse, illustrations by Jon J. Muth. It hasn't rained in over three weeks and young Tessie is hot. She desperately wants to play outside in her bathing suit, but her mother won't let her because, without the rain, she'll burn. After walking through the intensely hot neighborhood full of withering plants and panting cats, Tessie spots some clouds and hatches a plan. She tells her best friend Jackie Joyce to come over wearing her bathing suit and then, with the help of a cold glass of iced tea, convinces her mother to allow her to wear hers. As the two girls step outside, the first drops of rain fall from the sky. The girls play and squeal in the rain, attracting the neighborhood adults including Tessie's mother, and soon everyone is dancing out in the cool summer rain. Hesse and Muth do a superb job portraying the overwhelming heat of summer and showing how a young girl manages to will the cool rain to fall and make everything new again. Age four to eight. (Scholastic Press, 1999)

Grandma Summer, story and illustrations by Harley Jessup.  Ben and his lively grandmother spend their summer at her summerhouse by the beach. At first, not convinced that the vacation will be fun, Ben groans and worries while his grandmother gets the old house back into shape and takes him to the beach. He starts to enjoy himself once he gets his feet wet in the ocean. Then, in the garage, he finds a green glass fishing float that his grandmother explains floated all the way from Japan. The next morning, after a storm, Ben's grandmother wakes him up to search the beach for a float of his own. Jessup's charming, simple story about a summer alone with a grandparent reveals the emotional process of initial anxiety, then curiosity, and finally enjoyment that many children experience when spending the summer with their extended families. Age four to eight. (Viking, 1999)

The Itch Book, story by Crescent Dragonwagon, illustrations by Joseph Mahler.  The itch began on the "out-of-school-92-degree-and-not-even-ten-o'clock-yet" first day of summer. Every boy, girl, man, woman, and beast felt the itch. Jeff felt it when he woke, as did his hound, his mom, his dad, the Jersey-cow, Betty, and Blaze, the horse. Upon feeling the itch, the one thing that came to everyone's mind was the creek. Sure enough, by the end of the day, each and every man, woman, boy, girl, and beast solved their itch by jumping in cold King Creek. Dragonwagon's itch will be familiar to any reader who, on a hot summer day, spends the whole time thinking of the perfect way to cool down. Ages four to eight. (Macmillan Publishing Company, 1990)

Sand in My Shoes, story by Wendy Kesselman, illustrations by Ronald Himler. It's the last day of summer and a young girl races around the beach trying to enjoy the last moments of her vacation. Soon, though, she's heading back to the city saying goodbye to her summer memories, the beach, the flowers, the animals, and the ocean. Back at school, she sits with a shell in her pocket and sand in her shoes, reflecting on the past summer while dreaming of the next one. Kesselman's story captures the common end-of-summer melancholy, hopefully encouraging readers, young and old, to enjoy summer while it lasts. Ages four to eight. (Hyperion Books for Children, 1995)