Summer reading ideas from Southwest Public Libraries

With the temperatures rising, the staff of the Southwest Public Libraries are encouraging children and adults to stay inside with a good book. Here are suggestions for fun summer reading.

Picture books for young children

• "Big Red Lollipop" written by Rukhsana Khan and illustrated by Sophie Blackall. Rubina's excitement over an invitation to a birthday party is dimmed by her mother's insistence that she take her younger sister Sana with her.

• "Interrupting Chicken" written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein. This hilarious story presents Little Chicken, and her long-suffering papa, who just wants to get through a bedtime story without his daughter's disruptions.

Juvenile books   

• "The Trouble with Chickens: A J.J. Tully Mystery" written by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Kevin Cornell. Retired search and rescue dog J.J. Tully just wants to live a quiet life in the country now that his years of hard work are over. Instead of enjoying a peaceful retirement, J.J. agrees to investigate a case for a worried mother hen whose chicks are missing.

• "The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester" by Barbara O'Connor. In this summer adventure, Owen is enthralled by his conviction that something amazing has fallen from a train.

• "Bink and Gollie" written by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee and illustrated by Tony Fucile. Dissimilar, yet steadfast friends, celebrate the ups and downs of their daily escapades in three lively chapters that explore compromise, asserting independence and jealousy. This is a Geisel Award book.

Teen books

• "Abandon" by Meg Cabot. Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.

• "Hex Hall" by Rachel Hawkins. Sophie Mercer is a witch. When she attracts too much human attention for a prom night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her warlock dad who decides her punishment - exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium - a.k.a. witches, faeries and shapeshifters.

• "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs. A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very peculiar photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience.

• "The Grimm Legacy" by Polly Shulman. Elizabeth has a new job at an unusual library, a lending library of objects, not books. In a secret room in the basement lies the Grimm Collection. That's where the librarians lock away powerful items straight out of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. A contemporary fantasy with a fascinating setting and premise, starring an ordinary girl whose after-school job is far from ordinary and leads to a world of excitement, romance and magical intrigue

Summer reads for adults

"Trader of Secrets" by Steve Martini
"Split Second" by Catherine Coulter
"Buried Prey" by John Sandford
"Happy Birthday" by Danielle Steel
"Sex on the Moon" by Ben Mezrich
"Portrait of a Spy" by Daniel Silva
"Against All Enemies" by Tom Clancy
"The Kid" by Sapphire
"Adrenaline" by Jeff Abbott
"Then Came You" by Jennifer Weiner
"One Summer" by David Baldacci
"Long Gone" by Alafair Burke
"Silver Girl" by Elin Hilderbrand
 

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