Summer is here, and schools are about to close, giving us parents the opportunity to be the sole entertainers for our little bundles of joy for a whole three months. Yippee-ki-yay! as someone would say. Needless to say I am on the lookout for wonderful things for them to do (read fun for them and restful for me). And besides the swimming and the outdoors and the movies there’s the reading.

Now while my daughter is a book-lover, which means that once she gets hold of a good book, I won’t see her again until she needs something from me or it is a mealtime, my son is a different matter altogether. His favorite activity is running around. Running around in circles around his book-engrossed sister, and intermittently tapping her on the head. Which annoys enrages her and which, if you’re a parent, you know is a potentially problematic situation. Although I can’t really fault him for the running around part. He has, you see, a spring attached to his bottom.He does try to sit down, and the spring gets squashed underneath. He wriggles around after a few minutes, and (whoa !) the spring releases and all that pent-up energy forces him out of the chair again.

I have tried to take him to the library and show him books online, but while some books he considers “boring”, others are too “girly”. So what exactly interests him ? After extensive research and lots of trial and error, I find that the following topics meet his approval (the hallmark of a real man ?) : snot, poop, pee, (apparently excreta by a different name is still fun, just like a rose by any other name is still a rose or some such addled philosophy) underpants, farts, slime, explosions of slime/poop/pee/farts/snot. Graphics are a big hit. Disgusting sounding facts, which means stuff which makes my daughter go Ewww (and me too sometimes, although technically speaking being a Mom means being consistently Ewww-less), are considered worth-it reading. Lately, books about magic tricks and simple card games have also garnered interest. Origami he likes.

Record books – who/what/fastest/most/best is stuff he’s curious about, and asks about. I have tried to read such books with him. The conversation goes thusly :

Me : Oh look, the cheetah is the fastest animal !
He : Do cheetahs fart ?
Me : What ?
He, exasperatedly, repeating : Do cheetahs fart ?

I did not know. I think he’s beginning to think that his mother does not know it all after all (sob !).

Anyway, having had many discussions about books-that-interest-boys-who-can’t-sit-still, I present you the gems culled from my new found knowledge : Ten books/series for summer reading :

1.Captain Underpants : This is a series, thankfully, and features a Super Hero in his – you guessed it, you genius, you! – underpants. These books also have lovely things like Talking Toilets and a nemesis called Dr. Diaper, among other “funny” stuff. My sophisticated reader enjoys these very much.

2.  Geronimo Stilton : This is also a series, about Stilton, a mouse detective. The author of these books is also, interestingly, Geronimo Stilton, who according to the author page on Amazon spends his time “collecting antique cheese rinds, playing golf and reading stories to his nephew Benjamin”. Both my kids loved these books.

3. Diary of a wimpy kid :These are a set of 5 books featuring the life of Middle Schooler Greg Heffley. This is full of Heffley’s thoughts on his life, school, friends and nicely illustrated. The first book was recently made into a movie.

4. Harry Potter series : These have been around for a while, and my son, inspired by his sister, asked for the set for his birthday. He has since read them all and liked them. These are 7 books, all pretty hefty and wordy, so may not be suitable for a younger/early reader.


5. Percy Jackson : Unlike my daughter who wants to have read the book before she sees the movie, my son wants to see the movie first, and then maybe he might read the book. So once we had all seen “Percy Jackson and the Lighning thief”, he was a bonafide fan, and has since been working his way through this 7 part series, based upon Greek Mythology. He’s also now badgering us to buy him “The Red Pyramid” by the same author, which is based on Egyptian mythology.

6. Alvin Ho, Judy Moody, Junie B. Jones, Stink : I’m listing them together but really, these are all separate series featuring naughty young ones. They all mean to do good, but get into adventures (“adventure” is a euphemism here) anyway. Stink and Judy Moody are by the same author (Judy and Stink are brother and sister).

7. Fantastic Mr. Fox, The BFG, James and the Giant Peach : These are three separate books by author Roald Dahl. Dahl has written a number of books besides these and they are much liked. Dahl books in general are good quality reading. This book in particular was recently made into an animated film starring the fantastic Mr. Clooney.

8. Lunch Money : This is by Andrew Clements, and one of several great books he has written. Like Dahl, most Clements books are “separate” , i.e.; not a series, and make for good reading.

9. The Fudge series : Yes, a book about a boy named Fudge. this one is by Judy Blume who is well-known for kiddie books. Fudges’s elder brother Peter also features in several of Blume’s other books (Tales of a fourth-grade nothing).

10. Oh Yuck! : This is the only  non-fiction book on my list, for the very simple reason that I had way too many books to list, and the kids seem to prefer fiction over non-fiction. This one deals with interesting facts about burps, snot, farts, vomit, acne, eye gunk, cockroaches, slugs and many other appetizing things. Actually quite fun to read, even for me.

I have only listed a few book, but there are bunches more. In fact there is so much to choose from that your kid can be happily occupied reading throughout the summer. If you have suggestions about books, please leave comments – I’d love to be introduced to new stuff. Happy Reading to you and yours !