BK Story Voyager Book Picks: Summer 2017 Reads

Summer Reads

By Laura Ennis, BK Story Voyager Librarian

This month the focus is on Brooklyn authors. This summer the BK Story Voyager will be highlighting these books with the students on the bus. I’m excited to share these humorous and fun reads for you and your child.

Ame Dyckman is a lively, vivacious writer, and her stories reflect her personality. I recommend “Wolfie the Bunny” and her newest book “You Don’t Want a Unicorn!” She writes with immense humor, but also adds a sense of truth within her text.

George O’Connor is known for his comic book series “The Olympians”, but he also has some very lively picture books. “The Olympians” are comic book/graphic novels that share the stories of the mythical gods.  “If I had a Raptor” and “If I had a Triceratops” discuss young pet owners who dream of having dinosaurs for pets. The stories are highly humorous and showcase O’Connor’s variability as an author.

Jessica Olien has written one of my new favorite books, “The Blobfish Book.” “The Blobfish Book” tells the story of a very important deep sea creature, the Blobfish. The Blobfish narrates the story as we learn about characters that live deep within the sea. The Blobfish is an unreliable narrator because he wants the book to be all about him. Jessica Olien uses text bubbles to highlight the Blobfish’s interruptions and additions to the text. It is such a creatively written book that I recommend everyone go and read it! Jessica Olien also wrote “Shark Detective!” which your child would most definitely enjoy.

Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri were discussed in the June 2017 book review, but they have such quirky stories that I can’t stop recommending their books. Although they are a bit far-fetched, they will give your young reader a good tummy kind of laugh. Not only do I recommend “Dragons Love Tacos”, but “Secret Pizza Party”, “Robo-sauce”, and Those Darn Squirrels” are also must reads.

Jon Sciescka is a long-time Brooklyn dweller and his books are great for the older elementary aged reader. His stories are funny and many take the fractured fairytale to the next level. Sciescka’s “Math Curse” was one of my favorite books as a child because I never enjoyed math, but this book makes light of a subject that can be painful for many children. “The Stinky Cheeseman and other Fairly Stupid Tales” is a great book to make sense of fairytales and how they can be twisted and changed.

Mo Willems is by far one of the most popular children’s authors with this generation of children. Although he moved to Massachusetts, he lived in Brooklyn for quite some time, and he is part of the Brooklyn author unit. “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” and company are such delightful reads. They allow children to practice dialogue, punctuation, and emotion. The pigeon is so convincing at getting the readers to let him drive the bus – and the readers get to respond as he asks questions! Every single book by Mo Willems is a must read for children of all ages.