Byrd's Books Suggests Summer Reads for Kids and Adults

From picture books for beginners to sophisticated reads for adults, Byrd's Books owner Alice Hutchinson has the answers for your summer reading. As we continue our series on the best summer reads, we asked what she'd recommend for readers of all ages, and she delivered. A few of these choices (The Art Forger and Wild, namely) are book club picks for this summer, so if you'd like, drop by and join in to continue the discussion!

Byrd's Books is conveniently located above Molten Java in Bethel. For more information, visit their website. You can also join them at Bethel's Community Market, starting Thursday, June 13.

Recommendations with comments by Alice Hutchinson.

Picture books:
1) The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli: about what happens when you swallow a watermelon seed!
2) If You Want to See a Whale by Julie Fogliano: For a little one, waiting can be interminable, but with Fogliano's imagination waiting for a whale has never been so exhilarating.
3) The Day the Crayons Quit (out 6/27) by Drew Dawalt: Dawalt has finally given crayons a voice!...and they have a lot to say. It will motivate readers to treat their crayola boxes with a little more care...:-)

Middle Grades:
1) The Apprentices by Maile Meloy: Move over Professor Snape, there is a new apothecary in town! Meloy seamlessly blends science, magic and adventure in a wild ride that will leave you breathless.
2) Templeton Twins by Ellis Weiner: The first book in a new series. Abigail and John, the Templeton twins, and their dog Cassie, foil a pair of inept kidnappers intent on stealing one of their father's newest inventions.
3) The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate: Bestselling author Applegate presents an unforgettable and uplifting tween animal fantasy that explores the power of friendship, art, and hope with humor and touching poignancy. 2013 Winner of the Newbery Medal. 

Young Adult (teen):
1) Invisibility by Andrea Cremer & David Levithan: A magical romance between a boy cursed with invisibility and the one girl who can see him is chronicled in this first collaboration by "New York Times"-bestselling authors Cremer ("Nightshade") and Levithan ("Will Grayson, Will Grayson" with John Green).
2) What We Saw at Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard: Allie Kim suffers from "Xeroderma Pigmentosum" a fatal allergy to sunlight that confines her and her two best friends, Rob and Juliet, to the night. When freewheeling Juliet takes up Parkour--the stunt-sport of scaling and leaping off tall buildings--Allie and Rob have no choice but to join her, if only to protect her. Though potentially deadly, Parkour after dark makes Allie feel truly alive, and for the first time equal to the "daytimers." On a random summer night, the trio catches a glimpse of what appears to be murder. Allie alone takes it upon herself to investigate, and the truth comes at an unthinkable price.
3) The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau: In the dystopian society of the Five Lakes Colony (formerly the Great Lakes), it's an honor to be chosen for The Testing. But it's not enough to pass the Test. Sixteen-year-old Cia will have to survive it.

Fiction:
1) The Art Forger (in paper) by Barbara Shapiro: In 1990, 13 works of art worth today more than $500 million were stolen from a museum in Boston. It remains the largest unsolved art heist in history, and Claire Roth, a struggling young artist, is about to discover that there's more to this crime than meets the eye. (Book Group title for June 20- join us!)
2) The Light Between Oceans (in paper) by M.L. Stedman: This months-long "New York Times"-bestseller is "irresistible . . . seductive . . . with a high concept plot that keeps you riveted from the first page" ("O, The Oprah Magazine"). After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper. After not having a child of her own, his wife Isabel hears a baby's cries in the wind)
3) Flight Behavior (in paper) by Barbara Kingsolver: Butterflies, climate change and duty verus choice are all themes in this wonderful book by Barbara Kingsolver (the Poisonwood Bible).

Non-Fiction:
1) Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (in paper) by Cheryl Strayed: A powerful, blazingly honest, inspiring memoir: the story of a 1,100 mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe--and built her back up again. (Book Group title for July 18)
2) Quiet  (in paper) by Susan Cain: This book explores what it is like to live as an introvert in and extroverted world.
3) Thomas Jefferson's Creme Brulee by Bethel author Thomas Craughwell: Thomas Jefferson takes his slave, James Hemmings, to Paris to learn and bring back French cooking-great history wrapped in a wonderful story!