Dear Fellow Book Lovers:

Oh, to be a child again.

Summer has always been a special season for children and young adults. In my day, there were few planned activities, and children were left to their own creativity and ingenuity as they planned their summer months. I remember walking with a friend to the small library in my town and selecting a week's worth of books. Other than taking a short family trip, or attending a two-week camp, books were my summer plans.   There was no summer reading program in my library, but I managed, on my own, to select a variety of books that would keep me entertained. There were mysteries, biographies, romances, etc. But I wonder what I would choose now if I could be nine, eleven, twelve or sixteen. I think I would still go for a variety, but I might also find myself celebrating the season by selecting books set in the middle of the summer. If I were eight, nine or even ten, I might dive into swimming lessons with Sheila in Otherwise Known as Shelia the Great by Judy Blume. If I were eleven, twelve or thirteen, I might seek humor and friendship by reading The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares. In my tenth, eleventh, twelfth, or thirteenth summer, I might discover the true meaning of family and friendship, while being delivered a summer of surprises in When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt, and Tadpole by Ruth White. Journey by Patricia McLachlan, Holes by Louis Sachar, Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff, The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis, all set in the summer, would appeal to my sense of wonder during my middle school years. At thirteen, fourteen, fifteen or sixteen, I would adore the independence of Maggie Pugh in Trudy Krisher's Spite Fences, and Natalie in Lois Lowry's Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye. The teenager in me would ask some serious questions of myself as I read Frenchtown Summer by Robert Cormier, I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan, and Whirligig by Paul Fleischman.

It's very nice to have guided summer reading, but with all the good choices out there, I think I could develop my own summer reading list. Give me a hammock, a beach umbrella, or a nice porch swing, and I could entertain myself everyday for the entire summer. Encourage children and young adults to search for books set in the summer, or ask them to plan a summer vacation and a summer reading list for a favorite book character. Oh, to be a child again. But then I am every time I read another good book that I might have read at their age.

You may email me at pscales@scgsah.state.sc.us.