Cruel Summer : Fast Girls, Hot Boys Series
by Kylie Adams

Five friends living the highlife in sexy South Beach, Miami. And one of them won't make it to graduation alive. A gorgeous gal, a hip-hop dreamer, a Hollywood bad-boy, a British hottie, and an obsessed Latina live the good life of hot bars, hip clubs and cool parties. But not everyone loves this fab five from the Miami Academy for Creative and Performing Arts...and one of them won't live to graduate! Edge of the seat reading for your summer fun. Read an Excerpt

The Pursuit of Happiness
by Tara Altebrando

Betsy's summer job at a colonial village will probably ruin whatever slim chance she has of ever being popular. Then there is Liza Henske, the biggest freak from school -- piercings, tattoos, you name it -- who works at the village, too. But when Betsy's boyfriend dumps her and then the unthinkable happens when her mother dies, playing farm girl starts to feel like a great escape...

Fortunately, Liza turns out not to be such a freak after all. And Betsy meets James -- a lanky surfer who works at the village. James carves things out of wood for Betsy and being with him is the only thing that makes her feel normal these days. That, and cutting images out of black paper like colonial silhouette artists did. The Pursuit of Happiness deals insightfully with love and loss and makes for great summer reading. Read an Excerpt

If you love fantasy, this one will take you to the ancient world at the beginning of humankind.

Spirit Walker (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #2)
by Michelle Paver, Geoff Taylor (Illustrator)

The second book in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. Wolf Brother was number one. Torak grew up in the Forest with his father, away from the clans of their kin. He later learned that his father had powerful enemies - seven Soul-Eaters, each from a different clan and each 'warped by his hunger for power' - and that it was his destiny to fight them. Now Torak lives with Renn's people, and a dreadful sickness that leads to madness and suicide begins to strike clan members. Torak feels bound to seek a cure. He faces many dangers, is aided and later attacked by a boar, and followed by a Soul-Eater's minion, a tokoroth, but eventually learns that answers are to be found 'by the Sea'. Torak discovers a new ability, that of spirit walking. He doesn't want it, but someone else does and is willing to kill for it. This exciting story will leave you wanting more, and waiting anxiously for number three in the series. Read an excerpt

Here are some exciting free downloads starring your favorite characters:

Santa's Little Helper: build a virtual Christmas toy and put it on Santa's sleigh at santa-kid.com.

Flawed Dogs by Berkeley Breathed is full of dogs that look silly and strange. Now you can make your own flawed dog with Berkeley Breathed's Flawed-Dog-o-Matic.

Sidekicks by Dan Danko and Tom Mason follows the adventures of super hero sidekicks. Speedy, has to battle evil villains, save the world, and still get all his homework done before the next day! Follow Speedy's path. Play the Sidekicks game.

Printable Activities

You will need an Adobe Acrobat Reader to view some of these pages. Download the reader now!

Toot and Puddle: The New Friend by Hollie Hobbie

1. Make Your Own Toot & Puddle Concentration/Memory Game
2. Make Your Own Toot & Puddle Puppets
3. Printable maze
4. Printable drawing page
5. What's Different?
6. Or, download an 8-page Toot & Puddle activity kit including all of the activities listed above and a list of all the Toot & Puddle books.

Santa's Little Helper: build a virtual Christmas toy and put it on Santa's sleigh at santa-kid.com.

Sidekicks by Dan Danko and Tom Mason follows the adventures of super hero sidekicks. Speedy, has to battle evil villains, save the world, and still get all his homework done before the next day! Follow Speedy's path. Play the Sidekicks game.

Toot and Puddle: The New Friend by Hollie Hobbie

What's Different?
download an 8-page Toot & Puddle activity kit including all of the activities listed above and a list of all the Toot & Puddle books.

Arthur's Nose by Marc Brown
Coloring Page
Learn to draw Arthur

Download these fun Todd Parr activities

The Peace Book: coloring page
The Family Book: counting activity
The Family Book: printable maze
The Feel Good Book: coloring page
Otto Goes to Bed: fill-in coloring page
Otto Goes to Camp: fill-in coloring page
: printable tic-tac-toe game
The Mommy Book and The Daddy Book: Mommy and Daddy Word Find
: coloring page
Do's and Don'ts: coloring page
This is My Hair: coloring page

Things That Make You Feel Good/Things That Make You Feel Bad: fill-in coloring page
Or, download a 12-page Todd Parr activity kit including many of the activities listed above.

Daisy's Hide-And-Seek by Jane Simmons
Coloring Page
Connect the Dots
Maze

Courtney's Creative Adventures by Courtney Watkins
Never be bored again! Print out one or all of these activity pages from the book.

2006 Past Columns