Are You Ready for Summer? (Lightning Bolt Books - Our Four Seasons)

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Sheila Anderson

s

Lerner Publications Company Minneapolis

e n o s u o ao n A hi o T aok i h C Copyright

© 2010 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review. Lerner Publications Company A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. 241 First Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A. Website address: www.lernerbooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Anderson, Sheila. Are you ready for summer? / by Sheila M. Anderson. p. cm. —€ (Lightning bolt booksTM – Our four seasons) Includes index. ISBN 978–0–7613–4585–5 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper)  1.€ Summer—Juvenile literature.€ I. Title. QB637.6.A53 2010 508.2—dc22 2009016410 Manufactured in the United States of America 1 – BP – 12/15/09

eISBN 978-0-7613-5966-1

Contents Sights and Sounds of Summer Summer Weather Staying Cool

4

page

8

page

12

The Summer World Fall Is Coming

page

page

17

page

24

Summer Solstice page

28

Glossary Further Reading Index page

30

page

31

page

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Sights and Sounds of Summer Crrack! Listen to the sounds of children playing baseball in the park.

4

e r is h e re m m . Su

Warm sunshine and clear, blue skies invite people to play outdoors.

Kids playing games are a common sight on sunny summer days.

5

So

m

s u n e h g t e ts , s e h m ot i t e . Beads of sweat trickle down my rosy cheeks. Your face might get red if you play hard on a warm day.

6

Kids fly by on their bicycles and call to their friends.

7

Summer Weather The air is hot. Dogs pant as they lie under shady, leaf-covered trees. Two furry dogs cool off on a bench in the shade.

8

Grass grows thick and green beneath the blazing summer sun.

9

In some places, the summer air is dry. It makes me thirsty for a cool glass of lemonade. Four girls sell lemonade on a hot summer day.

10

In other places, summer air is humid. The moisture in the

air feels thick and dewy.

The weather in Saint Petersburg, Florida, is often warm and humid.

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Staying Cool It’s time to wear shorts and T-shirts. Sandals help keep

my feet cool and protected from the sizzling hot sidewalk.

12

I rub sunscreen on my arms and legs. It protects my skin from the sun’s scorching rays.

Help your friends put on sunscreen. Be careful not to miss a spot!

13

A floppy hat and dark sunglasses shade my eyes from the bright sunshine.

It’s important to protect your eyes from the sun. Too much sunshine can hurt them.

14

Splash! Swimming is one way to stay cool in the summer. Sunlight sparkles like diamonds on the water.

15

Inside, a fan b lo ws to keep a co o us l b re co ez e mf or t a b le .

16

The Summer World In summer, animals teach their young to hunt for food. Soon their babies will go off on their own. A mother bear teaches her cubs how to catch fish.

17

Ducks swim with their babies lined up close behind them.

Follow the leader! Baby ducks are called ducklings.

18

Tree branches can barely be seen through puffs of deep green leaves.

19

Plants are covered with clusters of brightly colored flowers. Mmmmm. Smell

their sweet scent.

20

Vegetables grow heavy on their vines. When they are

ripe, we pick them. Maybe we’ll make a salad.

Zucchini grow on vines in the summertime.

21

Some trees form acorns or other kinds of seeds.

22

Acorns grow on oak trees.

Days are long. The sun doesn’t set until evening.

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Fall Is Coming In late summer, days begin to get shorter. The temperature begins to cool slightly. In late summer, you might need a sweatshirt outside.

24

. or

o c t h t ang r a t s e s co e v a l e L

25

Children start thinking about going back to school. What will you put in your backpack this year?

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n i ts wa o s i l l y. Fa

27

Summer Solstice The summer solstice happens each year around June 21. It marks the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. The solstice occurs because Earth is tilted on an axis. An axis is an imaginary line through the middle of Earth. Earth moves around the sun on its axis. And since Earth is tilted, only one side leans toward the sun at a time. The side that is leaning toward the sun gets more sunlight than the side that is leaning away from it. The Northern Hemisphere points most toward the sun around June 21. So that’s why the solstice happens at this time.

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Some cultures celebrate the summer solstice. People are thankful for the sunshine that helps plants grow. Plants produce food for people to eat. Fruits and vegetables will be ready to pick and eat soon after the summer solstice. If you were to plan a summer solstice celebration, what would it be like? In Sweden, people celebrate the summer solstice with dances and songs.

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Glossary cluster: a group of items such as flowers humid: hot and sticky moisture: dampness protect: to keep safe ripe: ready to be picked and eaten scorching: very hot sunscreen: a cream or lotion that protects skin from the sun

vine: a long, skinny branch

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Further Reading Branley, Franklyn M. Sunshine Makes the Seasons. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2005. Enchanted Learning: Earth’s Seasons http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/ astronomy/planets/earth/Seasons.shtml Environmental Protection Agency: SunWise Kids http://www.epa.gov/SunWise/kids.html Glaser, Linda. It’s Summer! Minneapolis: Millbrook Press, 2003. Low, Alice. Summer. New York: Random House, 2007. Vanasse, Deb. Under Alaska’s Midnight Sun. Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 2005.

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Index acorns, 22 air, 10–11 animals, 17–18 bicycles, 7 fall, 24–27 flowers, 20

seeds, 22 summer solstice, 28–29 sunglasses, 14 sunscreen, 13 sunshine, 5, 14, 29 sweat, 6 swimming, 15 trees, 8, 19, 22

grass, 9 vegetables, 21, 29 plants, 20, 29 weather, 5–6, 8–11, 24

Photo Acknowledgments The images in this book are used with the permission of: © Jonathan Vasata/ Dreamstime.com, p. 1; © Juana Van Burg/Dreamstime.com, p. 2; © BananaStock Ltd., p. 4; © Peter Muller/Cultura/Getty Images, p. 5; © Cheryl Casey/Dreamstime.com, p. 6; © Lori Adamski Peek/The Image Bank/Getty Images, p. 7; © Egophoto/Dreamstime. com, p. 8; © Asia Images Group/AsiaPix/Getty Images, p. 9; © Tony Anderson/Taxi/ Getty Images, p. 10; © Prisma/SuperStock, p. 11; © Saksoni/Dreamstime.com, p. 12; © Odilon Dimier/PhotoAlto Agency RF Collections©Getty Images, p. 13; © Anne Flinn Powell/Index Stock Imagery/Photolibrary, p. 14; © Oscar Mattsson/Nordic Photos/ Photolibrary, p. 15; © Nick Kennedy/Alamy, p. 16; © outdoorsman-Fotolia.com, p. 17; © age fotostock/SuperStock, p. 18; © Boris Breuer/Digital Vision/Getty Images, p. 19; © Michael Iwasaki/Dreamstime.com, p. 20; © Ilka-erika Szasz-fabian/Dreamstime. com, p. 21; © istera-Fotolia.com, p. 22; © Jan Greune/LOOK/Getty Images, p. 23; ©Â€Darrin Klimek/Taxi/Getty Images, p. 24; © Roswitha S. -Fotolia.com, p. 25; © Colin Gray/Photonica/Getty Images, p. 26; © Peter Widmann/Alamy, p. 27; © Christophe Testi/Dreamstime.com, p. 28; © Per Magnus Persson/Johner Images/Getty Images, p. 29; © Barbara Peacock/Taxi/Getty Images, p. 30; © Timhope/Dreamstime.com, p.31. Cover: © Photodisc/Getty Images.

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