Smackers: Fun in the Sun [With Two Summer Hair Bands, Bubble Gum SmackersWith Clip-On Key Ring]

Holly Kowitt. Scholastic Paperbacks, $7.99 (48pp) ISBN 978-0-439-27190-5

Two Smackers titles in the same format, by Holly Kowitt, illus. by Christine Athens-Livingston and copublished with Bonne Bell, suggest activities for a hot day with protective lip balm, clip-on key ring and two hair ties in Sun Fun; and party themes, activities and a few surprises in Party Time. (June)

Featured Children's Reviews

Freya Finch

A fledgling teen Valkyrie tries to avert Ragnarök in Finch’s spirited, Norse mythology–inspired debut. Most assume Bryn Martel, her older sisters Prima and Reagan, and their Continue reading »

Deke Moulton

White-cued Benji Zeb—on the cusp of making his bar mitzvah—is struggling to keep many secrets as well as live up to the expectations of his kibbutz family. His first secret—he Continue reading »

Kristin O'Donnell Tubb

Contemporary Charleston, S.C., provides the backdrop for this cunning mystery by Tubb (Luna Howls at the Moon), in which a grieving tween’s often laugh-aloud misadventures in Continue reading »

Katherine Rundell

Writing in the tradition of rumbustious British children’s classics, Rundell (One Christmas Wish) introduces Mink, a headstrong city-dwelling child who “did not believe in Continue reading »