6 picture books for summer reading

It’s summertime – how better to celebrate than with pictures books that feature green grass, bare feet, and lots of playtime with friends?

4. 'Prince and Pirate,' by Charlotte Gunnufson and Mike Lowery (illustrator)

A different kind of friendship is profiled in Prince and Pirate (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 32 pp., ages 5 to 8), by Charlotte Gunnufson with pictures by Mike Lowery. Prince and Pirate are a pair of mismatched fish put into the same aquarium. At first it seems that they’ll never learn to be friends. Prince is an aristocrat who likes to impress by using words like “splendiferous” while Pirate is a bluff character more likely to grumble, “Shiver me tailfin!” It’s only when both take pity on a frightened dogfish that they learn the benefits of cooperation, and soon all three fish are cavorting about their tank feeling “thar-she-blows jolly.”

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