Brilliant books about summer for younger children

Moomintroll is cheerful and chubby and lives in the magical Moominvalley with his mother, Moominmamma, his father, Moominpappa and all of their friends.

Limpet’s mum sells impossible ice creams, like carrot and garlic flavour. When Mr Fluffy launches his rival ice cream shop, Limpet must fight back. A madcap, very funny adventure.

A summer holiday job selling ice cream aboard the exotic space station of Starville turns into a race against time to avoid a catastrophic collision with the moon. Bring on the Space Detectives!

Mr Penguin is setting sail on the Saucy Sandra cruise ship for a well-earned holiday. But is everything what it seems? The third in Alex T Smith’s brilliant Mr Penguin series is as full of brilliant illustration, cosy details and delightful puns as the others. 

Follow the adventures of Mole, Ratty and Toad in this beautiful new edition of a much-loved classic, illustrated by David Roberts.

Trevor’s mother offers him £30 if he’ll walk the dog every day for summer. It sounds easy enough, but the dog – Streaker – has other ideas.

Clarice Bean is back! Clarice has her summer holiday ahead of her but seems like there is nothing to do and it’s so hot. Her best friend Betty Moody is on holiday, her big sister Marcie is grumpy as ever, and little brother Minal is as little as ever. Her neighbour Robert Granger is as annoying as ever. But one day that starts out as nothing ends up being filled with everything when Clarice’s parents need to go away for the weekend and a stray dog follows Clarice home, and won’t scram!

While on holiday in Devon, Clare strikes up a touching friendship with an elderly man and his beloved horse. This moving tale of loneliness, loss and friendship is beautifully illustrated and particularly suited to dyslexic readers.

Anisha is not thrilled at the prospect of a family holiday to an outdoor adventure park, as she prefers science and reading to archery and zip wires. However, to her surprise, she finds plenty of things to keep her occupied, including an intriguing mystery to solve. 

This humorous tale sensitively highlights issues such as friendship and bullying.