Sunny Days

This sweet book celebrates summer and all the fun things that happen during that season. Each year we can look forward to the bright glow of the sun, watching plants grow, playing outside at the beach, eating delicious ice cream and long evenings with the sun shining. It’s an enjoyable time of year, and children and adults alike have lots to look for!

Author Deborah Kerbel was born in London, England, but grew up in Toronto, Ontario. She currently resides in Thornhill, Ontario. Kerbel has written numerous books. Her titles have been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award and the Canadian Library Association YA Book of the Year. Kerbel’s writing is short, poetic and beautiful. Her simple rhymes are lyrical, and, paired with Sato’s illustrations, readers can almost smell summer oozing from the page.

Miki Sato is a Japanese-Canadian illustrator who creates three dimensional images using a variety of textures. Sato creates iconic scenes of summer, such as bright grass with various shades of green, aqua coloured water, with fluffy felt clouds and life-like brown sand, and the star of the show in every scene is the bright golden sun with what appears to be embroidery and yellow paper. Sato’s cheerful and colourful graphics will catch readers’ attention as soon as they open the book and view the summer-themed endpaper scattered with sandals, ice cream cones, flowers and sun umbrellas.

Sunny Days is a pleasant title that readers from ages 3 to 5 will enjoy, but I have visions of younger and older readers enjoying this title as well. This book is printed on extra heavy paper with rounded corners and a padded cover. There are also STEM activities that encourage further learning that are sure to be a hit. Teachers, librarians, parents and guardians will welcome this read as they prepare for the summer season.