Has the shine of a new school year started to fade? Is the routine of getting ready for school setting in? Are you grinding your teeth in the mornings as you try to get your kids out the door but there’s always that one last thing they have to do first?

From the authors of the monumentally successful If You Give a Mouse a Cookie comes one about the morning routine.

Time for School, Mouse by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond is a giant board book about the tools that travel around in your child’s backpack… notebooks and pencils and lunchboxes and…homework. Where did mouse put that homework?! Mouse’s all too familiar adventures will have you shaking your head and your child cracking up. Pegged for your littlest students!

Another old favorite series follows the Berenstain Bears through many a valuable life lesson. Here’s one about the morning routine that your kids might enjoy.

The Berenstain Bears Get Ready for School by Mike Berenstain is a lift-the-flap book — this makes it a good one for interactive reading. Brother can’t find his shirt. Sister can’t find her backpack. Will they make the bus on time? Pegged for preschool -1st grade.

Share your favorite school routine books for kids!

Are We There Yet? by Dan Santat

A family is invited to their grandmother’s birthday party which is out of town. It’s a long trip: like 1000 miles long. To the little boy in the backseat, minutes seems like hours, hours seem like days…it feels like a million years. But wait! He’s actually gone through a million years…back in time. Not to worry. The family car speeds back through time again. But now they are heading into the future. Oh no! How will they get to grandma’s party? The pictures are in beautiful deep sunset colors. And there’s a neat twist to how the book is set up. It’ll make your kids feel that a plain old road trip through the present might not be so bad.

Share your favorite travel books for kids!

When I was a kid we went camping on weekends – took to the road in our Ford station-wagon, sang car songs, played the license plate game, probably drove our parents nuts with our chatter. Hours after the start, we would pile out at our campsite in the woods and spend a couple of days swimming, hiking, singing around the campfire. Here are a couple of kids books that remind me of those days.

Oldie But Goodie

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Sal and her family live in a small town in Maine. Sometimes on summer days Sal and her mother go into the countryside to pick blueberries, dropping them into their pails: “kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk.” Also on summer days, a little black bear follows his mama through the countryside eating blueberries. One day on Blueberry Hill, the mamas and their children get mixed up with each other. In prose that matches the ambling nature of walking the hills picking blueberries, McCloskey sets up the timeless parallel between mothers and their children of all species. A classic! Pegged for ages 3-7.

New and Fabulous

Wake Up, Island by Mary Casanova, woodcuts by Nick Wroblewski

Some of us take our kids to summer homes in the woods or near a lake or… on an island. This book is written in simple poetry, introducing the reader to the wonders of animal life on an island. It gives us a bird’s eye view as an introduction to the various birds, insects and mammals waking up each morning on this particular island. The vacationing boy in this lovely book quickly downs his maple syrup, berry pancakes. And away he goes to explore! Pegged for preschool to 2nd grade.

Share your favorite children’s books about summer in the country!

Serena Williams has just notched another huge win to her record. Some say she is the greatest woman tennis player of all time.

For those out there whose kids are Serena groupies and also for those whose kids appreciate stories of grit, triumph in the face of challenge, champions…here are a couple of suggested reads by Serena herself.

My Life: Queen of the Court.

Why not get the story from straight from the source?! The great thing about this book? Serena tells about how she got to where she is today starting with her childhood. Playing on a ratty old court with worn out tennis balls, developing strong relationships with her siblings, dealing with racism. Packed with inspiring tales for your teenager.

Venus and Serena: Serving from the Hip: 10 Rules for Living, Loving, and Winning

In this one Serena and Venus team up (with Hilary Beard) to talk to teens. It’s less about tennis and more about life advice. And it’s divided into 10 rules for success. There are anecdotes on the importance of family, friends, staying in school, taking care of your body, etc. Pegged for 7th grade and up.

Share your favorite children’s books about champions!

I believe there is a calling in each of us that is as natural as breathing. We have to pay attention to that which comes naturally and makes our heart sing. And then build upon it.

Here are a couple of great books about people who changed the world in exactly that way.

The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane by Russell Freedman with original photographs by Wilbur and Orville Wright tells the story of two brothers, as close to each other as two peas in a pod who had “a way with tools and a knack for solving problems.” This Newbery Honor Book does a great job of mixing technical how-it-happened with the human side of these world-changing inventors. Pegged for ages 10 and up.

Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different by Karen Blumenthal is about a modern-day legend, the man who brought us the imac, the iphone…the ieverything. From the beginnings of Apple in his parents’ garage, Steve was always compelled from within to push the technological envelope and to bring his strong sense of style to develop a chain of products that have proved irresistible to millions around the world. Pegged for teens.

Share your favorite children’s books about people who changed the world!