In the Independence Day issue of the New York Times, columnist Nicholas D. Kristof expressed concern that students can fall as much as two months behind in their reading levels during summer. Summer vacation is full of fun and learning activities, but it's also a time to maintain and improve reading skills. Public libraries offer free summer reading and listening programs to make this fun for students and families.

Kristof provides a baker's dozen of his favorite, mostly older, titles to encourage summer reading. Here are 13 of my newer favorites.

Edward, a self-centered yet beloved china rabbit, is tossed from an ocean liner by a group of rowdy boys. In Kate DiCamillo's old fashioned story The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, the long journey home teaches Edward about life, grief and love.

A new mystery series set in 1790 London stars Cat Royal, an orphan brought up in the theater by its owner, Mr. Sheridan. Scenes take the reader around the theater, through the dirty streets and market stalls of London, to a pawnshop, boxing ring and dank jail cell. Luckily for us, The Diamond of Drury Lane by Julia Golding is the first of four Cat Royal adventures.

Rose, locked in the zoo, spends the night in the arctic foxes shed. The dangerous escapade brings her artistic family together in a very satisfying conclusion to English author Hilary McKay's delightful series about the eccentric and loving Casson family. The titles include Saffy's Angel, Indigo's Star, Permanent Rose, Caddy Ever After and Forever Rose.

Hate That Cat continues Sharon Creech's novels in verse about Jack, a young boy whose teacher, Miss Stretchberry, encourages him to read and write poetry.

Mr. Benedict has been kidnapped. Reynie, Sticky, Kate and Constance, recent graduates of the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, embark on a dangerous adventure following hidden clues and riddles. Will the children be in time to rescue him from his evil twin Mr. Curtain? To find out, read The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart.

Amy Barrows, author of the Ivy and Bean books, introduces Miri, a middle sister between two sets of twins, in her book The Magic Half. Miri travels back in time by peering through a broken lens. She meets Molly, who could be her own twin, and discovers "magic is really just a way of setting things right."

Minnesota author William Durbin writes about the Russian invasion of Finland during the harsh winter of 1939-1940 in The Winter War. Despite legs weakened by polio, Marko volunteers as a messenger on the front line. This young boy skiing in white camouflage helps save his village and country against great odds.

Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson imagines Anne Shirley's early life and her journey from one foster family to another before she arrives at the train station on Prince Edward Island, where she steps "into her new life" with the Cuthbert siblings, Marilla and Matthew.

Our Farm: Four Seasons With Five Kids on One Family's Farm by Michael J. Rosen takes a yearlong look at the Bennett family's 150-acre farm in Ohio. Photographs show daily activities as family members work hard, get dirty, and play on their land, raising cows, alfalfa, chickens and vegetables.

Tally's father sends her to Delderton, a progressive boarding school, to keep her safe during the London Blitz. She organizes a folkdance troupe to be held in Bergania, a small country whose king continues to defy the Nazis. In Eva Ibbotson's latest novel for youth, The Dragonfly Pool, Tally and her schoolmates help young Prince Karil escape to England.

In My One Hundred Adventures, author Polly Horvath introduces another memorable character, Jane Fielding, who longs for adventure during her 12th summer living with her mom and siblings on the Massachusetts shore.

Father and son, Thomas B. Allen and Roger MacBride Allen, reveal Abraham Lincoln as the driving force behind the North's use of developing technologies such as railroads, surveillance balloons and high-powered weapons to win the Civil War. Learn how Lincoln helped revolutionized warfare in Mr. Lincoln's High-Tech War.

Ranger, a hound chained to a bayou house, befriends a calico cat and invites her to raise her kittens under the porch. But they must stay hidden from Gar-Face, the man upstairs, who would use them as alligator bait. Kathi Appelt gives the reader a story of love, hate and redemption in The Underneath.

- Cathy Sullivan

Seblonka

Youth Services Librarian