Swimming Season (This Time of Year)

Gerund-driven couplets applaud a splash-filled camping trip in this jolly seasonal snapshot by MacGibbon. Beginning with pre-trip prep (“Cereal in your milk swimming”) and zipping quickly to arrival at a waterside locale (“Stretch out on the dock sunning”), perky rhymes foreground classic swim-time activities. Alongside two caregivers, a pup, and baby, an energetic pair of children build a sand castle, hold an underwater tea party, compete in a submerged handstand contest, and the like. Loosely detailed with brown lines, homey scenes convey summer’s brightness via white highlights that give the water a glistening depth. With “towels on a line dripping,” the pale-skinned crew wind down the day next to a campfire, and closing lines circle back on the book’s iterative seasonal refrain: “Summer, long and sweet, is here./ We adventure best this time of year.” This jubilant outdoor romp characterizes the season as footloose and fancy-free. Ages 2–5. (Apr.)