Ahoy, fellow adventurers, heros, philosophers, dragon riders and kindred spirits! Welcome to my next book post.

This week as promised, I have a list of six books that just feel like summer. As soon as I feel the cover and open the pages a warm breath of dreamy, perfect summer air wafts out. Do you know the feeling?

   There are just some books that I have to reread over again every year. It’s also lovely to pick one up in January or February when the endless cold is monotonous and you need to immerse in a world of summer. So, without further ado!

6 Books that Are Summer:

#1. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransom
Four siblings. One beloved sailboat named Swallow. A ‘desert’ island all their own. Swimming everyday. The lookout and the harbor. The man on a houseboat with a parrot and a cannon? Best Summer Ever. That’s what the Walkers think, until two rivals clad in red pirate caps and who fly the jolly Roger show up and claim wildcat island as their own. The adventure, rivalry and comradery that ensues is just amazing.

  This book is absolutely on the top of the list when I think of books that mean Summer. This is still my ideal Summer to be honest. It’s a book I will never tire of re-reading- and it has sequels! I firmly believe that every one who loves summer, sailing and adventure must read this book at least once.

#2. Gone Away Lake: by Elizabeth Enright

When I said that Swallows and Amazons was top of the list I mean that it has a very close shave with this one. I cannot help myself from re-reading this book at least once a year. Ignore the note on the back that says the book is for elementary age. This book is for the timeless in heart everywhere.

Gone Away is an absolute lovely story about a girl named Portia who knows that this summer is going to be amazing. What she doesn’t know is just how spectacular it really will be. Portia and her cousin discover a ghost town on the edge of what used to be a beautiful lake. It’s now a marsh surrounded by old fashioned holiday homes. The old houses are exciting enough but a certain two residents of those houses are even better. Gone Away Lake is summer and if your looking for a light-hearted read this is perfect.

#3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: By C.S. Lewis

What is Summer without an adventure and a few dragons? The Narnia books must smuggle themselves into all my book lists because I love them that much. When I think of Summer in Narnia I think of the description that Mr. Tumnus gives Lucy in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe of how summer in Narnia use to be. But that book is very much a winter book, so the next best thing? Playing chess with Reepicheep on the deck of the Dawn Treader. Summer is being home and being happy but it is also adventure and this is one of my favorites.

#4. On The Banks of Plum Creek: Laura Ingals Wilder

This book list just might be turning into “all my old favorites that feel like Summer and a second home”. But regardless of age or time, this book stands tall. I can’t tell you how many times my mum read the Little House series aloud to my older sister and I. Now she’s reading them aloud to my younger sis and I haven’t at all been listening in the back ground… Anyways, if you haven’t read the Little House books, specifically this one, please do! As C.S. Lewis said regarding Narnia, if you have outgrown a book, one day you will be old enough to read it again.

This book is summer: from sliding down the haystack to the swimming hole, to the cow escapade, to the summer storms and picnics on the banks if Plum Creek.

#5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: by Mark Twain

I read this book for the first time last year and it certainly fits this category. It is more than that though, Mark Twin weaves themes of brutal truth, love, meaning and worth throughout. It certainly has some harsher themes so read with a warning but it is a timeless book and must be on my list. After all, the raft on the river, the bare dirty feet, and adventure can’t be thought of outside of summer.

#6. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I know I already put this one on a book list, but here it is again! To make sure that you do read it sometime. 😉 When I think about Summer being celebrated as a wonderful thing, this book pops into my mind. The magic of Summer is shown through Scout’s adoration of it. To Kill A Mockingbird is a story of love and hate, beauty and prejudice. Told through the eyes of young Scout Finch, this book brings the reader through the tale of a small southern town and a story you will not forget.

Content Warning: mature and hard themes and elements

Honorable Mention:

Here’s a few more for you to look up on your own!

• The Penderwicks, by Jeanne Birdsall
• The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart
• Eight Cousins, by Louisa May Alcott
• Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery (yup, again!)
• Thimble Summer, by Elizabeth Enright
• Hattie Big Sky, by Kirby Larson

Well, that’s it for today, friends! Pick up one of two of these and soak up Summer! I’d love to hear from you! What books feel like Summer to you?

Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence or anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Philippians 4:8