Ice Cream Summer
Peter Sis, Author and illustrator
Scholastic Press, Fiction, May 26, 2015
Suitable for Ages: 4-8
Themes: Ice Cream, Summer, Writing, Counting, Exploring, History
Synopsis: “Dear Grandpa, Thank you for your letter. So far, it’s been a delicious summer. I am very busy. But don’t worry, I am not forgetting about school.”
Synopsis: Joe is eager to join his grandfather on a special trip at the end of the summer, so he shares his “delicious” summer in his letter. He reassures his grandfather that he is staying current with his studies during his vacation. He is reading, writing, practicing his math, charting maps and learning history. What he doesn’t tell his grandfather is that he studying his favorite tasty treat, ice cream.
Why I like this book:
The wonderful Peter Sis dishes up a yummy story about everything you want to know about ice cream. His whimsical story is a refreshing celebration of children’s favorite frozen treat. Told with minimal text, children will follow Joe on his journey of reading the lists of flavors at a local Ice Cream store, writing and illustrating a book with ice cream artwork, practicing math problems with the addition and subtraction of ice cream scoops, and studying the ancient history and invention of ice cream.
Sis’s lively pastel illustrations are in delightful shapes: waves appear as colorful scoops of ice cream, sand castles resemble ice cream cones, hammocks strung between two cones, and the Statue of Liberty holds a torch filled with ice cream. Children will have a ball studying each exquisitely detailed picture and spying delicious treats. Ice Cream Summer will appeal to a variety of ages. This is a perfect hot-summer read and is best read with a bowl of ice cream.
Resources: What I like about this book is how easily it can be used in the classroom. Ask children to write a story about their favorite flavor and draw a picture. Talk about how the first ice cream was made 2,000 years ago in China with snow, milk, rice and fruit. Chart a map that shows how ice cream began to travel to different cultures worldwide. There’s some great history there. Visit Peter Sis at his website.
Peter Sis is an internationally acclaimed author, illustrator and filmmaker. Ice Cream Summer is a light-hearted and fun book for the author of The Wall, Tibet Through the Red Box, The Tree of Life, Three Golden Keys and Madlenka.
Even though Perfect Picture Books is on vacation until September 11, you can still visit author Susanna Leonard Hill’s Perfect Picture Books to see a complete listing of all the Perfect Picture Books (PPB) with resources.
Children's Books Heal 
I am a HUGE fan of Peter Sis. I heard him speak at one of the SCBWI conferences, and he was incredible. Pat, this sounds like a wonderful book and teaching tool. One of my son’s teachers had him write a book about how to make an ice cream Sunday and when the book was done, she brought in all the ingredients for a Sunday. To this day, she’s one of his favorite teachers. Great review, Pat.
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Lucky you! I would love to hear him speak. This book is so very different than most of his books. But a refreshing treat for kids this summer. Thank you for sharing your son’s story about writing a book about making an ice cream sundae. She’d be my favorite teacher too.
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A great review, Pat, of a delightful book that provides both teaching moments and reading yumminess.
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I’m glad you enjoyed my review. It does have many teaching moments.
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Wonderful for kids and what fun in the classroom. Great story too Robin.
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Thank you Catherine. It is a yummy book for kids.
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A nice book for a summer read. Everyone loves ice cream!
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Yes, it is a perfect summer read and I wanted to review before the summer ended. So many ways to use this book.
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You had me at ice cream! 😀 And I’ve always like illustrations where there are hidden things that kids can search for. Would have loved it as a kid myself and probably would still like it now!
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Yes, it had me at ice cream too. But, I love Peter Sis and this is a fun book for him!
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Yes, much less serious than the one about his childhood. 🙂
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Yes, I agree. But, I love his work!
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I do, too!
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What a great idea. I always believe the best learning is child led. Whatever is of interest covers just about every category of learning.
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This is definitely child led. What an imaginative way to study during the summer and still travel with Grandpa. Makes me think of your post today!
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Ice cream! Yum. When we were kids, my mother used to make us snow and Nestle’s Quik. Delicious!
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I never heard of snow and Nestle Quick ice cream. That must have been great. We made it too, but with vanilla and fruit. My grandfather worked at Harmony Farms Dairy and oversaw the production of ice cream — so we always had the tasty treat around. My dad and grandfather always made homemade ice cream at least once during the summer.
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Nice review! I will definitely let you know when I (self)publish my children’s book about Bert and Bessie. They experience bullying, but end up flying happily in the end. 🙂
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Thank you! Yes, let me know. I focus on books about bullying.
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I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream on a hot summer day. Don’t we? What a cool sounding book, perfect for the hot season. Great review, Pat.
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It is the perfect book for the hot season! Thanks for stopping.
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This is a perfect summer read! What kid wouldn’t want to read a book that has the words “ice cream” on it? We are reading Don’t Stick Sticks Up Your Nose! Don’t Stuff Stuff In Your Ears! by Dr. Jerald Altman. It’s common sense, but also fun that the kids want to read it over and over, dontstuffdontstick.com is his site for it!
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Thank you for responding and sharing book ideas.
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I love Peter Sis and realize he has a special bond with kids and must be child like in his creativity himself. After commenting I will go to his web site and check it out.
I have reviewed several of his books myself because I like him so much.
He spoke at our library one year for our one book one community project. The library has a foundation where they are able to give away a book to a family and then discuss it and have the author visit. The year Peter Sis came it was his book, The Wall.’
He spoke about his life in Prague and I was enthralled. I am a big fan of his. Thanks so much for shariing this book, as well. Another for my ESOL student. 🙂
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That is great that you’ve met Peter Sis and he’s part of your community project! I love “The Wall” book. In this book, I could see the child coming out as you can tell he had a lot of fun with it!
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This sounds like such a cool book. Even my big kids would probably dig this one. Sort of makes me want to buy that ice cream maker we decided against for space reasons.
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Glad you enjoyed the review. It is a fun summer read — especially for anyone who likes ice cream. Very clever idea for a book. I grew up with an ice cream maker, but it only was used once or twice a season. Understand the issue of taking up space.
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I love the kid’s ingenuity! 😉 This sounds like a great book!
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Glad you like Peter Sis’ book! It’s a brilliant idea for a book and a lot of fun!
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