Every summer we fly off to California for one or two weeks of fun in the sun. At least during the day we have fun in the sun. There are also many of hours of fun in the dark every morning since we start the trip on Eastern Daylight Time, and there’s plenty of downtime mid-afternoon when we just want to chill. At home and away, books fill in these gaps between real-life adventures.

This trip we followed a three-prong reading strategy: First we packed a bunch of our favorite paperback books. We would have liked to bring more, but our bags were pretty heavy already. We had a mix of chapter books for R and picture books for both girls. Second, we brought our whole library of ebooks on our iPads. I far prefer physical picture books and there aren’t nearly as many choices as I’d like, but there are some good ones and you can’t beat the weight. Third, we went to the local library as soon as we arrived and picked up a big pile of books.

These are our top picks for the trip:

On the iPad:

Would You Rather Be a Princess or a Dragon (written and illustrated by Barney Saltzberg) It’s a cute story that teaches kids that everyone has a little princess and dragon inside them.

Muddypaws (by Simon Mendez and Moira Butterfield) I find this story about a boy naming his new puppy a little brain-numbing, but both girls absolutely love it.

From the library:

James and the Giant Peach (written by Roald Dahl) One of my favorites as a kid turns out to be one of R’s favorites too. Dahl’s characters and dialog are just so vivid and funny.

Clink (written by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Matthew Myers) If you liked Corduroy, you’ll like this story of an old toy robot who finally finds a boy who loves him.

Grace for President (written by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by LeUyen Pham) What an inspiring story of how a girl becomes president of her class.

Sipping Spiders Through a Straw: Campfire Songs for Monsters (written by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Gris Grimly) Until I wrote this list I didn’t realize how big a part Kelly DiPucchio played in our vacation! Both girls are still singing these crazy songs.

Originally hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts along with Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers host kidlit versions of It’s Monday! What are You Reading? All three sites are great places to find new books for yourself and your kids.