Books to keep young readers busy on rainy days

Children like to be outdoors in the summer, especially in the yard or at the beach. But what about the rainy days? Or the long hours in the car getting to one of those utopias?

Maybe the craving for soil or sand could be satisfied with a good book.

* "Once Upon a Tide" (ages 4-6) by Tony Milton and illustrated by Selina Young.

A brother and sister build their own boat and go on an adventure -- using a map provided by sturdy and salty sea captain Bart -- that takes them by a whale who waves with his tail and to a private island. They find a treasure chest gleaming with gold, which unfortunately attracts some unsavory characters.

Who saves the day? That friendly whale.

* "In the Garden: Who's Been Here?" (ages 4 and up) by Lindsay Barrett George.

Another brother and sister duo head into the garden to pick some vegetables for mom. But someone -- or something -- got there first. As Christina and Jeremy work their way through the plants, they meet some of the other creatures that live there.

* "Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Sharks and Other Sea Monsters" (Candlewick, ages 5 and up) by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart.

The creatures in this book come to life thanks to page after page of incredibly detailed pop-up pictures. There's also a lot to be learned through encyclopedia-style entries for critters ranging from the liopleurodon, which relies on smell to hunt its prey, to the mosasaur, a reptile that attacked anything in its path.

* "Abigale the Happy Whale" (ages 3-6) by Peter Farrelly and illustrated by Jamie Rama.

At first, ignorance is bliss for Abigale, the humpback whale. She doesn't realize that all the pollution in the ocean is on the verge of destroying her home.

When it does dawn on her that something is amiss, she doesn't take it like a beached whale. Abigale persuades her sea-dwelling pals to help her "return" the trash to all the people on the beach. That sparks a clean-the-beach drive.

Farrelly, the writer and director behind the films "Dumb and Dumber," "Something About Mary" and "Fever Pitch," is donating 50 percent of the proceeds from the book to Heal the Bay, an organization dedicated to cleaning up the coastal waters in southern California.

* "Stanley Goes Fishing" (ages 4-8) by Craig Frazier.

Big Stanley has his mind set on catching a really big fish. He makes sure he has everything he needs and finds the perfect place to cast his line.

But things don't end up quite the way he planned -- it never does for Stanley -- but he learns that a little creativity and ingenuity can produce even better results.

* "Shark and Lobster's Amazing Undersea Adventures" (ages 3-6) by Viviane Schwarz and colored by Joel Stewart.

This is a cartoon-style book about friendship, specifically what friends will do for one another when they're scared.

Turns out these guys, rather formidable forces when you consider the ocean's pecking order, are afraid of tigers. That is, they're scared of tigers until they realize together they've got their own teeth and stripes.

* "Hare and the Big Green Lawn" (ages 4-8) by Katharine Crawford Robey and illustrated by Larry MacDougal.

Hare moves to a spiffy little house with a big green yard. But it still isn't home.

The grass is too green and short, so he sets out to fix it -- much to the dismay of his neighbors. But when his lawn becomes a meadow, he becomes the envy of all the local gardeners.

* "Elmo's Garden" (ages 18 months and up) by Susan Rich Brooke and illustrated by Tom Brannon.

Elmo walks young readers through the process of setting up a garden. He tills his soil, plants his seeds and waits for the sun and rain to do their thing.