Happy summer, readers! Summer is probably one of our favorite seasons here at Scholastic, and in previous Throwback Thursday posts, we found books featuring very very summery locations: beaches, and summer camps.
This time around, we looked for books featuring another great place to spend a summer day: an amusement park! (Deimosa and I expanded our search to include carnivals, too.) Going on rides, playing games and eating cotton candy is summer personified to me.
The Girls of Canby Hall (Super Edition): The Almost Summer Carnival by Emily Chase, 1987.
One strike, and they might be out.
Everyone is working hard on the big annual Almost Summer Carnival when the Canby Hall maintainence crew goes on strike! The headmistress wants to close the school and cancel the carnival, but Toby and Andy persuade her to let the students take over the most essential jobs.
Suddenly, laundry comes back in strange colors and the cafeteria produces even stranger food. But the girls discover unexpected new talents.
Work is piling up and time is short. Can the carnival be saved? The girls of 407 get a totally unexpected answer to their question!
My Sister, the Traitor by Candice F. Ransom, 1988.
Jackie is nearly thirteen. Her older sister, Sharon, is nearly sixteen, and these days, she's been acting almost human. Although they live miles from town, Jackie is hoping she and her sister will have a pretty good summer.
Then a local amusement park opens, and Sharon gets a job. Jackie feels left out, until she discovers Russell, the definitely cute boy who runs the pony rides. But Russell falls for Sharon!
Jackie can't figure it out. How did it happen—again? How did Sharon get everything, leaving Jackie with a big, fat zero?
And what is Jackie going to do about it?
Baby-sitters Little Sister #25: Karen's Carnival by Ann M. Martin, 1991.
Play the ringtoss!
One day, Karen, Hannie, and Nancy are bored, bored, bored. They can't go roller-skating, and the playground is too fair away. So Karen decides to have a carnival, with all kinds of games and prizes!
What will the girls do with the money they make from their carnival? Hannie wants roller skates—but Karen can think of something even better!
Goosebumps #16: One Day at HorrorLand by R.L. Stine, 1994.
The next ride might be their last...
The Morris family got lost trying to find Zoo Gardens Theme Park. But that's okay. They found another amusement park instead. It's called HorrorLand.
In HorrorLand there are no crowds. No lines. And the admission is free. It seems like a pretty cool place.
But that was before that heart-stopping ride on the deadly Doom Slide. And that terrifying experience in the House of Mirrors.
Because there's something weird about the rides in HorrorLand.
Something a little too creepy.
A little too real...
The Magic School Bus: A Science Chapter Book #5: Twister Trouble, 2000.
Hi, my name's Tim. I'm one of the kids in Ms. Frizzle's class. Maybe you've heard of Ms. Frizzle. She takes on lots of field trips in the Magic School Bus. We never know what's going to happen when we get on that bus, but we do know that we'll learn lots about one of Ms. Frizzle's favorite subjects—science.
When we were studying weather, Ms. Frizzle took us to the Weatherama Theme Park. But the biggest, baddest ride wasn't a roller coaster at all—it was a real tornado. We learned lots of hair-raising facts about these monstrous storms. Get ready for a whirlwind of excitement as the Magic School Bus takes on a twister!
Special thanks to librarian Deimosa Webber-Bey for her ongoing help with this series!
