Summer Reading Essentials From Nat Geo Kids Books + Giveaway

This ‘Summer Reading Essentials From Nat Geo Kids Books Giveaway’ post is sponsored by National Geographic Kids. As always, all opinions are my own.

Our three ‘middle’ kids recently spent several days at a cousin’s house. They don’t get to see this particular cousin nearly often enough because they live kind of far away. But when my sister in law dropped the kids back off, she made the comment about how much all three of them love to read. As a homeschooling mom, this warmed my heart as instilling a love of reading in my children was an important goal to me.

Ways To Help Instill A Love For Reading

First, I want to admit that my kids didn’t all automatically love reading. For all five of our older kids (as our sweet little Ruby is too young to read yet), that love didn’t really blossom until about age 8. Here are a few tips that helped our kids.

• Model The Behavior: I have always loved to read. When I was younger, you’d find me with a book in my hands pretty much all the time. As an adult, I still strive to read physical books from time to time so the kids can SEE me reading too. Consider putting down the devices and pick up a copy of a physical book the next time you read so your kids get to observe you reading too.
• Read Together: While summer months are tough to keep this habit up, we strive to do a family Bible time each night. We go around the circle and each take turns reading from a chapter of the Bible. On top of this, throughout the year I will read novels aloud to the kids.
• Visit Your Local Library: Whether you allow your children to get their own library cards or just use yours to check out books, get to the library together. This will open up opportunities for the kids to see a variety of books and do some exploring.
• All Reading Is Good: What I mean by this is that it’s okay to let them choose books that interest them. Our last three readers all began their love of reading journey through graphic novels! While this isn’t your traditional chapter book, it drew the kids’ interest and was the step we needed. (If you’re new to graphic novels, the term graphic novel is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work. These books are ‘comic book style’ and mix words and pictures.)

National Geographic Kids Books Are A Great Place To Start!

Whether your kids already enjoy reading or you’re just beginning to spark their interest, National Geographic Kids books are so much fun! Check out these books that you should add to your kiddo’s summer reading list:

National Geographic Kids Almanac 2024 (ages 8-12, Paperback, $15.99)

The New York Times best-selling Almanac is packed with incredible photos, tons of fun facts, National Geographic exclusives, games, activities, and fascinating features about animals, science, nature, technology, and more.

This new edition features:

• EXCLUSIVE National Geographic Explorer interviews and features  
• EXCLUSIVE Interactive Almanac Challenge 2024, plus the results of the Almanac Challenge 2023 
• BONUS SECTION of sidesplitting jokes and riddles  
• NEW fun-tastic things to see and do in 2024 
• NEW cutest animal superlatives and animal rescue stories 
• NEW science and dinosaur discoveries 
• NEW fun games, quizzes, and activities 
• NEW weird and wacky places around the world 
• NEW experiments to do, places to explore, and ways to change the world 
• UPDATED reference material, including fast facts and maps of every country 

For some extra fun, take the Almanac Challenge!: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/books/article/almanac-2024

Little Kids First Nature Guide: Explore the Beach (ages 4-8, Flex-Bound, $9.99)

Make the most out of any trip to the beach wit this take-along nature guide that helps young children find, identify, and learn about the fascinating animals, plants, and other wonders to be found at the seashore.

Young explorers discover a variety of cool creatures, shells, plants, and more at the beach, from crabs skittering across the sand to fish riding the waves to seagulls flying high in the sky. This sturdy take-along guide features:

• Easy-to-understand profiles of a wide variety of plants and animals commonly spotted at the beach, as well as fan-favorites out in the waves like dolphins, seahorses, and jellyfish
• Vibrant National Geographic photography that brings the subject matter to life and makes identification easy
• “Check Me Out!” fact boxes that provide more information about each creature, including its size and color, where it’s found, and what it eats
• Gallery pages featuring various beach environments, such as tide pools and sand dunes
• Cool fun facts sprinkled throughout
• Simple text for reading aloud or for beginning readers
• Games, activities, and tips for how and where to explore
• Helpful glossary
• Flexible binding for durability

Puzzle Book of the Ocean (ages 8-12, Paperback, $6.99)

Headed to the beach this summer?  Make the trip go by in a flash with this ultimate backseat boredom-buster and these beach day necessities.

Dive into pages and pages of crosswords, sudoku, word searches, mazes, quizzes, word scrambles, and spot the difference puzzles as well as fun facts and vibrant photos of fish, dolphins, sea turtles, and all sorts of ocean animals.  This book will have you swimming for hours through amazing information about the deep blue—just don’t forget to surface!

National Geographic Kids Personality Quizzes (ages 8-12, $9.99, Paperback)

What’s your shark superpower? What kind of friend are you?

From weird and wacky (What stinky animal are you?) to thought-provoking and informative (What kind of explorer should you be? Which mountain should you climb?), there’s a personality profile for everyone in this totally unique book. Inside you’ll find all kinds of quizzes: flow charts, multiple choice, this or that, and more and while you’re at it, get to know about amazing animals, places, cultures, and even careers around the world!

That’s Fact-tastic! Mind-Blowing, Eye-Popping, Jaw-Dropping Stuff About Our World (ages 8-12, Hardcover, $19.99)

Did you know that a giraffe’s eye is as big as a Ping-Pong ball? Or that about 19 million hot dogs are sold at major league baseball games every year? Or that there is only one bone in your body that’s not connected to another one?  This book is chock-full of fascinating facts, silly stats, and catchy little knowledge nuggets in all kinds of awesome categories, from amphibians to black holes to the gold rush.

Special features include Extreme Weirdness, Strange Places, What’s the Difference, and more. Bold, colorful photographs in a supersized format and spectacular information create a winning combination for curious kids who can’t wait to learn more about the world.

Explorer Academy Series

Have you heard about the Explorer Academy series from National Geographic Kids?  If not, you’ll definitely want to check it out!  My kids LOVE this series!

In this fan-favorite fiction series, Cruz leaves his tranquil home in Hawaii to join 23 talented kids from around the globe to train at the Explorer Academy with the world’s leading scientists to become the next generation of great explorers. But for Cruz, there’s more at stake. No sooner has he arrived at the Academy than he discovers that his family has a mysterious past with the organization that could jeopardize his future. In the midst of codebreaking and cool classes, new friends and augmented-reality expeditions, Cruz must tackle the biggest question of all: Who is out to get him … and why?  Readers can get in on the excitement with puzzles and codes embedded throughout.

For chapter samplers, games, videos, and more info, check out ExplorerAcademy.com.

Connect With National Geographic Books

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Enter To Win This National Geographic Kids Giveaway

One lucky Thrifty Nifty Mommy reader will receive a Nat Geo Kids Book Prize Pack consisting of:

• National Geographic Kids Almanac 2024 
• Little Kids First Nature Guide: Explore the Beach 
• Puzzle Book of the Ocean 
• National Geographic Kids Personality Quizzes
• That’s Fact-tastic! Mind-Blowing, Eye-Popping, Jaw-Dropping Stuff About Our World 
• Explorer Academy Books #1 and #2

This awesome summer reading prize pack is valued at $96.93! This giveaway is open to the Continental US only, just enter the widget below for your chance to win. Good luck!