The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

Whether it’s summer or the school year, many children and teens read for the sheer pleasure of it. Of course, not everyone defines pleasure reading in the same way. It might mean humor, magic, sports, or suspense.

It’s hard to imagine anyone who wouldn’t enjoy reading aloud The Retired Kid, a picture-story book by Jon Agee. Hilarious pictures combine with a droll plot about an 8-year-old who decides to retire. As Brian says at the beginning, “It’s hard work being a kid. First of all, there’s school.” He also has to play soccer, practice violin, walk the dog, baby-sit his sister, and eat vegetables. So Brian bids farewell to his bemused family and moves to a Florida retirement community, where the life isn’t quite what he expected!

Two local authors have recently added to the fun of reading aloud. Kara LaReau, who lives in Providence, offers an entertaining book with a message about getting along in Rabbit & Squirrel: A Tale of War & Peas. Jaunty illustrations by Scott Magoon introduce a rabbit and squirrel who fight over a garden, only to find they aren’t the only ones who claim the garden as their own.

Popular local storyteller Bill Harley, who has a national following for his albums and books, tells a rollicking, rhyming yarn about sibling rivalry in Dirty Joe the Pirate: A True Story. In comical, scruffy pictures by Jack E. Davis, a pirate who steals dirty socks meets his match in Stinky Annie, a pirate with an equally odd obsession.

Beginning readers will delight in the Elephant & Piggie series by Mo Willems, superb short books with simple vocabulary, funny pictures, and clever stories. I Love My New Toy! and I Will Surprise My Friend! capture real childhood emotions and interactions with only a handful of words on each page. The series is right up there with other great easy reader series such as Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel and Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant.

For those a bit farther along in their reading, The Lost-and-Found Tooth by Louise Borden explores the familiar territory of losing a baby tooth. Second-grader Lucy watches enviously as her classmates record on a poster when and where they lost their teeth. When will her time come? When will she have her own tooth tale to tell? Adam Gustavson’s lively watercolors suit Borden’s free verse telling of this satisfying story.

With a similar title but for a slightly older age group, Lost and Found by Andrew Clements, best known for Frindle, is about twin brothers who set out to fool their new school. When Ray stays home sick the first day of school, Jay attends and realizes the school has records only for him, not for his twin. Suddenly Jay knows what it’s like to be treated as an individual, not one of pair — and he wants to keep it that way. But their scheme backfires and the twins begin to question their choices in this entertaining novel.

If you like your entertainment flavored with fantasy, The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas fits the bill. Conor, a pickpocket, steals from a wizard one day and ends up as his apprentice. The orphan, brash and self-reliant, studies with his master, then goes to wizard school. He doesn’t fit in but he does make an ally who helps when the wizard is imperiled. Perfect for upper-elementary and middle-school fantasy enthusiasts.

For the same age group, Savvy by Ingrid Law weaves magic into modern life. Mibs, whose family lives in the rural Midwest, is approaching her 13th birthday. In the Beaumont family, turning 13 means you get your “savvy,” an unlikely magical power. One of Mibs’ older brothers emits electricity, while the other inadvertently raises dangerous winds when he’s upset. Mibs slowly comes into her strange ability when she goes on a quirky journey to save her family in this original, charming story.

Sports book fans may already know that sportswriter Mike Lupica has turned his talents to writing for middle school. In his latest, The Big Field, 14-year-old Keith loves baseball intensely. He throws himself into his team’s effort to win the regional tournament and, he hopes, go onto the state contest. But his father, once a professional shortstop, and the arrogant new shortstop on Keith’s team complicate Keith’s life. As usual, Lupica gives his readers lots of sports action plus some real-life complexity.

Informational books can be as fascinating as fiction, especially if the reader has a strong interest in the topic. Kadir Nelson provides a treat for teenage fans of baseball history with his striking paintings and conversational account in We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball.

Older teens looking for an edgy read will find one in Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. Set in what feels like the present, this gripping novel starts with a terrorist attack on San Francisco. Seventeen-year-old computer whiz kid, Marcus, and his friends get unfairly pegged as security risks by Homeland Security. After a short imprisonment, Marcus uses his computer skills to fight back, outraged at the loss of civil liberties in the name of safety. “Don’t trust anyone over 25” is only one of the themes of this smart, rebellious, thought-provoking thriller.