Get your kids reading this summer with one of these great new books:

• A popular mouse stars in a couple of vehicle-shaped board books. Choose from "Maisy's Train" and "Maisy's Fire Engine" (Candlewick Press, $5.99 each), both written and illustrated by Lucy Cousins. (Ages birth-3.)

• Author-illustrator Petr Horacek's 2006 wonderfully silly picture book, "Silly Suzy Goose," now is available in a board-book version (Candlewick Press, $7.99, ages 1-3).

• Little ones (and their parents) can learn a bit of basic sign language with "Baby Signs" (Orchard Books/Scholastic, $19.99). This book, written by Kyle Olmon and illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers, also is a pop-up book -- kids can pull tabs to see how to do simple signs such as "more," "eat" and "no." (Ages 1 up, with adult supervision.)

• Margaret Mahy's comic rhyming text combines perfectly with Polly Dunbar's watercolor illustrations in "Bubble Trouble" (Clarion, $16), which tells what happens when a young girl's bubble engulfs her baby brother and carries him away. (Ages 3-6.)

• Is it a duck? Or is it a rabbit? It's up to the reader to decide in "Duck! Rabbit!" (Chronicle, $16.95), a clever picture book written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld. (Ages 3-7.)

• She's a "whiskers wiper" and "crayon swiper." She's "Posy" (Atheneum, $16.99), the mischievous kitten protagonist in an enchanting picture book written by Linda Newbery and illustrated by Catherine Rayner. (Ages 2-4.)

• Every bird has produced an egg except Duck. In "The Odd Egg" (Simon & Schuster, $15.99), author-illustrator Emily Gravett shows what happens when Duck finds an unusual egg that hatches into an even more unusual creature. (Ages 3-6.)

• If you haven't discovered the work of British author-illustrator Shirley Hughes, her newest picture book, "Olly and Me: 1, 2, 3" (Candlewick Press, $16.99), is a great place to start. In this book, Hughes combines a gentle lesson on counting with her usual affectionate portraits of busy children. (Ages 3-7.)

• A popular canine-feline duo are off on another adventure for early readers in "Houndsley and Catina: Plink and Plunk" (Candlewick Press, $15.99), written by James Howe and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay. (Ages 5-8.)

• Sisters, beware! A boy named Bradley Harris Pinkerton is cooking up trouble for you in "How to Drive Your Sister Crazy" (HarperCollins, $16.99), an "I Can Read! Book" written by Diane Z. Shore and illustrated by Laura Rankin. (Ages 5-7.)

• Daisy Dawson's special talent -- talking to animals -- comes in handy in her second easy-chapter book adventure, "Daisy Dawson and the Secret Pond" (Candlewick Press, $14.99), written by Steve Voake and illustrated by Jessica Meserve. (Ages 6-8.)

• Marissa Moss, author-illustrator of the popular "Amelia" books, has just created a great new series called "Max Disaster." The first two books, which feature Moss' trademark blend of text and illustration, are: "Alien Eraser to the Rescue" and "Alien Eraser Unravels the Mysteries of the Pyramids." (Candlewick Press, $15.99 hardcover, $6.99 paperback, ages 6-10.)

• Jane opens a painted box and discovers a miniature kingdom that needs her help in "The Little Secret" (Feiwel & Friends, $16.99), an inventive novel by Kate Saunders. (Ages 8-12.)

• Fans of "The Phantom Tollbooth" will enjoy "The Wonderful O" (New York Review of Books, $14.95), written by James Thurber and illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Marc Simont. (Ages 9-12.)

• Author-illustrator James Prosek presents a simple, beautifully illustrated look at migration in "Bird, Butterfly, Eel" (Simon & Schuster, $16.99, ages 6-10).

• In her engaging new book, "How to Scratch a Wombat" (Clarion, $15), author Jackie French tells kids all about an unusual Australian bush animal. Bruce Whatley's illustrations add both details and humor. (Ages 8-12.)

• Three other new nonfiction books offer close-up photographic looks at animals: "Panda Kindergarten" (HarperCollins, $17.99. ages 4-8), written by Joanne Ryder, with photographs by Katherine Feng; "Breakfast in the Rainforest: A Visit With Mountain Gorillas" (Candlewick Press, $18.99, ages 8-12), written and photographed by Richard Sobol; and "Butterflies and Moths" (Scholastic, $17.99, ages 7-10), written and photographed by Nic Bishop.

• Polly Baxter, a white 12-year-old, has a strong friendship with Timbre Ann Biggs, who is black. Their "salt and pepper" friendship was a big deal in Holcolm County, Ga., in 1959, and it's severely tested when racial tension builds in the town, as author Bethany Hegedus shows in "Between Us Baxters" (WestSide, $17.95, ages 10-14). Check out other books from the new WestSide line, including "Running for My Life" by Ann Gonzalez.

• In "Cashay" (Houghton Mifflin, $15), author Margaret McMullan writes with grace and emotion about a girl struggling to recover from the tragic shooting death of her beloved younger sister. (Ages 12 and up.)