By Janie Magruder
The Arizona Republic

Makella A. Brems will spend her summer doing regular kid stuff, swimming, hanging out with friends and watching TV. But the 9-year-old also plans to exercise her mind by reading Moby Dick.

What a workout: The 604-page novel by Herman Melville is as thick as Makella's arm, but she doesn't care.

"I've heard it's a difficult read," she says. She also has read another tough story, The Hobbit, with her dad. "But I want to get a challenge this summer."

Whether giggling over Captain Underpants or tackling the classics, enjoying comics or boning up on history, kids are making time to read this summer. A great way to pass a too hot summer afternoon, reading also keeps kids in the learning loop.

"It makes a big difference in their readiness for the next fall," says Kathleen Massey, an English teacher and newspaper and yearbook adviser in Scottsdale, Ariz. "It keeps up their vocabulary and overall keenness."

As a parent of two elementary-age children, Robin Horn is an advocate of summer reading. And as a teacher of first-graders, many of whom can speak only Spanish when they start school, Horn says it is critical to get books into their family's hands when school's not in session.

"You can tell in the fall, the kids that are read to a lot, they tend to just have a naturalness with learning to read, and they have the ability to sit and learn a little bit more," says Horn.

New this summerThese new or repackaged books and series for kids are available for summer:

•W.I.T.C.H. stands for Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin, the young teenage characters in Disney Publishing's new series of paperbacks for tween girls. Building on the success of W.I.T.C.H. magazine, a fast-growing monthly comic for girls, the books begin and end with several pages of four-color comics. The six titles - The Power of Five, The Disappearance, Finding Meridian, The Fire of Friendship, The Last Tear and Illusions and Lies - focus on five seemingly ordinary pals who possess extraordinary powers to save the world. (Hyperion Books for Children, $4.99). Suitability: ages 8-14.

•The latest trials and tribulations of Hank Zipzer, the World's Greatest Underachiever unfold in The Night I Flunked My Fieldtrip. Written by Henry ("Fonzie") Winkler and Lin Oliver, it has a Junie B. Jones charm that makes kids giggle: (Grosset & Dunlap, $4.99; $12.99 hardcover). Suitability: ages 8-14.

•For the first time, four of Judy Blume's beloved novels: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself, Iggie's House and Blubber - are available together, in the Best of Judy Blume Box Set. The covers - bold, bright and appealing - are new, but the contents are classic. (Dell Yearling, $22.49). Suitability: ages 9-12.

• Jon Scieszka's wacky, popular series, The Time Warp Trio, has been released in a smaller size that fits better into a suitcase or backpack. From Knights of the Kitchen Table (No. 1) to Viking It and Liking It (No. 12), these hilarious tales about the trio, Joe, Sam and Fred, will have your child guffawing all summer. (Puffin Books, $4.99). Suitability: ages 7 and older.

— The Arizona Republic