ORIG./ The Bulletin employee in The Bulletin studio in Bend Wednesday morning 10-30-13. Andy Tullis/The Bulletin ORIG./ The Bulletin employee in The Bulletin studio in Bend Wednesday morning 10-30-13. Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

We’re in the midst of the dog days of summer, a period, according to Weather.com, that extends from the first week in July through the second week in August. They get their name from Sirius, the Dog Star in the Canis Major constellation, and the ancient Romans believed they were responsible for the hottest weather of the season.

All that heat makes them perfect book weather, I think, whether you read by a pool or in a cool room in a darkened house. And for kids, the selection of relatively new books is pretty darned good this year. The ones below — all available in local libraries — were awarded prizes by the American Library Association, which honors children’s chapter books with Newbery prizes and picture books with Caldecott medals.

“Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures,” by Kate DiCamillo, is the ALA’s 2014 Newbery Medal winner, and with good reason. A book about a friendship between a girl and a squirrel, it’s aimed at readers from roughly the third through seventh grades, though, as my officemates will tell you, I chuckled my way through it this week. Illustrations by K.G. Campbell brought the characters to life and advanced the plot in a way I’d never seen before.

Of all the books for young readers I’ve read this summer, this was by far my favorite. It’s improbable, to be sure — from the moment in the prologue when Ulysses, the squirrel, is sucked into a vacuum cleaner, to the last page, on which Ulysses’ poem for his human friend, 10-year-old Flora, is printed — but it’s delightful and funny.

Then there’s “Paperboy,” by Vince Vawter. Set in Memphis in the summer of 1959, it tells the story of 11-year-old Victor Vollmer, a boy with a bad stutter who does a stint as substitute paperboy. His speech disorder isolates him from most of his peers and from adults, as well, but the paper route introduces readers to two wise adults and at least one far less wise, as well as a variety of other characters.

Along the way, Victor must face violence, try to understand segregation and come to terms with his stutter. The author, by the way, is a former newspaperman who grew up with a stutter, which, he says, he has overcome, though not been cured of.

“Doll Bones,” by Holly Black, fits right in with the current craze for all things spooky. Two girls and a boy, all 12 and all still willing to create imaginary worlds for imaginary adventures, take their game-playing to a whole new level when they set out to bury a doll they believe talks to them and is made from the bones of a dead girl. Burying the doll proves to be no simple task, however, and the adventure that surrounds their effort is every bit as exciting — and not always positively — as the games they play.

Each of the youngsters is coping with problems at home: Zach has a father who’s pushing far too hard to have his son grow up NOW, Poppy hides her insecurity behind a wall of perfection, and Alice lives with a grandmother who keeps her on a leash that’s far too tight.

All three books would appeal to kids between about fourth grade and middle school, I think. Each has a hint, but just a hint, of the notion that boys and girls might someday want relationships beyond the ones they develop in their early years, and all have at least one parent whose understanding of his or her children somehow misses the mark.

That said, they’re children’s books, after all, and each has a heartwarming, satisfying ending.

The fourth chapter book, “The Year of Billy Miller,” is written for children in the early grades, one through three, I’d guess. Billy’s a second-grader, insecure about his own intelligence and his ability to get on in the world. His second-grade year is one of growth and discovery about himself and those around him.

It has the look of a good early chapter book — large type with plenty of white space but no dumbing down of language.

Good children’s books are every bit as entertaining as good books written for older readers, and each of these proves that in a different way. At least one is likely to delight a child in your life, and you may discover one that delights you, as well.

— Janet Stevens is deputy editor of The Bulletin. Contact: 541-617-7821, jstevens@bendbulletin.com