Looking to build some intentionality into your summer days as a family? Consider picking a family read-aloud, making a celebratory meal when you complete it and watching the film adaptation afterward. Here are a few ideas to get you started!
Pippi Longstocking
Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim's Daughter Longstocking — or Pippi for short — is not your average redhead. The sea captain’s daughter finds herself living alone in a big old house and befriending neighborhood children Tommy and Annika. This Swedish classic has been translated into numerous languages, and it’s funny in all of them! Three different movie adaptations and a cartoon TV series have all launched since the book’s 1945 publication. After reading the first book, my family indulged in the 1988 version. It’s corny, and fair warning, the theme song will be stuck in your head all summer (“Pippi Longstocking is coming into your town!”)
Dinner: Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam pay cultural homage to author Astrid Lindgren’s motherland. And don’t forget dessert! Pippi makes pepparkakor heart-shaped cookies, preferring to lay out all 500 on her floor (feel free to make yours on the counter!)
Summer of the Monkeys
Tucked away in the Ozark Mountains of Oklahoma, 14-year-old Jay Berry Lee discovers a group of escaped circus monkeys. Initially, Jay is excited about the prospect of the reward money for finding them. But as the summer progresses, he forges an unlikely bond with the primates, complicating his decision about whether to turn them in. Both the book and the movie adaptation of this great coming-of-age story masterfully hit on themes of self-sacrifice, bravery and love.
Dinner: Chili, cornbread and huckleberry pie a la mode (just like Jay’s grandmother made him!).
The Swiss Family Robinson
Being stranded in the East Indies after a shipwreck would be every parent’s worst nightmare and every child’s dream come true! See how one family’s fortitude and ingenuity staves off pirates and wild animals and produces one of the most epic tree houses of all time! This 1812 classic by Johann David Wyss was adapted into a Disney classic in 1960.
Dinner: Those less inclined to try the exotic cuisine the Robinsons ate on the island (porcupine stew or roasted penguin, anyone?) can indulge in some of the other staples they feasted on: lobster or lamb. Or take another route and indulge in their homeland cuisine: raclette (think cheese fondue with sizzled meat and veggies!).
Because of Winn-Dixie
When 10-year-old India Opal Buloni is tasked with getting groceries at the local Winn-Dixie, she instead comes back with a scruffy dog she names after the grocery store. Opal’s first summer living in Naomi, Florida is forever marked by of the influence of a stray dog that wins its way into her heart and the heart of community around her. This enduring Newberry Medal-winning tale is acclaimed author Kate DiCamillo’s best-selling book.
Dinner: Feast on crustless egg salad sandwiches like Gloria Dump and Opal Buloni prepare in the story. Sweet tea and orange creamsicles would also pay tribute to the tale’s Floridian roots.
Old Yeller
I know, I know. After their initial childhood viewing of this movie, most parents refer to it as “the one where the dog dies.” But did you know the book leads with that information? I watched the movie plenty as a kid, but when I read the book to my kids, I was surprised to discover how much of the story is really about Travis’ rites of passage as he grows from a child to a man. My boys ate this one up, and the movie, while sad, didn’t disappoint.
Dinner: A chuckwagon spread with barbecue, baked beans and potato salad fits the bill for this one!
Doctor Doolittle
Hugh Lofting didn’t set out to make a classic children’s series. The first book in the Doctor Doolittle canon is comprised of letters and illustrations Lofting sent to his children while he served in World War I in an attempt to buffer the blow of his absence and the hardships of war. Children everywhere can now delight in a world of talking animals, a shifting island and a kooky doctor. My kids loved this series of books, and while there are three movie adaptations, I’m a purist who prefers the original musical version with Rex Harrison (who hilariously cannot sing, but talks in a melodic way!).
Dinner: All the talk of a moving tropical island had my crew hankering for Polynesian faire. Whip up a stir fry with pineapple and coconut if you’re so inclined — or, cheat and head to Hawaiian Bros. for dinner and Dole whip!