Summertime connotes a fun time, a relaxing time — and time to read. Here is a list of great books to fill your lazy days and give you much to enjoy and create.

Hocus Pocus: A Tale of Magnificent Magicians , by Paul Kieve, is filled with magic tricks and tricks of the trade, with more than 300 pages of tantalizing tricks for the young and young at heart. The author was the magic consultant on the third Harry Potter movie and displays his passion for magic in this most interesting book.

The stories about different tricks from some of the greatest magicians will surely draw in the magic of how they performed their tricks. And the last part of the book has easy to follow directions to set up many different illusions.

Klutz Publishers is the premier activities book in the industry. When you see their name, you know that they've done much research to figure out if kids will enjoy their product. Here is a list of some of their newest and innovative publications:

Short Stuffs: Create Your Own No-Sew Stuffed Animals is the perfect combination of creating and enjoying the end product with these adorable animals. There is a monkey, dog, mouse and more, ready for you to put together without a single stitch. This is great for ages 3 and up.

• Draw It Again delivers the punch for those who love to draw and draw and draw. This book is full of laminated pages, erasable markers and imagination filled to the brim.

• Quick Draw Flip Books is the beginning of making images that move. There are several sets of perforated pages with different story outlines just waiting for children ages 7 and older to complete drawing the story and then flip the pages.

• Paper Fashions Fancy will entice your young fashion designer to have more fun designing new dresses than ever before. There is patterned and textured paper, stencils and even small metal hangers. This book is packed with clothing ideas waiting for your designer to discover.

• For your underwater swimmer, Mermaid's Palace has three magical mermaids, sequins, a sea horse chariot and a palace that unfolds into a multi-dimensional play place.

• Bead Loom Bracelets is the perfect instructional book for making exquisite and beautiful bracelets. The easy-to-follow instructions will surprise even the most reluctant bracelet maker. What a fun way to pass the time and make gifts for you and others!

• The 15 Greatest Board Games in the World is packaged to encase easy-to-play and easy- to-carry board games that the entire family will enjoy. Checkers, Hoppers (a cousin to Chinese Checkers) and Roundabouts are just a few of the fun games.

Summertime could be a perfect time to explore and investigate future possibilities. When I Grow Up: A Young Person's Guide to Interesting & Unusual Occupations , by Jessica Loy, features 14 unusual occupations that children may not encounter or even know about. Each job features a person who holds that job giving much insight of what the job is about and what it entails. The photos and design of each job description are bright and vibrant, making you wish there were many more books like this to help children learn about potential jobs.

Spot the Differences: Brain-Teasing Picture Puzzles , by Steven Rosen, is a delightful book with two similar pictures for you to locate the discrepancy between the two. This is the kind of book you may want to take on a trip or when you need little ones to stay engaged. This is great for all ages!

Pop-up books are an art form that has become exquisite, complicated and very entertaining. Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda are two of the premiere paper engineers and their latest publication is no disappointment. Fairies and Magical Creatures will take you to a magical land where castles rise out of the clouds, trees spread branches in spectacular dimensions and flower fairies seem to pop out everywhere. The authors continue their traditional pop-out corners on every page. Be sure to add this one to your collection!

And my other favorite paper engineer, Jan Pienkowski, has a new pop-out book that features the pecking order (or eating order) of animals. The colors and art will grab you if the pop-out doesn't!