Ice Cream Books for National Ice Cream Month

National Ice Cream month

July 19 is National Ice Cream Day, so here’s a chance to convince your young readers that they should really eat some ice cream! The third Sunday In July has been designated National Ice Cream Day, and indeed the month of July is National Ice Cream Month.

In his proclamation in 1984, President Ronald Reagan declared that “ice cream is a nutritious and wholesome food, enjoyed by over 90 percent of the people in the United States.” Be that as it may, Americans average about 23 pounds of ice cream every year, according to the International Dairy Foods Association, and families are the prime consumer group.

In the olden days, we chased the Good Humor ice cream truck in the summers and dug around in the sofa cushions or raided mom’s purse for the nickel we needed for a fudgesicle or ice cream sandwich. We got ice cream at birthday parties in a little cup with a wooden spoon (that disconcerting tongue feel!). A bowl of chocolate ice cream was the traditional dessert at a Chinese restaurant, and an ice cream cone (one scoop or two?) at the local shop was the welcome treat in a new army post. A beach boardwalk was always good for a cone, though prone to more melting mishaps in the heat. Ice cream flavors can be a lot more interesting and exotic now perhaps, like Bacon, Ghost pepper, or Wasabi, but your average American still prefers Chocolate, Vanilla, and Butter Pecan as the top three, homemade peach in the summer, rum raisin or coffee as adults…

So enough about ice cream, though I do hope you are pondering your next cup, cone (cake or waffle?), sandwich, split to celebrate the month. Here are two books to put your child in the mood.

The Ice Cream King by Steve Metzger, illustrated by Julie Downing, is just the book to choose when you want to wallow in ice cream fantasies. Make sure you have access to an ice cream treat after you read this one!

Teddy and his mother try out a new ice cream shop, and Teddy can have anything he wants! When the server puts a paper crown on his head, he becomes the Ice Cream King, on a throne of cones, and he envisions all the possibilities. He skated down halls of chocolate, ate sprinkles from the walls, reveled in ice cream mountains, fished for nuts and cherries in a whipped cream sea “all for me, me, me!), took off for an ice cream moon, tasting bites from asteroids on the way. Finally, he notices he is all alone with his glorious treats, and so takes off his crown and returns to his table with his mother in the ice cream store. He orders a huge banana split – AND – two spoons so he can share.

The watercolor illustrations by July Downing are a real enhancement to the book. The first pages are mostly black in with some red, but when Teddy has his crown and explodes into his ice cream fantasy, the colors explode as well – dynamic and exciting. When he settles a bit and realizes he has no one to share with, things grey out and then return to the original simple colors of real life. This is a fun book to pore over to catch all the details.

Gorilla Loves Vanilla by Chae Strathie and illustrated by Nicola Byrne is great for children who love silliness. Five animals walk into an ice cream store on Jellybean Street run by Sam Sundae, who knows how to fulfill any request. He doesn’t “Yuck” anyone’s “Yum”, just serves up what each one likes – a cone full of worms for Chicken, blue cheese for Mouse, fish fingers for the sea-going Cat, flowers for Cow, and a mud bath for Hippo; none of these faze the resourceful Sam.

When Gorilla steps up for his ice cream, he asks for “good old vanilla”. All the other animals realize that vanilla sounds pretty delicious. Sam creates a giant dessert of vanilla, with sprinkles and fudge sauce, enough for all the animals. Luckily, gorillas love sharing! The author reads this story in a lovely Scottish accent here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIgIkQfQlGU .

I hope these two books delight you and your readers!

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