Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial kickoff to summer, and that means the tantalizing prospect of having more time for reading stretches ahead of us — long, lazy summer days curled up with a book.

With that in mind, Newbery Award-winning author Kate DiCamillo shared some summer book recommendations for readers ages 8-13 with NPR's Melissa Block. DiCamillo is the author of Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux, among others,and was recently named the country's national ambassador for young people's literature by the Library of Congress. Her latest book is Flora & Ulysses.

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