Last month we focused on picture books. For more challenge to older kids, tuck these titles into their bag as they head to the pool or beach.

After all, it's not too late to "Make a Splash" in a summer reading club. Check out these titles (and more). There is a chance to bring home prizes for the enjoyment and effort.

Babymouse: Beach Babe by Jennifer Holm (Random House, 2006) is a graphic novel for elementary kids. Our squiggly-whiskered heroine heads with her family to the beach. Complete with crowds, surfboard wipeouts, sunburn and the odd shark, she is challenged to keep her younger sibling out of her fur.

Summer is the season for spunky heroes and heroines. Take Jane, quirky star of My One Hundred Adventures (Schwartz & Wade, 2008) by Newbery honor winner Polly Horvath. A dull summer at the beach is interrupted by a hot-air balloon ride, a psychic, an all-night car trip and a procession of possible fathers.

In Becca At Sea, Deirdre Baker (Groundwood Books, 2007) captures the rhythm of winter, spring and summer on a northwestern coast island. Ten-year-old Becca, the picture of competence and persistence, averts mishaps with ingenuity, tact and enough grace to beguile her family and readers alike.

Summerhouse Time by Eileen Spinell (Knopf, 2007) has a similar feel. August at the beach house has always been Sophie's favorite time of year, filled with trips to the doughnut shop, fish fries and storytelling. However, this summer's reality doesn't live up to her memories.

Geraldine McCaughrean, a Printz Award winner spins a somewhat darker yarn in Death-Defying Pepper Roux (HarperCollins, 2010). Told by a spiteful aunt that he'll be dead by age 14, Pepper Roux hopes to outrun fate on misadventures as a ship captain, would-be cupid, journalist and legionnaire.

In obvious homage to Hemingway, The Young Man and the Sea by Rodman Philbrick (Blue Sky Press, 2004) stars Skiff Beaman. To salvage his family's fishing business, our plucky hero, challenging the odds in a 10-foot boat in the Atlantic Ocean, harpoons a giant bluefin tuna, which brings big money from Japanese fish buyers. With the tuna dragging on the boat, Skiff rows through the foggy night, lashing his blood-soaked hands to the oars to keep going. Suspend your disbelief and enjoy the adventure.

Summer is the perfect season to get kids hooked on a series with mer-people - the latest creature craze in children's fiction. In Dark Day in the Deep Sea by Mary Osbourne (Magic Tree House series, Random House, 2009), eight-year-old Jack and his younger sister, Annie, join 19th-century explorers aboard the HMS Challenger to learn about the ocean and solve the mystery of its fabled sea monster.

Helen Dunmore sets the stakes high for Sapphire, the mer-human, in The Deep (HarperCollins, 2009). In this sequel to Ingo and The Tide Knot , she must dive to the deep to lull the Kraken back to sleep..

Liz Kessler sets a whole ""mer community in her fourth Emily Windsnap adventure, The Siren's Secret (Candlewick, 2007). It pits Brightport against the underwater village of Shiprock, threatened by development. But semi-mer Emily takes her unique position to heart. Along the way, stumbling across the secret of the Lost Sirens, she and her team cleverly works harness their strength, escape catastrophe, solve a mystery and - yes! - achieve world peace.

For older teens, Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley (Putnam, 2002) offers short stories about mermaids, sea serpents and other fabulous creatures.