Visual and word pleasures abound in these 10 picture books you can read with your kids all season.

 Catch That Chicken! by Atinuke; illustrated by Angela Brooksbank (Candlewick, July 7): Atinuke continues her celebration of modern Nigerian life with this picture book about young Lami, who delights in chasing and catching the village’s chickens. Illustrator Brooksbank creates a vivid, colorful tapestry of activity teeming with caring adults of many generations—and chickens.

Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S. Brannen, illustrated by Lucia Soto (Little Bee, May 5): Soto gives new life to author Brannen’s sweet 2008 tale about a little girl who is resentful of her beloved uncle’s new fiance, Jamie. Wooing Chloe with warmth, respect, and a little bit of ice cream, Jamie helps her understand that she’s not losing an uncle; she’s gaining another uncle. The flower-filled wedding scene peopled by a happy, interracial family is 100% joy.

Grandparents by Chema Heras; illustrated by Rosa Osuna, translated by Elisa Amado (Aldana Libros/Greystone Kids, May 5): When the music sounds, elderly Manuel urges his wife, Manuela, to the open-air dance, professing his love for every old and wrinkly bit of her. Heras’ playful text and Amado’s witty translation from the Spanish are deftly matched by Osuna’s equally wry illustrations, her wobbly-lined, white protagonists definitely old and just as definitely bursting with life.

The Little Blue Cottage by Kelly Jordan; illustrated by Jessica Courtney-Tickle (Page Street, May 12): The titular seaside cottage is a constant in the life of this interracial family, waiting for them to return each summer. Jordan’s rhythmic text echoes the waves that lap up on the shore, and Courtney-Tickle’s illustrations recall classics of decades ago. It’s a salute to summer and to tradition that will not grow old.

Let’s Swap for a Day by Shu-Ti Liao (Reycraft, May 22): What happens when a girl and a dog switch places? In Liao’s whimsical tale, human child Alphie sleeps on dog Nini’s bed and plays Frisbee. Meanwhile, Nini walks on her hind legs to school to study. But what happens when nature calls? Liao employs a pitch-perfect sense of child logic to carry her confection of a story along.

The Hidden Rainbow by Christie Matheson (Greenwillow, June 9): In this interactive book, Matheson invites children to follow a worker bee and her sisters as they visit a rainbow of flowers, from red tulips to violet lilacs, helping the little insects out with the occasional wave or puff of breath. Counting, colors, and a little bit of botany and apiculture will have young readers buzzing.

Child’s Play by Ramiro José Peralta; illustrated by Blanca Millán, translated by Jon Brokenbrow (Cuento de Luz, May 1): Siblings Danny, Molly, and Marcus play separately and together, creating songs, stories, and art even as conflict is evident outside their home. When the family, all brown-skinned, must leave that home and find another, their play is their strength and their joy. Peralta’s understated text, in Brokenbrow’s sensitive translation, gives Millán’s vibrant illustrations room to sing.

What Sound Is Morning? by Grant Snider (Chronicle, May 12): Birds sing, dogs yawn, alarm clocks buzz, light switches click, babies gurgle, and so on. Snider’s undulating lines and pastel palette take readers from predawn blackness to glorious day, visual and textual images gently playing off one another in glorious harmony.

Natsumi’s Song of Summer by Robert Paul Weston; illustrated by Misa Saburi (Tundra, May 12): Natsumi, a little Japanese girl, is apprehensive that her visiting cousin Jill, a black girl who lives overseas, won’t love what she loves. Happily, they “fit together like sun and summer.” Weston uses the Japanese poetic form of tanka to tell the story while Saburi’s strong line and delicate colors create Natsumi’s world.

Only the Cat Saw by Ashley Wolff (Beach Lane/Simon and Schuster, June 16): This cat sees a lot, both inside and outside a cozy farmhouse on a summer night: sheep, fireflies, a hunting owl—and also the homey activities of its interracial family. Reillustrating her 1985 text for the 21st century, Wolff gives new generations another storytime favorite.

Vicky Smith is a young readers’ editor.