Looking for a great summer read? Kid reporters from Time For Kids have reviewed the season's hottest new books. They have recommended a list of kid-approved page-turners (令人爱不释手的书) to our readers. Whether you're fond of mysterious, fantastic or realistic fictions, there's always one that suits you.

    Three Bird Summer

    By Sara St. Antoine

    Genre: Realistic Fiction

    Number of pages: 256

    What's the basic story line?

    For his entire life, 12-year-old Adam has spent summers at his grandma's cabin in Minnesota. But this year things are different. His parents have divorced. Apart from that, Adam's cousins won't be vacationing at the cabin with him. Also, Grandma seems to be acting differently. At first, she's just a bit more forgetful than usual. But after spending more time with her, Adam realizes Grandma is “slipping.”

    There are new neighbors at the cabin this summer, including a girl at Adam's age named Alice. At first, Adam isn't interested in spending time with her. But as time goes by, their friendship flourishes(繁荣). Throughout this unusual summer, Adam searches for hidden treasure with his new friend and begins to uncover family secrets as well.

    Are the characters believable?

    The characters are believable because they don't have cookie-cutter(千篇一律的) personalities. Adam is quiet and shy and finds girls difficult to understand. Alice is adventurous and unlike any girl he has ever met. Readers will likely see aspects of their personalities in the characters and recognize their friendship too.

    Who would like this book?

    Anyone who appreciates memories of family vacations or summertime in general will enjoy the vivid imagination that fills ThreeBirdSummer. Readers will fall into the story, almost as if they're actually spending the summer exploring Three Bird Lake with Adam and Alice.

    Dutch masters exhibition in Beijing

    The 17th century Dutch Golden Age had several significant artists and a range of great pieces produced during the period—including Jan Vermeer's Young Woman at Virginal,Jan Lievens' Boy in a Cape,and Turban and Rembrandt's Self-Portrait with Shaded Eyes.

    Some of the most refined examples of the time,including the three pieces mentioned above,will make their debut（首次亮相）in China as part of a world tour of The Leiden Collection.

    If you go:

    9 a.m.-5 p.m.,June 17-Sept 3 (closed on Mondays).National Museum of China,I Wusi Avenue,Dongcheng district.010-6400-1476.

    Ticket: 50 yuan ($7)

    The Age of Mechanical Reproduction

    The Age of Mechanical Reproduction,the latest exhibition at the Riverside Art Museum,features 41 artworks of US pop icon Andy Warhol,covering art installations,paintings and photographs.Warhol's well-known installation Electric Chair is a highlight of the show,which is also its debut in Asia.

    If you go:

    10 a.m.-5 p.m.,through August 28 (closed on Mondays).The Riverside Art Museum,Hongyan Road,Chaoyang district.010-5309-2062.

    Ticket: 60 yuan

    Back with a bang

    Beijing-based hand Escape Plan will hold a concert in Beijing this weekend.The band is most famous for the song The Brightest Star in the Night Sky.

    If you go:

    7:30 p.m.,June 17.Beijing Worker's Gymnasium,Gongti Beilu,Chaoyang district.400-610-3721.

    Ticket: 280-980 yuan

    Purple clay teapots

    Yixing purple clay potteries are a vital part of Chinese pottery culture and have been included in China's list of national intangible cultural heritage（国家非物质文化遗产）.A selection of more than 80 purple clay teapots will go on display at the Poly Art Museum starting Friday.The exhibit will include a range of delicate teapot works of Ji Yishun,Wang Xiaolong and Gao Lijun,who are all inheritors（继承人）the time-honored（历史悠久的）pottery handicraft.

    If you go:

    9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.(closed on Sundays),through June 30.Poly Art Museum,New Poly Plaza,1 Chaoyangmen North Street 9.010-6500-8117.

    Ticket: 20 yuan

    Camping is a good way to spend time along with your kids and to show them how wonderful nature can be. Through camping, children can discover new things about nature, such as flowers, birds, and other small animals. Camping gives kids time to get away from all the electronics (电子) of today's culture. So it is necessary to plan exciting and enjoyable family camping trips with your children while they are young.

    When planning your family camping trip, consider the activities your kids like: games, hiking, swimming, boating, bicycling, etc. Select a camping place that has some of the activities the kids are interested in. Meal planning is an important part of your camping trip. Plan the meals together, and kids love to choose what they want to eat.

    When starting to pack for your trip, let the kids pack their own items (物品) . Each person should have his/her own sleeping bag with a luggage (行李) bag to put it in. Personal items should be packed with their sleeping bags. Encourage the kids to put their items in a certain place and always return it when they have finished using it.

    When you have arrived at your campsite, make all the camping activities a family activity, which will help children to realize how important team-work is. Everyone can have his/her own job sitting up the campsite. Meal time can be a fun time. So let the older ones help with the cooking on your outdoor camping stove while the younger ones get the picnic table ready.

    Two things changed my life: my mother and a white, plastic, daisy bike basket. I would be a different person if my mom hadn't turned a silly bicycle accessory(配件) into a life lesson I carry with me today.

    It was summer and, one day, my mother drove me to the bike shop to get a tire fixed — and there it was in the window. White, shiny, plastic and decorated with daisies, the basket seemed so appealing and I knew I had to have it.

    "Mom, please can I get it? I'll do extra chores for as long as you say. I'll do anything, but I need that basket. I love that basket. Please, Mom. Please?"

    "You know," she said, gently rubbing my back while we both stared at what I believed was the coolest thing ever, "If you save up, you could buy this yourself."

    "By the time I make enough it'll be gone!"

    "Maybe Roger here could hold it for you," she smiled at Roger, the bike guy.

    "For that long? He can't hold it for that long, Mom. Someone else will buy it. Please, Mom, please?"

    "There might be another choice," she said. My mother bought the beautiful basket and put it safely out of reach in some hiding place I couldn't find. Each week I eagerly counted my growing nest egg earned by extra work here and there (washing the car, helping my mother make dinner, delivering milk around the neighborhood). And then, weeks later maybe, I counted, re-counted and jumped for joy. Oh, I made it! I finally had the exact amount we'd agreed upon.

    Days later, the unthinkable happened. A neighborhood girl I'd played with appeared with the exact same basket fixed to her shiny, new bike. I rode my bike fast home to tell my mother about this disaster, this horrible turn of events.

    And then came the lesson I've taken with me through my life: "Honey, your basket is extra-special," Mom said, gently wiping away my hot tears. "Your basket is special because you paid for it yourself."

    A few years ago, bubble tea(奶茶) exploded as a popular drink for Internet foodies(吃货) everywhere. Many take this Taiwanese drink as a guilt-free snack similar to juice or a cup of coffee. After all, it has the word "tea" in it, so it has to be healthy…right?

    Not quite. Like coffee, bubble tea's ingredients(成分，配料) might not be so bad on their own, but when they're loaded with sweetener(甜味剂) and artificial flavor(人工香料), they lose their nutritional (营养的) value fast.

    It all starts with those "bubbles" found at the bottom of your drink, which are actually round pieces of tapioca(木薯淀粉). Called "tapioca pearls(珍珠)," they're actually made from a vegetable that grows in South America. And as it turns out, those little balls are loaded with sugar—and not the nutritious, fiber-rich(富含纤维) kinds found in whole grains(全麦类), either.

Cooking tapioca pearls only makes it worse. They're typically fried in hot water, along with even more added sugar, for up to three hours. By that point, these balls could have nearly 160 calories per ¼ cup.

    And don't even get us started on what comes in the extra syrups(糖浆). Thanks to all those processed(加工的) ingredients, the average bubble tea can easily reach 300 to 400 calories per cup!

    On top of being an unhealthy habit, bubble tea could even shorten your life. In 2012, a group of German researchers from the University Hospital Aachen reportedly found aspolychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in tapioca ball samples. These cancer-causing chemicals have also been shown to have other bad effects on the immune(免疫), reproductive(生殖), and nervous systems.

    You might want to lay off your bubble tea addiction. Thankfully, we have a few choices for low-calorie, healthier drinks, instead.

    The Intelligent Transport team at Newcastle University have turned an electric car into a mobile laboratory named "DriveLAB" in order to understand the challenges faced by older drivers and to discover where the key stress points are.

    Research shows that giving up driving is one of the key reasons for a fall in health and well-being among older people, leading to them becoming more isolated (隔绝) and inactive.

    Led by Professor Phil Blythe, the Newcastle team are developing in-vehicle technologies for older drivers which they hope could help them to continue driving into later life.

    These include custom-made navigation (导航) tools, night vision systems and intelligent speed adaptations. Phil Blythe explains: "For many older people, particularly those living alone or in the country, driving is important for preserving their independence, giving them the freedom to get out and about without having to rely on others.

    "But we all have to accept that as we get older our reactions slow down and this often results in people avoiding any potentially challenging driving conditions and losing confidence in their driving skills. The result is that people stop driving before they really need to."

    Dr Amy Guo, the leading researcher on the older driver study, explains:" The DriveLAB is helping us to understand what the key stress points and difficulties are for older drivers and how we might use technology to address these problems.

    "For example, most of us would expect older drivers always go slower than everyone else but surprisingly, we found that in 30mph zones they struggled to keep at a constant speed and so were more likely to break the speed limit and be at risk of getting fined. We're looking at the benefits of systems which control their speed as a way of preventing that.

    "We hope that our work will help with technological solutions (解决方案) to ensure that older drivers stay safer behind the wheel."