Besides camps, poison oak, blockbuster movies, vacations, and sunburn, summer is also known as a time when kids forget a little too much of what they spent the just-finished school year learning.”

But it doesn’t have to be that way. This is the first of several columns that will highlight some of the many ways you can help turn that dreaded summer brain drain into a brain gain.

And there’s no better place to start than with history. All available at laurenceking.com.

“LITTLE GUIDES TO GREAT LIVES”

One of the best ways to learn about history is to read about the lives of the people who lived it. And this new series of books for young readers is excellent.

Each of these 64-page books is charmingly illustrated and filled with stories, scenes and fascinating nuggets from the subject’s life. So if you want to know how Nelson Mandela inspired the world, why Amelia Earhart is an aviation hero, what makes Leonardo da Vinci a genius, why Frida Kahlo is an art icon, and what Marie Curie did to become a science superstar, look no further.

Although they’re written for children, adults will love these books too — and they’re perfect to read aloud.

For ages 7 and up. $11.99

“WHO OWNS THESE BONES?”

This book is a clever collaboration between an ethnologist (Henri Cap), a writer (Raphael Martin), and an illustrator (Renaud Vigourt), and the result is both engaging and educational. You’ll learn more than you thought possible about skeletons, what makes each one unique and how to tell similar ones (like a human and a gorilla) apart.

You’ll also learn what skulls and other bones teach us about animal anatomy and how they developed (for example, did you know that tree frogs use their eyeballs to move their food from the front of their mouth back to the throat? Weird…)

For ages 7 and up. $21.99.