Cookbook Watch

Not every good cookbook has to be serious. Sara Perry’s “Summertime Treats” (Chronicle Books, $14.95) is a prime example. It’s slight, and slightly giddy, the way you might remember feeling during the last week of school. And it’s full of that kind of ambling search for ways to fill time that you might also remember from the last week of vacation.

Soccer moms should delight in the crafts suggestions: everything from an ingenious method for making semi-permanent castles from a homemade sand-based clay to decorating citronella candles with grass and fake bugs.

The recipes are evenly divided between summertime drinks (all, of course, nonalcoholic though not necessarily childish) and the kinds of dishes you might call beach food. Included among the smoothies and shakes are a splendid-sounding lime fizz, a pretty convincing coffee frappe and a strawberry lassi. The food runs to big, bold flavors guaranteed to rise above even saltwater and suntan lotion.