Titles--and Talk : Appearances by authors can inspire young readers.

Do you remember the last day of the school year when you slammed your textbook shut and cheered silently--or aloud if you had a cool teacher--because the long, lazy days of summer stretched before you? And while you didn’t plan literary pursuits, more often than not, by summer’s end you had read some fun books.

Reading is, primarily, a solitary venture. But children are easily captivated by storytelling, which gets them accustomed to words as performance. Through reading aloud and storytelling, we create tomorrow’s book buyers and theater goers.

Beginning this week and stretching into summer, youngsters will have the opportunity to meet authors and participate in group readings at bookstores in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

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Jody Fickes Shapiro presides over the nationally recognized Adventures for Kids bookstore at 3457 Telegraph Road, Ventura. World-renowned authors and illustrators will visit the store all summer. Current story times are Saturdays at 3 p.m. and Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m.

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Barnes & Noble bookstores also are focusing on children’s events. “Arthur’s Activity Books” will be presented at an Arthur’s birthday celebration at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Thousand Oaks store, 160 S. Westlake Blvd. The store hosts story times for kids Monday through Thursday. Call 446-2820.

The Ventura store, 4360 E. Main St., will sponsor a children’s writing workshop with J.S. Salt, author of “Always Kiss Me Goodnight,” at 7 p.m. May 30.

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Robert San Souci, whose many awards include the Caldecott and Coretta Scott King honors, will introduce his latest titles, “Nicholas Pipe” and “The Hired Hand,” at 7 p.m. Saturday at Borders Books, 125 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

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Local author William Fulton’s “The Reluctant Metropolis: The Politics of Urban Growth in Los Angeles” includes two chapters on land-development controversies and the retail wars in Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo. He will sign the book at 7 p.m. Friday at the Ventura Bookstore, 522 E. Main St.

In Santa Barbara

Author J.S. Salt, who interviewed 147 kids about how to raise perfect parents for his book, “Always Kiss Me Goodnight,” is looking for new stories from youngsters for volume 2. He will teach a writing workshop for children at Barnes & Noble, 829 State St., at 7 p.m. Friday.

Nitzan the Mime will perform tales for children at 11 a.m. Saturday at Earthling Bookshop, 1137 State St.

* Frances Halpern and Jon O’Brien are co-hosts of “Beyond Words” at 10 a.m. Sundays on KCLU-FM (88.3), Ventura County’s National Public Radio station.