Ideas to Inspire

Give the gift of literacy this year by buying either a print book or an audiobook for your favorite teen or tween. (List compiled by Teri Lesesne)

For the tweens:

THE 39 CLUES – Rick Riordan (and other others for the subsequent volumes) This series from Scholastic is GREAT for young readers who like adventure, geography, espionage. . .I can’t say enough about this series, and the web site with the games and clues are a great way to wait for the next book.

NATION – Terry Pratchett. A tsunami wipes out most of his island and its inhabitants, so a young boy named Mau must rebuild a new civilization with the help of a shipwrecked young girl.

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK – Neil Gaiman. My tween just bought this book at Border’s because it has a very appealing cover for tween boys. A young boy named Bod is reared by a collection of graveyard inhabitants including some ghosts, a vampire, and a werewolf. This seems normal to him. Amazon.com has a trailer for the Graveyard Book online.

CHAINS – Laurie Halse Anderson. Two sisters, Isabel and Ruth, are handed over to new masters when their owner dies. This is a planned trilogy offering readers a glimpse into the life of a slave in the early years of the American Revolution.

BIRD LAKE MOON – Kevin Henkes. A young boy makes friends with the family living in the next cottage in a summer filled with surprises, not all of them good.

For the teens: 

THE ASTONISHING LIFE OF OCTAVIAN NOTHING – M.T. Anderson. In this 2nd book, young Octavian leaves his master’s house and tries to gain his freedom from slavery.

THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO – Patrick Ness. A futuristic civilization holds terrible truths for a young boy named Todd who  learns that the history he has been told is not at all accurate.

MADAPPLE – Christina Meldrum. Aslaug must find other members of her family when her mother dies.

TENDER MORSELS – Margo Lanagan. Part fairy tale, part magical realism, and totally absorbing and disturbing.