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100 books? We can top that!
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By Tricia Cornell
On the cover I promised you more than 100 great summer reading recommendations. I admit I had to cross my fingers when I did so. We send the cover to press a good while before the rest of the magazine, so not all the content had quite come together at that point. I mean, I was pretty sure we were on track to get to 100, but what if I shorted you a book or two?
Well, I just finished my final tally: 172, give or take quite a few, because we included a number of series and the complete oeuvres of beloved writers, as suggested by Minnesota Parent readers (see page 48), beautiful young book-lovers (see page 22), and our esteemed booksellers and librarians (see page 23). Phew.
As it turns out, I did have a few recommendations in my back pocket, just in case. So I’ll share them here anyway:
For math geeks and the children of math geeks: Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is? (by Robert E. Wells, Albert Whitman & Company) and The Math Curse (by Jon Scieszka, Viking Juvenile). Actually, math and science lovers — or parents who want to give their kids a little boost in that area — should go to the library and pick up everything they’ve got by Wells and Scieszka.
For tween idealists and deep thinkers: No Castles Here (by A.C.E. Bauer, Random House Books for Young Readers), The Chocolate War (by Robert Cormier, Knopf Books for Young Readers), and The Giver (by Lois Lowry, Laurel Leaf).
For early readers with a keen sense of the absurd: My Dad’s a Birdman (by David Almond, Candlewick).
For young sleuths: The Westing Game (by Ellen Raskin, Puffin Modern Classics).
And, because I loved it so when I was little: The Hungry Thing (by Jan Slepian, Scholastic Paperbacks), but it’s out of print, so please don’t rush over to eBay and drive up the prices on me.
That bring us to 180. A nice round number. And nearly three books a day for your reading pleasure this summer. Get cracking.
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