Ender's Game

Have you ever gone back and read something you loved as a younger person, only to find that your memory of it was much better than the real thing? Well, I recently reread one of my all-time favorite books out of sheer curiosity, and I thought it was just as great as the first time I read it, back in the mid-80s. I actually might like it more now!

That book is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It is a science fiction novel that appeals to both teens and adults and it is awesome. The book is about a very young boy named Andrew Wiggin ("Ender") who is taken from his family and sent off to a school out in space.

Run Away to the Museum

We have blogs for great teen books, and wonderful books and literacy activities for ages birth-to-five. But what about those pesky middle years, when you're too young to drive, but too old to suffer fools (like parents bossing you around) gladly? If you're a tween, or you know one, then I have the classic escapist fantasy to check out: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, written and illustrated by E. L. Konigsburg.

So Long, See You Tomorrow

First, I want to emphatically state that I never pick reading material to complement my geographical location. Yet before heading to farmland in the Heartland, I grabbed this drama played out between tenant farmers in the 1920's and then it grabbed me while I lazed away an afternoon on the porch of a 1910 Sears Roebuck Modern Home.

So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell is a telescopic look into a tragedy that claimed the lives of two neighboring farmers. Fifty years after the incident a townie, connected to the deaths through his friendship with the killer's son, reflects on the events that unfolded to culminate in murder and the families' fragmentation.

A Scarlet Letter for Today

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan is a sci-fi re-imagining of The Scarlet Letter. In this not-so-distant future, abortion is outlawed in the state of Texas, where Hannah Payne, a naive young dressmaker, grew up. When she has an affair with a flashy televangelist named Aidan Dale, her crime is not bearing an illegitimate child...it is aborting it. Convicted felons have their jail time televised and skin dyed bright red before their release. This is the point at which we meet Hannah, a modern Texan Hester Prynne.

Time, Still Wrinkling, 50 Years Later

Quick, identify this first line: "It was a dark and stormy night."

Several of you probably said, "Oh! Snoopy's never-finished novel!" Some of you really brainy types might have said, "Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford!" But if you were a book lover growing up anytime in the past fifty years, you thought of Madeleine L'Engle's Newbery Award winner, A Wrinkle in Time.

Your mind immediately went to a prickly and bad-tempered thirteen-year-old girl with glasses and braces, and to all that lies ahead of her. She's about to leave her attic bedroom and go downstairs to sit with her genius little brother, Charles Wallace. She's about to meet Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, three mysterious old ladies who are far more than old ladies. She's about to discover a new side to classmate Calvin O'Keefe. She's about to undertake a harrowing journey across the universe and into her own heart to find her long-lost father.

And if that's not what you thought of, well, brace yourself. You're about to meet Meg Murray.

- Maureen K.

Vintage Favorites

I've noticed that summer seems to be the time to revisit favorite books.  Maybe it's because, for adults, summer evokes memories of summer vacations, laziness, childhood.  And so we reread the entire Harry Potter series, indulge in beach reads, and turn back the clock to our retro-reads.

I read this vintage classic for the first time last month, and couldn't believe I hadn't read it sooner. The Thirteen Clocks by James Thurber has it all: an evil duke, a clever prince, and an enchanted princess, not to mention delightful illustrations.  Plus, it's a quick read.

Also on my list of retro-summer-reads...