Once my kids start middle school, I give them a summer reading list that must be complete by the end of the summer. In exchange, I don’t nag them if they spend a whole day watching TV or IMing or playing some silly computer game. Well, I try really hard not to nag, I probably succumb too frequently to saying “remember your reading list.” I spend a bit of time devising the reading list, it’s part a compilation of the school’s suggestions, where we’re going on vacation, a couple of books from the Bible, and a book or two that might talk about something the kids will study the next year in school. Sometimes I give them a list of great choices and ask them to pick a few, that way they have some say in what they are reading. Most of the books are fun and a couple are a stretch. Now I have new source of inspiration, Twenty by Jenny.
Twenty by Jenny suggests books for four age groups: Up to three years, four to seven, eight to twelve, and teens. Each month Jenny recommends a new book, but what I found most interesting were the twenty classics she recommended for each age group. Don’t let the term “classics” scare you, it doesn’t mean Charles Dickens (even I let my kids English teacher assign Dickens, I love him, but frequently part of reading Dickens as a teenager is complaining about it). At Twenty by Jenny, teenage classics includes Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (how to get any women all gushy, just mention this book) and the more recent Book Thiefby Markus Zukas.
Jenny is more than qualified to recommend children’s books. She worked a stint as a children’s book editor at HarperCollins and Pleasant Company, and for ten years was children’s reviews editor at Publishers Weekly. Now, when she isn’t working on Twenty by Jenny, she writes for School Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews. Plus, she’s children’s editor of Shelf Awareness, my favorite e-newsletter.
I always love a person who pitches her favorite bookstores, and Jenny does just that on her about page. Now, if we could only get other book people to do the same.
Kids do need fun in the summer, but fun can include reading, check out Jenny’s list of suggestions and encourage your child to curl up with a book this summer.
Tags: childrens books, Young Adult books
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Thanks for the link – I’m always looking for book recs for my kids! I have four: 12 yo girl, and three boys: 10, 9, and 7. My daughter’s easy – she’ll read anything at all – but my boys are more difficult.
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I hoping that my son and Claire’s son will give us a list of books they recommend to boys just the age of your sons. It might sound better coming from teenagers and they both read some great books at that age.
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