The wordie recommends

Books for kiddos

The following books are ones I loved as small child - they were first read to me and then I mastered the art of reading and read them to myself . . . and others. Once upon a time I had Green Eggs and Ham memorized. I have several other Dr. Seuss books on my milk crate shelf, that's how important I believe it is to infuse life with whimsy, rhyme and not entirely subtle be better/ do better themes.

• The Monster at the End of This Book
• Stellaluna - because bats rock
• The Giving Tree
• Where the Wild Things Are
• Goodnight Moon
• Anything by Dr. Seuss. My favorites include The Thinks You Can Think, Oh, the Places You'll Go!, Green Eggs and Ham and The Lorax.

Tweens and Teens

As a voracious reader in my youth (and beyond), I was indifferent to the intended age level a book targeted, reading anything that caught my attention. I will share authors and some of their titles that I enjoyed during those angst filled years of junior high and high school - conveniently rolled into one building when I passed through 7th - 12th grade. These are the authors (and their works) who made the long days in class more interesting, the longer bus rides (in spirit if not actual time) tolerable and my chaotic home life manageable:

• Ursula le Guin - I met her through the Earthsea books
• Laura Ingalls Wilder - I loved her Little House books
• Lloyd Alexander - The Black Cauldron
• Susan Cooper - Over Sea, Under Stone
• Margaret Mahy - The Tricksters
• Jane Austen - yes, I was that bespectacled girl who loved the Victorian novelists
• Louisa May Alcott - even a girl with two sisters and two brothers can want more
• Emily Bronte - I have a woodblock art copy of Wuthering Heights from the 1800s somewhere in storage
• Madeleine L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time and about sixty others
• Anna Sewell - Black Beauty
• Juliette Marillier - fall in love with the folk of the Sevenwaters series
• Charles de Lint - I first read Trader, but I adore all this guy's books

To be continued . . .

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