Book Crush: For Kids and Teens--Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Interest (Book Lust Series) »

Parents, teachers, and librarians are often puzzled by the seemingly endless choices for reading material for young people. What’s good, what’s trash, what’s going to hold their interest? Nancy Pearl, America’s favorite librarian, has read widely in all the genres and happily points the way in Book Crush. Divided into three sections — Easy Books, Middle-Grade Readers, and Young Adult — Book Crush makes wonderful reading connections by theme, setting, voice, and ideas. For horse lovers, Pearl recalls the classics (Black Beauty, Misty of Chincoteague), but in a creative twist connects Mr. Revere and I to the list. For middle-grade readers, she explores updated retellings of Greek myths and the best coming-of-age stories. Young adult readers get to know chick lit and much more. For those adults who feel stuck in a rut with Caldecott and Newberry winners and the ubiquitous Harry Potters, this fun, informed book offers new ways to stimulate young readers.

Carol A. EdwardsCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information. - School Library Journal

The well-known adult readers' advisory expert attempts to extend her range into the world of youth. Immediately, quibbles arise. Why list only a few "Dragon Tales" for the middle readers, leaving out the dynamite series by Susan Fletcher, Jane Yolen, and Laurence Yep? Why isn't Ji-li Jiang's Red Scarf Girl listed in the section on memoirs for teens? Since Pearl mostly lists sequels when she mentions a title, did she really think that the sequel to Daniel Pinkwater's The Hoboken Chicken Emergency didn't deserve to be included? Why not point out the offensive qualities of Lynne Reid Banks's "The Indian in the Cupboard" series when you issue a caveat in your introduction about books published before 1960 having some offensive aspects for Native Americans? Why not include Jessica Haas and K. M. Peyton novels in the section on horses for middle readers along with old classics? Why are the teen "Queens of Fantasy" Mercedes Lackey and Tamora Pierce here, but not Anne McCaffrey? Why include M. T. Anderson's Feed in the section for middle readers? Many of the titles are old and out of print, which will ensure interlibrary loan in many locations. Among youth services professionals this volume will start lots of arguments and should be soon filled with sticky notes. Knowledgeable readers won't need it, but for those new to the field or who have a hard time thinking in readers' advisory categories, it could prove useful to get the juices flowing.

Introduction     v
Acknowledgments     xiii
Youngest Readers     1
Ahh, Those Adorable Anthropomorphic Animals     3
B Is for Babies     7
Bedtime Stories     9
Boo! Halloween Books to Treasure     11
Books, Books, Books     12
The Cats Meow     14
Good Books for the Youngest Readers     18
Christmas Is Coming     20
D Is for Dinosaurs     22
Death and Dying     23
A Dog's Life     25
Easy as 1,2,3: Counting Books     27
Fairy Tales (Fractured or Not)     28
Folk Tales     33
Girls Rule     36
Grandmas and Grandpas     38
Grin and Bear It!     40
Just for Fun     42
Latkes, Dreidels, and Lights     46
Let Me Introduce You To...     47
Many Cultures, Many Voices     49
Meet Mother Goose     51
Mind Your P's & Q's     53
Music to My Ears     54
Noodlehead Stories     55
One Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words     57
Picture Perfect     58
Quack Away     60
Reality Check     62
Rebels with a Cause     64
Rhyming Read-Alouds for the Very Young     67
School Daze     68
Simple as ABC     71
Stop Bugging Me: Insects Galore     73
Tall Tales     75
Thanks for Thanksgiving     77
Trickster Tales     78
Weather or Not     80
You've Got a Friend     82
Middle-Grade Readers, Ages 8-12     85
Adventure Ahoy!     87
All in the Family     89
Animal Tales     92
Author! Author!     94
Autobiographies     95
Before and After Harry (Potter, of Course)     97
Biographical Fiction     99
Boys Will Be Boys     102
Coming of Age     105
D@%! the Torpedoes, Full Steam Ahead     107
Dragon Tales     110
Dewey Love Nonfiction? Dewey Ever!     111
Doggone It, She Said Ho(a)rsely     128
Dolls and Dollhouses     130
Double Trouble     134
Friends Make the World Go Round     135
G and T's: Gifted and Talented     137
Girl Power!      137
Gone But Not Forgotten     140
Good Sports     141
Goosebumps     145
Greek Myths     147
Guaranteed to Grab You     148
Hickory, Dickory, Dock     150
"I" Books     152
In the Footsteps of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys     154
The Kids Next Door     157
Kids to the Rescue     158
King Arthur     160
Let's Talk About It     163
LOL: Laugh Out Loud     164
Melting Pots and Salad Bowls     167
Myths, Legends, Folk and Fairy Tales     168
Not a Dry Eye in the House     171
O Pioneers!     173
One Word Is Worth a Thousand Pictures (Or Something Like That)     175
Orphans Abounding     176
Other Times, Other Places     178
The Pleasures of Poetry     180
Real People You Ought to Know     183
Relativity     185
Science Fiction: Future Possibilities     188
Slavery and the Civil War     189
The Witch Trials-Salem and Beyond     191
Teen Readers, Ages 13-18     193
After Sam Spade and Kinsey Millhone     195
Always Short and Sometimes (But Usually Not) Sweet     196
Chicklet Lit: For Girls Only     198
Cry Me a River     201
Dragooned by Dragons     202
Fantastic Fantasies     204
Getting to Know Me: Memoirs     205
Ghosts I Have Loved     208
Girls Kick Butt     209
GLBTQ     211
Growing Up Is (Sometimes) Hard to Do     213
Heartbreak Hotel     215
Historical Fiction     216
Immigrants and Refugees     220
It Might as Well Be Greek     221
It's a Guy Thing     223
Kung Fu, the Samurai Code, and Ninja Stealth     225
May I Have This Dance?     227
Moving Up     229
Not Your Parents' Comic Books     230
One-Word Wonders     233
Our Love Is Here to Stay-Or Not     236
Page-Turning Pleasures     237
Play the Game     239
Poems as Novels and Novels as Poems     240
Queens of Fantasy     242
Shape Shifters     244
Sink Your Teeth into These     245
Slowly Unraveling     247
Smells Like Teen Nostalgia     248
Tam Lin      251
This Is My Life     253
Up All Night     256
Utopia-Not!     258
What'd I Do to Deserve This Biography?     260
Index     263