Children's Books
I loved books long before I'd learned to read. Here are a few recommendations for children's and young adult books. Some are old favorites from my childhood, while others are new friends that I've found through my work with young people.
Picture Books
Hugger to The Rescue by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent is a non-fiction book about rescue dogs. It is a favorite of mine because it features our Bailey's family (Hugger is her grandfather), but it is a neat book for kids as well.
Probably my absolute favorite author when I was a child was Steven Kellogg. He has written and illustrated a large number of picture books. My favorites are Pinkerton, Behave! and The Mysterious Tadpole. Both are sweet, humorous tales about the love between people and pets.
Another childhood favorite was The Monster at the End of This Book by Joe Stone. I loved Sesame Street and this book stars lovable, furry Grover. It's really funny and deals with handling fears.
Barbara Cooney's Miss Rumphius is a story about a woman who fulfills her childhood dreams of travelling all over the world, living by the sea, and doing something to make the world more beautiful. It reminds me in many small ways of L.M. Montgomery's Anne's House of Dreams.
One last recent picture book that I really like is King Bidgood's In the Bathtub by Don and Audrey Wood. The Woods are a husband and wife team and their work (at least all that I've read) is consistently humorous and beautifully illustrated. This one is my favorite, mostly because of the costumes that the characters wear, but its also just a lot of fun
'Chapter' Books
Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad series are great books for beginning readers. They follow the everyday adventures of two best friends.
The Trouble With Tuck by Theodore Taylor was my favorite book when I was ten. It's the story of a girl who goes to great lengths to help her beloved golden retriever when he begins to lose his vision.
Lyddie is a great historical fiction book by Katherine Paterson (Bridge to Terebithia, Jacob Have I Loved). It is set during the industrial revolution and tells the ugly truth about working conditions of the time. Lyddie is a great, spunky heroine--one that you really care about.
Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden was another childhood favorite. I also love and highly recommend the musical.
Young Adult Books
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley was a Newberry Honor book sometime in the 80s. It's a fantasy story with a strong female, outsider heroine. Very captivating.
I discovered Jean Little's Hey World, Here I Am during the children's literature course I took in summer '97. It's a really neat book, presented as the poems and diary entries written by a teenager. Very true to teenage life, and something that still speaks to me in my twenties.
Anne of Green Gables is probably my all-time favorite novel. I'd recommend just about any book by L.M. Montgomery, but this one just has a special magic about it.
I really loved Robert Arthur's Three Investigators mystery series, which I began reading in elementary school. They are very entertaining books with believable teen detectives. My very favorite is The Three Investigators and The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot, an early installment in the series where the boys have to figure out a series of riddles.