Reply #75: Lots of great stuff out there. [View All]

[davsand]

Depends on the maturity of the kid and what subjects interest them...

It is difficult to go wrong with ANY of the Newberry titles. There is a list from 1922 to present here:

http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/newberymedal/newberywinners/medalwinners.htm

Additionally, most states have literary awards. Here in Illinois it is the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers'Award. Here's a list of winners that goes back to 1988. There is some mighty fine reading on this list, and this is stuff kids and teacher agree on:

Past Winners of the Caudill Award:

2004 Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
2003 Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
2002 Holes by Louis Sachar
2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
2000 Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
1999 Frindle by Andrew Clements
1998 Mick Harte Was Here by Barbara Park
1997 The Best School Year Ever by Barbara Robinson
1996 The Giver by Lois Lowry
1995 Flight #116 is Down by Caroline Cooney
1994 Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
1993 Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
1992 Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
1991 Matilda by Roald Dahl
1990 Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn
1989 The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright
1988 Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks

About the Caudill awards:

http://www.rebeccacaudill.org/award/

Here's a nice website that has lists of Children's Book Awards. It can help you out a lot in your hunt for books that kids can and will enjoy reading.

http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/awards.html

I want to go on record as saying that the phenom of Harry Potter is not to be sneezed at, IMO. When was the last time you ever saw a bunch of kids standing in line for a book release? THAT is huge! These are kids who are into reading for fun--and if your kid associates reading with fun you have won the war.

Harry Potter may not be a literary standard, but I'm still happy to see a kid pick it up and read it voluntarily. The same goes for Goosebumps, or Sweet Vally High or any of the fad series that kids like so much. (For my generation it was Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Robin Kane and the Hardy Boys, and THOSE were sneered at by teachers and librarians too!)

Buy books for kids!!!!!!


Laura