Smart Podcast, Trashy Books Podcast

99. Recommendations for Young Readers – Part I

Multi-part episodes of young reader recommendations. Thank you!

This week, Jane’s recommendations based on her daughter’s reading enjoyment and their experiences with books together. Then, I’ll be on next week with my recommendations. In both episodes (possibly three depending on editing time), I’ll feature your recommendations as well.

Before I get to the book recommendations, I also wanted to highlight a couple of book-focused charity initiatives. We subscribed to the PJ Library, which sends monthly books that focus on Jewish themes to children until they’re about 8. Some areas extend the program a bit longer, but our PJ Library, which was coordinated by the JCC MetroWest in West Orange, NJ, stopped the program at age 8. Each month both of my children would receive a book – or sometimes a CD of music – that was about Jewish children, holidays, cultural history, and similar themes. Getting a book in the mail once a month: BIG AWESOMENESS.

Also, if you’re looking for local book initiatives in your area, you might try First Book, and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, both of which aim to get books into the hands of young readers. If you’d like to recommend other programs that increase childhood literacy, please email me.

One last thing: Jane mentioned the Newbery Award, and you can find the complete list of winning books from 1922 to the present on the ALA website.

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Ready? Here are the books we discuss in this podcast:

And just wait – next week, we’ll have more!

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This Episode's Music

The music this week was provided by Sassy Outwater. This song is called “Room 215” and it’s by the Peatbog Faeries from their CD Dust. You can find them at their website, or at iTunes.


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  1. There’s a Kids’ Sale going on at Audible, for anyone interested…

  2. Sharon says:

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  3. I’m tickled that the image for a post called Recommendations for Young Readers in my feed is accompanied by an image of buff shirtless oiled abs. hey, NEVER TOO EARLY.

  4. Christine says:

    I just caught the podcast and am definitely going to look up some of these books for my kids when we get home from our road trip! Regarding school libraries, our school district has the same situation—we’ve been making do with (incredibly wonderful, dedicated) “instructional aides” for a number of years since we can’t have even a part-time librarian anymore. We’ve been nevertheless building both the school and classroom library collections every year in part by applying for various grants to fund book purchases in conjunction with an annual parent-organized readathon. I took my turn co-chairing that event for the last three years and we managed to get about $1500 each year to spend on new books. It’s a lot of work, but definitely worth it. The readathon are designed around a different popular book or movie series each year and are designed to be as inclusive as possible of all reading levels and abilities. Every year we’ve had a handful of parents say that reading clicked for their kid in a huge way sometime during the three week readathon, which is pretty much the best feeling ever! Anyway, just to say that if parents have the time, it’s definitely possible to make a positive impact on your school’s library collection by looking for sponsorship for literacy programs.

  5. Claire C says:

    Hey! That’s my email in the podcast!!! I feel all giddy and a-twitter now 🙂

    I have one more book/series to add! The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente is a cute and quirky fantasy that put me in mind of Alice in Wonderland. There are gorgeous illustrations at the start of each chapter and two sequels published, with a third due in 2015.

    And if you’ll excuse me, I have to jump around some more while wearing a manic grin – so excited my email made it in!

  6. Helen R-S says:

    Hi Claire! For what it’s worth re the Beka Cooper trilogy – the ending of Book 3 made me really mad. I can’t say much without getting spoilery but I nearly threw the book across the room.

  7. *sigh* Of course I knew soon after I sent my email of recs that I would remember a few more!

    Tamora Pierce is a great author—I really loved Trickster’s Choice and Trickster’s Queen!

    James Patterson—I liked the Maximum Ride series, but it’s not my favorite of his. Although it is adult fiction, if you have an older teen OR you are an adult that liked the story in the Maximum Ride series, I *highly* recommend his When the Wind Blows and The Lake House books. They are so, so much better than the YA series, IMO, though I still say he needs to write a third book because a certain character’s body WAS NEVER FOUND. *cue dramatic music* Anyway . . .

    For those that love vampires, I’d suggest The Morganville Vampires series, as well as the Blue Bloods series.

    For a dystopian-type world, Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies, Pretties, and Specials are great.

    Annd I’m sure there are many, many more that I am forgetting. Oh well—next week! 🙂

    Enjoy,
    TBQ

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