Five Books I Want to Read this Summer - Eric's Picks

As a readers' advisory at the public library (working in a bunch of departments), I need to stay current about literature for all ages. This is a challenge, requiring me to read widely in the areas of children, teen and adult publishing.

I have discovered that The Woozles Battle of the Books is a great way for me to discover new reading suggestions for teens and youth.

As an adult reader, these are the five titles on the 2011 teen booklist which I find the most intriguing. And for once they’re not all sci-fi / fantasy. Mostly, but not all.

Word Nerd
by Susin Nielsen

First one I’ve read, and it was excellent. Take a kid with low self-esteem and minimal guidance, mix in a Scrabble addiction and a kindly neighbour’s ex-con son, some heartbreak, chronic lying, and deadly peanut allergies and...well, you get the idea...

Libyrinth
by Pearl North

A dystopia about books! Reading and writing tore civilization apart. Science is considered ‘magic’. Librarians are monks that fight book-burning zealots. Mazes of protected literature. (Get it? Libyrinth?)

Of course, this is just an average day for me...

Complete Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Four novels and fifty-six short stories! It may take a few days to slog through, but it will be worth it. And with the fame from the recent Sherlock Holmes movie, maybe we’ll have a new generation of Doyle fans.


Shiver
by Maggie Stiefvater

I had heard of this book before checking the list, and even started reading it. I was told this was a werewolf novel, written in the style of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. But I’ll try this book anyway. So long as the wolves don’t sparkle...


The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins

In the future, a corrupt government televises an annual fight-to-the-death between 24 teenagers, a boy and a girl from each political district. Sounds similar to Koushun Takami’s Battle Royale, with more politics and less bloodshed. Keep your eyes open for a potential feature film (being scripted by the author as we speak, er, as I type...).