From picture books to chapter books, YA fiction and nonfiction, Nancy Pearl has developed more thematic lists of books to enjoy. The Book Lust audience is committed to reading, and here is a smart and entertaining tool for picking the best books for kids. Divided into three sections—Easy Books, Middle-Grade Readers, and Young Adult—Nancy Pearl makes wonderful reading connections by theme, setting, voice, and ideas. For horse lovers, she reminds us of the mainstays in the category (Black Beauty, Misty of Chincoteague, etc.) but then in a creative twist connects Mr. Revere and I to the list. In a list called Chapter One, she answers the proverbial question: which chapters books are the most compelling for kids who are now ready to move beyond picture books. And who says picture books aren’t deep? Recommended Folk Tales sort out many of life’s dilemmas and issues of good and bad; a selection of picture books on Death and Dying introduces this topic with sensitivity; and You’ve Got a Friend offers up books for early readers that show the complexities and the pleasures of relating to others. Parents, teachers, and librarians are often puzzled by the unending choices for reading material for young people. It starts when the kids are toddler and doesn’t end until high-school graduation. What’s good, what’s trash, what’s going to hold their interest? Nancy Pearl, America’s favorite librarian, points the way in Book Crush.
From Nancy: My lust for books and reading began when I was a very young child, and has continued unabated for lo, these many many years. Every time I open a new book to read, it's like embarking on a voyage to an unexplored place that just might be filled with wonder and excitement.
The books I love most tend to have three-dimensional characters and be very well-written (although that definition is fluid). I read everything - mysteries, non-fiction (especially history, memoirs, and current events), literary fiction, science fiction and fantasy, andchildren's books (lots and lots, for my upcoming book, Book Crush), and anything else that looks interesting. I love first novels.
More About Nancy: Nancy Pearl is a librarian and lifelong reader. She regularly comments on books on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. Among her many awards and honors are the 2011 Librarian of the Year Award from Library Journal; the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association; the 2010 Margaret E. Monroe Award from the Reference and Users Services Association of the American Library Association; and the 2004 Women's National Book Association Award, given to "a living American woman who ...has done meritorious work in the world of books beyond the duties or responsibilities of her profession or occupation."
