Hi

Hi -

I am proud to present this week's article, written by my daughter, Kelsey. She is a big reader and has been a big help to me in choosing excellent books for her little brother, Ian. I can say with confidence that she knows good writing and has good taste in literature.

You may want to note, however, that some of these books may contain some fantasy and/or magical elements, which some people prefer to avoid. I am a pretty picky mom myself, however, and those that I have read off this list are wonderful.

Enjoy! Jan

The Best Books I�ve Ever Read

By Kelsey Jennrich, age 13

I love to read. I have read a LOT of books in the thirteen years I�ve been alive and following is a list of some of my favorites. Most are great for boys and girls alike.

The Phantom Tollbooth

By Norton Juster

This is the funniest book I have ever read. It is full of word plays, puns, and goofy antics. It is about a boy named Milo who "didn�t know what to do with himself." One day he finds a big box in his living room. It is addressed to him! He opens the box, and inside there is a tollbooth which takes him to a crazy land where he learns that you have to think before you can have any adventures. The title makes people think it is scary, but it is not at all! This is my favorite book, but The Indian in the Cupboard is really close behind.

The Indian in the Cupboard

By Lynne Reid Banks

This is the most well written book I have read in my entire life. I fell into it. The author has written a lot of very good books for early teens (12 to 16 or so), including: The Fairy Rebel, which used to be my favorite book (until I read The Phantom Tollbooth), The Farthest Away Mountain, and Maura�s Angel, which I absolutely love. There are also more books in the Indian in the Cupboard series (but the first is the best, in my opinion).

A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears

By Jules Fiefer

The illustrator of The Phantom Tollbooth wrote this book. It is a positively silly book, but sometimes a little bit hard to understand. It is about a prince. Whenever a person gets within a mile of him, they laugh! So he goes on a quest. It is good for ages about 10 to 14.

The Boxcar Children

By Gertrude Chandler Warner

There are at least a hundred books in this series, including the "Super Specials." They are about four children (Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden) who are orphans. After the first book, the rest are mysteries. These books are good for children ages 6 to about 10, but I still like them. My eight year old brother really likes this series, too.

The Enormous Egg

By Oliver Butterworth

This is a very well written book, and I recommend it highly. It is a funny and educational story about a boy who finds a very unusual egg under his chicken. It would probably be best for ages 9 and up, because of some harder words.

A Mouse Called Wolf

By Dick King-Smith

This is a very funny book with a great ending. The author of this book is a really good writer. He wrote Babe: the Gallant Pig, which later became a motion picture, The Merman, which I just read and loved, and Mysterious Miss Slade, which I also just finished. This is good for about ages 9 to 14.

Caddie Woodlawn

By Carol Ryrie Brink

This is a very good, historic book about a pioneer girl who doesn�t want to be a girl. She doesn�t want to wear dresses, she is best friends with an Indian, and she drives her father�s plow. This is a really funny book. For ages 11 to 15.

Betsy-Tacy

By Maud Hart Lovelace

This is a very, very sweet old book, which is the first of a series of ten. In the series, Betsy and her best friend Tacy grow up from 5 years old, to eight years old, when they meet another best friend named Tib, to when they get married! All in all, this is a super-duper series! The first book is good for about age 12, but the later books are a little harder.

Alice�s Adventures in Wonderland

By Lewis Carroll

This is a very funny book. It is full of lots of funny nonsense words, poems, and characters. Don�t expect it to be like the movie, because it�s not. There are a few parts that are the same, but as usual with books that are made into movies (The Indian in the Cupboard, The Wizard of OZ, etc.), the book is way better. For ages 9 to 99.

The Moffats

Eleanor Estes

This is a very good series by a very good author. This author not only wrote The Moffats Museum, The Middle Moffat, Rufus M., and the other Moffat books, but she also wrote The Hundred Dresses, The Sleeping Giant and other stories, Ginger Pye, and Pinky Pye. All of Eleanor Estes' books have good plots and are very cleverly written. The Moffats are for kids aged about 9 to 13.

The Greatest Show Off Earth

By Margaret Mahy

This is a very well written, very funny, very easy to read book, which contains a lot of adventure. This author wrote quite a few good books, including The Five Sisters, which is very exiting and funny. Dangerous Spaces, which I am in the middle of reading right now, is very exiting but hard to understand.

The Wonderful Wizard of OZ

By L. Frank Baum

This is a very funny, really cool book that is very different from the movie. And here is something a lot of people don�t know: The Wizard of OZ is a series! The Wonderful Wizard of OZ is the first book you should read, followed by The Marvelous Land of OZ. This is the second book, which reveals a lot of crucial information.

Little House in the Big Woods

By Laura Ingalls Wilder

This is a very popular book, and the start of the "Little House" series, which is also very popular. This book is about the author�s life in the 1800�s. It is a great read-aloud, and is great for ages 7 to adult. I love this book, and the whole series, too!

Happy Reading!

Kelsey