It's almost June and you know what that means. School will be out. Children will be left to their own devices. During hours of endless sun and aimless wandering, you will hear, over and over again, "I'm bored. There's nothing to do." There are only so many times you can say, "Go play, Mommy's having a gin and tonic." before you'll feel like a bad parent. I'm here to help. It won't solve all of your problems, but having a stack of books at the ready gives you something to offer when the whining gets to be too much. Throw some books in the beach bag, keep them on the porch, or put a pile next to your kids' beds. If you have girls, that may be enough. If you have boys, those traditionally reluctant readers, you may need to suggest a specific book, challenge them to a reading contest, or subtly suggest that they might not be ready for such a hard/scary/complicated story. Reverse psychology works every time.
To make sure everyone's happy, this list includes board books, young adult novels (or "YA" as they're often referred to) and everything in between. If your kids are reading by themselves, send them to a shady patch under a tree to thumb through some of these. If you're looking at three months of bedtimes for your younger ones, I've included a long, long list of picture books.
And yes, I've grouped them for boys and girls. Please, don't yell at me in the comments. I am not saying that your girls can't read the boy books, or vice versa. I know there are girls who love sports and construction trucks and boys who love Eloise and playing house, and they should all get to read whatever interests them. But, if you know your son likes traditionally male things (and by this I mean bugs, cars or baseball), I've got you covered. If your daughter loves princesses and bunny rabbits, you'll find that with the "girl" books. There is plenty in between. And parents, don't let the fact that these are "children's" books keep you from taking a peek between the covers. Books written for older kids have gotten incredibly interesting in the past decade -- ever heard of "Harry Potter," "The Hunger Games" or "Percy Jackson"? If you get up early enough, no one will ever know. My lips are sealed.
Whatever you choose, here's to a summer without whining, unless your kids are asking for another trip to the library or bookstore to stock up.
On the next page: Books for Boys
Follow Devon Corneal on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dcorneal
Meg Cabot: Sugar Rush: Weighing In on a Mysterious Matter
Great subject to demystify and bring out of the (water) closet. You won't be disappointed by it, I could really see kids up to 4th grade enjoying it, but really, all ages would enjoy reading this.
Dianne Day's 'Fremont Jones' books. These would probably be for an older YA reader. Caroline Fremont Jones 22 is an independent young lady in turn of the century San Francisco. It was an amateur sleuth series - plenty of adventure.
Harriet Feder's 'Vivi Hartman' series. This was one of the first modern series with a teenage sleuth before everyone started jumping on the YA bandwagon. Vivi is the 15 year old daughter of an Orthodox rabbi. The first book was 'Murder in Miami Beach'. Published in the mid 90s.
'Prom and Prejudice' by Elizabeth Eulberg. This came out a few months ago, and is a modern day take on Pride and Prejudice set at a private girls school. Okay for an upper MG or YA reader and a lot of fun.
'Ordinary Magic' by Caitlen Rubino Bradway - This one is just out and starting to make ripples. Its a fantasy with a 12 year old girl who is an 'Ord' meaning she is unable to do magic in her magical society and is sent to a special school to cope. A lot of adventure and a good message about differently abled people and prejudice worked in.
The Puppeteer's Apprentice by D. Anne Love - MG tale of a kitchen maid called 'Mouse' who runs off and us taken in by a puppeteer. Set in Middle Ages England it has a wonderful main character. Published about 6-8 years ago.
I'm also dismayed at this suggestion that science fiction for girls, or with female protagonists, is rare-- if you did the research to write this article well, you know better. This is one of the most popular genres in fiction at the moment; I could list dozens of great science fiction YA books with female protagonists-- Including Incarceron, which is on your "boy books" list, but that holds appeal for a female audience. There's also the wonderful Tankborn by Karen Sandler, the fast-paced and adventurous Divergent series by Veronica Roth, the Matched series by Ally Condie, Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series, and of course the insanely popular Hunger Games trilogy. To name a few that I've read only recently. These books are all science fiction that deals with issues that will absolutely appeal to young women, and are worth reading by both girls and boys alike, but have great female protagonists to boot. There are also great books like Feed by MT Anderson and the brand-new Fair Coin by EC Myers that have male protagonists but definitely deal with issues and themes and characters that girls will fall in love with.
If you're dead set on recommending based on gender, don't just assume this genre isn't rich with books that will appeal to young women.
BTW, when I was a kid, I was always a fairy princess for Halloween, but everyday I loved to play with my brother's hot wheels and Erector set, not the Barbies I was routinely given.
Devon, I think this is a fabulous list, but I don't see any need to separate it into boy/girl. Either people are going to read the whole list and know what will interest their kid anyway, without being told which gender the book would be more likely to appeal to, or they will skip to either the boy or the girl list and miss some real gems. Personally, I don't think the division is useful, and it seems to me that you must have needed a shoehorn to get Hugo Cabret into the "boy" category (:
I can see the argument for making the list easier for a time-strapped parent to navigate, but in that case, why not label categories "masculine/feminine/either?" It is an imperfect solution, but if you really feel it is necessary to sort books based on gender, at least you are using a little more abstract of a label.