By title

By author

{REL[5701][list_owner]Q8Q2zH6XREL}

• Homeland
• R.A. Salvatore

• “The first fifty pages of the Dark Elf Trilogy have enough swordplay and plot twists to make you gasp.”

• The Tin Woodman of Oz
• L. Frank Baum

• “All the Oz books, actually. But I liked the Tin Woodsman the most, so this is the book I’m listing. Let’s not psychoanalyze.”

• The Belgariad
• David Eddings

• Also, The Mallorean. “When I was the new kid in school, the characters in these books were my buds. Funny, courageous, and there’s 1000 pages worth of them.”

• The Princess Bride
• William Goldman

• “Funny and clever and full of heart.”

• Dragonlance: Chronicles and Legends

• by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. “I started with the computer game and then turned to the books. Lots of gods and glowy magic and giant spiders rearing in pain! Awesome.”

Elizabeth Patridge

• Robot Dreams
• Sara Varon

• I love this wordless graphic novel. A dog builds a robot and they become friends, but the robot rusts and can't move after he goes in the water at the beach. Both funny and sad.

• American Born Chinese
• Gene Luen Yang

• The Monkey King, a Chinese folk hero, messes with the main character who is trying to fit in at his all-white school. Graphic novel.

• The Graveyard Book
• Neil Gaiman

• How can you resist a book with these first two lines: "The knife had a handle of polished black bone, and a blade sharper and finer than any razor. If it sliced you, you might not even know you'd been cut, not immediately."

• One-Eyed Cat
• Paula Fox

• What if you found a gun and were told never to shoot it, and one evening you shot at a flickering shadow, and you thought you might have hit a cat, right in the eye? How would you deal with the cat, and your guilt, fear, and shame?

• Robin Hood

• Get the biggest, fattest version of this book you can find from the library. It should come in at 150-200+ pages. Total adventure and high jinx.

• Danny, the Champion of the World
• Roald Dahl

• Danny and his father feed rum-soaked raisins to the pheasants on the estate where they are never allowed to go hunting. They set out to poach a record number of pheasants from the dreaded estate owner. Dahl is the guy who wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Fantastic Mister Fox.

• The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights
• Steve Sheinkin

• Why were 50 sailors, all African American, tried for mutiny by the US Navy during WWII when they refused to go back to work after an explosion killed 300?

• Kinda Like Brothers
• Coe Booth

• Jarrett's mother takes in two foster kids: one a baby, one a boy a year older than Jarrett. As it says on the back cover: "Kinda like enemies. Kinda like friends. Kinda like brothers."

• Revolution, (The Sixties Trilogy #2)
• Deborah Wiles

• This book is a hybrid. It's a novel that takes place during Freedom Summer in 1963, and yet it is full of photographs and real quotes. Mesmerizing.

• Eleanor and Park
• Rainbow Rowell

• Two smart, funny, quirky misfits find each other. This book has one of the most tender love scenes ever, so go get a copy right away.

Mo Willems

• The Complete Peanuts
• Charles M. Schulz

• The gold standard of comic strips. Fun for everyone; except Charlie Brown, who seems a little down on his luck.

• George and Martha: The Complete Stories of Two Best Friends Collector’s Edition
• James Marshall

• Lessons learned include: just because you've got a best friend doesn't mean you have to pour pea soup in your shoes. I try to re-read this before I start making new book.

• The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
• Bill Watterson

• When Hobbes is wise, Calvin is a stinker. When Hobbes is hungry, Calvin is in trouble.

• Go, Dog, Go!
• Philip D. Eastman

• A dog party in a tree? Wait for me, I’ve got to get my hat!

• Cul De Sac, This Exit

• The best comic strip you've never heard of. Alice and her family walk in the footsteps of Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes, only sideways.

• Children at Play, A Cul-de-Sac Collection

Jon Skovron

• The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
• Tom Angleberger

• "It's a mystery with a lot of Star Wars jokes and funny pictures. And at the end of each book, it shows you how to make a different Star Wars character."

• How to Grow Up and Rule the World, by Vordak the Incomprehensible
• Vordak T. Incomprehensible

• "It's about a super villain. And it's funny. There should be more books about funny super villains."

• Bunnicula
• James Howe

• "It's about a vampire rabbit who sucks the juices of vegetables. My dad liked this book when he was a kid. It's still good."

• The Pawn of Prophecy
• David Eddings

• "Swords, sorcery, spies, gods, adventure, and humor. I'm not sure what else you need. This is the first book in The Belgariad series, which hooked me on reading forever."

• White Cat
• Holly Black

• "Mafia gangsters with magic."

• I Hunt Killers
• Barry Lyga

• "The son of a serial killer catches serial killers. Not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach."

Loren Long

• The Magic Finger
• It made me think about what it would feel like to be an animal . . . especially an animal being hunted.
• Hatchet
• I was fascinated by the question . . . what would you do if you were lost all alone in the wilderness?
• A Season on the Brink
• For any NCAA basketball fan or anyone interested in a quirky biographical study of a legendary coach . . . Bobby Knight.
• The Winner’s Manual, For the Game of Life

• I like to learn how extraordinary/successful people approach life and this is a unique (just published) book about methods and ideals that Jim Tressell brings to his Ohio State football program.

• Marley and Me
• Sorry, I'm a softy for dogs. I had just lost my dog of 14 years and read this book on a book tour. Ended up bawling my eyes out all alone in a Hotel in Tampa. Guy Reads, guy cries.
• The Little Engine That Could
• The essential picture book for every collection . . . my favorite growing up. Take it off to college with you!