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Summer is such a great time to meet up with old friends. This past year as part of the Newspaper in Education "We're Talkin' Books Here" series, we've chatted by phone and e-mail with some pretty terrific authors.
We all know that great writers read, read, read, so who better to ask for a Sizzlin' Summer Read? My e-mails to authors John H. Ritter and Chris Crutcher came back to me with the speed of a Lightning hockey puck with championship-quality book recommendations.
* * *John H. Ritter, who is the author of Choosing Up Sides and The Boy Who Saved Baseball, recommends these books:
"You have to read Touching Spirit Bear (HarperCollins, ages 9-13) by Ben Mikaelsen. It's a fast-moving, totally engrossing modern-day story, for boys or girls, about an angry kid who is banished by the courts to an island in Alaska, only to come face to face with his own death and the legendary Spirit Bear.
"No time for a novel? Then grab a copy of Big City Cool: Short Stories about Urban Youth (Persea Books, ages 13-17) before your next trip. You'll find some great, never-seen-before stories by some great writers, including Walter Dean Myers, Amy Tan, and Neal Shusterman. (The book also contains a story by Ritter). And as an added plus, these stories will take you to places unknown even if you never leave your house!"
* * *Author Chris Crutcher recommends these Sizzlin' Summer Reads:
"Of course, I'd tell them all to read King of the Mild Frontier and/or Whale Talk (both by Crutcher; HarperCollins, ages 13-17) for funny memoirs and what I think is a fast-moving read.
"That said, the other book you want to get out there is one called Alice, I Think (HarperTempest, ages 13-17) by Susan Juby. She's a relatively new writer, and this book will have them laughing their swimsuit-covered bottoms off. (It is) funny and insightful. Girls particularly will love it, and guys can read it to get a quirky look into a young girl's mind. Very funny and very smart."
* * *Now, of course, I can't let you get away without recommending a book myself. So I suggest you check out Ophie Out of Oz by Kathleen O'Dell (Dial Books, ages 8-12). When your name is Ophelia "Ophie" Peeler and you're just about always the new kid in class thanks to your traveling-salesman dad, you need a little magic in your life. For Ophie, living in sunny Southern California and singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow with best pal Lizzy is just that: pure magic. Then disaster strikes. A move to dreary Oregon ("Don't you get tired of wearing raincoats all the time?") and a slightly odd girl named Brittany Borg who is somehow always hanging around let Ophie know she definitely is not in Kansas, er California, anymore. This is a fun summertime book by O'Dell, the author of Agnes Parker, Girl in Progress (Dial, ages 8-12).