Dear Reader, Meet Your Match: An Advice Column for Book Lovers
This content was originally published by NICOLE LAMY on 11 April 2017 | 9:50 am.
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When I peruse bookstore shelves, I find few books that target this particular transition period in reading. And too often the protagonist in the books recommended for young readers is a boy. Please don’t suggest the Magic Tree House series , which holds no power for them. I recently made two good discoveries: the debut novel of picture book author and illustrator Peter Brown — “ The Wild Robot” — and Annie Barrows’s “Ivy & Bean” series . In addition, the twins and their 11 -year-old brother have traveled to distant places. Are there books with windows to young lives elsewhere in our world?
MADONNA KREKEL
SEATTLE, WASH.
Dear Madonna ,
The early years of independent reading are marked by sudden turns. At first children’s grasp of stories outpaces their ability to decipher the text. Then fluency fast-forwards and children start picking up long chapter books even though they might not yet be ready for wizards, menstruation or the humiliations of middle school.
The good news is that there are plenty of books — classics and contemporary stories, series and stand-alone chapter books — in which reading levels and interest levels click. And many of them star strong-willed, outspoken girls.
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“Ramona Quimby, Age 8,” by Beverly Cleary, was first published in 1981, but the spirited Ramona has aged well. Cleary, who turned 100 last year, wrote eight Ramona books; I have a soft spot for “Ramona and Her Father” (the fourth in the series, published in 1977), in which Ramona matures a little after her father loses his job. Readers can also catch glimpses of Ramona in other Cleary books, including the Henry Huggins series. Seeing a beloved main character from one book pop up in a supporting role in another is magic. It feels like an invitation from the author into a secret club.
Sara Pennypacker’s Clementine — the observant narrator of a seven-book series illustrated by Marla Frazee— is a more carefree version of Ramona. Though she is indecisive and impatient, Clementine’s troubles are more swiftly resolved than Ramona’s. Clementine’s powerful imagination shines through in her quirky naming habits; she calls her brother after vegetables, and she has a pet kitten named Moisturizer.
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If the twins’ love for animals extends to the anthropomorphized variety, they will enjoy two gentle woodland mysteries written by Ulf Nilsson and illustrated by Gitte Spee: “Detective Gordon: The First Case” and “A Complicated Case.” Both star a mouse named Buffy who finds her calling as a detective.
I’ll leave you with three recommendations for your globetrotting granddaughters to inspire trips both real and imagined. Originally published in 1937, “Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep,” written by Eleanor Farjeon with pictures by Charlotte Voake, features an ordinary girl whose talent for jumping rope is so extraordinary that it impresses the fairies who live on Mount Caburn, which rises above Elsie’s family’s home in England.
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Next there is “Anna Hibiscus,” by the Nigerian-born writer and storyteller Atinuke with illustrations by Lauren Tobia. The first in a series, the book introduces readers to the curious protagonist, who lives in Africa with her extended family and longs to see snow.
Finally, check out “Book Uncle and Me,” written by Uma Krishnaswami with pictures by Julianna Swaney. The charming book is set in India and narrated by a voracious reader named Yasmin, age 9, whose love of books spurs her to community activism. Yasmin’s endearing voice captured the attention of the young readers in my house from the first page.
Yours truly,
Match Book
Do you need book recommendations? Write to matchbook@nytimes.com.
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