Book News Flash! The autobiography of the great Cardinal sports announcer, Jack Buck, called "That's a Winner," was reviewed in the December 2000 issue of Young Saint Louis.com.

Reading Good Books
as Part of Summer Fun

Some kids look forward to summer as a great time to catch up on reading the good books that they didn't have time for during the school year. For them, the message here is to remind them of the good books that have been reviewed on Young Saint Louis.com each month during the past year or so. For those kids who don't see reading as much fun in the summer, the message here is to try to get them to realize that books are like good clothes - if you just look around a little bit you will find something you like that fits you perfectly.

As the guy who writes the book reviews for Young Saint Louis.com, I've read over a hundred kids' books since YSL.com has been on line. How do I pick the books to review?

I just go to the bookstore at the mall and look in the intermediate and teens section. Most of the time I just browse and I try to find paperbacks that are fairly recent publications, look like they would be interesting (to me and to the kids I write for), and are fairly inexpensive. Once and awhile, I find a kid there who is eager to recommend a book he or she especially liked.

Sometimes I read and review more expensive hardbacks, if I have a special reason to report on them right away. The Harry Potter books or are an example. All the books reviewed can be purchased at discount prices from Walden Books or Borders or ordered on line from Amazon.com. Of course, many of them can be borrowed for free from the local public library.

It's hard for me to pick favorites from the hundred or more books reviewed over the months since May of 2000. If you want to read about all of them, just go to the past issues tab at the top of the home page for YSL.com, and read the reviews in the book sections for each month. To make it more visual, the colorful covers of each book are also shown with the review. The reason it's hard to name favorites is that I liked almost all of them - each for a different reason. I read a lot of books in the summertime when I was a kid, but kids today have a much greater variety to pick from. There are plenty of interesting books that aren't too long and are fairly easy reading - you don't have to spend weeks plowing through one book but can fit reading several of them in while you are doing lots of other things.

Boys might enjoy "A Boy at War", the story of a boy caught in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 while he was out fishing with a friend (November 2001). They might also enjoy "Against the Odds", which is about a boy on a vacation trapped in a cabin with a couple of younger kids while an 800-pound grizzly bear is tearing the cabin apart to get at them (April 2001). Girls might find hilarious reading in "The Top-secret Journal of Fiona Claire Jardin" (July 2000). Girls might also find good summer reading in "Taking Chances", one in the Heartland series of books about a girl who works at saving and retraining mistreated or injured horses (March 2001).

For readers interested in sports stories, there is "Long Shot", which is about girls' basketball (March 2002) or "Long Arm Quarterback" about boys and football (November 2000). For non-fiction readers there are a number of biographies, including that of the famous woman aviator, Amelia Earhart, (February 2002) or the great magician and escape artist, Harry Houdini, (January 2002).

Good historical novels include "An Eye for An Eye", the adventures of a "tom boy" in the Revolutionary War (April 2001) or "Bushwhacker", about a brother and sister separated from their family in Missouri during the Civil War period (January 2002). For fans of mysteries, among several choices are "The Shakespeare Stealer" (April 2002) or "The Scream Museum" (September 2001).

Whatever your tastes or interests might be, just remember that there are books out there that were written with you in mind. Don't miss out on the fun this summer that comes from reading them.

As a final note, remember books are even more fun if they are shared. As this reviewer sometimes points out on the website in the reviews for parents, a surprising number of these books are just as much fun for adults as they are for kids. Some of them need lots of family discussion to be fully appreciated. Examples would be "Kit's Wilderness" (February 2002) or ""Gathering Blue" (November 2000).

A final final note - just a brainstorming idea - how about kids collecting and trading paperbacks instead of baseball cards or other types of collectibles? You could even specialize in categories - history, mysteries, biographies, sports, particular authors, fantasy, humor, horse stories, dog stories, trivia, and who knows what else...