Summer reading list for the young.

For the pre-teens and teenagers who are today mourning the last installment of the series about the young English lad with the lightning bolt on his head (No, I'm not speaking of any of the Punk Rockers from the eighties) here are some suggestions.

I feel they are needed, because I read a quote in our local daily rag from a youngster that wailed "What are we going to read now?"

In the fantasy genre', George MacDonald if you can find any of his works still in print.
He was an inspiration for C.S. Lewis, and others.
Mr. Lewis himself, for everything from fantasy to Sci-Fi to theology and biblical criticism and commentary.
His contemporary and friend J.R.R. Tolkien is suitable for older more advanced readers.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, better known for creating Tarzan of the Apes also wrote a wonderful Sci-Fi series about Mars.

Both the Star Trek and Star Wars concepts have literally hundreds of different easy read books by a variety of authors.
A lot of them are thrown together trash, but many of them by well known Sci-Fi writers like Ursula LeGuin are quite good. The earlier books from the seventies and eighties are more likely to be good reads.

Isaac Asimov is my favorite in the genre', Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury are also very good.

H.G. Wells penned the "War of the Worlds" and other great Sci-Fi.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyles many stories of the most famous detective of them all, Sherlock Holmes will fill many a summers day in a wonderful fashion.

Mr. Charles Dickens is in my opinion the most fabulous English writer of them all.
His stories are timeless, and are especially suited for the young as most of his heros and heroines are youngsters at the start of his novels.

Jane Austin, the Brontes', and many many other fine English authors will keep you busy for years.
Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" and her other works should be required reading.

And don't forget the Bard of Avon, old Wil Shakespeare himself!

Great American authors and series abound as well.
The Nancy Drew mysteries, and the Hardy Boys are still wonderul reads for kids.
Young children should read all of Theodore Giesel's Dr. Suess stories, but they are not challenging enough for those over six or seven years old.

Mark Twain aka Samuel Clemmons should still be read by every American School boy and girl.
"Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" are his most famous, but my favorites are "An American Yankee in King Arthurs Court" and "Innocents Abroad"

For that matter don't forget the legends like King Arthur.

English author Jack Whyte has just finished a fantastic revisitation of the Arthurian legends, beginning with "The Sky Stone". I believe there are 10 books or so in the series.

Older kids can't miss with P.G. Wodehouse's stories, particularly the Jeeves and Wooster series. I consider him an American, since he moved to New York as a young man and chose to live here for the rest of his days.

Another great American humorist that can't be missed is James Thurber.

Older and more sophisticated teens should read Ernest Hemingway, and possibly Ian Fleming's James Bond Stories. They should be fine for teens over the age of 15 or so.
Even with over forty years of Bond films, most people have never read the original thirteen novels and short story collections.
He was a very talented highly crafted writer, and his stories bear little resemblance to the movie scripts after "Dr. No" and "From Russia with Love".

Also in the detective/spy genre for very advanced readers, Dashiel Hammet's "Thin Man" and other famous works like the "Maltese Falcon" and all of John LeCarres's gritty Cold War stories like "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" not only give you a good read, but they can also paint a picture of the cold war years.

Two of my long time favorites are Robert Ludlum's Bourne Series (Matt Damon has the third installment out in movie form next month, but the novels are far superior) and his other novels.
Jack Higgins is another prolific thriller/mystery writer with dozens of titles to his credit.

My dad always liked Westerns, and his favorites were Max Brand, Zane Gray and Louie Lamour.

I didn't care much for either Brand or Gray, but Lamour was a very talented writer who had many of his novels made into movies.
"Hondo" with John Wayne was the most famous.

So you see, dear young'uns you will never, ever run out of "Something to read".

Indeed, if you are like old App Daddy there will be stacks of unread books just waiting to be picked up!

At least Dame Rowling got the kids to start reading again, I'll give her that!