I would love to see all kids reading a little bit each day, even if it’s the comics in the newspaper. I think that reading has the power to transform our lives – take us new places, challenge our thinking, expand our minds. Here are a few of the books that I enjoyed as a kid/teen.

• “The Chronicles of Narnia” by CS Lewis. Start with “The Magician’s Nephew” and go from there. These are really fun books and children of all ages can enjoy them.
• “The Hobbit” by JRR Tolkein. I didn’t read this until I was an adult so it took me a few chapters to get into it, but once I did, I was entranced. I know of several fathers who’ve read this to their children and I highly recommend that to Dad’s everywhere.
• “Bunnicula” by Deborah and James Howe. This is a great introductory mystery book.
• “The Golden Compass” by Phillip Pullman.
• “Do Hard Things” is a GREAT non-fiction book for inspiring teens to work hard!
• The “Encyclopedia Brown” books by Donald Sobol.
• I loved all of Judy Blume’s books. “Tiger Eyes” was probably the one that I read most often. After I lost my Mom (she died when I was 15), I read that book even more often.
• “Final Friends” by Christopher Pike – I loved this series when I was a young teen (13 or 14) but it’s pretty spooky. My favorite Pike book was “Spellbound“. “Remember Me” by him was another of my favorites.
• “We Interrupt This Semester for an Important Bulletin” by Ellen Conrad is one of my favorite funny teen books. It’s fairly dated these days, but a very funny (and poignant) look at high school.