My grandson Byron loves the Warrior series of books in which the characters are all cats. Not tigers or lions or leopards, but cats. I don’t know who wrote these books, but I certainly admire him or her. Apparently the books cover generations of leaders like a grand saga, and I believe there are sub-series within the series. Clever and absorbing books. I love it that there are so many books written for kids now. When I was a kid, I found Grimm’s Fairy Tales and Charlotte’s Web and Trixie Belden. How pale compared to Warrior cats! Even at eight I thought Charlotte’s Web was insipid. Not that I knew the word insipid, but I did think it was lame. Maybe I was too close to my grandparents’ farm lives to get excited about a stupid pig who didn’t want to be slaughtered.

Louis Sacher’s Holes is excellent. And Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. For younger kids, the Animorph series – those are great for reading aloud. You know how some beautifully illustrated kids’ books are awful to read aloud? The Animorph’s are down right funny even for adults. When my grandsons were younger they devoured the Junie B. series about a literal-minded kindergartner, who reminds me of Amelia Bedelia. I found them a little tedious, but the kids never got tired of the silly misunderstandings. Well, there are many and varied wonderful kids’ books out there. Too many to list, even if I knew them all.