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Kids' Book Nook
Some books draw readers in so deeply that it's hard to say goodbye to the characters when the story is over. Luckily, many authors seem to feel the same way and so they write sequels and series. Check out the titles below to make the acquaintance of some particularly appealing fictional folks engaged in unusual adventures and everyday experiences.
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Amato, Mary
Snarf Attack, Underfoodle, and the Secret of Life: The Riot Brothers Tell All
Illustrated by Ethan Long
Orville and Wilbur Riot have no shortage of daily adventures. Sometimes they are undercover detectives. Other times they challenge each other to see who can get the most underwear on his head in exactly thirty seconds:
Drooling and Dangerous: The Riot Brothers Return!
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Collins, Suzanne
Gregor the Overlander
Gregor, his younger sister Boots, and an odd assortment of magical creatures find adventure and danger in a strange, subterranean world. Follow the further adventures of Gregor, Boots, and their band of unlikely friends in
Gregor and the Curse Prophecy of Bane,
Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, Gregor and the Marks of Secret and Gregor and the Code of Claw.
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Erdrich, Louise
The Birchbark House
Erdrich imagines the life of an Ojibwa girl in the mid-1800s as her people cope with the influx of white settlers into their land. Omakaya's story is continued in The Game of Silence and the forthcoming The Porcupine Year.
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Funke, Cornelia Caroline
Inkheart
An involving fantasy that revolves around books, this German import imagines a world in which book characters can come to life. Maggie and her bookbinder father Mo, along with an assortment of characters good and bad, "real" and really fictitious return in Inkspell. Look for Inkdeath coming this fall.
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Look, Lenore
Ruby Lu, Brave and True
Illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf
"Almost-eight-year-old" Ruby Lu spends time with her baby brother, goes to Chinese school, performs magic tricks and learns to drive, and has adventures with both old and new friends. Follow Ruby Lu's continuing adventures in
Ruby Lu, Empress of Everything.
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Peck, Richard
A Long Way from Chicago: A Novel in Stories
As the narrator and his younger sister visit their small town grandmother each year, vignettes poignant and hilarious reveal life in small town Illinois in the 1920s and 30s. A Year Down Yonder
adds to the family history with the story of a year that teenaged Mary Alice spends living with her grandmother.
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Pennypacker, Sara
Clementine
Picture by Marla Frazee
While sorting through difficulties in her friendship with her neighbor Margaret, eight-year-old Clementine gains several unique hairstyles while also helping her father in his efforts to banish pigeons from the front of their apartment building.
For more about this engaging heroine, check out Clementine's Letter and
The Talented Clementine.
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Willems, Mo
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
When the bus driver decides to take a break from driving, a wild and wacky pigeon pleads and begs to take his place, capturing the antics of a preschooler's temper tantrum. The popular (and petulant) pigeon returns in Don't Let the Pigeon Stay up Late!, The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! and several other titles.
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Yee, Lisa
Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time
Stanford is a wonderful basketball player and a below-average student. How he improves his grades and in the process connects with his distant dad makes for a hilarious tale. For alternate tellings of this story, don't miss Millicent Min, Girl Genius and So Totally Emily Ebers.
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