Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Which Books Do You Think Are Essentials?

Alison Morris, author of the awesome Shelftalker children's bookseller blog, posed an interesting question just a few days ago -- what five books, in different age categories, should no self-respecting bookstore be without?

Every day this week she's posting her list for a different age group, and other booksellers and book readers are posting their top five in the comments section. Here's the first post -- check it out, leave a list of your own in our comments or Alison's, and you can even browse other folks' lists for holiday gift ideas!

Here are some chapter book picks from our fabulous book buyer, Donna (she wasn't able to keep to the five-book limit, but who can blame her?):
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (this year's fiction Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner)
Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
the Joey Pigza series by Jack Gantos
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Holes by Louis Sachar
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak