Favorite Tween Books by Favorite Authors

Source: Kathleen Van Cleve

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As the third of four children, I had the benefit - and my older siblings the misfortune - of forcing them to teach me to read at a very young age. This set me off on a childhood path filled with books, all kinds of books: classics, mysteries, fantasies, and books I definitely shouldn't have been reading. That said, here's a top five list of books that have stayed with me throughout my adult life, and which absolutely infuse my own fiction today.

1. Up A Road Slowly, by Irene Hunt
I read this when I was really young, probably too young to understand most of what was going on for Julie, the young heroine. That said, this book provided two firsts for me. One - it gave me my earliest image of what a writer's life could be. (Sour and unfulfilled, for poor Uncle Haskell.) Two - this is the first time I read a passage and transcribed it mentally - in typewriter print! - as I unknowingly started my own journey to putting my own thoughts and observations to words on a page.

2. The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare
Gosh, I loved this book. A young girl, new to the community, smack in the middle of the Salem witch trials. Thrilling, fresh, scary and smart - all from a young girl's point of view. I still love rereading this one.

3. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, by Agatha Christie.
Agatha Christie is one of my personal literary giants; this particular book was my favorite, by far. I remember gasping when I discovered who the killer was - and even now, when I reread it, I still gasp even though I know who it is. It's so good.

4. Then Again Maybe I Won't, by Judy Blume
Like many of my peers, I need to thank Judy Blume for teaching me everything about the real world. I wasn't learning much in South Jersey, for sure, especially compared to what the narrator of this book, a boy in North Jersey, was learning and doing. This was probably the first time I realized that my life (on a farm) and my Italian-Catholic "rules" (as set down by very over-protective parents) was not how everyone else lived and experienced the world.

5. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, by Edith Hamilton.
Today, I am a passionate fan of the Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, but then again, I am a passionate fan of anything to do with mythology. The brilliant Edith Hamilton started me on this journey way back when, and I am still in awe of how these stories, passed down through all these years, literally send my heart and mind soaring through the Olympian skies, imagining Zeus and Icarus and Athena flying by my side. Phenomenal stuff, quite literally.

Kathleen Van Cleve is the author of the forthcoming tween novel, DRIZZLE, to be published by Penguin in March, 2010.

For additional suggestions, check out theses articles:

Great Books for Preteens, with recommendations by the Bank Street Bookshop.
Favorite Tween Books by Favorite Authors, by Inda Schaenen
Favorite Tween Books by Favorite Authors, by Ginny Rorby